Mehmet ÖZKAN

138

Turkey’s ‘New’ Engagements in Africa and Asia: Scope, Content and Implications

Since the AK Party assumed power in 2002, Turkish foreign policy has gone through a tremendous change both in its content and scope. The most striking and ‘new’ aspect of Turkey’s foreign policy has been toward Africa and Asia. This article examines and offers a holistic view of these developments. African opening represents a perfect convergence of civil society and state cooperation and bear fruit in political, economic and social terms in a very short time. However, the most important implication is that it aims to conceptualize a ‘new’ Africa in Turkey by overcoming the image of two separate Africa: Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. Ankara’s Asia policy has been shaped with an intention of placing the existing relations “in a certain systematic” with the Turkic republics in Central Asia; to reach “a policy of normalization” with countries like China and India; and to follow certain political and economic policies to translate relations “from normal to deep cooperation” with countries like South Korea and Japan
Keywords:

Turkish foreign policy, Africa, Asia, China India.,

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  • Ahmet Davutoğlu, “Türkiye Merkez Ülke Olmalı”, Radikal, 26 February 2004.
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  • This part of the article drawns on the following articles: Mehmet Özkan, Turkey Discovers Africa: Implications and Prospects, SETA Policy Brief, No. 22, Ankara, SETA, 2008; Mehmet Özkan, “What Drives Turkey’s involvement in Africa?”, Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 37, No. 126 (2010), pp. 533-540; Mehmet Özkan, “Turkey’s Rising Role in Africa”, Turkish Policy Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 4 (2010/2011), pp. 93-105; Mehmet Özkan and Birol Akgün, “Turkey’s Opening to Africa”, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 48, No. 4 (November 2010), pp. 525- 546.
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  • For example, see Ahmet Uçar, Güney Afrika’da Osmanlılar: 140 Yıllık Miras, İstanbul, Tez, 2000.
  • See Ahmet Kavas, Afrika Raporu, Stratejik Rapor No. 4, İstanbul, TASAM, 2005; and Osmanlı-Afrika İlişkileri, İstanbul, TASAM, 2006.
  • Mehmet Özkan, Turkey Discovers Africa.
  • Numan Hazar, “The Future of Turkish-African Relations”, Dış Politika, Vol. 25, No. 3-4 (2000), pp. 109-110.
  • Hazar, “The Future of Turkish-African Relations”, p. 110.
  • See Tom Wheeler, Turkey and South Africa: Development of Relations 1860-2005. SAIIA Report No. 47, Johannesburg, SAIIA, 2005; Musa Şahin, “Formation of Cape Colonial Community and Ottoman Turkish Existence in South Africa”, Pakistan Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 9 (2006), pp. 1129- 1137; and Serhat Orakçı, “The Emerging Links between the Ottoman Empire and South Africa”, International Journal of Turkish Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1-2 (2008), pp. 47-60.
  • Orhan Koloğlu, Hicaz Demiryolu, (1900-1908) Amacı, Finansmanı, Sonucu, Çağını Yakalayan Osmanlı, Istanbul, IRCICA, 1995, pp. 220-222.
  • See Selim Argun, The Life and Contribution of the Osmanli Scholar, Abu Bakr Effendi: Towards Islamic Thought and Culture in South Africa, unpublished Master thesis, Johannesburg: Rand Afrikaans University, 2005; Serhat Orakçı, The Ottoman Legacy in South Africa: A Historical Analysis of the Emerging Links between South Africa and the Ottoman Empire between 1861-1923, Lap Lambert, Germany, 2011.
  • Altunışık, “Worldviews and Turkish Foreign Policy in the Middle East”, p. 174.
  • Hazar, “The Future of Turkish-African Relations”, p. 110.
  • See Salih Z. Karaca, “Turkish Foreign Policy in the Year 2000 and Beyond: Her Opening up Policy to Africa”, Dış Politika, Vol. 25, No. 3-4 (2000), pp. 115-119.
  • It is, unfortunately, not possible to get a copy of this plan from the website of the Foreign Ministry. However, for a comprehensive summary of the plan see Hazar, “The Future of Turkish-African Relations”, pp. 111-113.
  • See Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, “Etiyopya mı?”, Sabah, 3 March 2005; Özdem Sanberk, “Gül Döneminde Türk Dış Politikası”, Radikal, 21 August 2007.
  • Özkan, “What Drives Turkey’s involvement in Africa?”.
  • Özkan, Turkey Discovers Africa: Implications and Prospects. 26 Ibid.
  • Özkan and Akgün, “Turkey’s Opening to Africa”, pp.539-540.
  • Özkan and Akgün, “Turkey’s Opening to Africa”, pp.540-542. 29 Ibid.
  • See Mehmet Özkan, Can the Rise of ‘New’ Turkey Lead to a ‘New’ Era in India-Turkey Relations?, IDSA Issue Brief, 20 September 2010, New Delhi, IDSA.
  • Mehmet Özkan, “India Can Do More in Central Asia”, The Gulf News, 26 October 2010.
  • Selçuk Çolakoğlu, Turkey and China: Seeking a Sustainable Partnership, SETA Policy Brief, No. 41, Ankara, SETA.
  • “Türkiye ve Çin ticaretinde TL ve Yuan Kullanılacak, Dolar Devre Dışı Kalacak”, Hürriyet, 9 October 2010, at www.hurriyet.com.tr/ekonomi/15997675.asp. [Last visited 15 March 2011].
  • Bülent Kılıç, “Turkey, China and the Uighur Connection”, Today’s Zaman, 29 October 2010.
  • See Mehmet Özkan, “Turkey-China Military Drill Reveals Deepening Ties, Widening Reach”, WPR: World Politics Review, 22 October 2010.
  • Selçuk Çolakoğlu, “Türkiye’nin Kore Politikası Açılımı”, 11 September 2009, at www.sde.org.tr/tr/ haberler/66/turkiyenin-kore-politikasi-acilimi.aspx [Last visited 20 March 2011].
  • Ibrahim Kalın, “Turkey and Japan: A Worthwhile Partnership”, Today’s Zaman, 28 January 2011.
  • See Bülent Aras, Kenan Dağcı and M. Efe Çaman, “Turkey’s New Activism in Asia”, Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, Vol. 8, No. 2 (2009), pp. 24-39.
  • See “Turkey, Bangladesh Sign Deals”, 14 November 2010, at www.worldbulletin.net/index. php?aType=haber&ArticleID=66313 [Last visited 15 March 2011].
  • Sevinç A. Özcan, “ABD’nin Afganistan Operasyonu ve Türk Dış Politikası”, Avrasya Etüdleri, Vol. 12, No. 27-28 (2005), pp. 33-75.
  • Muharrem Ekşi, “Turkey’s Increasing Role in Afghanistan”, Journal of Global Analysis, Vol. 1, No. 2. (2010), pp. 139-152.
PERCEPTIONS: Journal of International Affairs-Cover
  • ISSN: 1300-8641
  • Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 2 Sayı
  • Başlangıç: 1996
  • Yayıncı: T.C Dışişleri Bakanlığı
Arşiv
Sayıdaki Diğer Makaleler

Mehmet ÖZKAN

Fahrettin ALTUN

Hasan KÖSEBALABAN

Şaban KARDAŞ

Bülent ARAS, Pınar AKPINAR

İbrahim KALIN

Fatih ÖZBAY

Editorial- Perceptions Autumn 2011

Bülent ARAS