International System and Foreign Policy: Turkey Closer Ties with the

Middle East in 2007

Harini Lukika Dhini and Irfa Puspitasari

Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Airlangga

Keywords: Turkey, United States, European Union, Middle power, International system

Abstract: In 2007, Turkey has been becoming a state that received much attention because its alteration in foreign

policy. Turkey was first known as a country that was really close to United States and European Union due

to the intention to follow these two modern states. Their relations motivate Turkey to following the values of

United States and European Union. However since 2007 Turkey under Recep Erdogan has been shifting its

foreign policy and decided to attempt getting closer to Middle East. This decision is aiming to build a strong

relation with Middle East countries, whose energy resources are needed by Turkey. Erdogan also states that

Turkey’s desire to become a mediator in the conflictual regional is another factor that encourages Turkey to

get closer to Middle East countries. As now Turkey is rising as middle power, Turkey is able to make decision

itself and play an active role in the international sphere. In order to have deeper understanding about Turkey’s

foreign policy, the writer choose international system as level of analysis. In this paper, the alteration of

Turkey’s foreign policy is analyzed with distribution of power, major power, and presence of supranational

organizations

1 INTRODUCTION

The return of Turkey's identity to Islamism in 2007

was surprising. Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip

Erdogan, Turkey began to pay much attention and

intensify its relationship with the Middle East

countries. After the dynamics of secular revolution

under the rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, these

symbols of Western civilization began to be

abandoned. In fact, Turkey had abolished the

religious symbols of Islam which later replaced with

the symbols of European civilization which is

considered as a progress or modernity (Zurcher

20014, 242). In fact, this massive Turkish revolution

has won praise from the president of the United

States, George Bush, as an Islamic state that can

embrace democracy and rule of law (Fulford 2015).

Many people assume that this policy change is based

on Erdogan and his party, AKP. In fact, in the first

election of 2002, Erdogan declared that something

that the new Turkish government should prioritize

was economic stability, EU membership, and the

exclusion of religious-related social issues (Rabasa

and Larrabee 2008, 51). The first five years, the AKP

and Erdogan can run a stable and balanced

government, and Turkey can balance between

relations with Middle Eastern countries as well as

relations with European countries considered as

modernity. Entering 2007 the PPA gained a greater

vote than in 2002. The reason behind AKP's success

is the high level of legitimacy of the pro-ethnic

communities of the Middle East. This success has had

an impact on Turkey again. In contrast to its original

vision, the AKP and Erdogan no longer aimed

towards Europe, but expanded and deepened Turkish

ties with the Middle East (Rabasa and Larrabee 2008,

75).

Changes in Turkey's policy direction in 2007 can

be seen with the emergence of Erdogan's intention to

return Turkey to Islamism which is the identity of the

Middle East. This can be seen in the changes in

various aspects, one of which is the return of Arabic

usage and Arabic spelling on school books and

history books (Fulford 2015). Under the leadership of

Erdogan, the intensification of relations between

Turkey and the countries of the Middle East is

increasingly visible. One of them is when Turkey has

sent a thousand troops to participate in security efforts

in Lebanon at the end of 2006. Turkey is also known

to have re-established relations with Iran and Syria

(Rabasa and Larrabee 2008, 87). In fact, Turkey has

sent its miiliter troops to help settle the conflict in

Syria and try to become a mediator between Syria and

Israel. This is clearly seen as a policy shift, since

Dhini, H. and Puspitasari, I.

International System and Foreign Policy: Turkey Closer Ties with the Middle East in 2007.

DOI: 10.5220/0010279400002309

In Proceedings of Airlangga Conference on International Relations (ACIR 2018) - Politics, Economy, and Security in Changing Indo-Paciﬁc Region, pages 503-509

ISBN: 978-989-758-493-0

503

previously Turkey had the same tendencies as the

United States and European countries, isolating itself

from Iran and Syria. Together with Iraq, Turkey also

decided to intensify trade cooperation, where before

the Erdogan administration, Turkey tended to be

indifferent to the economic cooperation relations in

the region which is considered no more profitable

than cooperation with European countries. It is also

done by Turkey with Saudi Arabia, which is now

known that the leaders of Turkey and Saudi Arabia

often hold meetings to discuss efforts to strengthen

the cooperation between the two countries.

One of the reasons raised by Erdogan regarding

this change in policy direction is Erdogan's desire to

return Turkey to welfare in the era of the Ottoman

Empire with the era of Middle Eastern identity as the

home country of Islam. Angel Rabasa and F. Stephen

Larrabee (2008, 88-9) also stated that Turkey's

decision was driven by Turkey's energy needs against

Middle Eastern countries such as Arab Sauda and Iran

which are true suppliers of natural gas and petroleum.

Each year, Turkey needs 500,000 barrels of oil all

imported from Iran and continues to increase year by

year, so Turkey begins to think about its relationship

with Iran since 2007, so that Iran can still meet the

energy needs of Turkey (Middle East Institute t.t).

Turkey is also known to want to observe Iran's

nuclear development more clearly, which desire will

only be achieved if Turkey has a close relationship

with Iran. Volker Perthes (2010, 2-3) adds to other

reasons behind Turkey's policy that Turkey wants to

direct its foreign policy to better understand the

problems in the region and to contribute to resolving

conflicts in its neighbors. Related to this, Turkey has

two main objectives, the first is to provide solutions

related to problems in Syria, Iraq and Iran, as well as

to build good relations with these three countries

which is actually considered conflictual and was once

avoided by Turkey. The second objective is that

Turkey plans to be a mediator among the problematic

actors around it, such as Israel, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon

and its backers, Hamas, Fatah, and the United States.

1.1 International System in Foreign

Policy Analysis

One level of analysis that can be used to analyze a

foreign policy is the international system. In essence,

the international environment can provide an

influence as well as a guide for policy makers to

determine what policy options need to be formulated

and undertaken (Breuning 2007, 141). The

circumstances in the international environment have

uncertain circumstances, making it difficult for policy

makers to identify what opportunities are being

utilized in the policy-making process. However, this

international situation is not something that a country

can avoid. In this regard, the formulation of foreign

policy made with adjustments to the international

system requires the ability to see the world and its

specific situation and the constraints and

contradictions between domestic affairs and

international affairs. In the lecture "International

Policy Analysis: International System" by Radityo

Dharmaputra (2016) mentioned that the level of

analysis of this international system has six attributes,

which include the number of actors, power

distribution, the amount of major power, the degree

of obedience, the presence or absence of

supranational organizational strength, and the number

of contestation issues.

Marijke Breuning (2007, 142) writes that one of

the most important factors to be considered in the

level of analysis of the international system is the

capability of each country, because each country has

different capabilities that influence the different

responses of each phenomenon in the international

sphere. These capabilities include calculated state

power and assets, such as the country's geography

size, country's populations, state-owned resources,

and levels of economic and military capabilities. State

capability becomes important, because it can not be

denied that the distribution of capabilities in each

country is always different and trigger the discovery

of interdependence and asymmetric relationships

between one country and another. Related to these

differences, Breuning (2007, 149) classifies the

country based on its capabilities by introducing the

terms great power, middle power, and small states.

Great power is defined as a country with strong

political, economic, and military capabilities, so that

it can have an impact on the global constellation.

Slightly down, middle power is a newly upgraded

country and has the ability to influence, but not with

the military aspect and level of influence of great

power. Of these two forces, small states are present as

a state that can only accept the influence of great

power and middle power. This is in line with the

power distribution attributes as described by Radityo

Dharmaputra (2016).

With regard to the attributes of the number of

major power and the strength of supranational

organizations, the view of the realists would be

opposed to the influence of these two attributes, as it

holds the principle that the international world is

anarchy, so that each state will defend its own

sovereignty and no central force can regulate

attitudes, actions, and regulations of each country.

ACIR 2018 - Airlangga Conference on International Relations

504

Marijke Breuning (2007, 158) states that although the

international system can be said to be anarchy, it can

not be denied that in fact, every country will

inevitably have limited freedom, because it has

approved international cooperation in the

organization which must consider the decisions and

ideas -ide from other member countries and follow

the values and norms agreed upon in international

organizations. So also with the existence of great

power, where middle power state and small states will

still receive influence from great power. This is

because even though middle power and small states

still have their own full sovereignty over their

country, they both need a great power role that can

give a lot of influence in the global constellation. In

addition, great power with great capability, can

usually take advantage of middle power and small

states to help realize the national great power by

giving rewards that favor small states as well, so

basically middle power and small states can not really

stand alone without there is influence or even

intervention from great power.

Of the various attributes that are written, the

actual distribution of power becomes crucial. This is

because the power distribution can provide many

implications. Differences in power distribution or

country capability in the international sphere produce

some patterns of foreign policy (Breuning 2007, 152).

The first foreign policy pattern is consensus oriented

that illustrates a situation where there is a gap

between a stronger and weaker state which makes the

weak states tend to voluntarily follow the direction of

a stronger state. The second pattern is compliant

foreign policy, ie a stronger state tends to press a

weaker country, so inevitably a weaker country will

comply with it. This pattern is a common pattern,

because weaker countries usually have no other

options and do not have the strength to face a stronger

state. The third foreign policy pattern is a

counterdependent that can be understood as a

situation where weaker states respond to the pressures

of powerful states by violating or deliberately

deviating from what the powerful states advocate.

The last country policy pattern is compensation which

is a greater counter-dependent resistance, a situation

where a weak leader of a country emerges and

opposes a stronger state and then gets the attention of

its domestic community. Nevertheless, Breuning

(2007, 155) also writes that there is still an important

variable in the international system, the national role

conception, which means that each country is actually

aware of its ability to be what and what role in the

international environment.

1.2 Turkey Closer Ties with the Middle

East

The shift of Turkey's foreign policy from the pro-

Westerns back to its original identity, the Middle

East, was indeed surprising and sparked the

emergence of questions from Western countries.

Previously, Turkey has intensively linked

cooperation with the United States and the European

Union, which makes Turkey ruled out its regional

region. Turkey's proximity to Western countries is

one of the factors behind Turkey's far-reaching

Middle Eastern countries. However, Turkey's shift of

foreign policy under Recep Tayyip Erdogan's

leadership is incomprehensible to the polarity

between Eastern and Western countries, requiring an

in-depth analysis to find out how this shift in Turkish

foreign policy and its underlying factors through an

analytical rating. To analyze this shift in Turkish

foreign policy, I will try to analyze by using the

international system analysis rankings to prove

whether the dynamics of the international system

contributes to the shift of Turkish foreign policy. The

author initiated this analysis with power distribution

variables and by presenting a table containing Turkish

capabilities. The following is a table of Turkish

capability calculations that can be used as a

benchmark in analyzing Turkish policy shifts in terms

of power distribution.

Figure 1

From the table above, it can be seen that Turkey is a

middle power country. In view of realism as

summarized by Kohei Imai (2013), the level of

military capability and Turkish gross domestic

income can be proof that Turkey is one of the rising

middle power. In line with Kohei Imai, Emel Parlar

(2014, 108) also argues that with the present

capability, Turkey can be regarded as rising middle

power which begins to determine its own movement.

Not only that, rising middle power is also a country

International System and Foreign Policy: Turkey Closer Ties with the Middle East in 2007

505

that can begin to actively participate in the course of

the global constellation with its own initiative and

decisions, although not yet able to give much

influence to be able to suppress other weaker

countries such as great power. However, not all rising

middle power begins to try to participate actively in

the global constellation. Since 2002, there has been

some evidence of Turkish activeness in the global

constellation. In February 2002, Turkey hosted a

discussion forum of the Organization of Islamic

Cooperation-European Union in Istanbul. In July

2015, Turkey was elected representatives of the

Alliance of Civillizations which is a new UN

institution (Imai 2013). This shows that as a middle

power, Turkey has gained recognition in the

international sphere.

Turkey once acknowledged the superiority of the

Western countries and made the Western countries a

benchmark of modernity and progress to be achieved

by Turkey. This has prompted Turkey to implement

preferences and suggestions from Western countries,

especially the United States. The United States which

is a great power has a pretty good track record of

cooperation with Turkey. Turkey and the United

States are known to have cooperated in the economy

and efforts to eradicate terrorism. Import and export

activities as well as investment between Turkey and

the United States recorded the benefits of both

countries. From this cooperation with the United

States, it can not be denied that Turkey has ever

complied with what the United States guides as great

power, one of which has also isolated itself from Iran

before 2006 (Turkish Coalition of America t.t). This

is because Turkey can not deny that the United States

as great power can give and teach Turkey a lot of

things, so Turkey does not mind to follow directions

from the United States. But along with the

development of his country, Turkey began to emerge

as a middle power that dared to determine its own

position. Looking at Turkey's foreign policy under

Erdogan's re-concentration on Turkey's position in its

own region, it can be seen that Turkey is a rising

middle power with high initiative to bridge or

neutralize relations between Western countries and

Middle Eastern countries which tend to be conflictual

(Parlar 2014, 110-1). Turkish policy is driven by the

interests and strategic values that have been dared to

issue by Turkey. Turkey considers that the regional

area is a house, which contains the countries that

Turkey needs and requires Turkey that has actually

learned a great deal from the more advanced Western

countries of the Middle East countries. Turkey needs

Middle Eastern countries to meet its high energy

needs and keep increasing each year. With this

interest, Turkey certainly can not continue to leave

the Middle Eastern countries, so that its neighbors can

continue to supply Turkey's energy needs. On the

contrary, with the relatively higher economy and

military power of other Middle Eastern countries,

Turkey is beginning to be seen as a mediator and

initiator for the realization of regional Middle East

peace and prosperity.

When associated with the influence of major

power in the international system, Turkey does have

a close relationship with the United States as great

power that can give a big influence for each country

in the world. This suggests that it is actually possible

that Turkey is influenced by the United States in

designing its foreign policy. Since 1989, the United

States and Iran, which is a Middle Eastern country,

are known to have had a bad relationship. This is

because of the suspicion of the United States against

Iran's nuclear development that is considered to

threaten the emergence of World War III. The

relationship between the two is heating up, when the

events of 9/11 in the United States. In fact, the United

States once initiated economic punishment aimed at

Iran and managed to gain a lot of support from various

countries, not least the developed countries which

actually also have great power to reject the policy of

the United States (McCutcheon 2016). Related to this,

the United States also had time to take advantage of

Turkey which is a partner, to become an enemy of

Iran. Until 2006, Turkey became a country willing to

comply with suggestions from the United States.

With a pro-Western position, Turkey follows

directives from the United States, as well as away

from the Middle East countries. But after 2006,

Turkey twisted its policies into a pro-Middle East and

began to intensify its cooperative relations with Iran.

The contradiction between US and Turkish policy can

be seen again in the United States's reluctance to help

resolve the conflict in Syria. Despite restricting

distance to Syria as the United States, Erdogan moves

by itself to confront the conflict in Syria in 2016, even

daring to say that the United States is actually

supporting terrorist groups in Syria, thereby

extending time to help resolve the conflict there

(Flynn and Birchall 2016). Turkey is still continuing

its cooperation and maintaining good relations with

the United States, but Turkey is more courageous in

taking action in accordance with its own judgment.

From this, it can be seen that the presence of major

power in the international sphere has given much

influence to Turkey, but it is no longer able to

encourage Turkey to become a country that continues

to adhere to great powers in the international sphere,

but to make Turkey a country that dares to lay off its

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obedience to the major power such as the United

States.

Turning to the attributes of supranational

organizational strength, the EU became an

organization that influenced much of Turkey. Since

1963, Turkey has volunteered to become a member of

European regional cooperation which at that time was

still a European Economic Community. For Turkey,

the EU is a venue for strong and modern economic

and political cooperation. Turkey also considers that

it has the right to be part of the European Union, given

its geographical location coinciding with the

continent of Europe, even the capital of Turkey itself

is divided into two regions, namely Istanbul Asia and

Istanbul Europe. However, until now, Turkey can not

yet become a member country of the European Union.

Turkey's acceptance process in the EU is quite long,

with Turkey having won the status of the European

Union candidate in 1999. Basically, Turkey and the

EU countries have different characteristics and

identities. Turkey, which is a predominantly Muslim

country, must adapt its policies with the EU to join as

a member country. Democratization and

institutionalization became Turkey's main agenda to

adapt to the values and norms of the Republic of

Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2015. The EU is

a regional region that is against Muslims and Middle

Eastern countries, which further proves a

contradiction between the EU and Turkey. Almost all

EU member states assume that the Middle East is a

source of terrorism that needs to be shunned or even

resisted. This has subsequently encouraged EU

countries to agree to alliance with the United States

in order to support Israel to attack the Palestinians

(Selim, 22-3). EU countries such as France, Germany,

Britain, began to send military attacks from 2006 to

2010 to Palestine.

The values and norms of the EU can not all be

realized by Turkey. Democratization and

institutionalization are no longer a problem for

Turkey, as Turkey has succeeded in showing its

adaptive change which can be seen with political

freedom in Turkey and its bilateral economic

cooperation relations with each EU country which

strengthens from year to year (Republic of Turkey

Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2015). Related to the

sensitivism of EU countries against Middle Eastern

countries, Turkey itself initially tended to ignore the

Middle East countries and seemed to be leaning

towards the European Union. However, over time,

Turkey feels being mocked by the European Union.

This is because Turkey has long waited for the

certainty of accession negotiations that have not paid

off. From every accession negotiation, it is always

met by EU countries that do not approve of Turkish

entry. Of the 30 chapters of the accession agreement

to be ratified, only 14 chapters were successfully

ratified within a period of 10 years (2003-November

2013) (Chislett 2015). Recep Erdogan then

considered that Turkey should be able to release the

EU, meaning that Turkey is no longer prioritizing the

EU entry effort as its foreign policy, although there is

still a desire to be part of the EU, given the EU can

benefit Turkey's economy. Thus, Turkey chose to

balance its position by shifting the direction of its

foreign policy to regional cooperation in the Middle

East. Turkey has also become more selective towards

the values and norms that exist in the EU. The hatred

of EU countries towards the Middle East can no

longer be a role model for Turkey.

In connection with the distribution of power in the

international realm proving that Turkey stands as a

middle power, it can be said that the international

system has an impact on Turkey in its foreign policy

formulation. His position as a middle power makes

Turkey a country that can start to determine its own

foreign policy and can play an active role in the

international system. As a result of the rise in turkey

power, the role of the United States as a great power

long enough to stand as a world leader and give a big

influence on almost all countries, slowly also began

to dare to be ruled out by Turkey. In reality, the

United States has a good relationship with Turkey and

has had a lot of influence on Turkey. However,

Turkey along with Erdogan gradually began to think

of the position of Turkey in need of the Middle East

rather than having to stay away from the Middle East

as it is influenced by the United States, so Turkey

chose to keep working with the United States, but

away from the directions of the United States and

begin to approach to its own regional region. Before

deciding to re-establish itself with the Middle East,

Turkey has also been eager to become a member of

the European Union which means increasingly

leaving the Middle East region. It can not be

prevented that Turkey is taking part in adopting the

values and norms of the EU. Once again, Turkey is

confronted with other actors (EU countries) who do

not like the Middle East countries. The principle of

EU countries is increasingly difficult for Turkey to

enter the European Union. From here, Turkey is

increasingly committed to rebuilding close ties with

Middle Eastern countries that can not encourage

Turkey to change its own interests or even dictate

Turkey. Turkey's stance is also encouraged on the

consideration of the importance of regional stability,

which will certainly encourage international stability

as well. In this regard, it is understood that the

International System and Foreign Policy: Turkey Closer Ties with the Middle East in 2007

507

international system contributes to Turkey's foreign

policy changes. All direction and pressure from major

power and international organizations make Turkey

realize that Turkey should be able to determine its

own decisions that can bring benefits to its country

and provide an initiative for the sustainability of the

international system.

2 CONCLUSION

The reasons behind the shift or change in a country's

foreign policy have always been an interesting

subject. Each country requires appropriate and

appropriate foreign policy changes to address a major

phenomenon that is occurring, so that the state can

ensure its security position in the dynamic

international sphere. Turkey is a country with quite a

lot of foreign policy changes. Turkey's much-

discussed foreign policy changes today are re-

bonding Turkish relations with Middle Eastern

countries under the leadership of Recep Erdogan.

After serving as first-term president, in 2002,

Erdogan made major changes to Turkey's foreign

policy in 2007. During Erdogan's rule Turkey was

known to be a pro-country against Western countries,

particularly the United States and the EU

supernational organizations. However, 2007 became

a turning point in Turkey's foreign policy changes that

want to strengthen ties with Middle Eastern countries

that were previously ignored by Turkey. Having sided

with the United States and Europe, Turkey has gained

much influence from this great power and

supranational organization that pushed Turkey to stay

away from the Middle East and even further

strengthen the secularism and democracy it sees as an

indicator of the modernity and progress of the

country. Turkey's foreign policy to return to the

Middle East is reaping many questions. One of the

reasons often encountered in the media and

conferences with Erdogan regarding these foreign

policy changes is that Turkey has great energy needs

with the Middle East countries, which makes Turkey

begin to consider developing good relations with the

Eastern countries Central, in order to continue

supplying Turkey's energy needs. In addition,

Erdogan and Turkey consider that striving for

regional stability is increasingly important, given that

regional stability will also have an impact on

international stability.

If looking at these Turkish foreign policy changes

through the international system analysis rankings, it

can be said that the international system also has an

impact on this change. However, it can not be said

that the international system is the only reason behind

Turkey's foreign policy changes. Other variables,

such as national attributes, can also be one of the

reasons behind Turkey's foreign policy changes. The

enormous influence of the international system does

encourage Turkey to re-correct its foreign policy and

make changes, so that Turkey can maintain its

position in the international sphere and not continue

to be a country that adheres to countries with great

powers and supranational organizations. Turkey's

position is now a middle power that encourages

Turkey to take its own decisions that are considered

to provide benefits for Turkey. In this regard, Turkey

has also begun efforts to contribute and provide an

initiative in the international sphere, not just to follow

the direction and influence of the stronger countries

of Turkey. This can be seen from Turkey's efforts to

mediate amid conflicts in the Middle East, with the

aim of realizing regional security and stability. Given

that the Middle East is a conflicting regional region,

Turkey hopes that with Turkey as a mediator, the

Middle East becomes a safe, stable and safe regional

region that can contribute to the creation of

international security and stability in various aspects.

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