Turkey's New Economic Diplomacy: Balancing Commercial Interests with Geopolitical Goals, Spring 2002

The need for a comprehensive reform agenda has become extremely pressing in Turkey. At the international level, the key element is Turkey’s drive towards EU membership, which will require a huge overhaul of its regime, practices and governance (linked with the call for a new political architecture and a redefinition of national interests in foreign affairs strategy). Domestically, sense of economic crisis has accelerated needed reforms and brought an unprecedented sense of urgency. The post-crisis Turkey may well rebound and recover quickly on a solid basis, as was the case in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian crisis for Thailand and Korea. We see the novel economic diplomacy strategy as an essential part of Turkey’s wide range of policy and institutional reform agenda, designed to put Turkey on a sound footing in the new international system. 

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