This book fills a gap in the research on Turkish foreign policy by providing a comprehensive and comparative analysis of said policy with regard to conflicts, and its far-reaching implications. The comparative approach pursued offers a unique perspective on Turkey’s evolving role in conflicts and its balancing act between power projection, diplomatic engagement, and regional and global dynamics. It illustrates how Turkey projects power, shapes diplomatic relationships, and adapts to the continuously changing global and regional circumstances. At the same time, it highlights the flexibility and complexity of Turkish foreign policy, demonstrating how the government safeguards its interests and skillfully balances conflicting objectives. This comparative analysis is also used to examine and assess the impacts of Turkey’s influence on multiple levels, allowing essential conclusions to be drawn regarding the conditions under which peaceful or military foreign policy prevails and the factors that drive action.

Gülistan Gürbey is an Adjunct Professor at the Otto-Suhr-Institute for Political Science at the Free University of Berlin (Germany), where she teaches on peace and conflict research, de facto states, defective democracies, foreign policy, authoritarianism, and international minority protection, with a regional focus on the Middle East, Turkey, the Kurds, and Cyprus. 

Olaf Leiße is a Professor for European Studies at the Institute for Political Science at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (Germany), where he teaches on the accession process in Southeast and Eastern Europe, the transformation of the European Union, and the Europeanisation process in Member States and associated countries, with a special focus on minority policy in Turkey.