ASSOCIATION FOR CYPRIOT, GREEK & TURKISH AFFAIRS

General Secretary: Dr Zenon Stavrinides – Z.Stavrinides@lineone.net

 Thursday 22 January 2015 at 6.30 p.m.

Boothroyd Room Portcullis House – Bridge Street, London SW1A 2LW

Turkish Foreign Policy Today: Strategic Depth or Downfall

By Zenonas Tziarras

Chairman: Alper Riza, QC

Since 2002, when the Justice and Development Party came to power in Turkey, the country entered an extended period of economic development, democratic reforms and international upgrading. At the same time, however, Turkey seemed to be drifting away from the West, seeking a more independent role with policies that where often at odds with those of its traditional Western allies. From 2007 onwards, and particularly since 2010, this trend was more obvious while there were signs that a backlash was imminent at the domestic level. Later on, in the midst of the regional crisis that came about with the breakout of the “Arab Spring” and the rise of the “Islamic State”, from 2011 until today, Ankara moved back and forth between its commitment to the West and its regional considerations. Turkish foreign political, security and economic decisions during this period express a certain ideological outlook and foreign policy behaviour as seen in cases such as Syria, Israel, Egypt, and Cyprus. As Turkey faces a gap between aspirations and capabilities and balances between a Western and Eastern orientation, its actions keep it between the upgrading and downfall of its foreign policy, preventing it from reaching its full potential and contributing to regional stability.

Zenonas Tziarras is a Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick, where he has recently submitted his PhD thesis entitled “Turkish Foreign Policy under the AKP towards the Middle East: a Neoclassical Realist Account”. He is also a non-resident research scholar for the think tank Strategy International and the co-founder and co-editor of the e-magazine The Globalized World Post (TheGWPost). For more information visit his website at www.zenonas-tziarras.net.

To find the venue: Entrance to Portcullis House is on the Victoria Embankment, Westminster.  Take a left turn outside the main Westminster Underground exit. Walk towards the river and Westminster Bridge, with Big Ben on your right.  Turn immediately left onto Victoria Embankment.  Portcullis House is the first building you arrive at.  The main entrance is controlled by security – so leave time to go through as the process can take 10 minutes or more.  Once through security, you will go up the stairs and find the Boothroyd Room straight in front of you on the first floor, booked in the name of Andy Love MP, and subject: Turkey and Cyprus.