TÜRK DIŞ POLİTİKASINDA DAVUTOĞLU DÖNEMİ VE STRATEJİK DERİNLİK DOKTRİNİ: GÜNEY KAFKASYA ÜLKELERI ÖRNEĞİ

Abstract

The Justice and Development Party (JDP) and its new cadre have entered into Turkish political life by the general elections held in 2002. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Davutoğlu, one of the members of the new cadre, has been considered as the architect of foreign policy discourse and practices pursued under JDP rule between 2002-2016. Davutoğlu has become both the theoretician and the practitioner of foreign policy strategies, which has been built on his “Strategic Depth Doctrine”. Davutoğlu has aimed to reach a new foreign policy strategy by the new principles such as “multidimensional foreign policy”, “rhythmic diplomacy”, “zero problems with neighbors”, “maximum international cooperation”, “proactive foreign policy” and “order instituting actor”. In these contexts, the aim of the paper is twofold. The 􀏐irst one is to 􀏐ind out whether Davutoğlu’s new foreign policy principles have been implemented in the foreign policy-making processes of the South Caucasus states of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia and, if yes, the second one is to de􀏐ine the policy re􀏐lections over Turkey’s foreign relations with these states. For this aim, three speci􀏐ic cases, which are critical to these states, have been selected: the Russian-Georgian War (2008), the Armenian Opening, and the Nagorno-Karabakh Con􀏐lict. The method of discourse analysis has been utilized and Davutoğlu’s books, articles, interviews, and speeches have been reviewed.