STRATEGIC INTERESTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY IN THE REGION OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Abstract

The coming to power in the Republic of Turkey of Prime Minister and later President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led to a change in the ideological foundation of the state, the rejection of the ideology of Kemalism and the transition to the ideology of neo-Ottomanism with an active foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa. The strengthening of Erdogan's power contributed to a change in Turkey's foreign policy and the development of external relations with the Islamic worlds and, first of all, with the Arab countries. The neo-Ottoman ideology has become a key element in Turkey's foreign policy strategy in the Arab region. Prerequisites for changing the foreign policy of the Republic of Turkey in the Middle East and North Africa are complex. After the political party Justice and Development came to power, it led to the desire for neo- Ottoman revanchism and the rejection of the "zero problems with neighbors" political vector. Also, through various reforms, the leader of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, managed to neutralize the political opposition and the Turkish military, who historically were the external arbiters of Turkish political life. The strengthening of Erdogan's political position inside Turkey allowed him to change the external political course of his country. After the start of a series of revolutions in the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa, Turkey felt that it could regain in this region the lost political and economic positions that it had lost after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. After that, Turkey began to position itself as an important military, political and economic player in the region, competing with such countries as Israel, Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia. This vector of development of Turkey's foreign policy showed that the country no longer seeks to pursue a policy close to the interests of the United States and the European Union, and began to distance itself from the Western world, becoming the dominant political and military player in the Middle East, North Africa and other regions. This trend showed that the Republic of Turkey has already declared itself as a regional power that other political players need to reckon with.