Turkish foreign policy transformation in the context of middle power, strategic hedging and Eurasianism

Eurasianism came to the fore in Turkey after the coup attempt in 2016. Turkist/Turanist and Left/Kemalist versions of Eurasianism emphasize non-Western alternatives and push Western criticism of authoritarianism into the background. Amidst this process Turkey has sought to cooperate with Russia and China on a range of issues, particularly economic ones, and Ankara has also fronted the possibility of becoming a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The hedging strategy Turkey has pursued during the Ukraine crisis accounts for the fact that despite being a NATO member, having good relations with Russia opens up space for Ankara. In this respect, it can be argued that the Eurasianist steps seen after 2016 represent Turkey's attempts at pragmatic hedging, which parallels its tensions with the West.