TURKEY'S MIDDLE EAST POLICY: KURDISH FACTOR

The article analyzes the Kurdish factor in the context of Turkey's Middle East Policy from the beginning of the Syrian crisis. Turkey's Middle East policy has changed from beginning of Justice and Development Party's governance, but Turkey totally shifted its attention to the Middle East since 2011. The main attention is paid to the role of the Kurdish factor in the Turkish-Syrian relations. The features of the Turkish policy on the Syrian-Kurdish issue are considered in the context of Turkey's national interests. The article shows that Turkey is concerned about the activities of the Kurdish political parties and organizations in the northern and northeastern part of Syria: Turkish army operations were held for the pressure of that movements. The research allows the authors to analyze the factors that impact on future developments of the Kurdish issue in the whole Middle East region, generally, and in Syria, particularly. It is noteworthy that the Middle East policy of Turkey is largely dependent on the Kurdish issue, and Kurds are currently one of the key factors of Turkey-Syria, Turkey-Iraqi, Turkey-Iran relations.