Revisionism and Resecuritization of Turkey's Middle East Policy: A Neoclassical Realist Explanation

Abstract

Turkey’s Middle East policy has taken a realist turn in recent years. This article explores this phenomenon in a critical case, i.e., Turkey’s abandonment of a policy of engagement vis-à-vis the Kurdish revisionist actors in Iraq and Syria, and tilt towards a coercive approach including military posturing. In order to explain the drivers of this realist turn, it utilizes a neo-classical realist framework that combines regional and domestic variables. It traces how the fragmentation of the regional order, combined with the rise of new security culture and power bloc domestically, undergirded the reversal in Ankara’s Middle East policy. It concludes with a discussion on the policy implications of this new phase.