How should Turkish foreign policy be understood? Is Turkey aiming to re-establish traditional spheres of influence in the region? What are Turkey and Russia actually up to? What is Turkey’s end game?
Turkey’s foreign policy doctrine has undergone a significant transformation under the current government’s almost two-decade long rule. Relations with traditional key allies such as the US and NATO, and the appetite for European integration, is at a bottom low. Turkey has conducted multiple military incursions into Syria and Iraq, and has played an active role in Libya as well as in Nagorno-Karabach. Tensions with regional powers such as Greece, Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia have intensified. Although the strategic interests of Turkey and Russia doesn’t always align, there has been a rapprochement. Moreover, Turkey and China have developed closer economic ties in recent years.
Based on his new book on Turkish foreign policy, Cengiz Çandar, journalist, former presidential advisor and public intellectual, delved into this topic in a conversation with Aslı Aydıntaşbaş.
Presenter
Cengiz Çandar, distinguished Visiting Scholar at the SUITS, and Senior Associate Fellow at UI's Middle East and North Africa Programme
Commentator
Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Senior Policy Fellow at European Council on Foreign Relations
Moderator
Bitte Hammargren, Turkey & MENA analyst and writer; Senior Associate Fellow at UI’s Middle East and North Africa Programme
The webinar was hosted by The Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) and the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies (SUITS).
