| Summary/Abstract |
This paper offers a contribution to the literature on Turkish foreign policy (TFP) change through quantitative analysis of Turkey’s foreign policy chronology under the ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) between January 2009 and October 2016. It utilizes an original dataset on foreign policy meetings which is then utilized to ascertain the alterations in their volume, direction and purpose. Through this analytical framework, the paper depicts the course of TFP orientations towards different countries and regions, as well as potential explanations of their dynamics. Among its many findings, the paper suggests that bilateral diplomatic activism in the late AKP period can be explained by motivating factors such as trade, geographical proximity and shared identity. Moreover, fluctuations in regional orientations of TFP can be associated with sudden and less calculated reactions to international or domestic political crisis situations.
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