Turkey's own "pivot to Asia": a neoclassical realist analysis

Abstract

Over the past decade, Turkey has executed its own turn to Asia, which has materialized in the form of greater high-level dialogue between countries, strategic partnerships, and improved economic and commercial relations. The aim of this study is to bring an understanding to the factors that determined this turn. For this purpose, using a neoclassical realist perspective, along with international and regional systemic factors such as the global shift of power from West to East, relocation of the center of the international economy, the pivot to Asia trend, and changing regional dynamics in the Middle East, domestic determinants—the AKP’s pragmatic foreign policy and the role of the Turkish business community—will be employed to explain the Turkish foreign policy orientation toward East Asia.