Turkey's Pivot to Eurasia : Geopolitics and Foreign Policy in a Changing World Order

This book discusses and analyses the dimensions of Turkey’s strategic rapprochement with the Eurasian states and institutions since the deterioration of Ankara’s relations with its traditional NATO allies.

Do these developments signify a major strategic reorientation in Turkish foreign policy? Is Eurasia becoming an alternative geopolitical concept to Europe or the West? Or is this ‘pivot to Eurasia’ an instrument of the current Turkish government to obtain greater diplomatic leverage? Engaging with these key questions, the contributors explore the geographical, political, economic, military and social dynamics that influence this process, while addressing the questions that arise from the difficulties in reconciling Ankara’s strategic priorities with those of other Eurasian countries like Russia, China, Iran and India. Chapters focus on the different aspects of Turkey’s improving bilateral relations with the Eurasian states and institutions and consider the possibility of developing a convincing Eurasian alternative for Turkish foreign policy.

The book will be useful for researchers in the fields of politics and IR more broadly, and particularly relevant for scholars and students researching Turkish foreign policy and the geopolitics of Eurasia.

Emre Erşen is an Associate Professor at Marmara University’s Department of Political Science and International Relations in Istanbul, Turkey. He received his PhD from the same department. He also conducted research at the Higher School of Economics (Russia), Institute for Human Sciences (Austria), University of Kent (United Kingdom) and Jagiellonian University (Poland) as a visiting scholar. He has written for a number of academic publications including Geopolitics, Turkish Studies, Energy Policy, Insight Turkey, Journal of Eurasian Studies and Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs. He also contributed many conference papers on Turkish-Russian relations, Eurasianism and Turkish geopolitics.

Seçkin Köstem is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He received his PhD from McGill University in 2016. In Fall 2018, he was a George F. Kennan Fellow at the Kennan Institute in Washington, DC. He has been a visiting researcher at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute, New York University’s Jordan Center, King’s College London’s Russia Institute and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). His research focuses on Russian and Turkish foreign economic policies, regional and rising powers, and Turkish-Russian relations. His articles have been published in journals such as Review of International Political Economy, Foreign Policy Analysis, Global Policy and Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs.