It only takes a quick look at a handful of titles on the history of Turkish foreign policy to grasp the relevance of foreign policy to modern Turkey. Unsurprisingly, the richest parts of these books, which often have over 1.000 pages, relate to the late Ottoman Empire ? which means that there was indeed a foreign policy worth discussing. Meanwhile, chapters on the country's post-World War I foreign policy have two prominent features: (1) The discussion of foreign affairs, and (2) the inability of Turkey dev

The 1990s were Turkey's lost years: Terrorist incidents skyrocketed, the number of unsolved murders increased, the Kurdish Question turned into a quagmire, ill-equipped coalition governments jeopardized political and economic stability, polarization between secularists and devout Muslims placed social harmony at peace and the grievances of religious social groups became aggravated. In light of these developments, the military-bureaucratic guardianship regime seized the opportunity to consolidate its power t