Die neue Außenpolitik der Türkei

Zeki Kücükgöl
2011 unpublished
If you look at Turkey from a foreign-policy point of view most people would classify the country as following: Turkey is either the country which is waiting to accede to the European Union, it is the country which builds the bridge between orient and occident or it is simply the country which still occupies Cyprus. In fact, there is no other country in Europe which is so often under discussion as Turkey. This has following reasons: Turkey tries to break out of its traditional role and looks for
more » ... a more independent foreign policy by defining its own interests new. The Middle East faced these new developments at first and welcomed them. However and in contrast to the Middle East not every country is pleased about the idea of a mighty and powerful new Turkey. Countries rake over old coals and accuse the new Turkish foreign policy of having expansive intentions as the Ottoman Empire. At first sight this might be particularly true, but it is not illegitimate. On the one hand Turkey as a Near Eastern country is tired of waiting in front of Europe's closed doors. On the other hand we see a young raising nation looking to take a seat between the developed countries. Last but not least, Turkey is also a country which is on the way to cast off the bonds of Kemalism after hundred years of denying its historical identity. This doesn't mean that the achievements of modern Turkey shall be lost. On the contrary: the Islamic identity and the strong commitment to democracy are the leading forces of the new foreign policy of Turkey. While the West failed to democratise the Islamic World because of wrong and not reliable strategies, Turkey exemplarily makes a widely accepted attempt to initialize the process of democratisation. Controversies of the recent years shifted the power balance in the international system: slowly but surely Turkey plays a role which was reserved only for great powers. The new road map for the foreign-policy of Turkey is a map which is drawn with sensitiveness (soft power) and hard political calculation (bre [...]
doi:10.25365/thesis.17740 fatcat:phykdwnmbva3lgpvglqzyhtbla