Turkish foreign policy changes since the accession of the AKP : How the Turkish foreign policy for the Middle East has changed since 2002 according to a neoclassical realist perspective

The essay analyzes Turkish foreign policy and aims to find explanations to why Turkey has increased its foreign policy involvement in the middle east since 2002. Explanations were identified in turkish external and internal processes in the shape of independent and intervening variables using a neoclassical realist analytical model. The identification of variables is made by examining key changes in domestic and foreign policy since AKP took power in 2002, using the categories leader images, strategic culture, state-society relations and domestic institutions. The results that are presented indicate that external processes set the basic parameters for foreign policy change, but domestic factors also influence the policy decisions that have altered Turkey’s foreign policy involvement in the middle east