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of Wahhabi terrorists is considered especially effective; - Direct joint military operations against Wahhabi terrorists.
Author of the abstract - Elena Dmitrieva
2018.03.010. RUSLAN SHANGARAEV. IDEOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY // "Obozrevatel-Observer," Moscow, 2017, № 11, P. 73-82.
Keywords: "soft power," pan-Islamism, pan-Turkism, kemalism, Turkey, Russia, CIS.
Ruslan Shangaraev,
PhD(Economics), Senior Lecturer,
Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Russian Federation
In the article the author considers issues related to the ideological component of Turkey's foreign policy, which is largely determined by its history, culture and geographical location. The countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus entered the sphere of influence of Turkey after the collapse of the USSR, it was the first to establish diplomatic relations with them.
Turkey tried to emphasize a similar ethnic and cultural component towards the peoples of the Caucasus, but this approach did not always work because of frozen conflicts and historically disagreements (for example, in relations between Turkey and Armenia).
Turkey has reached a certain socio-political and economic balance in domestic politics, which resulted in the spread of its influence on the surrounding areas through the establishment of institutions of "soft power." These non-governmental organizations have become channels for Turkish public diplomacy, strategic communication and expanding Turkey's influence in the region, receiving state support.
Modern Turkey has taken a course to strengthen its influence on the entire Islamic world, positioning itself almost as the only defender of the interests of the entire Muslim Ummah. The author singles out the following organizations among all these institutions: the Turkish Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA), the Turkish Association of Industrialists and Businessmen (TUS1AD), the Yunus Emre Foundation, the International Turkic Culture Organization (TURKSOY), the Turkish Council for Scientific and Technical Research TUBITAK.
Analyzing the ideological component of Turkey's foreign policy, the author notes that Turkey's awareness of the "soft power" was a consequence of the transformation that took place in Turkish foreign and domestic policy.
A number of fundamental shifts in Turkey's approach to the issue of values as an expression of its sociopolitical self-awareness is beginning precisely in the sphere of ideology, which resulted in a fundamental revision of the vector of its internal and external political development.
The key ideological levers that were actively used by Turkey in its foreign policy in the twentieth century were the ideas of pan-Turkism, pan-Islamism, which were supposed to meet the tasks facing the state. The idea of pan-Islamism was formulated in the second half of the 19th century and ultimately involves a return to classical Islam, in which priority is given to the confessional community over the ethnic.
The idea was picked up by the government of N. Erbakan in the 1990s, which became the first pro-Islamic prime minister of the country. Rapprochement with states where the majority of the population professed Islam was proclaimed the main goal.
A new ideology was defined after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the proclamation of the republic by the Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, which was called "Kemalism" and was oriented towards the transition of the Republic of Turkey from the country with an eastern, Islamic character to the Western secular way of social and political life.
The ideology of Kemalism was a key one in the country's domestic and foreign policy for a long time. However, with the coming to power of the Justice and Development Party (2002), there has been a gradual shift in the perception of the methods of forming and implementing the domestic and foreign policies of the Republic of Turkey.
This kind of orientation has developed and strengthened since the accession of Ahmet Davutoglu to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs. A. Davutoglu, who is a follower of the school of liberalism, not only formed a foreign policy concept that includes a wide range of issues and directions in Turkey's sphere of influence, but also theoretically substantiated Ankara's interest in a number of regions - from Europe to Africa and from China to the Balkans. A. Davutoglu formulated the idea that the geopolitical changes of the late 20th - early 21st centuries, as well as the processes of globalization, raise the issue of identity on the agenda, which did not attract due attention during the Cold War.
According to A. Davutoglu, Turkey, established in the early 20th century as a nation-state, should recall its Ottoman past, defining a special "strategic depth" of Turkish foreign policy, imposing on the country a number of geopolitical obligations.
Within the framework of A. Davutoglu's ideas, it was possible to consider the elements of pan-Turkism, perceived in the context of a broader concept of pan-turanism, which consists in the creation of the Great Turan, stretching from the Balkans to Eastern Siberia, the ancestral home of the Turkic peoples.
Involving countries in the zone of their influence in the regions of the Near and Middle East, the Balkans, as well as an ambitious foreign-political advancement to Africa, Asia and Latin America requires awareness of the impossibility of applying the classical model of "carrot and stick" to these regions from Turkey. In accordance with these considerations, the idea of a common historical destiny and mutual development of cultures is laid in the basis of Turkish foreign policy.
All of the above projects, implemented with the direct or indirect assistance of the Government of the Republic of Turkey, clearly demonstrate the importance that the country attaches to the consolidation of influence in the region and the post-Soviet space in order to become one of the strongest states in the world. Claiming for the role of the modernizer of Eurasia, Turkey seeks to expand the geographic boundaries of its geopolitical influence.
The attitude towards the Ottoman past as a common space-time continuum for many peoples allows Turkey to present its experience as a potential common denominator for resolving crises and problems, creating a new regional dynamics within the Euro-Asian continent with the inclusion in this process not only ethnically and linguistically close, but also distinct peoples. In other words, Turkey's foreign policy, often referred to as "neo-Ottomanism," aims to extend its influence to a number of regions and peoples, using the rhetoric of the common past.
Author of the abstract - Valentina Schensnovich
2018.03.011. KONSTANTIN DUDAREV. WINDS OF CHANGES OVER SAUDI ARABIA // "Asia and Africa," Moscow, 2017, № 11, "Asiya i Afrika segodnya," P. 39-44.
Keywords: Saudi Arabia, "Vision of 2030," reforms, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Konstantin Dudarev,
Orientalist; Journalist
In this article the author analyzes the radical socio-economic reforms in Saudi Arabia aimed at reducing the raw material dependence of the country's economy and its diversifying. Speaking about the first visit to Russia of the Saudi monarch Abdel Aziz Al Saud in early October 2017, the author notes its importance and the serious nature of Saudi Arabia's intentions,
