Peacebuilding in Turbulent Times: Turkey in MENA and Africa

Over the past decade, Turkey has become a significant actor in the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, largely through its development and peacebuilding engagement, and its cultural and commercial penetration within these regions. This involvement has varied in response to both domestic and international developments, allowing Turkey to project itself as a major and ambitious newcomer, among other emerging powers in the development and peacebuilding field. Ankara’s new multidimensional foreign policy framework and its development and peacemaking approach has since undergone a significant transformation as international, regional and domestic developments have prompted the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to respond to challenges and opportunities posed in this field. This paper assesses the Turkish political leadership and policy community’s understanding of peacebuilding, the contexts and main motivations underlying its conceptualisation and implementation, while outlining potential future developments.