TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY IN CENTRAL ASIA: AK PARTY ERA

The beginning of the new century brought tectonic changes to the political landscape of the Republic of Turkey. The victory of the Justice and Development Party (AKP51) in the 2002 parliamentary elections marked the beginning of a new era in Turkish politics, not only domestic but also foreign. Turkey began to pursue a more active foreign policy and began to develop bilateral and multilateral relations with its neighbors, with which it had previously had difficult relations. Central Asia, which for centuries has occupied a special place in the coordinate system of Turkish foreign policy, has not gone unnoticed by the Turkish leadership. If the process of improving relations with neighbors in the expert community has become known as the doctrine of “Zero problems with neighbors,” then the spread of Turkish influence far beyond the region, especially into the Turkic world, has been called “new Ottomanism”. Ahmet Davutoglu, Abdullah Gul and, of course, Recep Erdogan were recognized as the main actors, who played a key role in enhancing Turkish foreign policy. What can unite Turkey with the countries of Central Asia, what levers and tools are used to promote Turkish politics in the region and what successes have Turkey achieved in this direction? Having received answers to these questions, you can learn about the role of Turkey in the region and its possibilities to push Russia back in some aspects. The aim of this paper is to find more detailed answers to this kind of questions.