The Analysis of Turkish foreign policy under Justice and Development Party government in the post-9/11 world

Abstract

The disastrous attacks on 11 September 2001 signalled the beginning of a new era within which more people believe that Islam is in conflict with the West and western values. Although the Islamic political identity was traditionally based on opposition to the West and the westernization in Turkey, rapprochement between the Turkish Islamists and western values occurred ironically in the same era. The establishment and the rise of Justice and Development Party (JDP) are seen by many observers as an evidence of this transformation in the position of Islamists towards the West. This thesis evaluates the impact of systemic interactions on the identity formation, interest construction, and thus foreign policy behaviours of JDP-led Turkey through constructivist lenses. In other words, it takes the changing international environment in the post 9/11 world as independent variable, within which international norms are interrogated, East-West perceptions are reconsidered and identities are reconstructed. On the other hand, it takes identity, interests and behaviors of JDP-led Turkey and other international actors as dependent variables.