Türkiye in the Emerging World Order

Source:Carnegie Date:01Nov2023

In September 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan mooted the possibility that Türkiye might join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a defense bloc led by China.¹ A few days later, he flew to New York City and delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly arguing that Türkiye is a core part of NATO and Euro-Atlantic security.² To Ankara, those two facets of its foreign policy—its status as a NATO ally and its engagement with organizations that challenge the West—are not contradictory. They are part and parcel of the country’s “360-degree foreign policy,” an approach that prioritizes flexibility and strategic independence, with the aim of regenerating Türkiye’s historical role as a major world power. ³ This was no doubt among the calculations that led Ankara to distinguish itself from the West in its harsh criticism of Israel’s retaliatory actions in Gaza in 2023.

And..authors’ conclusion is:

Like many other emerging powers, Türkiye seeks a middle course with a flexible foreign policy. Ankara dreams of making itself a global power center again and will seek to leverage strategic competition to create space for its return to the world stage. It is unlikely to turn against Beijing but will seek to deepen relations with the United States when it can, while leaving itself enough room to adapt to changing geopolitical circumstances.