PARAMETERS OF TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY UNDER THE AKP GOVERNMENTS

The study employs a critical approach to the parameters of Turkey's foreign policy under the AKP governments. Having abandoned all learning experience from the past, AKP tries to score points in foreign policy through sheer populism. Frenzied activity abroad points not to active or new foreign policy, but to loss of priorities. Foreign policy rhetoric is carried out by the Prime Minister, President, and the Foreign Minister, who sometimes contradict each other. Contrasting the new populist criteria injected into the art and science of traditional foreign policy, the study concludes that all the recent initiatives taken by the government may be noble in spirit, but lacking of sophistication and managerial acumen.