Foreign policy change literature recognizes the importance of change agents, policy entrepreneurs in order to explain foreign policy change in a particular country. A policy entrepreneur might be institutions and people who have an interest in the policies and whose interests are influenced. In order to achieve their interests, they compete to influence the policy packages. Hence, major business organizations alone may have intense interaction with the actors of foreign policy making and become a significant variable in explaining foreign policy change. In this respect, this paper examines the influence of Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen''s Association (TÜSIAD) in the foreign policy making of Turkey between 2000-2010. TÜSIAD is an important case in the Turkish context not only because it is a major economic actor, but also because it is a prominent figure in Turkish civil society. Accordingly, this paper starts with the identification of foreign policy priorities of TÜSIAD through discourse analysis of the major speeches given by TÜSIAD leaders. These priorities are then compared and contrasted with the major lines and the direction of Turkish foreign policy during the given period in order to understand theextent to which TÜSIAD can influence Turkish foreign policy."
