“The World is Bigger than Five”. Turkey’s Emergence as a Global Actor in World Politics: Prospects and Challenges for Russia

Abstract

The foreign policy realized by Turkeys president clearly evidences the fact that Erdogan does not accept todays world order as a model for the near future. This has led to the proposition of The World Is Bigger than Five formula since 2013. At least in several key regions, Ankara attempts to change the world order through more than emotional declarations; it uses both hard and soft power in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, Black Sea region, Caucasus, and Central Asia. The main indicators of Turkish soft and hard power (military, economic, technological factors, and attractiveness of mass culture) are examined to identify possibilities of Turkey to change the balance of power in key regions and on a global scale. From 2007, the vision of Turkey as an influential actor globally has been propagated by the Turkish elite of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Geopolitical, civilizational, and systematic approaches are used. The research process is carried out within the paradigm of classical and critical geopolitics. During the AKPs time in power, moderate Islamists gave Turkey a new impetus - a return to its civilizational roots. One must note the states development of its economy, military-industrial complex, and the new national position globally as a patron of every Muslim. Modern Turkey can be considered a great regional power with sectoral global leadership in its military attainment, and due to the attractiveness of its model of development. Ankara invests heavily in soft power, its success is based on the Turkish development ideology, which represents a synthesis of neo-Ottoman, neo-Pan-Turkic and pan-Islamic ideas. The revival of Turkey as a regional power and its desire to become a world power will inevitably increase the space of contradictions in Russian-Turkish relations, reducing the sphere of cooperation between the two countries.