Kızılkaya / Fıkıh Usulünde Sahabe Fetvasının Kaynaklık Değeri Cilt / Volume: • Sayı /Issue: • 2012

83
Güder, Mercan / 2000 Sonrası Türk Dış Politikasının Temel Parametreleri ve Orta Doğu Politikası
One of the features of today’s multi-polar world system is that foreign policy analyses 
are short-sighted and short-term, which is largely due to the fact that actors of the 
current global system are multilateral and they cannot shape the course of developing 
and emerging events as they wish. This affects the small, medium-sized, less devel-
oped and developing countries, as well as developed countries and major powers.
This article will make some inquiries into the global and regional issues within the 
Turkish foreign policy (TFP) context. There is a need for studies looking at foreign 
policy from a holistic perspective, which is the starting point of this paper. The focus 
of the study is based on the claim that researchers who wish to examine TFP should 
be familiar with the principles which determine the course and identify the dynamics 
of foreign policy if they want to make valid and solid assessments about foreign policy. 
This study will analyze Turkey’s foreign policy strategies since 2000. The focus will be 
on Turkey’s motives underlying its foreign policy, in particular the Middle East within 
the context of the New World Order that has been (trying to be) constituted follow-
ing the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, in New 
York. Once the main parameters that shape the TFP have been determined, Turkish 
policy in the Middle East, particularly during the Justice and Development Party (JDP) 
government period will be discussed. In addition, the article will delve into the foreign 
policy practices of the Republic of Turkey after 2000 within the framework of the 
principles put forward by foreign policy decision-makers, and critically analyze Turkish 
policies towards the Middle East. Identification of the motives of current practices of 
foreign policy will provide solid data which will enable us to predict the reactions of 
the country when faced with specific circumstances.
The Main Parameters of the Turkish Foreig Policy and 
Middle East after 2000
*
Süleyman Güder,
**
 Muhammed Hüseyin Mercan
***
Extended Abstract
*  
This article is reviewed version of research project prepared for İLKE İlim Kültür ve Eğitim Derneği (İLKE). We would like to 
thank to the support of ILKE throughout the research.
** 
PhD. Student, Yıldız Technical University, Department of Political Science & International Relations. 
 
Correspondence: [e-mail]
***  Res. Assist., Erciyes University Department of  Political Science and Public Administration.
 
Correspondence: [e-mail], Erciyes Üniversitesi Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü, 38039, Kayseri, 
Turkey.

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84
Human and Society
The article has selected the Middle East as the application area, which is related to the 
geopolitical, economic and strategic position of Turkey in the region, and the com-
mon history with the countries in the region. Turkey’s willingness to take an active 
role in the global arena requires an active and dominant position in the Middle East 
where the country is historically, culturally, economically and strategically the most 
influential. From this perspective, in depth analysis of Turkey’s policies toward the 
Middle East will also provide the researchers with some clues about the global vision 
of the country.
For this reason, first the basic principles of Turkish foreign policy will be specified, and 
then what these principles correspond to within the Middle East context will be illus-
trated. It could be said that until the 2000s, TFP adopted a pro-status quo approach, 
and then this has been replaced with a new set of principles. As a result, the seven 
most pronounced of the major principles that have guided TFP in the last ten years 
will be discussed below.
One of the main principles of Turkish foreign policy in recent times has been mul-
tilateral diplomacy. Before the 2000s, Turkish foreign policy was geared towards 
the bipolarity of the Cold War, and particularly the capitalist block. However, in an 
era when new and alternative forms of relationships and strategic partnerships are 
developed, and countries diversify their resource and energy suppliers to meet their 
needs, Turkey’s cognition of the incidents emerging in the region and development 
of networks of relations started in 2000. With multilateral diplomacy, Turkey has 
been aiming for diversification and enrichment of its relationships with global actors 
rather than relying on a number of countries for economic, political and military con-
nections. The past decade has witnessed a tendency towards a multi-dimensional 
Turkish foreign policy oriented towards the Middle East. In fact it would be wrong to 
date this tendency to post 2000 period only, since the country has been involved in 
various initiatives to diversify its relations after the Cold War, such as the Assembly of 
the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (1992), the Economic Cooperation Organization 
(1985), and D-8 (Developing 8 countries, 1997). Nevertheless, recently the multilateral 
diplomacy quest of the JDP governments has caused controversy (Çağaptay, 2007; 
Alessandri, 2010; Keyman, 2010; Danforth, 2008). In our view, despite the shortcom-
ings of this new policy that Turkey has consistently adopted, this controversy is 
ideological and biased, and is in conflict with the known arguments of foreign policy 
assessment.  
Although Turgut Özal intended to change the pro-status quo attitude of Turkey as 
a personal initiative during his term as a prime minister (1983-1989), this has gained 
consistency since Özal. First trials of an active approach to foreign policy took place 
at the beginning of the 2000s, and internalizing it as a principle of Turkish diplomacy 
largely occurred in 2002, when JDP came to power (Meral & Paris, 2010, p. 75; Erol, 

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