TURKEY’S POLICY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Arab Changes in a Changing World

Soli Özel
Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, Richard von Weizsacker Fellow at Robert Bosch Academy  and a columnist at Habertürk daily newspaper

During the last decade and longer the orientation of the Turkish foreign policy has been redirected: the Middle East, especially the countries of the former Ottoman Empire, have become more important to Ankara, whereas the Turkish alienation from Europe seemed to grow, despite a nominal EU accession process. Before the outbreak of the so-called Arab spring, one of the cornerstones of Turkish Middle East policies was a promising partnership with Syria, nevertheless Ankara quickly embraced the Syrian uprising with the expectation of Assad’s ouster. This has dramatically failed. Today Turkey is struggling to ensure that it will have a say in the formation of a new order in the Middle East once the wars are over. However, what does President Erdogan really want; what are Turkish troops doing in Syria and in Iraq?

Moderation: Gudrun Harrer, Senior Editor, Der Standard; Lecturer on Modern History and Politics of the Middle East, University of Vienna and Diplomatic Academy of Vienna