While Turkey’s nuclear ambitions are not new, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's nuclear rhetoric is in the backdrop of Turkey's deteriorating regional security situation.
Turkey is facing serious challenges in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Its response to the conflict could have far-reaching implications for its struggling economy, damaged relations with the US and EU, its complex partnership with Russia, and for the regional security architecture in the Black Sea.
The early reactions from Turkey and Iran underline their readiness to work with the Taliban to safeguard their interests and expand their regional influence. Both are also willing to work with other regional actors to mitigate traditional and non-traditional security threats emanating from Afghanistan.
Turkey is widely considered to be a middle power in the international system. The authors apply hierarchical, behavioural and ideational approaches to the foreign policy of Turkey: each of the three unveils specific features of Turkey as a middle power in the post-hegemonic world. It is argued that the behavioural approach to studying middle powers should be updated to distinguish ‘benign’ and ‘revisionist’ middle power strategies. The factors contributing to Turkey’s transition from being a benign middle power to being a revisionist one are holistically investigated.
While Ankara can take respite in President Biden’s decision to continue discussions on contentious issues, it would have to invest more diplomatic capital to overcome the challenges facing its relations with the US.
Even as he continues to work towards reviving the Ottoman glory and ‘Ittihad-I Islam' (‘Unity of Islam’), there are significant limitations in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pursuing his Islamist approach to statecraft abroad.
It remains to be seen to what extent Turkish President Recep Tayyeb Erdogan’s recent efforts to mend broken regional ties and address concerns over domestic policies will succeed.
Turkish global power aspirations are hindered by a lack of regional influence. Ankara wishes to enhance strategic depth in the neighborhood. Deviating from a soft power approach, President Erdogan has increasingly adopted a confrontational foreign policy.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have come to blows over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh after a quarter of a century. There are numerous geo-strategic interests at play in the conflict that will impact regional peace and security.
