Doğu ile Batı Arasında Türkiye: Siyasi Tercih mi, Pragmatizm mi?

Türkiye’nin Asya-Pasifik ülkeleri ile ilişkileri son dönemlerde Ankara’nın Asya’nın büyük ekonomik güçleri ile ticaret ve yatırım ilişkilerini de artırmasıyla ekonomi odaklı olarak yükselişe geçmiştir. Asya ülkeleriyle bu yakınlaşmanın Türkiye'nin Batı ile ilişkilerinin zor zamanlardan geçtiği bir dönemde gerçekleşmekte olması Türkiye'nin ideolojik olarak Doğu'yu Batı'ya tercih ettiği şeklindeki yanlış bir dikotomiye dayanan popüler önermelere yol açmaktadır. Bu makale, Türkiye'nin dış politika açılımlarını bir grup ülke ile olan ilişkileri diğerleri ile olan ilişkiler pahasına geliştirmek şeklindeki sıfır toplamlı bir tercihden ziyade, stratejik özerklik kazanarak dünyanın önemli bir belirsizlik çağından geçtiği bir zamanda herhangi bir tarafa aşırı bağımlılıktan kaçınma amacına odaklanarak ilişkileri çeşitlendirmeyi amaçlayan pragmatik bir aktivizm olarak yorumlanabileceğini önermektedir. Diğer yandan Türkiye’nin Asya ile ekonomik ilişkilerinin henüz başlangıç aşamasında olduğu ifade edilen makalede Türkiye'nin dış politika pragmatizmi ve stratejik özerklik arayışının yalnızca Asya-Pasifik ile ilişkileri güçlendirmeyi değil, aynı zamanda ABD ve Avrupa Birliği gibi Batı'daki geleneksel ortaklar ve müttefiklerle olan bağları yeniden yapılandırmayı gerektirdiği de belirtilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Türkiye, dış politika, ticaret, pragmatizm, stratejik özerklik, Asya Pasifik

Turkey Between the East and the West: Political Preference or Pragmatism?

Turkey’s relations with the countries of the Asia-Pacific are on the rise with a strong focus on the economic dimension, as Ankara increases its efforts to upgrade its trade and investment links with the economic powerhouses of Asia. This rapprochement with Asian countries takes place at a time when Turkey’s relations with the West are going through difficult times, which leads to popular propositions based on the false dichotomy of Turkey ideologically choosing the East over the West. This article proposes that rather than a binary choice of improving relations with a group of countries at the expense of others, Turkey’s efforts can be more accurately interpreted as pragmatic foreign policy activism aimed at diversifying the country’s relations with a focus on gaining a certain degree of strategic autonomy and avoiding excessive dependence on any party at a time when the world is going through an era of significant uncertainty. It is also noted that while Turkey’s economic relations with Asia are yet to take off in a significant way, Ankara's foreign policy pragmatism and its quest for strategic autonomy require not only strengthening relations with the Asia-Pacific, but also re-calibrating ties with traditional partners and allies in the West such as the United States and the European Union.

Keywords:

Turkey, foreign policy, trade, pragmatism, strategic autonomy, Asia Pacific,

PDF

___

Alperen, Ü. & Ersoy, E. (2019, October 18). Turkey and Asia Anew: A foreign policy initiative in passing. The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2019/10/turkey-and-asia-anew-a-foreign-policy-initiative-in-passing.
Bağlar, N. A. (2021). Country-of-origin effect in Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in Turkey. Istanbul Technical University Institute of Social Sciences. Unpublished research paper.
Çin’den Türkiye’ye Uygur Türkleri tehdidi. (2019, March 1). Euronews. https://tr.euronews.com/2019/03/01/cin-den-turkiye-ye-uygur-turkleri-tehdidi-ekonomik-iliskileri-tehlikeye-atarsiniz.
Dalay, G. (2021, January 29). US-Turkey relations will remain crisis-ridden for a long time to come. The Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/01/29/us-turkey-relations-will-remain-crisis-ridden-for-a-long-time-to-come.
Goldman, D.P. (2018, August 10). China will buy Turkey on the cheap. Asia Times. https://asiatimes.com/2018/08/china-will-buy-turkey-on-the-cheap.
İdiz, S. (2008, June 9). Japon yatırımcısı bekle gör diyor. Milliyet. http://www.milliyet.com.tr/yazarlar/semih-idiz/japon-yatirimcisi--bekle-gor--diyor-874372.
Kibaroğlu, M. & Sazak, S.C. (2016, February 3). Why Turkey chose, and then rejected, a Chinese air-defense missile. Defense One. http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2016/02/turkey-china-air-defense-missile/125648.
Kirişci, K. (2018). Turkey and the West: Fault lines in a troubled alliance. The Brookings Institution.
Lerner, G.M. (2020, July 3). China to the rescue in Turkey? The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2020/07/china-to-the-rescue-in-turkey.
Lesser, I. (2020, July 2). U.S.-Turkish relations in a time of shocks. The German Marshall Fund of the United States. https://www.gmfus.org/blog/2020/07/02/us-turkish-relations-time-shocks.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey (MFA). (2017, December 28) Dışişleri bakanı sayın Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’nun Japonya dışişleri bakanı Taro Kono ile ortak basın toplantısı. http://www.mfa.gov.tr/disisleri-bakani-sayin-mevlut-cavusoglu_nun-japonya-disisleri-bakani-taro-kono-ile-ortak-basin-toplantisi.tr.mfa.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey (MFA). (2019, February 9) Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hami Aksoy. http://www.mfa.gov.tr/sc_-06_-uygur-turklerine-yonelik-agir-insan-haklari-ihlalleri-ve-abdurrehim-heyit-in-vefati-hk.en.mfa.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey (MFA). (n.d.) Turkey’s relations with the Asia-Pacific region. http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkeys-relations-with-east-asia-and-the-pacific.en.mfa.
Ministry of Health of Turkey (MoH). (n.d.) T.C. Sağlık Bakanlığı Covid-19 Bilgilendirme Platformu, https://covid19.saglik.gov.tr.
Ministry of Industry and Technology of Turkey (MoIT). (n.d.). Uluslararası doğrudan yatırım istatistikleri. https://www.sanayi.gov.tr/assets/doc/UluslararasiDogrudanYatirimIstatistikleri2021.xlsx
Office of the President of the Republic of Turkey. (2018, December 13). II. 100 günlük icraat programı. https://tccb.gov.tr/assets/dosya/2018-12-13-ikinci100gun.pdf.
Oğuzlu, T. (2020). Turkish foreign policy in a changing world order. All Azimuth, 9(1), pp.127-139. https://doi.org/10.20991/allazimuth.464076.
Our World in Data (2022, January 15). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations, https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=OWID_WRL.
Pehlivantürk, B. (2017). East Asia in Turkish foreign policy: Turkey as a 'global power’? In P. Gözen Ercan (Eds.) Turkish foreign policy (pp.259-278). Palgrave Macmillan. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50451-3_13.
Stanicek, B. (December 2020). EU-Turkey customs union: Modernisation or suspension? European Parliamentary Research Service. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2020/659411/EPRS_BRI(2020)659411_EN.pdf.
The White House. (2021, January, 28). Statement by NSC spokesperson Emily Horne on national security advisor Jake Sullivan’s call with head of cabinet Bjoern Seibert of the European Commission. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/28/statement-by-nsc-spokesperson-emily-horne-on-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivans-call-with-head-of-cabinet-bjoern-seibert-of-the-european-commission.
Toygür, İ. (2021, February 3). No easy reset: Time for Europe to clarify its relationship with Turkey. Center for Applied Turkey Studies. https://www.swp-berlin.org/en/publication/no-easy-reset-time-for-europe-to-clarify-its-relationship-with-turkey.
Turkish-Japanese Technology University (TJU). (n.d.). Concept of the university. https://www.tju.edu.tr/english.
Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK). (n.d.). Dış ticaret. https://data.tuik.gov.tr/Kategori/GetKategori?p=dis-ticaret-104&dil=1.
Yeniden Asya açılımı. (2019, December 27). Milliyet. https://www.milliyet.com.tr/siyaset/yeniden-asya-acilimi-6109984.
Yeşiltaş, M. (2021, February 13). Türk-Amerikan ilişkileri yol ayrımında mı? Sabah. https://www.sabah.com.tr/yazarlar/perspektif/murat-yesiltas/2021/02/13/turk-amerikan-iliskileri-yol-ayriminda-mi.
Zanotti, J. & Thomas, C. (2020, November 9). Turkey: Background and U.S. relations in brief. Congressional Research Service report. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R44000.pdf.