EDITOR'S NOTE.

• Author: Ataman, Muhittin

With extensive international changes taking place in the last three decades, such as the collapse of the bipolar world system, the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, the declining hegemony of the U.S., the lack of global leadership, and the rise of challenging global powers, like any other regional power, Turkey has initiated a comprehensive conceptual and theoretical transformation and a process of restructuring in its foreign policy understanding. Turkey has gone beyond the typical realist understanding and begun to develop a new foreign policy perspective that considers moral values. While some consider this new perspective as a 'civilizational approach,' others call it 'moral realism.' While some consider this transformation as an 'axis shift,' others consider it as the 'normalization of Turkey.'

This large-scale change in Turkish foreign policy, during the governance of the AK Party, has led the state leadership to search for reformulation of the Turkish grand strategy. To achieve an influential role in international politics, Turkey has transformed its foreign policy orientation, which can be analyzed within three complementary contexts, namely national, regional, and international/global.

First, Turkey has been experiencing groundbreaking changes in the national context. Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan there has been a long-term political stability, which allowed Turkey to take significant steps in foreign policy. The strong personality of President Erdogan provided a convenient atmosphere to execute effective leadership diplomacy. Especially after the military coup attempt on July 15, 2016, Erdogan has reformed the state structure by ending the traditional bureaucratic tutelage and consolidating the civilian and political administration. After the reconciliation between the state and the people, the greatest transformation was made in the redefinition of the responsibilities of Turkish security. The Turkish national intelligence and the armed forces have abandoned their inward-looking perspective and begun to act as real foreign policy actors. This redefinition has increased Turkey's hard power in the execution of foreign policy. Furthermore, newly established state institutions such as the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TiKA), Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities (Yurtdisi Turkler, YTB), Yunus Emre Institute, and Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) have provided an enormous soft power capability for Turkey.

During the last two decades, Turkey has...