Turkey's Foreign Policy Towards the War in Ukraine

The Ukraine war, which began with Russia's attack on Ukraine in February 2022, is considered an important point in the international order from the point of view of international relations, so that some consider it the beginning of a new cold war, while others consider it a possible prelude to World War III. Important approaches that show the importance of this war and most of the writings, besides addressing the causes of the start of the war, have also looked at its consequences from various political, economic, environmental and security aspects, especially food security. One of the important consequences of this war, in addition to the bilateral relations between Russia and Ukraine, can be on multilateral relations and the possibility of new fronts in the power structure and regional and global order, in this regard, Turkey's behavior with regard to its membership in NATO, its geopolitical position And geo-strategic is very important. Therefore, the main question of this article is, what has been Turkey's foreign policy towards the war in Ukraine? The main hypothesis of the article, using the historical-explanatory method and using the theoretical framework of realism and the approach of protecting national interests, is that the war in Ukraine, by creating simultaneous threats and opportunities for Turkey's national interests, has caused Turkey to adopt a policy of mediation and balance in order to reduce the threats and increase the opportunities of this war. In this regard, the findings of the article show that the war in Ukraine, while increasing Turkey's geostrategic importance in the field of geopolitics and energy transit, has enhanced Ankara's role as a third pole and mediator.