Twenty Years Before, Twenty Years After: Turkish Foreign Policy at the Threshold of the 21st Century

Turkey is one of the most affected countries from the cyclical systemic changes in world politics. While the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 signified the beginning of the end for the system that the international community had become used to during the Cold War, for Turkey it introduced new difficulties in her foreign and security policies. In any political system domestic issues have an important bearing on the formulation and substance of foreign policy, though the extent and nature of this influence varies with a nation’s political system. The political system of a country is significant in terms of the decisionmaking process and responsibilities, and it determines powers, focus and the mechanisms of decisions in foreign policy. Aspect of the decision-making process in Turkish foreign policy that should be kept in mind is the composition and powers of the National Security Council and the place of the Turkish military in Turkish political life.