A look back at Turkish President Erdogan’s key foreign policy successes

Located at the intersection of the Middle East and Europe, Türkiye has had to navigate through the choppy waters of a volatile and fast-changing global order – from shifting international alliances to humanitarian disasters triggered by civil wars, cross-border terrorism and migration.

This has meant deft manoeuvring by Ankara with a pragmatic foreign policy that has enhanced Türkiye’s standing in the global order over the past two decades.

When President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took office in 2003, Turkish policymakers confronted a crippling economic crisis.

Over the years, economic reforms centred on attracting foreign investment, privatisation, and facilitating job-creating sectors such as construction allowed Türkiye to spare resources for its foreign policy goals.

But balancing relations in a neighbourhood scarred by war and strife has brought a new set of challenges as well as opportunities.

One of Ankara’s boldest and most successful diplomatic forays has been in Africa.

A relationship based on mutual respect

“The turning point in Türkiye’s relations with Africa came in 2008 when Türkiye was accepted as a strategic partner in the African Union. Few countries have been given that status,” says Elem Eyrice-Tepeciklioglu, who teaches African studies at ASBU University in Ankara.

A few years earlier, in 2005, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister, became the first Turkish leader to visit Sub-Saharan Africa when he travelled to Ethiopia and South Africa.

“I think it’s often neglected that Türkiye and African countries share a common view on international issues. Türkiye’s narrative for a multipolar and a fairer world finds an audience in Africa because they have also long-demanded to have a larger say in the matters of international governance institutions,” Eyrice Tepeciklioglu tells TRT World.

Türkiye backs the African continent, home to more than a billion people, on its demand for permanent and non-permanent seats at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

The two sides also seek diversity when it comes to the representation of countries in international bodies such as the World Bank, United Nations and the World Trade Organisation.

Türkiye became a non-permanent member of the UNSC in 2008 on the back of strong support from African countries.

After Erdogan’s landmark 2005 visit to Sub-Saharan Africa, Ankara drastically increased the number of its embassies on the continent, from 12 in 2002 to 44 in 2019.

Türkiye’s footprint is equally visible in other foreign policy spheres.

Finding hope in times of despair

Since the Ukraine conflict started in February 2022, world leaders have been on edge. The war’s fallout on the global economy and fears that it can morph into a wider conflict has added to the concerns.

In the year-long conflict, the only time Ukraine and Russia agreed on anything was the Black Sea grain deal – an initiative spearheaded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the UN.

The deal allowed Ukraine to ship millions of tons of grains, which were stuck at seaports due to a Russian naval blockade. The resumption of shipments eased pressure on food prices that had stoked inflation worldwide.

Erdogan has, on multiple occasions, offered to play the role of a mediator between Russia and Ukraine to end the hostilities. Unlike other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Turkiye has restraint from blindly imposing economic sanctions on Russia, one of its important trading partners.

Yet, at the same time, Ankara has steadfastly stood with Ukraine by refusing to accept Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimea region.

Türkiye also moved swiftly for the aid of its allies when there was a need.

A matter of drones

In the South Caucasus, when border clashes broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Türkiye shipped its drones for Baku’s defence.

Turkish-made drones helped Azerbaijan push out Armenian forces from the Karabakh region, which was at the centre of the military escalation.

Bayraktar drones, manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar and sold to 28 countries, have played an important role in putting Türkiye’s defence industry on the world map.

At the same time, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had not allowed regional conflicts to hamper Ankara’s broader goal of peace and stability. This was evident when Türkiye and Armenia began normalising ties last year, starting direct flights and opening land borders for the travel of citizens of other countries.

Bringing brothers together

Under Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s watch, Türkiye has played an active role in the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), which includes Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan, with Hungary as an observer state.

The inter-governmental body aims to promote deeper cooperation between countries which speak the same language and share a mutual economic agenda.

Against the backdrop of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, OTS has attained an important position as friendly countries align their security and economic interests.

Late last year, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was admitted to the OTS as an observer member, in what could be termed as yet another diplomatic achievement of Ankara.

Since the 1970s, the island of Cyprus has been divided into Greek Cyprus and the TRNC, which is recognised only by Türkiye.

Securing the borders

The decade-long civil war in Syria created new security challenges for Ankara. YPG, the offshoot of the PKK terror organisation, has for years carried out cross-border strikes against Turkish troops and civilians. PKK is recognised as a terror group by Türkiye, the US and the European Union.

As the Syrian conflict weakened Damascus’ hold over the country’s territory, YPG and other terror groups, including Daesh, cemented their hold. This was unacceptable to the Turkish government.

Since 2016, Türkiye has launched four military operations in northern Syria, mainly to push back the YPG. But doing so has required not just diplomatic tact but a forcefulness grounded in Türkiye’s national interest.

YPG has rebranded itself under the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has received constant military and financial backing from the US.

Even though Türkiye is part of the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) security alliance, Washington has rebuffed Anakra’s repeated requests to cut-off ties with the YPG.

And this is where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has put his foot down. Ankara’s commitment to stand its ground was on full display when it blocked the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO.

The Nordic countries have allowed PKK to organise rallies and campaigns where they openly display the terror group’s flags and literature.

Türkiye’s diplomacy on countering the PKK-YPG threat has worked successfully, as Finland took steps to address Ankara’s security concerns. In response to Helsinki’s cooperation, the Turkish parliament in March voted to allow Finland to join NATO.

A maritime balance

In the past decade, around a dozen countries, including Greece and Israel, have been in a race to find oil and gas reserves in the Mediterranean Sea. But for many years, Türkiye faced barriers to entering this arena of offshore petroleum exploration.

That was strange since Türkiye has the longest coastline of any of the countries located on the rim of the Mediterranean.

Türkiye, a regional economic power, was excluded from maritime agreements, including those Greece, Israel and Southern Cyprus used to demarcate offshore gas blocks between themselves.

Similarly, Greece has looked to enforce exclusive economic zone (EEZ) rights around its many tiny islands in the Aegean Sea. An EEZ is an exclusive area of a country extending 200 nautical miles from its shore.

This leaves Türkiye with a small offshore stretch and almost nothing in the eastern Mediterranean - something unacceptable to Ankara.

To protect its rights, Türkiye signed a maritime agreement with the UN-backed Libyan government based in Tripoli in 2019. The agreement gives a legal framework for offshore oil and gas exploration, which Türkiye and Libya intend to carry out.