Turkey in Eurasia (Post-Soviet Politics)

This book provides an analysis of Turkish foreign policy toward Eurasia in the post-Soviet era. Focusing on the sub-regions of the South Caucasus, Central Asia and Black Sea, it problematizes various relevant issues for individualized analysis of bilateral and multilateral relations. As such, it covers energy politics, geopolitics, security, economic dimension, the role of discourse and ideology, and the impact of the external actors. This analytical account identifies the nature of the Turkish foreign policy in Eurasia focusing on the areas of cooperation, conflict, contestation and partnership, problematizing the lieu and meanings of regionalization in wider Eurasian region. Combining foreign policy analysis, area studies, geopolitics and security studies, this volume not only problematizes Turkish foreign policy toward different sub-regions of the former Soviet territory but also illustrates and discusses relevant issues of debates in the region with a central theme focusing on regionalization of Turkey’s foreign policy in Eurasia.

Ayça Ergun is a Professor of Sociology at Middle East Technical University (METU). She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Government at University of Essex. Her research interests include state–society relations, democratization, nation and state building, civil society in the South Caucasus, Turkish foreign policy in the South Caucasus, regionalism and regional cooperation in the wider Black Sea region, the Azerbaijani–Turkish relations, internationalization, qualitative methodology, fieldwork and social impact assessment. Her articles appeared in Europe-Asia Studies, Nationalities Papers, Third World Quarterly, Work, Employment and Society, Journal of European Integration, Journal of International Relations, Journal of Church and State, Turkish Studies, Journal of Developing Societies, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Field Methods and Electoral Studies.

Mustafa Aydın is a Professor of International Relations at Kadir Has University, the President of the International Relations Council of Turkey, and Coordinator of Global Academy. He served as the Rector of Kadir Has University (2010–2018) and was a guest researcher at Michigan, Harvard and Athens universities, as well as at the Richardson Institute for Peace Studies, the EU Institute for Security Studies and the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen. Among others, he is a member of the European Leadership Network, the Greek-Turkish Forum and the European Academy of Arts and Sciences. His areas of interest include security issues related to Eurasia and the Middle East, as well as Turkish foreign and security policies.