Turkish Foreign Policy as a Structural Force: Security, Migration, and Reconstruction in Post-Assad Syria

The collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024, marks a turning point in which the strategic positioning that Turkish foreign policy has been accumulating over thirteen years is truly tested. This study analyzes this transformation within the framework of Susan Strange’s structural power theory and political economy approach, and questions whether Türkiye’s Syria policy has turned into an integrated hegemonic power strategy on the axes of security, migration management and reconstruction. The study uses a single-case design with embedded units of analysis, in which the three axes are treated as units within one case, and draws on official government documents, academic literature and think-tank reports as primary and secondary sources covering the period from December 2024 to the first half of 2026. The findings reveal that Türkiye has gained significant structural power in the security and production structures, but has not yet established decisive influence in the finance and knowledge structures. The article argues that in order for this hegemonic strategy to be permanent, it is imperative to manage domestic political constraints, strengthen Syria’s institutional capacity, and transform policy coordination between the three axes into concrete structures.