This book explores shifts in Turkey's foreign policy and the relevance of Turkey's reconnect offensive with Asia. With the end of the Cold War, Turkey and the West had lost the mutuality of interests and threat perceptions, particularly towards Russia. Western countries are now occupied by the rise of China and are in search of new allies in the Asia Pacific. Turkey is left in its region to deal with Russia and crises that are primary outcomes of Western failures in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Qatar. In the absence of its Western allies, Turkey engaged with Russia alone to deconflict and stabilise Syria, Libya, and Azerbaijan. Turkey's ruling conservative AK Party, however, had won elections from 2002 to 2012 on a strong pro-EU and pro-West agenda. Now, it is talking about ‘strategic autonomy’, ‘multidimensionalism’, ‘diversification’, or ‘the world is bigger than five’. The new foreign policy gestures are underpinned by the rise of the domestic defence industry, nationalist politics at home, and increased trade relations with key Asian economies, China, India, and Indonesia. At an international level, the ruling party has instrumentalised strong criticism of the West for injustice and neglect of the Turkish, Muslim, Islamic, and non-western world. Although this reminds of the history of Turkey's failed quests to shift from a West-centric foreign policy to an unknown direction, the book argues that Turkey's reconnect with Asia is rather to complement and strengthen its relations with the West.

This book shows the remarkable diversification in Turkey’s international political economy landscape in the 2000s: its domestic political-economy framework, instrumental alternatives and geographic outreach. It assesses both how an emerging economy like Turkey copes with domestic and external challenges and the question of how substantial Turkey’s recent rise in global politics really is. The volume also explains Turkey’s economic growth and political transformation in line with the changes occurring in world economics, from the Washington Consensus era to the current “mix” or “hybrid” era encompassing both the characteristics of the Post-Washington and Beijing Consensus eras. The contributors portray the complexity of Turkish politics and its fragilities at the political economy level.

'The book represents an insightful historical and contemporary account of the Turkish-Chinese relationship, especially in the early periods it considers, and also in tracing the institutional developments between the two following Turkish domestic political changes. Moreover, Turkey and China covers how these two countries have reacted to each other over sensitive issues including Turkey's relation with Taiwan and China's policies towards the Turkic Uyghurs. The book is of interest to diplomats, journalists, students, and researchers working on Turkish foreign policy, Turkish-Asian affairs, and Chinese strategies in the Middle East.'Asian AffairsWhat are the dynamics of the relationship between Turkey and China? How is the Sino-Turkish cooperation affected by other large regional powers? Are Turkey and China compatible enough to sustain a strong and steady relationship in a turbulent future?The relationship between the Republic of Turkey and the People's Republic of China has had many ups and downs from 1949 to the present day. At the start of the Cold War, Turkey diplomatically recognized only the Republic of China (Taiwan) like its NATO allies. Following the Sino-American normalization in 1971, Ankara established diplomatic relations with Beijing and ceased contact with Taipei. Since then, relations between Turkey and China have grown steadily with some setbacks.Turkey and China analyses Turkey-China relations from political, economic, strategic, and cultural perspectives. Turkey's policies towards Taiwan and the Uyghur cause are covered from the beginning. The Sino-Turkish cooperation on the economy, trade, the defence industry, energy, and nuclear technology are also elaborated. Crucially, the Silk Road partnership in the context of China's Belt and Road Initiative and Turkey's Middle Corridor has a deep-rooted focus alongside future perspectives. Finally, the roles of other actors — particularly the United States and Russia — in Sino-Turkish relations have a primary focus, further clarified by the impact of international organizations and forums like the United Nations, NATO, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the European Union, the G20, and BRICS.

USAK has recently published a policy brief named as “Turkey and Indonesia from Friendship to Partnership”. This policy brief was prepared by Selçuk Çolakoğlu who is currently the Director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Studies at USAK and Arzu Güler who is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University. Turkey and Indonesia have developed cordial relations with each other since Indonesian independence. The facts that majority of the populations in both countries are Muslim and both countries’ political goals and policies show major similarities have constituted the necessary ground for close and friendly relations. Furthermore, it is expected that Turkey and Indonesia will be among the first 10 economies of the world within 20 years. Thus, Indonesia is a very important country for Turkey also in terms of trade partnership. However, this mutual friendship and close political relations could not have been backed by economic, cultural and social relations in a sufficient manner. Thus, bilateral economic relations remained on a very poor level until the beginning of 2000s. In this respect, this study has two soul aims. Firstly, all aspects of bilateral relations were examined from 1950s until today. Secondly, a roadmap for developingthe bilateral relations in a strategic manner was proposed.

Turkey is a rising regional and global power facing, as is the United States, the challenges of political transitions in the Middle East, bloodshed in Syria, and Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. As a result, it is incumbent upon the leaders of the United States and Turkey to define a new partnership "in order to make a strategic relationship a reality," says a new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)-sponsored Independent Task Force.

Turkey: A necessary ally in a troubled region With the new administration in office, it is not clear whether the U.S. will continue to lead and sustain a global liberal order that was already confronted by daunting challenges. These range from a fragile European Union rocked by the United Kingdom’s exit and rising populism to a cold war-like rivalry with Russia and instability in the Middle East. A long-standing member of NATO, Turkey stands as a front-line state in the midst of many of these challenges. Yet, Turkey is failing to play a more constructive role in supporting this order--beyond caring for nearly 3 million refugees, mostly coming from the fighting in Syria--and its current leadership is in frequent disagreement with its Western allies. This tension has been compounded by a failed Turkish foreign policy that aspired to establish its own alternative regional order in the Middle East. As a result, many in the West now question whether Turkey functions as a dependable ally for the United States and other NATO members. Kemal Kirisci’s new book argues that, despite these problems, the domestic and regional realities are now edging Turkey toward improving its relations with the West. A better understanding of these developments will be critical in devising a new and realistic U.S. strategy toward a transformed Turkey and its neighborhood. Western policymakers must keep in mind three on-the-ground realities that might help improve the relationship with Turkey. First, Turkey remains deeply integrated within the transatlantic community, a fact that once imbued it with prestige in its neighborhood. It is this prestige that the recent trajectory of Turkish domestic politics and foreign policy has squandered; for it to be regained, Turkey needs to rebuild cooperation with the West. The second reality is that chaos in the neighborhood has resulted in the loss of lucrative markets for Turkish exports—which, in return, increases the value to Turkey of Western markets. Third, Turkish national security is threatened by developments in Syria and an increasingly assertive Russia, enhancing the strategic value of Turkey’s “troubled alliance” with the West. The big question, however, is whether rising authoritarianism in Turkey and the government’s anti-Western rhetoric will cease and Turkey’s democracy restored before the current fault lines can be overcome and constructive re-engagement between the two sides can occur. In light of these realities, this book discusses the challenges and opportunities for the new U.S. administration as well as the EU of re-engaging with a sometimes-troublesome, yet long-time ally.

This book presents a colourful and analytical picture of Turkish-American relations from the early nineteenth century to the post cold war era, providing excellent reference for study of their impact as well as for a deeper understanding of the region.