Insight Turkey Publishes Its Latest Issue “Turkey’s Grand Strategy”

With extensive international changes taking place in the last three decades, Turkey has initiated a comprehensive conceptual and theoretical transformation and a process of restructuring in its foreign policy understanding. Turkey has gone beyond the typical realist understanding and begun to develop a new foreign policy perspective that considers moral values.

The Fall issue of Insight Turkey focuses on the transformation of Turkey’s grand strategy. Three commentaries and six articles will help the readers to understand better Turkey’s current position at a regional and global level.

Focusing on Turkey’s grand strategy features, Hasan Yükselen’s article argues that Turkey has a long pursued grand strategy, but new concepts can enhance its ability to strategize. Meanwhile, Şener Aktürk’s investigates how compatible is Turkey’s grand strategy with the grand strategies of global great powers. Moreover, Murat Yeşiltaş and Ferhat Pirinççi article analyzes how Turkey should adjust its grand strategy and protect its important interests by developing a comprehensive grand strategy.

The analysis of Turkey’s grand strategy would be incomplete if no special focus was put on its bilateral relations. While Alperen Kürşad Zengin and İlyas Topsakal explain the common aspects of the grand strategies of Turkey and Russia, in terms of economic diplomacy, Kaan Yiğenoğlu investigates the Turkey-UK free trade agreement which came into force in 2021.

Regarding Turkey’s strategy in other regions, Ali Omidi’s commentary addresses the components of Turkey’s soft power in the MENA region. Abdinor Dahir’s commentary argues that Turkey’s growing footprint in Africa will likely continue to produce positive results for both sides. Within the same scope, Abdennour Toumi’s commentary examines how Algeria-Turkey’s ambitious strategic rapprochement will affect France’s Sahel policy.

This issue of Insight Turkey, through off-topic pieces, covers very significant issues related to the changes in the international system, Karabakh War, Gulf rivalry, and developments in the Balkans. Mustafa Menshawy and Simon Mabon, Kemal İnat and Melih Yıldız, Nazim Jafarov and Araz Aslanlı, Hülya Kınık and Sinem Çelik, Mehmet Rakipoğlu and Andrej Semenov have enriched our issue with their valuable contributions.

We are pleased to present to our readers yet another insightful issue of Insight Turkey that has attempted to bring a comprehensive analysis of Turkey’s grand strategy Hopefully, this issue will provide the foothold for all those interested in defining Turkey’s grand strategy.

We are looking forward to providing you with more next year!