A Study of The Turkish Republic’s Claims to Regional Power, with a Brief Look at the Late Ottoman Period, 1870-2024
Open Access
- Author:
- Sweeney, Trey
- Area of Honors:
- History
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Sophie C De Schaepdrijver, Thesis Supervisor
Jacob F. Lee, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Turkey
Europe
Middle East
Kurds
Armenia
Nationalism
Ottoman Empire
World War I
World War II
Cold War - Abstract:
- This thesis analyzes the historical trends of Turkish foreign policy from the late Ottoman period through the present day. Despite the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, precedent set during its waning days has been maintained by subsequent governments of the Turkish Republic, all of which have pursued the same goal: national security, however defined, and regional-power status in one way or another. In doing so, Turkey has formed alliances with virtually all the world’s powers, at times even aligning itself with Russia/the USSR, which might be considered its historic enemy depending on perspectives. These transactional alliances have occasionally pitted Turkey against those who consider it an ally. Yet Turkey is able to maintain this precedent due to its strategic location, occupying all of Anatolia and the Turkish Straits, serving as the gateway between East and West, and as the ultimate decision-maker in Russian maritime trade. Turkey has used its foreign policy to seek regional dominance and garner support for nationalist policies at home, which has fueled neo-Ottoman sentiment. Recently, Turkey has even utilized the hosting of refugees from the Syrian conflict as a transactional tool vis-à-vis Europe. Finally, the legacy of Ottoman ethnic policies plays a key role in modern Turkish policy: ethnonationalism, mainly directed against Kurds, fuels foreign policy, domestic policy, and the domain in between, as evidenced by Ankara’s mobilization of Turkish diaspora communities in Europe against Kurdish Turks. The rise of authoritarianism in Turkey, combined with its multiple military campaigns against ethnic minorities have caused considerable tension between Ankara and the Western world.