Turkey's national role conceptions and the implications in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

Although many studies prefer using the mainstream international relations (IR) theories nowadays, this thesis utilizes role theory as a foreign policy analysis (FPA) tool for examining national role conceptions of Turkey and the implications of these roles in the Eastern Mediterranean specifically. Following the preliminary works of several scholars as K. J. Holsti, who study the role of beliefs, images and identities of the states, this thesis aims to correlate Turkish national roles with its political and economic aims towards the Eastern Mediterranean region. In order to offer a comprehensive perspective, the thesis examines the data including official foreign policy speeches of highest-level decision-makers since 2018. By using the roles and related keywords, a content analysis which is based on word count was used as a methodology. This methodology was used for both generally presented national roles and their reflections and implications in the Eastern Mediterranean. Most emphasized 10 roles found in the analysis was visualized with graphics according to years of speeches while the same method was applied to show actor-specific roles. As a result, I argue that using role theory makes it possible to plausibly explain Turkey's foreign policy decisions towards the region rather than mainstream IR theories.