24/09/2010
Author : Portuguese Institute of International Relations and Security (IPRIS)
Author : Portuguese Institute of International Relations and Security (IPRIS)
By Dario D’Urso Portuguese Journal of International Affairs - N°3 - Spring/Summer 2010
One of the most striking geopolitical events the world has witnessed in the last decade is the repositioning of Turkey in the global arena. Rarely in contemporary history have a government and a political party managed to influence the internal and the external long-term paradigms of a country so heavily. The changes Turkey has undergone since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) took power in 2002 are today commonly depicted as a ‘shift of axis’: from the eastern outpost of the Euro-Atlantic world during and immediately after the Cold War to the centre of a series of interests increasingly aimed towards the Islamic Middle East and other former territories of the Ottoman Empire. The reassessment of the Turkish role in the world and the erosion of the internal pillars on which the Kemalist republic was founded nearly one century ago, have been a cause for concern for scholars and governments: the end of the strategic alliancebetween Turkey and Israel and the increasing closeness with the Iranian and Syrian regimes made many commentators state that ‘Turkey was lost’, or that Ankara may follow the path taken by Iran in 1979. What may actually be useful to understand is how permanent the sweeping and increasingly radical changes brought on by the AKP in its eight years at the helm of Turkey might be: are we really witnessing the rise of a new geopolitical actor, increasingly turning its back on the West while trying to assert its role in the Middle East and beyond through an Islamist agenda? Is a ‘neo-Ottoman’ Turkey here to stay? How much of that might survive a change in government? In order to find appropriate answers, this article will go through the latest developments in the political life of Turkey by 1) taking into account the new, proactive foreign policy pursued by the AKP government and 2) considering how the Turkish internal scene has been effected by the struggle between the ruling party and the pillars of secularism, namely the army, the media and the judiciary. Furthermore, the article will also take into account how energy plays an essential role in defining Turkey’s new foreign aspirations, specially vis-à-vis Russia. The results of this overview will provide the basis for elaborating a possible scenario on the future role of Ankara, both internally and externally, and its relationship with the Western world.
Download here:
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου