By its very nature, foreign policy feeds into and draws nourishment from numerous, disparate, and varied fields. It is a domain with manifold and diverse inputs. For foreign policy is examined alongside a broad array of subjects, ranging from geography to history, economics to intelligence, and military might to public diplomacy, commonly termed soft power elements.<\/p>\n
The capacity of the state, that is, the scale of the state, or in other words the aggregate of its elements of power (namely political, economic, military, and soft power components), is decisive in foreign policy. Geography is decisive in foreign policy. Commercial relations are decisive in foreign policy. Energy dependence on another country or countries, if present, is decisive in foreign policy. Foreign policy cannot be conducted in spite of these four factors.<\/p>\n
There is more. A country’s capacity, its scale, does not increase overnight, from one day to the next. It requires planning. It requires national consensus. It requires time. It requires preparation. Nor are these enough. The regional and global environment, the conjuncture, and the international plane must also allow for it. The stance of allies and adversaries is, of course, also important.<\/p>\n
For the international environment is, by its nature, complex. It is an environment rife with contradiction, turmoil, conflict, and tension. To draw an analogy, the person in the driver’s seat of foreign policy is not a motorist speeding along the road as they please. There are things they must not forget, rules they must obey, red lights, vehicles speeding up from behind, a truck moving ahead, and a heavy vehicle hurtling toward them from the opposite direction.<\/p>\n
Success in foreign policy does not arrive simply because a politician we like has become foreign minister. For a foreign minister is only as effective as the power, capacity, and weight of their country. One must accept this plain truth.<\/p>\n
Moreover, there are simple, straightforward questions that reveal whether foreign policy, which some find deeply complex and inscrutable, is successful or not.<\/p>\n
There are undoubtedly ways to measure the effectiveness, prestige, influence, and success of foreign policy.<\/p>\n
For instance, the number of countries that respect a passport, how many countries can be visited visa-free, and how many countries impose visa requirements and grant those visas only with great difficulty are important indicators of a country’s standing.<\/p>\n
Let us take ourselves as an example. Which countries require a visa for the Turkish passport? Which ones do not? Is it easy for our citizens to obtain visas for the countries they primarily wish to visit?<\/p>\n
Let us give another example from the Turkic world.<\/p>\n
On the Cyprus issue, which we regard as a national cause across government and opposition, right and left, Kemalist and Milli G\u00f6r\u00fc\u015f adherents alike, how many countries have we succeeded in having recognize the TRNC? Why do the Turkic states (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) not recognize the TRNC? Far from recognizing the TRNC, how do the Turkic states in Central Asia (Turkistan) explain to Ankara their developing relations with the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus, which T\u00fcrkiye does not recognize, their appointment of ambassadors, and their recognition of Southern Cyprus as the island’s sole legitimate government?<\/p>\n
We must also ask this question, of course: What is the state of T\u00fcrkiye’s bilateral trade with the Turkic states?<\/p>\n
Let us give an example of the relationship between foreign policy and big capital.<\/p>\n
In which countries are big capital circles, among the greatest supporters of the ruling bloc, winning major tenders?<\/p>\n
In our country, across both ruling and opposition ranks, there is a political party order that supports T\u00fcrkiye’s EU membership. Yet how much progress has been made on EU membership?<\/p>\n
Why is US President Trump not keeping the promises he made to T\u00fcrkiye at the NATO summit held in Ankara a few months ago?<\/p>\n
How many contracts has the new regime in Syria, the al-Sharaa administration, awarded to Turkish companies for the reconstruction of its country?<\/p>\n
Has the government in Libya that T\u00fcrkiye supports paid the money owed to Turkish construction firms, outstanding for years?<\/p>\n
How does Qatar, with whom our relations are very good, explain its developing ties, energy agreements, and joint military drills with Greece and the Greek Cypriot Administration, disregarding our sensitivities?<\/p>\n
Who is the addressee of the harsh statements used in recent weeks by Azerbaijan, which we view as “two states, one nation”? To what extent does Azerbaijan share T\u00fcrkiye’s policy on Israel? What does T\u00fcrkiye think about the scale, depth, and intimacy of Azerbaijan-Israel relations?<\/p>\n
These questions can certainly be multiplied.<\/p>\n
Yet without taking into account the scale of the state and observing the criteria for measuring foreign policy, no sound assessment can be made.<\/p>\n
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By its very nature, foreign policy feeds into and draws nourishment from numerous, disparate, and varied fields. It is a domain with manifold and diverse inputs. For foreign policy is examined alongside a broad array of subjects, ranging from geography to history, economics to intelligence, and military might to public diplomacy, commonly termed soft power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":16962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6605,10033,22539,8008,22543,625,951,1433,22542,13424,5880,22538,534,22541,22540],"class_list":["post-16961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-bilateral-trade","tag-cyprus-issue","tag-diplomatic-success","tag-energy-dependence","tag-foreign-minister","tag-foreign-policy","tag-geopolitics","tag-international-relations","tag-national-consensus","tag-public-diplomacy","tag-soft-power","tag-state-capacity","tag-trnc","tag-turkic-states","tag-turkish-foreign-policy","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\n