role of cultural and ideological considerations in the foreign policies of turkey

this study deals with the turkish foreign policies on the basis of its cultural and ideological background. the main question asks about the most powerful cultural and ideological factors driving turkey’s foreign policies. the research emphasizes mainly on kemalism and islamism as two main independent variables. kemalism or ataturkism consists of some basic principles including nationalism, secularism, and westernism that have influenced the turkish foreign policies since the founding of the republic. in addition, it has also been influenced by some islamist considerations. the conflicts between kemalism and islamism have been one of the main problems in the turkish politics. the akp government under the leadership of receptayyiperdoğan has tried to rely on a coherent combination of kemalism and islamism for turkish foreign policies.