Abstract
This article aims to analyse Turkey’s relations with the Middle East since the late 1990s. While the 1990s was dominated by conflict, the 2000s brought Turkey a series of new opportunities and possibilities for cooperation with the region. Taking both the domestic and international developments into account, the article will first look at the drivers of Turkey’s close cooperation with the Middle East in the first decade of the 2000s. The article will then analyse the challenges for Turkey in the region brought about by the Arab Uprisings, Turkey’s increasing ideological stance and growing security concerns especially in relation to the developments in Egypt and Syria in the second decade of the 2000s. While Turkey began to cooperate closely with Russia since late 2016 in the Syrian quagmire, its straining relations with the US will be discussed in this part. The article will follow by looking at the recent quest of Turkey to mend ties with the regional countries. It will discuss the continuing security challenges and possibilities for cooperation in Turkish-Middle East relations within the context of Turkey’s domestic politics as well as regional dynamics.
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Tür, Ö. (2023). Turkey and the Middle East. In: Arıkan, H., Alemdar, Z. (eds) Turkey’s Challenges and Transformation. Reform and Transition in the Mediterranean. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25799-5_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25799-5_16
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