The Peculiarities of Turkey’s Foreign Policy towards the Post-Soviet States

ORSAM Report (ORSAM) No: 135, November 2012, 20 p
The Black Sea International Report No: 27

Turarbekova Roza Maratovna *

The article examines the main directions of Turkey’s foreign policy in the Post-Soviet area. It presents the comparative analysis of Turkey’s relations both with the CIS states separately (Russia in particular) and with the regions in general (the South Caucasus and Central Asia as an example). The article also examines the geopolitical aspects of Turkey’s relations with Russia, the Ukraine and the South Caucasus, as well as Ankara’s policy in the context of changes in its foreign-policy doctrine, which implicates the reinforcement of Turkey as a regional power centre.

Cardinal changes in the system of international relations after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the bipolar world order in general forced all the participants of the Cold War to reassess their positions. The member-states of NATO faced the new opportunities of advancement in the “socialistic” East. However, a number of questions connected with Turkey, the NATO’s faithful ally in the Muslim East, arose at the same time.

* An associate professor at the department of international relations at Belarusian State University.

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