Turkeys Foreign Policy in a Changing Strategic and Regional Environment
erschienen in der Publikation "Die Türkei und Europa (5)" - Februar 1998
Autor(en):
Prof. Dr. Hüseyin BağciThemen:
PolitikberatungRegion(en):
Mittelmeerraum, Naher Osten
7 Seiten (102 KB)
Schlagworte zu diesem Beitrag:
Türkei, Politik, Sicherheitspolitik, Außenpolitik, Strategie
Abstract:
The ad-hoc nature of the implementation of Turkish foreign policy under Necmettin Erbakan, the first islamist leader of the Welfare Party (Refah Partisi - RP), and his coalition partner Tansu Ciller, leader of the True Path Party (Dogru Yol Partisi - DYP) and Foreign Minister since June 1996, and the different interests and emphases placed by coalition Partners to foreign countries and international organisations have led to the belief that theTurkish government had no clear-cut foreign policy aims.This policy seemed to emanate from the ministry of Foreign Affairs bureaucrats who had to produce solutions to their day to day problems1.
This view has been strongly supported by many observers of Turkish foreign policy. However, two significant developments have taken place in the last two years under the 53rd (under Tansu Ciller) and 54th (under Necmettin Erbakan) governments. The first one is the establishment of a customs union with the EU an industrial products and the second one the establishment of D-8 (Developing 8 Muslim Countries).
A customs union came into existence between Turkey and EU formally on January 1st 1996. The union was the result of painstaking efforts an both sides since 1993, particularly to ensure that the European Parliament - so often critical of Turkey's human-rights record - would endorse the agreement, which it did on December 13th 1995. The union provided tariff-free access to each other's markets principally in industrial goods, while Turkey embraced the EU's external barriers an trade with nonmember states.
This view has been strongly supported by many observers of Turkish foreign policy. However, two significant developments have taken place in the last two years under the 53rd (under Tansu Ciller) and 54th (under Necmettin Erbakan) governments. The first one is the establishment of a customs union with the EU an industrial products and the second one the establishment of D-8 (Developing 8 Muslim Countries).
A customs union came into existence between Turkey and EU formally on January 1st 1996. The union was the result of painstaking efforts an both sides since 1993, particularly to ensure that the European Parliament - so often critical of Turkey's human-rights record - would endorse the agreement, which it did on December 13th 1995. The union provided tariff-free access to each other's markets principally in industrial goods, while Turkey embraced the EU's external barriers an trade with nonmember states.