THE TURKIYE FACTOR IN THE MIDDLE EAST POLICY OF THE US (2009-2020)

Abstract

The article examines Türkiye's role in the U.S. Middle East policy from 2009 to 2020. The main features of the United States Middle East policy during the administrations of B.Obama and D.Trump, as well as the role of Türkiye in the U.S. Middle East policy, have been studied based on the available official documents, scientific literature, and statistical materials. Simultaneously, the article investigated issues such as US-Türkiye cooperation in the strategy to combat international terrorism in the Middle East and disagreements between the two countries in the anti-terrorist policy.

Since the 21st century, the growing role of Türkiye in the Middle East region has had a significant impact on US-Türkiye relations. It should be pointed out that, according to Ahmet Davutoglu, the Middle East region is always an inevitable “hinterland” for Türkiye due to its geographical location. In particular, after the Justice and Development Party came to power, one of Türkiye's essential foreign policy goals was “to become the central country of the Middle East”. Türkiye's party and government programs stated that the main purpose in the Middle East was to end conflicts and stop bloodshed. Thus, sometimes all these mentioned issues led to cooperation between the United States and Türkiye, on the other hand, in some cases, they caused some degree of tension.

During both the B.Obama and D.Trump administrations, the Middle East policy was of particular importance. Especially, B.Obama tried to implement a policy based on multilateral diplomacy, the use of  “soft power” and not ignoring the domestic situation in the United States.