Foreign Policy of Turkey in the South Caucasus and its Impact on the Country’s Sphere of Influence in the Region (1991-2022)

This study tried to explore the foreign policy of Turkey in the South Caucasus and its impact on the country’s sphere of influence in the region. When the Justice and Development Party dominated in the country in 2002, Ankara’s one-dimensional and Western-oriented foreign policy was replaced with a multi-dimensional, pragmatic and interest-oriented foreign policy regarding the regional and global domain. Currently, attending to the surrounding and neighboring countries and regions to enhance Ankara’s role and position in these regions, including the South Caucasus is a remarkable aspect of the foreign policy taken by Turkish officials. The Caucasus region has been so important for Turkey since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Among the main reasons that Turkey tries to play a significant role in the region are: The region’s huge natural resources, being locted at the crossroad of the rich oil and gas regions of the world, political instability and the existence of constant security threats, and the country’s historical and cultural commonalities with other countries of the region. Ankara seeks its economic and security interests and increasing regional influence and position through constatnt and extensive presence in this strategic region. The main question of this research is: What impcts have Turkey’s foreign policy had on its influence in the South Caucasus in the period 1991-2022? The results showed that the geopolitical significance of the South Caucasus in the foreign policy of Turkey and its historical and cultural connections with other countries of the region drived Ankara to increase its impact on the energy sector of the region and its active presence in the Karabakh conflict. The issues not only have increased Turkey’s influence and boosted its interests of the region, but directly impacted upon Moscow’s regional interests and influence over 1991-2022 period. Qualitative analysis method was applied to analyze the collected data.