Turkish Foreign Policy, The Middle East and the JDP

Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East under the Justice and Development Party - in reality - means the foreign policy of Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former prime minister and the president since 2014.

In this lecture Barış Doster reflects on Turkey's foreign policy and how it is received in the wider region. There have been a number of negative reflections and perceptions of Turkey's foreign policy towards regional countries, especially Iraq, Syria, Iran, Egypt and Israel. The foreign policies of Iran, Syria and Iraq have some common interests and they have been known to cooperate with each other against Turkey.

In addition, Turkey has been drifting from the EU and is becoming more dependent on ties with Russia and its supply of gas. The cumulative affect of all this is Erdogan's foreign policy can be best described as one of loneliness or isolation.

Barış Doster is an Associate Professor of political science and international relations at Marmara University, Faculty of Communication, İstanbul, Turkey. His academic interests areas include political history, political science, Turkish foreign policy and international relations.