Turkey’s domestic politics, public opinion and Middle East policy

This article looks at the domestic political conditions that help to shape the Turkey’s Middle East policy. The starting point is that the country’s foreign policy is not self-standing or determined solely by external circumstances, but is often affected by domestic divisions that shape party identities. We can classify these into the following categories: first, historically determined cultural and ethnic cleavages; second, public opinion on foreign policy issues; and, third, current domestic policy considerations that have important foreign policy implications. In tackling this agenda, certain restrictions have to be recognised. First, we have virtually no data as regards public attitudes on economic or social issues, so it has not been possible to say anything about these. Second, time series data are unavailable, as public opinion polls have only recently been made available in Turkey. This article is published as part of a collection on analysing security complexes in a changing Middle East.