Turkey Needs to Rethink Policy Toward Its Fractious Neighbors
Turkey instituted a policy of “zero problems” with its neighbors a decade ago, an integrated foreign policy in which soft power is balanced with core security interests and which served Turkey well for a time. Current security, economic and political stakes in Syria and Iran, however, may require Ankara to change its philosophy. Kadir Ustun reports.
When Turkey devised a policy of “zero problems” with its neighbors a decade ago, the decision was based on necessity, not necessarily on choice.
In the 1990s, Turkey considered virtually all its neighbors to be potential enemies who might support Kurdish militants of the PKK and its intention to carve out a separate state in Turkey’s southeast.
