Foreign Policy
The Republic of Turkey has been pursuing, since its establishment, a peaceful, realistic, and consistent foreign policy guided by the principle “Peace at Home and Peace Abroad” set out by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The aim of Turkey is the development of international cooperation, peaceful settlement of disputes, amicable and compatible relations with all countries and primarily with neighboring nations, and contribution to both regional and international peace, stability and welfare. Commitment to these principles that form the core element of Turkish foreign policy, continue with the same determination today as well.
Turkish foreign policy continuously adapts itself to changing conditions to guide changes in international and regional balances. Matters related to foreign policy are taken up by a farsighted and visionary approach. The first fact of this vision is countries, people and individuals’ right tol ive in security with the balance of freedom and security, in other words, ‘security for all’. The second fact is disagreements being resolved through ‘political dialogue’ by refraining from the use of force and implementations that will escalate tensions. The third fact is the creation of ‘mutual economic dependency’ fort he mutual benefit of every country and people among regional countries and the fourth fact is cultural harmony and mutual respect.
As a result of these policies pursued, Turkey has become a country that does not only react to crises but also one that notices crises before they emerge, intervenes effectively and establishes regional order.
Turkey that has a strong economy and a central position that gradually comes to the forefront, significantly contributes to international peace and security and implements these on three axis; its neighbours, region and a global scale, that continuosly interact with one another. Turkey’s policy on its neighbours is based on the target of not leaving any unresolved issues among them.
On the one hand, Turkey contributes to stability and security with support provided for peacekeeping missions on multilateral levels, the UN, NATO and EU being in the first place, and on the other hand it fulfills its duties for the achievement of UN Millennium Develeopment Goals with increasing aid to developing countries as a donor country. It resolutely heads towards full EU membership, plays a key role in global governance in the context of the UN Security Council and G-20 membership and assumed leadership responsibilities in many geographical/regional organizations including the OIC and the Council of Europe. It also significantly contributes to the preventation of global cultural tensions and polarization by forums such as the Alliance of Civilizations.
Turkey is a member of the Council of Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), the Developing 8 (D-8) and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and has or will assume the term presidency of some of them.