Change of the Intensity and Quality of Turkish Mediation in Peace-building

Conventional wisdom posits that Turkish foreign policy is increasingly influenced from the EU integration process since the 1999 Helsinki Summit and becoming Europeanized by adopting EU’s soft power approach and peaceful settlement of disputes as new fundamental foreign policy norms. These change of norms are mostly indicated by case studies of Cyprus dispute and Turkey’s agreement to the comprehensive NATO-EU deal in 2002. I argue that, assessing the intensity and quality of Turkish mediation would be a batter indicator of changing norms of foreign policy, instruments and style as well as procedures followed in foreign policy making. The paper aims first of all to test whether there is a change in Turkish foreign policy towards a normative approach. In order measure change, the paper assesses the variation in the intensity of Turkey’s resort to peaceful approach and mediation. Secondly, the paper aims to test rational and constructivist institutionalist models in order to explore whether the EU integration process can explain the change in Turkish foreign policy. In doing so, the paper aims to understand the motivations behind the change of Turkish foreign policy towards normative approach and the reasons behind her increasingly intensified involvement in good offices and mediation activities since 1987. Data is collected from primary resources such as speeches and secondary resources such as newspapers. International Crises Behviour data is also employed in order to determine Turkey’s role as a mediator.