Tracing the Shift in Turkey’s Normative Approach towards the International Order through Debates in the UN

The “normative turn” associated with the post-Cold War order has been influential in rising states’ increasing reference to normative issues like justice and fairness. Rising powers are expected to challenge the established institutions or at least attempt to revise the dominant norms of the system in order to reflect their own interests and values. This paper tentatively treats Turkey as a rising state and attempts to understand the gradual “normative shift” in Turkey’s approach towards international order in the context of Turkey-UN relations over the last decade. To this aim, Turkey’s normative approach towards the international order will be comparatively analyzed through the debates at the UN focusing specifically on two consecutive periods, the 1990s and the 2000s. By doing that, the paper will theoretically question and empirically analyze the extent to which Turkey took a revisionist or integrationist posture towards the international order in the UN platform over the last decade

___

  • Inis L. Claude Jr., Swords into Plowshares, The Problems and Progress of International Organizations, Random House Canada, New York, 1964, pp.3–17.
  • Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World, Allen Lane, London, 2008, p. 2.
  • Matthew D. Stephen, “Rising Regional Powers and International Institutions: The Foreign Policy Orientations of India, Brazil and South Africa”, Global Society, Vol. 26, No. 3 (July, 2012), p. 289.
  • Louise Fawcett, “The History and Concept of Regionalism”, UNU-CRIS Working Papers W-2013/5, p. 4 at http://www.cris.unu.edu/fileadmin/workingpapers/W-2013-5_revised. pdf (last visited 12 February 2015).
  • Ramesh Thakur, “The United Nations in Global Governance: Rebalancing Organized Multilateralism For Currentand Future Challenges”, p.3 at http://www.un.org/en/ga/ president/65/initiatives/GlobalGovernance/Thakur_GA_Thematic_Debate_on_UN_in_ GG.pdf (last visited 4 January 2015).
  • Andrew Hurrell, “Brazil: What kind of a Rising State in what kind of Institutional Order?”, Alan S. Alexandroff and Andrew F. Cooper (eds.) Rising States, Rising Institutions: Challenges for Global Governance, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC, 2010, p. 139.
  • Ziya Öniş and Mustafa Kutlay, “Rising Powers in a Changing Global Order: The Political Economy of Turkey in the Age of BRICS”, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 8 (2013), pp. 1409-1426. 8 André Barrinha, “The Ambitious Insulator: Revisiting Turkey’s Position in Regional Security Complex Theory”, Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2014), p. 179.
  • “After BRIC comes MIST”, The Guardian, 1 February 2011.
  • Emel Parlar Dal, “Assessing Turkey’s “Normative” Power in the Middle East and North Africa Region: New Dynamics and their Limitations”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 14, No. 4 (2013), pp. 709-734.
  • Kemal Kirişci, “The transformation of Turkish foreign policy: The Rise of the Trading State”, New Perspectives on Turkey, No. 40 (2009), pp. 29-57; Öniş and Kutlay, “Rising Powers in a Changing Global Order”, pp. 1409-1426.
  • Meliha Altunışık, “The Turkish Model and Democratization in the Middle East”, Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol. 27 (2005), pp. 45-63; André Bank and Roy Karadag, “The “Ankara Moment”: The politics of Turkey’s Regional Power in the Middle East, 2007-11”, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 34, No.2 (2013), pp. 287-304; Şaban Kardaş, “Turkey: A Regional Power Facing a Changing International System”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 14, No. 4 (2013), pp. 637-660.
  • Abdullah Yuvaci and Muhittin Kaplan, “Testing the Axis-Shift Claim: An Empirical Analysis of Turkey’s Voting Alignment on Important Resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly during the Years 2000–10”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2013), pp. 212-228; Aslı Ilgit and Binnur Özkeçeci-Taner, “Turkey at the United Nations Security Council: Rhythmic Diplomacy and A Quest for Global Influence”, Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2013), pp. 183-202.
  • Andrew F. Hart and Bruce D. Jones, “How Do Rising Powers Rise?”, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, Vol. 52, No.6 (2010), p. 65.
  • G. John Ikenberry and Thomas Wright, “Rising Powers and Global Institutions”, The Centurty Foundation Report, p:4. at http://72.32.39.237:8080/Plone/publications/2008/2/ pdfs/pb635/ikenberry.pdf (Last visited 10 December 2014).
  • Hart and Jones, p. 65.
  • Andrew Hurrell, “Hegemony, liberalism and Global Order: What space for would-be great powers?”, International Affairs, Vol. 82, No. 1,(2006), pp. 1-19. 18 Stephen, p. 289.
  • G. John Ikenberry, “The Rise of China and the Future of the West”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 1 (January-February 2008). 20 Ibid.
  • Ikenberry and Wright, p. 5.
  • Andrew F. Cooper and Daniel Flemes, “Foreign Policy Strategies of Emerging Powers in a Multipolar World: An Introductory Review”, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 6 (2013), p. 948.
  • Philip Nel, “Redistribution and Recognition: What Emerging Regional Powers Want”, Review of International Studies, Vol. 36 (2010), pp. 951- 974.
  • Richard Falk, “Geopolitical Turmoil and Civilizational Pluralism”, in Fred Dallmary, M. Akif Kayapınar and İsmail Yaylacı (eds.), Civilizations and World Order: Geopolitics and Cultural Difference, Lexignton Books: UK, 2014, p. 8.
  • Richard Fontaine and Daniel M. Kliman, “International Order and Global Swing States”, The Washington Quarterly, Vol. 36, No.1 (2013), p. 94.
  • Andrew Hurrell and Sandeep Sengupta, “Emerging Powers, North- South Relations and Global Climate Politics”, International Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 3(2012), p. 464.
  • Nathalie Tocci, “Profiling Normative Foreign Policy”, in Nathalie Tocci (ed.), Who is a Normative Foreign Policy Actor?, Brussels: Centre for European Policy Studies, 2008, p. 1. 28 Ibid, p. 11.
  • Cooper and Flemes, p. 947. 30 Ibid, p. 8-9.
  • Ngaire Woods, “Global Governance after the Financial Crisis: A New Multilateralism or the Last Gasp of the Great Powers?”, Global Policy, Vol. 1, No.1 (January 2010), pp. 51- 63.
  • See for instance, Öniş and Kutlay, “Rising Powers in a Changing Global Order”, pp. 1409- 1426; Soner Cagatay, The Rise of Turkey: The Twenty-First Century’s First Muslim Power, University of Nebrasca Press, 2014, p. 15; Tarık Oğuzlu and Emel Parlar Dal, “Decoding Turkey’s Rise: An Introduction”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 14, No.4 (2013), pp. 617-636; Ayse Zarakol, “Problem Areas for the New Turkish Foreign Policy”, Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, Vol.40, No.5, pp. 739-745.
  • Bernard Lewis, “Why Turkey Is the only Muslim Democracy”, Middle East Quarterly, (March 1994), pp.41-49.
  • Tevfik Rüştü Aras, Atatürk’ün Dış Politikası, İstanbul: Kaynak, 2003, p. 9.
  • Oral Sander, Türkiye’nin Dış Politikası, İstanbul, İmge, 1998, p. 141.
  • Mehmet Gönlübol and Türkkaya Ataöv, Turkey in the United Nations, A Legal and Political Appraisal, Ankara: Ajans Turk Press, 1960, p: 20.
  • Yücel Güçlü “Turkey’s entrance into the League of Nations”, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 39, No.1 (2003), p: 197.
  • Statement by Permanenet Representative of Turkey before the United Nations Selim Sarper at UN General Assembly, 22 September 1947 at http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/ UNDOC/GEN/NL4/717/75/PDF/NL471775.pdf?OpenElement (last visited: 7.2.2015).
  • Bezen Balamir Coşkun and Halit Hakan Ediğ, “Uluslararası Örgütler ve Dış Politika: Türkiye’nin Uluslararası Örgütlerde Artan Görünürlüğü”, in Ertan Efegil, and Mehmet Seyfettin Erol (eds.), Dış Politika Analizinde Teorik Yaklaşımlar: Türk Dış Politikası Örneği, Ankara, Barış Kitap, 2012, p. 342.
  • “Dışişleri Bakanı Fuat Köprülü’nün 24 Şubat 1954 tarihinde TBMM’de yaptığı konuşma”, Ayın Tarihi, (Şubat 1954).
  • Berdal Aral, “Fifty years on: Turkey’s voting orientation at the UN General Assembly, 1948–97”, Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 40, No.2 (2004), p. 138. 42 Ibid, p. 139. 43 Ibid, p. 140.
  • http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/152/88/IMG/NR015288. pdf?OpenElement (last visited: 05 February 2015).
  • Aral, “Fifty years on”, p. 152. 46 Ibid, p. 156.
  • Gönlübol, pp. 154-155.
  • Statement by Permanenet Representative of Turkey before the United Nations Selim Sarper at UN General Assembly.
  • Parlar Dal, “Assessing Turkey’s “Normative” Power”, p. 715.
  • Eyüp Ersoy, “Turkish Foreign Policy Toward the Algerian War of Independence (1954– 62)”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 13, No. 4 (2012), p. 686.
  • Sabri Sayari, “Turkish Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era: The Challanges of Multi- Regionalism”, Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 55, No.1 (Fall 2000), p. 169.
  • Statement by Foreign Minister Hikmet Çetin in UN General Assembly, 6 October 1992, at http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/PRO/N92/612/43/PDF/N9261243. pdf?OpenElement (last visited 14 February 2015). 53 Ibid.
  • Statement by President Suleyman Demirel in UN General Assembly, 22 October 1995, at http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N95/863/89/PDF/N9586389. pdf?OpenElement (last visited 21 March 2015).
  • Declaration by the Members of Turkish National Assembly, 12 January 1993. TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, Cilt 27, Birleşim 53, 1.Oturum.
  • http://unbisnet.un.org:8080/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=14226H0B848E8.27204&menu=se arch&aspect=power&npp=50&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=speech&ri=&index=.SM&term =&matchoptbox=0%7C0&oper=AND&aspect=power&index=.SP&term=&matchoptbo x=0%7C0&oper=AND&index=.SC&term=Turkey&matchoptbox=0%7C0&oper=AND &index=.SS&term=Bosnia&matchoptbox=0%7C0&ultype=&uloper=%3D&ullimit=&u ltype=&uloper=%3D&ullimit=&sort=&x=8&y=12 (last visited 14 February 2015) Ibid.
  • Milliyet orginized a signature campaign adressed to UN Secretary General Butros Gali in 1992.
  • “Letter dated 25 June 1992 from Permanent Representative of Turkey addressed to the Secretary General”, 25 June 1992, at http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/ N92/275/84/PDF/N9227584.pdf (last visited 14 February 2015).
  • Speech by Erdal İnönü in Turkish Grand National Assembly, 7 May 1992, TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, 10. Cilt, 74. Birleşim, 7 Mayıs 1992.
  • Birgül Demirtaş, “Turkish Foreign Policy towards the Balkans: A Europeanized Foreign Policy in a De-Europeanized National Context?”, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2015), p. 8.
  • http://www.tsk.tr/6_uluslararasi_iliskiler/turkiyeninbarisidesteklemeharekatinakatkilari. html (last visited 17 March 2015).
  • Şule Kut, Balkanlarda Kimlik ve Egemenlik, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları, İstanbul, 2005, p. 62.
  • http://www.mfa.gov.tr/iv_-european-security-and-defence-identity_policy-_esdi_p_. en.mfa (last visited 15 March 2015).
  • Parlar Dal, “Assessing Turkey’s “Normative” Power “, p. 715.
  • Murat Yeşiltaş, “The Transformation of the Geopolitical Vision in Turkish Foreign Policy”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 14, No. 4 (2013), p. 666. 66 İbid. 67 Sayari, p. 169.
  • Bank and Karadag, p. 292.
  • İsmail Cem, Turkey in the New Century. Expanded Second Ed., Istanbul: Rustem, 2001, pp. 1-21.
  • İsmail Cem, “Turkish Foreign Policy: Opening New Horizons for Turkey at the Beginning of a new Millenium”, Turkish Policy Quarterly, Spring 2002. at http://www.turkishpolicy.com/ article/33/turkish-foreign-policy-opening-new-horizons-for-turkey-at-the-beginning-of-a- new-millennium-spring-2002/ (last visited 15 March 2015).
  • Parlar Dal, “Assessing Turkey’s “Normative” Power”, p. 715.
  • Emel Parlar Dal, “A Normative Theory Approach to Contemporary Turkish Foreign Policy through the Cosmopolitanism-Communitarianism Divide”, International Journal, Vol. 70, No. 3 (September 2015) (forthcoming).
  • Sayari, “Turkish Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era”, p. 182.
  • Öniş and Kutlay, “Rising Powers in a Changing Global Order”, p. 1411.
  • Cagatay, The Rise of Turkey, p. 15.
  • Demirtaş, “Turkish Foreign Policy towards the Balkans”, p. 8.
  • Ahmet Davutoğlu, “The Three Major Earthquakes in the International System and Turkey”, The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 48, No. 2 (2013), p. 3.
  • Ahmet Davutoğlu, “Turkish Vision of Regional and Global Order”, Political Reflection, Vol. 1, No. 2 (2010), p. 40.
  • Ahmet Davutoğlu, “Principles of Turkish Foreign Policy and Regional Political Structuring”, Horizons, No.1 (Autumn 2014), p. 100.
  • Speech entitled “Vision 2023: Turkey’s Foreign Policy Objectives” delivered by. Ahmet Davutoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey at the Turkey Investor Conference: The road to 2023 organized by Goldman Sachs (London, 22 November 2011). 81 Ibid.
  • At General Debate, Turkey’s Foreign Minister urges UN reform, action on Syrian crisis”, UN News Center, at http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=43125&#. VM95_5X9k5s (last visited 15 March 2015).
  • Statement by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at UN Security Council on 30 August 2012. at http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/PRO/N12/475/08/PDF/N1247508. pdf?OpenElement (last visited 21 January 2015).
  • Davutoğlu, p. 40-41.
  • Kardaş, “Turkey”, pp. 652-653.
  • Murat Yeşiltaş, Turkey’s Quest for a “New International Order”:The Discourse of Civilization and the Politics of Restoration, Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 19 No. 4 (Winter 2014), p. 66.
  • President Erdogan’s Speech before the UN Security Council, at: http://www.un.org/apps/ news/story.asp?NewsID=48825#.VNCVcZX9k5s (last visited 17 February 2015).
  • “Turkey’s Priorities for the 62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly”, at http:// www.mfa.gov.tr/data/DISPOLITIKA/Uluslararasikuruluslar/TurkeysPriorities.pdf (last visited 20 March 2015).
  • Parlar Dal, “Assessing Turkey’s “Normative” Power”, p. 716.
  • Abdullah Gül, “Turkey’s Role in a Changing Middle East Environment”, Mediterranean Quarterly, Vol. 15, No.1 (Winter 2004), p.3.
  • Ahmet Davutoğlu “Turkey’s Humanitarian Diplomacy: Objectives, Challenges and Prospects”, Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity, Vol. 41, No. 6 (2013), pp. 865-870.
  • Davutoğlu, p. 99.
  • Kardaş, “Turkey”, p. 652-653.
  • http://www.mfa.gov.tr/the-united-nations-organization-and-turkey.en.mfa (last visited 20 March 2015).
  • Arif Kirecci, “Turkey in the United Nations Security Council”, SETA Policy Brief, No 28, Ankara, Turkey, (2009), p. 5.
  • http://www.mfa.gov.tr/humanitarian-assistance-by-turkey.en.mfa (last visited 10 January 2015).
  • Cemalettin Hasimi, “Turkey’s Humanitarian Diplomacy and Development Cooperation”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2014), p. 127. 98 Ibid, p. 138.
  • Berdal Aral, “Birleşmiş Milletler ve Uluslararası Eşitsizlik”, SETA Analiz, Sayı 72, (Eylül 2013), p.23.
  • Statement by President Abdullah Gul at UN General Assembly, at http://daccess-dds-ny. un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/515/70/PDF/N0851570.pdf?OpenElement (last visited 10 January 2015).
  • Statement by President Abdullah Gul at UN General Assembly, at http://daccess-dds-ny. un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/516/22/PDF/N0551622.pdf?OpenElement (last visited 10 January 2015).
  • “Turkey’s Priorities for the 62nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly”.
  • Aral, “Birleşmiş Milletler ve Uluslararası Eşitsizlik”, p. 23.
  • Berdal Aral, “Turkey in the UN Security Council: Its Election and Performance”, Insight Turkey, Vol. 11, No. 4, (2009), p. 151.
  • “Syria Unrest: Turkey says UN ‘Supports’ Repression”, BBC News, 3 April 2012.
  • Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 3 August 2012, A/RES/66/253 B at http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/66/253%20B (last visited 10 March 2015).
  • Aral, “Birleşmiş Milletler ve Uluslararası Eşitsizlik”, p. 23.
  • Ali Balcı and Nebi Miş, “Turkey’s Role in the Alliance of Civilizations: A New Perspective in Turkish Foreign Policy?”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3 (2008), p. 400.
  • Sinan Ulgen, “A Place in the Sun or Fifteen Minutes of Fame? Understanding Turkey’s New Foreign Policy”, Carnegie Papers, No.1, (December 2010), p.20. at: http://carnegieendowment. org/files/turkey_new_foreign_policy.pdf) (last visited 20 March 2015).
  • Öniş and Kutlay, “Rising Powers in a Changing Global Order”, p. 1412.
  • Oğuzlu and Dal, “Decoding Turkey's Rise”, p. 617-636.
  • Ziya Öniş, “Turkey and the Arab Revolutions: Boundaries of Regional Power Influence in a Turbulent Middle East”, Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 19, No.2 (2014), p: 212.
  • Suna Gülfer Ihlamur Öner, “Turkey’s Refugee Regime Stretched to the Limit? The Case of Iraqi and Syrian Refugee Flows”, Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Autumn 2013), p. 202.
  • Öniş, “Turkey and the Arab Revolutions”, p. 216. 115 Ibid, p. 217.
  • Fulya Özerkan, “Domestic Double standards in Darfur policies”, Hürriyet, 4 February 2009.
  • Reşat Bayer and E. Fuat Keyman, “Turkey: An Emerging Hub of Globalization and Internationalist Humanitarian Actor?”, Globalizations, Vol. 9, No.1, (2012), p. 77.
  • Emre Hatipoglu and Glenn Palmer, “Contextualizing Change in Turkish Foreign Policy: The Promise of the ‘Two-Good’ Theory”, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, DOI: 10.1080/09557571.2014.888538, p. 11.
  • Julian Culp, “Rising Powers’ Responsibility for Reducing Global Distributive Injustice”, Journal of Global Ethics, Vol. 10, No. 3 (2014), p. 274.
  • Yesiltas, “The Transformation of the Geopolitical Vision in Turkish Foreign Policy”, p. 676.
  • Oğuzlu and Parlar Dal, “Decoding Turkeyıs Rise”, p. 620.
  • Cagatay, The Rise of Turkey, p. 808.
  • Emel Parlar Dal, “On Turkey’s Trail in the Network of Global Governance as a “Rising Middle Power”: Preferences, Capabilities and Strategies”, Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 19 No. 4 (Winter 2014), p.130.
PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs-Cover
  • ISSN: 1300-8641
  • Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 2 Sayı
  • Başlangıç: 1996
  • Yayıncı: T.C Dışişleri Bakanlığı