Physically bridging Europe and Asia and being above Africa, Turkey is a secular country that has historically pursued a Western-oriented foreign policy. To this end, Turkey uses its global diplomatic network—the third most extensive—of 252 diplomatic and consular missions. Since World War II, Turkey's most important ally has been the United States, which shared Turkey's interest in containing Soviet expansion. In support of the United Nations, Turkey contributed personnel to the gray army in the Korean War (1950–1953), joined NATO in 1952, recognized Israel in 1949 and has cooperated closely with the nation. Turkey's alliance with Israel during the Arab–Israeli conflict strained its relations with the Arab world, and Iran, and subsequently led to overt Syrian support for Palestinian and Armenian militant operations against Turkish diplomats abroad until 1990.

History

Historically, the Foreign relations of the Ottoman Empire and later Turkey balanced regional and global powers off against one another, forming alliances that best protected the interests of the incumbent regime. The Soviet Union played a major role in supplying weapons to and financing Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's faction during the Turkish War of Independence but Turkey's followed a course of relative international isolation during the period of Atatürk's Reforms in 1920s and 1930s. International conferences gave Turkey full control of the strategic straits linking the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, through the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 and the Montreux Convention of 1936. In the late 1930s Nazi Germany made a major effort to promote anti-Soviet propaganda in Turkey and exerted economic pressure. Britain and France, eager to outmaneuver Germany, negotiated a tripartite treaty in 1939. They gave Turkey a line of credit to purchase war materials from the West and a loan to facilitate the purchase of commodities. Afraid of threats from Germany and Russia, Turkey maintained neutrality. It sold chrome—an important war material—to both sides. It was clear by 1944 that Germany would be defeated and the chrome sales to Germany stopped.

After 1945

Turkey became one of the early members of the Council of Europe in 1950. Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, joined the European Union Customs Union in 1995 and started accession negotiations with the European Union in 2005. In a non-binding vote on 13 March 2019, the European Parliament called on the EU governments to suspend EU accession talks with Turkey, citing violations of human rights and the rule of law; but the negotiations, effectively on hold since 2018, remain active as of 2023. According to the United States government, the other defining aspect of Turkey's foreign policy has been the country's long-standing strategic alliance with the United States. The Truman Doctrine in 1947 enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece during the Cold War, and resulted in large-scale U.S. military and economic support. In 1948 both countries were included in the Marshall Plan and the OEEC for rebuilding European economies. The common threat posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War led to Turkey's membership of NATO in 1952, ensuring close bilateral relations with the US. Subsequently, Turkey benefited from the United States' political, economic and diplomatic support, including in key issues such as the country's bid to join the European Union. In the post–Cold War environment, Turkey's geostrategic importance shifted towards its proximity to the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkans. The independence of the Turkic states of the Soviet Union in 1991, with which Turkey shares a common cultural, historic and linguistic heritage, allowed Turkey to extend its economic and political relations deep into Central Asia. The International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY) was established in 1993, and the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) was established in 2009. The [Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline](https://bliptext.com/articles/baku-tbilisi-ceyhan-[pipeline](https://bliptext.com/articles/pipeline-transport)), a multi-billion-dollar oil and natural gas pipeline that extends from Baku in Azerbaijan to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey, forms part of Turkey's foreign policy strategy to become an energy conduit from the Caspian Sea basin to Europe. Turkey sealed its land border with Armenia in a gesture of support to Azerbaijan (a Turkic state in the Caucasus region) during the First (1993) and Second (2020) Nagorno-Karabakh Wars, and it remains closed. Armenia and Turkey started diplomatic talks in order to normalize the relationship between the two countries. The discussions include opening the closed borders and starting trade. Turkey and Armenia have also restarted commercial flights between the two countries. Under the AKP government (2003–), Turkey's economy has grown rapidly and the country's influence has grown in the Middle East based on a strategic depth doctrine, sometimes mistakenly called Neo-Ottomanism. Debate on Turkey's foreign relations is controversial both within Turkey itself and outside the country. In the West, there is a divide between those who are worried about Turkey's perceived movement away from the West toward a less democratic, more Islamic or more pro-Russian and pro-Chinese orientation and those who do not see Turkey's changing political structure, growing regional power and diversification of relations with countries such as Russia as a threat.

Diplomatic relations

Despite being one of the first countries to recognize Armenia's independence, Turkey has never established formal diplomatic relations with Armenia. Turkey formerly had diplomatic relations with Cyprus, Syria and Taiwan. List of countries which Turkey maintains diplomatic relations with:

Bilateral relations

Multilateral

Africa

There has been a revival in Turkey's relation with Africa after 1998 and civil society is the leading factor in this process. Initially this revival came as a passive attempt, but after 2005 it became an offensive interest in developing relations with the continent. The recent Turkey–Africa Cooperation Summit in 2008 marks the latest stage in Turkey's keen interest in developing relations with Africa, and should be seen as a turning point. Turkey since its involvement in Somalia in 2011, is eager to be considered as a political actor in the continent.

Northern Africa

Sub–Saharan Africa

Since 2008, Turkey has prioritized friendly relations with Africa partly to build friendly and conflict–free relations, which was not available in the hostile atmosphere in its neighborhood. Capitalizing on a strong sentiment of fellowship among Turkish people towards Africans, economic and diplomatic relations with Africa flourished: Foreign trade between sub-Saharan Africa and Turkey increased from US$581 million in 1998 to US$5.08 billion in 2015. Dating back to 1800, Turkey's relations with sub-Saharan Africa flourished from the 1860s—when the Ottoman Empire started sending trained imams to the region—until 1885 when other European colonial powers blocked Ottoman influence. Relations were restored in the 1950s, and gained momentum when Emperor Haile Selassie visited Turkey in March 1967 and December 1969. Since 2008, Turkey has contributed to the region through participation in peacekeeping missions, including the UN Mission in Ivory Coast (UNOC), the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Central African Republic, Chad. Turkey has also dramatically increased financial aid to the region, providing a total of US$6.38 billion to the region just between 2006 and 2011 including the 2011 donation of US$200 million to fight the famine in East Africa.

Americas

Southern Cone

North America

Caribbean

Central America

Latin America, rest of

Asia and Oceania

Turkic states

Asia-Pacific

Western Asia

Europe

International organizations

Turkey is a founding member of the UN (1945), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (1961), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (1969), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) (1973), and the G20 industrial nations (1999). Turkey is a member state of the Council of Europe (1949) and NATO (1952) as well as being in full accession negotiations with the European Union since 2005, having been an associate member since 1963. Turkey was also an associate member of the Western European Union from 1992 to 2011, and signed the E.U. Customs Union agreement in 1995. Turkey entered NATO in 1952 and serves as the organization's vital eastern anchor, controlling the Turkish Straits which lead from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and sharing a border with Syria, Iraq, and Iran. A NATO headquarters is located in İzmir, and the United States has maintained air forces at the Incirlik Air Base in the province of Adana. Turkey is also a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995. It has signed free trade agreements with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Israel, and many other countries. In 1992, Turkey and 10 other regional nations formed the BSEC to expand regional trade and economic cooperation. In 2017, ASEAN-Turkey Sectoral Dialogue Partnership was recognized by the 50th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Manila, Philippines.

European Union–Turkey relations

Greece–Turkey relations

Middle East–Turkey relations

Russia–Turkey relations and the Turkish Straits

Turkey–Turkic world relations

Turkey–United States relations

Foreign relations (1923–1945)

Foreign relations (1945–2002)

Foreign relations (2002–present)