Turkey’s 'New' Engagements in Africa and Asia: Scope, Content and Implications
Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 115-137, 2011
23 Pages Posted: 8 Jan 2012
Date Written: 2011
Abstract
Since the AK Party assumed power in 2002, Turkish foreign policy has gone through a tremendous change both in its content and scope. The most striking and ‘new’ aspect of Turkey’s foreign policy has been toward Africa and Asia. This article examines and offers a holistic view of these developments. African opening represents a perfect convergence of civil society and state cooperation and bear fruit in political, economic and social terms in a very short time. However, the most important implication is that it aims to conceptualize a ‘new’ Africa in Turkey by overcoming the image of two separate Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. Ankara’s Asia policy has been shaped with an intention of placing the existing relations “in a certain systematic” with the Turkic republics in Central Asia; to reach “a policy of normalization” with countries like China and India; and to follow certain political and economic policies to translate relations “from normal to deep cooperation” with countries like South Korea and Japan.
Keywords: Turkish foreign policy, Africa, Asia, China, India
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