Levantine Challenges on Turkish Foreign Policy

Modern day Turkey has not seen itself as part of the Levant and has not looked at the region as an integrated unit of analysis until recently,
and thus has not taken a holistic approach towards the region. Turkey’s perception of the Eastern Mediterranean was restricted to Cyprus, and the rest of the Levant was construed as part of the wider Middle East. Accordingly, the Turkish academic literature does not refer to the Levant, except on rare occasions where it actually discusses the Cyprus problem.

This paper will first look at the recent history of Turkey’s relations with the Levantine countries. Then, it will focus on the regional and international developments that influence Turkey’s policies towards the region. It will argue that developments in recent years have provided space for Turkey to take a more active role in the region, but that Turkey’s own limitations, policy choices, and regional dynamics have restricted its ability to do so.