THE NEW TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY AND THE EU

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THE NEW TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY AND THE EU

• Ass. Prof. Deniz Altinbas

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New Turkish Foreign Policy

• Improving relations with the East
• Deadlock with the EU

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• Why are Turks so eager to become an EU member?

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Cold War and afterwards..

• 1990s Middle East topic
• Non-involvement was an anomaly
• Mistake a one-sided foreign policy

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• One of the most complicated foreign policy
  situations in the world

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• Shift of axis to have all the alternatives in
  its hands

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Danger? Threat?

• Not substitutes but supplements to the EU project
• EU is not successful in the Middle East, the
  Caucasus, Central Asia

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• Potential power of Turkey?
• OR
• Fear of losing Turkey to dangerous
  states..Russia, Iran

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• Scary scenarios
• Worse scenario cooperation
• No space for any other power, in more than one
  region

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• Different relationship choices other than
  membership
• A non-alignment attitude

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Questions for Europeans who feel insecure

• An EU candidate
• OR
• a pissed off state to Europe?  

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• 2. Moving away from the Western values ?
• Sabotage Western foreign policy interests
• An extremely instable neighbourhood

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• AKP an Islamist character
• sui generis foreign policy style 

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• 3. A long-term policy?
• 4. Is that the last point?
• Radical policies?
• pan-Turkism
• pan-Islamism
• Revival of the Ottoman Empire?

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• A neo-Ottoman foreign policy?
• Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans and
  Black Sea

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No plans of Ottoman Resurrection

• No imperial or expansionist policies
• No policy of creating chaos
• No policy of creating tensions

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Overcoming the problem

• Turkey under control
•  
• Membership to be put off

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Motive behind the axis shift

• EU conservative AKP global situation
• Axis shift for the whole world 

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Turkeys side?

• No clear-cut choice between West and East
• Not West not East, both West both East

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• Napoleon Strategic position determines the
  faith of that state
• fate determines the survival and success of the
  surrounding region and ultimately the stability
  of the international system

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Conclusion

• Priority is no longer membership.
• A multi-dimensional foreign policy