TÜRKİYE’S FOOTHOLD IN THE BASIN EXTENDING FROM THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN TO THE ARABIAN SEA: SCRATCHING AN AD-HOC REGIONAL SECURITY COMPLEX

Türkiye pursues an effective and assertive foreign policy as a decisive power in the transformations in the regional security architecture in its immediate basin. It is a generally accepted idea today that foreign policy moves are parts of an interconnected and systemic strategy rather than individual initiatives. Recently, the basin extending from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Arabian Sea have brought substantial threats, risks and advantages for Turkish foreign policy. Türkiye has resorted to using bilateral cooperation instruments against these challenges. At a time of evolving global and regional dynamics, a set of foreign policy moves and bilateral cooperations established with certain states in the region has served the common purpose of increasing Türkiye’s political presence and leverage in this basin, leading to the formation of an ad-hoc regional security complex. The study deals with the regional security complex theory with a qualitative approach, analyzes Türkiye's recent engagement with the subject basin in the light of this theory, and puts forward general implications regarding the regional balance of power. The study is assessed to make a unique contribution to the literature as it considers Türkiye's foreign policy moves related to the subject basin as connected and systematic initiatives.