NEO-OTTOMANISM AND EVOLUTION OF TURKEY'S PRIORITIES IN CENTRAL ASIA

Abstract

This article examines the ideological basis of Turkish foreign policy at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries, which contributed to the growth of activity in regional affairs and the evolution of the country's priorities. In recent years, experts have increasingly used the term “neo-Ottomanism” of Turkey as a key factor in the successful expansion of influence in the Central Asian region, despite the clear geopolitical advantage of Russia and China. The concept of neo-Ottomanism, the ideologist of which A. Davutoglu is considered, implies the relationship of the foreign policy of modern Turkey with the historical heritage of the Ottomans and its orientation towards strengthening political influence in all regions that were previously part of the Ottoman Empire, taking into account modern realities. The author analyzes different interpretations and understandings of the term along with other parallel ideologemes, using the comparative method.

In historical retrospect, the end of the bipolar world order and the collapse of the USSR contributed to Turkey filling the vacuum of newly sovereign states in the post-Soviet space, using common religious, cultural and ethnic ties with the region. The political and economic structure of Turkey was proposed as a model for these Turkic republics. The spread of the “Turkish model,” which combines “moderate Islam, the principles of democracies, human rights and a free market economy,” was supported by the West, and rapprochement with the post-Soviet Turkic states would emphasize the strategic importance of Turkey as a “door” to the Eurasian heartland.

At the present stage, proclamations about common historical roots, supported by real cultural and humanitarian projects of Turkic cooperation, create fertile ground for the transformation of strategic expansion based on pragmatic regional tangible interests and the desire for mutual benefit.