Turkish Foreign Policy and Islamic Awakening: A Case Study on the Developments in Egypt and Tunisia

The so-called “Islamic Awakening«developments in the new millennium could be considered as the most eminent and dominant changes in political structures of the countries in the region in recent years. These revolutions، firstly originated in Tunisia through demonstrations against the autocratic regimes، were aimed at reaching democracy and negating domination. They then spread rapidly throughout the region، namely in Egypt، Libya، Yemen، Bahrain، and Syria. Consequently، they have led to the downfall of the regimes of Bin Ali and Hosni Mubarek in Tunisia and Egypt. Amidst these political upheavals، the regional and ultra-regional powers have tried to gain advantage. Turkey، to give an example، under the leadership of The Justice and Development Party، which has been considered as one of the West allies، has tried to exert power in line with its own national interest. The aim of this article is to study the foreign policy standpoints of Turkey by emphasizing the reformations within Egypt and Tunisia. Therefore، the Offensive Realism Approach has been used to support the underlying hypothesis of the research. The hypothesis reads as the following: Turkey''s current foreign policy، concerning recent reformations in Egypt and Tunisia، has proven to be in pursuit of more power and influence in the region by gaining political and economic superiority and controlling powerful countries as Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia.