Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East under the Justice and Development Party - in reality - means the foreign policy of Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former prime minister and the president since 2014. In this lecture Barış Doster reflects on Turkey's foreign policy and how it is received in the wider region. There have been a number of negative reflections and perceptions of Turkey's foreign policy towards regional countries, especially Iraq, Syria, Iran, Egypt and Israel. The foreign policies of Iran, Syria and Iraq have some common interests and they have been known to cooperate with each other against Turkey. In addition, Turkey has been drifting from the EU and is becoming more dependent on ties with Russia and its supply of gas. The cumulative affect of all this is Erdogan's foreign policy can be best described as one of loneliness or isolation.
Barış Doster is an Associate Professor of political science and international relations at Marmara University, Faculty of Communication, İstanbul, Turkey. His academic interests areas include political history, political science, Turkish foreign policy and international relations. Dr Doster has both a Masters and Doctorate from the Faculty of Economics, İstanbul University. For the last 15 years he has worked as a writer and editor for Cumhuriyet; a prestigious Turkish daily established in 1924. He has lectured on international relations, Eurasian politics and Turkish foreign policy at the Turkish Military Academy. In 2013-2014 he was a visiting scholar, at University of Oklahoma, where he lectured on Turkish foreign policy, Turkey in Eurasia and Turkey in the Middle East. He is the author of six books and many articles on these subjects.