A Historical Analysis on Turkey’s Multilateralism of Foreign Policy

Abstract: Turkey is a medium-sized regional power with strong military and economic strength. Historically, Turkey has had two types of foreign policies: pro-West policy, allying with Western powers, and pro-East policy, focusing on regional interests. Since the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Kemalists, Turkey’s ruling elites have adopted a strong pro-Western stance, namely, learning from Europe and fully embracing European civilization. However, overall, Turkey has maintained a foreign policy of isolationism over the two decades following the founding of the country. After the end of World War II, Turkey carried out the pro-Western policy, and joined the Western camp. Since the 1980s, when Özal came to power, Turkey began to adjust its foreign policy strategy: it increasingly emphasized playing a more important and active role in regional affairs, Turkey has started the transition to a diversified and multi-dimensional pattern in its foreign policy strategy. In the early 2000s, Turkey’s AKP’s government has basically finalized a multi-dimensional foreign policy strategy, with more emphasis on an all-round and balanced foreign policy.