Mehmet Ozkan

Turkish National Defence University · Joint War Institute

The rise of Turkey in Africa as an actor in multiple areas can be considered as a novelty in the foreign policy of Ankara. From development assistance to investments, from politics to security, Turkey is now an influential player in African politics. Since 2005, the biggest question for Turkey’s African policy was whether or not Ankara could sustai...

Over the last two decades, summits have gained great importance in developing relations with African countries and they have become useful tools to understand intersecting roadmaps on the continent. China, India, Japan, the United States, European coun- tries and Russia conducted various summits and business forums targeting to develop their politi...

When do ordinary civilians mobilise to resist military coup attempts? Existing literature based largely on single case studies puts forward three variables: political culture, popular support for the government, and material (economic) dependency between the government and its supporters. Finding these explanations insufficient, we first utilise ex...

Focusing on the role of religion and culture in foreign policy not only addresses the increasing interest in the study of religion as an important element among international relations scholars, but also emphasizes the need for theorizing. While the literature on the role of religion in IR is expanding, it still lacks an overall approach to explain...

Since the mid-2000s, Turkey’s almost forgotten and invisible Africa-rooted Turkish citizens, the Afro-Turks, have come to the surface. Because of their small number, they have never been conspicuous before. However, since 2003, with Turkey’s opening to Africa policy, they have become much more discernable in the Turkish public sphere with festivals...

This article aims to give a better understanding of the role and dynamics of communities in Latino Muslims’ online lives. Latinos extensively use online spaces as a way of learning, connecting and interacting. This is not an exception for Latino Muslims. This study answers the question of how and in what form the online presence of Muslims in Latin...

The Turkish Maarif Foundation (TMF) is the most recent state-led institution to promote Turkey's cultural diplomacy and soft power. Since 2016, it has contributed to the transformation of international education with a Turkey-centric perspective through its schools, dormitories, and universities in more than 40 countries. Through its educational fa...

Türk dış politikası çalışanlarının önünde en temel sorulardan bir tanesi Türkiye'nin uluslara-rası sistem hiyerarşisinde nasıl sınıflandırılabileceği meselesidir. Türkiye'de siyaset yapıcıların söylemine bakıldığında kullanılan dil, özgüven ve ilgilendiği konular açısından bakılırsa Ankara'nın aslında küresel bir güç olduğu algısı hemen oluşabilir....

It is a fair treatment, without any exaggeration, to argue that the rise of Turkey in Africa in multiple areas as an actor is rather novel for foreign policy of Ankara. From development assistance to economy, politics to security, Turkey is now an influential player in African politics. Turkey’s Africa policy has more meaning than a normal foreign...

Without any exaggeration, the rise of Turkey in Africa as an actor in multiple areas can be considered as a novelty in the foreign policy of Ankara. From development assistance to investments, from politics to security, Turkey is now an influential player in African politics. Since 2005, the biggest question for Turkey’s African policy was whether...

Despite having different trajectories and internal dynamics, the Colombia/FARC and the Turkey/PKK cases offer an interesting comparative lens through which to analyze the critical factors of any successful peace process. While the Colombian government and the FARC reached a groundbreaking peace agreement in 2016, terminating the country's 52-year i...

The Developing Eight (D-8) grouping was one of the organizations that brought the key countries from the Islamic world. Initiated with huge enthusiasm by the leadership of Turkey in 1997, the D-8 has not been able to live up to expectations so far in terms of economic development and increasing inter-trade relations among members. In this article,...

İran’ın Latin Amerika ile ilişkileri ve geliştirdiği angajman tarzı özellikle batıda bir çok açıdan tartışma yaratmıştı. Bu yazının amacı İran’ın kıta ile kurduğu ilişkilerin bir şemasını çıkarıp, içerik anlamında ilişkilerin doğasını izah etmektir. Ahmedinejad döneminde başlayan ve hızlı bir şekilde yükselen ilişkiler daha sonra bir tür yavaşlama...

Despite much talk about infiltration of ISIS into Latin America and participation from Latino Muslims, there is no concrete evidence yet. Latin America still represents the safest continent on the earth from ISIS threat. When we look at the recruitment strategy of ISIS, social media comes as a surprisingly first way of attracting young people to it...

Iran’s relationships with Latin America and the engagement style it has developed has created a lot of controversies, especially in the West. The purpose of this study is to draw a diagram of the relations Iran has established with the continent and to explain the nature of relations in terms of content. Relations that started in the period of Ahma...

İran’ın Latin Amerika ile ilişkileri ve geliştirdiği angajman tarzı özellikle batıda bir çok açıdan tartışma yaratmıştı. Bu çalışmanın amacı İran’ın kıta ile kurduğu ilişkilerin bir şemasını çıkarıp, içerik anlamında ilişkilerin doğasını izah etmektir. Ahmedinejad döneminde başlayan ve hızlı bir şekilde yükselen ilişkiler daha sonra bir tür yavaşla...

One of the most novel parts of Turkey’s foreign policy since 2002 is its endeavour to be part of the South–South cooperation and to increase its visibility in development aid projects. Rather than following in the footsteps of countries, such as traditional donors, Ankara has been trying to develop its own understanding and implementation—the Turki...

Mehmet Ozkan’s case study describes Turkey’s involvement in Africa, particularly in the Horn of Africa, and notably in Somalia. It describes the successive waves of donor aid, economic engagement and political interventions and overtures employed to facilitate Turkey’s access to African markets. These geopolitical ‘gambits’, rolled out in five phas...

This article is an attempt to answer a number of questions asked in the literature on radicalization and extremism: What motivates foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) from Turkey to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)? In what kind of environment does violent extremism become the choice for Turkish nationals to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq...

During the Cold-War period, the centre of geopolitics moved to the US, as opposed to one that was based in Europe for a long time. The expectation that the Europe might gain its preeminence and central role in global politics again is gaining support, partly because of Cauca-sia's increasingly prominent position in world politics due to the presenc...

The crisis of food security in Somalia in 2011 prompted an increase in Turkish involvement in Eastern African politics. Initially started as a humanitarian response, Ankara's policy has evolved into a fully fledged Somalia policy with political and social dimensions. This article discusses the role and influence of Turkey in efforts bringing stabil...

“Esta obra no tiene una ambición distinta a la de estimular una reflexión sobre el alcance de la cultura en la política exterior de los Estados. Se sabe que la diplomacia y la política exterior constituyen un campo de estudio de las relaciones internacionales en constante expansión e imposible de agotar en un solo sentido o un una sola lectura. En...

Since 2002, Turkish foreign policy has transformed on the intellectual, geographical , and practical levels, opening up to different parts of the world. In one of the most salient transformations, religious diplomacy began to play a key role in expanding Ankara's influence, from Latin America to Eurasia and Africa. This religious diplomacy has been...

Compared to other Arab Spring countries, Tunisia has less population, an educated youth and a geographical position where there is no direct interest of various regional and global actors. However, this does not mean that Tunisia has different or less problems compared to other countries like Egypt or Libya. In all these countries, economy, securit...

For each newly emerging donor in Africa, there are different ways of dealing with the continent, different ways of spending aid and prioritizing the problems. At a political and security level, traditional actors are still the major actors in the continent, while economic and development aid is mostly dominated by the newly emerging non-traditional...

South Africa joined the international community after its transformation from apartheid to democracy in 1994. The transformation created its own reverbera-tions both regionally and globally as democratic South Africa aroused high hopes that it would assume leadership on the continent. With the help of Pretoria, it was hoped, Africa could solve its...

One of the fundamental issues and the source of 'fear' for many in the West after the revolution in Egypt was a possible radical change in the foreign policy area. But what has changed in the foreign policy of Egypt after the revolution? This article explains the foreign policy of Egypt under Morsi by arguing that Egyptian foreign policy has al-way...

Turkey‘s foreign policy has been drawing considerable attention particularly because of the momentous transformations in the Middle East. The visits of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuoglu to Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia in September 2011 and their subsequent visits to the region underscored the rise of Turke...

In the literature of economic development and civil society, extensive research has been done on the role of western NGOs in fighting poverty; however, there is hardly any study on the role of the NGOs originating from Muslim nations on this issue. There is even a complete silence when it comes to expatriate Muslim NGOs that are functional in the W...

Despite its Ottoman past in the continent, Turkey did not show a serious interest in African affairs until recently. However, since 1998 there has been a revival in Turkey's involvement in developing relations with Africa. This was a passive attempt initially, but after 2005, it became an offensive one that culminated in the first Turkey-Africa Sum...

El Oriente Medio ha sido siempre centro de atención debido a sus problemas e importancia económica para el mundo. Es además fuente de una considerable cantidad de petróleo y gas para el mundo, así como el lugar donde puede ser obtenido más barato. Este artículo asume un enfoque sistémico para entender el Oriente Medio y ubicarlo dentro de la políti...

El Oriente Medio ha sido siempre centro de atención debido a sus problemas e importancia económica para el mundo. Es además fuente de una considerable cantidad de petróleo y gas para el mundo, así como el lugar donde puede ser obtenido más barato. Este artículo asume un enfoque sistémico para entender el Oriente Medio y ubicarlo dentro de la políti...

Recently we have seen that the middle-sized states are coming together inseveral forums. The WTO meetings and India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) dialogueforum are among those to be cited. Such groupings are mainly economyorientedand whether they will have political output needs to be seen, however,in the future if globalization goes in a similar way...

En este artículo se analiza el acercamiento de Turquía a Oriente Medio y a las revoluciones árabes: ¿cuáles han sido los principales determinantes de la política exterior turca y la diplomacia en Oriente Medio?, ¿qué ha cambiado, o no ha cambiado, durante y después de la primavera árabe? y ¿cómo debe verse el debate sobre el «modelo turco»? Para el...

As part of on-going multidimensional foreign policy changes in recent years, there has been since 1998 a revival in Turkey's relations with Africa. Initially rather passive, after 2005 this became a massive effort to develop relations with the whole continent. However, Turkey's Africa policy is unique in Turkish foreign policy, since for the first...

As part of on-going multidimensional foreign policy changes in recent years, there has been since 1998 a revival in Turkey’s relations with Africa. Initially rather passive, after 2005 this became a massive effort to develop relations with the whole continent. However, Turkey’s Africa policy is unique in Turkish foreign policy, since for the first...

Turkey and India have undergone an immense social, political and economic transformation since the end of the Cold War. This has also been the case when it comes to their foreign policies. However, Turkey’s truly multidimensional foreign policy came into existence in 2002. Since then Turkey has been actively re-defining its foreign policy preferenc...

This study analyses the underlying elements of the Muslim world’s reaction toward the Darfur crisis by critically evaluating Turkey’s involvement. Turkey is important because it has been cited as a rising star of 21st century in the Muslim world not only for its growing economic potential and deepening democratic credentials, but also with its rece...

There has been a revival in Turkey’s relation with Africa after 1998. Initially this revival came as a passive attempt, but after 2005 it became an offensive interest in developing relations with the continent. The recent Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit marks the latest stage in Turkey’s keen interest in developing relations with Africa, and shoul...

During the Cold War, Turkish foreign policy toward the Islamic world was affected by the Cold War environment and mainly security concerns. From World War II to the beginning of the 1960s, Turkey pursued a policy that was mostly defined within its western relations. During this period, for example, Turkey briefly followed an active foreign policy i...

This article discusses sevetal influential books on US foreign policy inclinations, problems and difficulties. Author argues that US strategic mentality can be followe by these books, as they were influential when they were published. Through these books, changes, evolutions and setbacks are outlined in US strategic thinking toward the rest of the...

When the Cold War ended, starting with 'the end of history' and 'the clash of civilizations' theories, many discussions took place within academic and political circles about the prediction on how the future world order would look like. Although the global world order is something that everybody understands and uses in a different context, after 9/...

Unlike the Cold War period, in the post-Cold War era, there has been an inclination toward having an independent and active foreign policy from the regional power centres. By introducing a new power category in international politics, the pivotal middle power, this study argues that pivotal middle powers can play critical roles in establishing a ne...

The end of the Cold War led to fundamental changes in Turkey’s foreign policy in general. Ankara began to exert influence in Central Asia, the Black Sea region, the Caucasus, the Middle East and the Balkans. This was a major shift from Ankara’s previous policies of non-involvement. Contrary to the Cold War period, during which Turkey’s foreign and...

This article argues that the Palestinian-Israeli issue could be used as a key issue in the Middle East analyzing the regional role of Egypt. Although Egypt is one of the key countries in the region, it has little influence on regional affairs. An explanation to such seemingly contradictory reality could be found in Cairo‟s approach to the Palestini...