The Evolution of Turkey's Policy towards the Political and Military Conflicts in the Middle East in 2011-2020: the Cases of Syria and Libya

The Turkish policy in the Middle East, as well as the region in general, has been facing considerable changes over the last two decades, which led to the evolution of its approach to the regional politico-military conflicts, which shape the process of regional development. These processes are at the peak of their intensity nowadays, while Turkey is focusing on obtaining the status of a regional leader with ambitions at the global level. For this reason, its approach to the Syrian and Libyan conflicts is gaining special significance in the context of the Turkish foreign policy. This study aims to identify the main factors that determine the evolution of the Turkish approach to politico-military conflicts in the Middle East, as well as to determine the nature of their influence. With this goal in mind, the paper characterizes the challenges and opportunities of Turkey's foreign policy in the context of the "Arab Spring", examines the main aspects of the development of Turkish-Syrian and Turkish-Libyan relations, taking into account the interests of Turkey in these countries, and also defines the nature of the evolution of the political system of Turkey in the context "Arab Spring". The author concludes that the Turkish approach to the Syrian and Libyan conflicts is determined by a set of interdependent and parallel external and internal factors caused by changes both at the regional level in the context of the «Arab Spring» and at the national level as part of the transformation of the political system carried out under the auspices of the ruling Justice and Development Party.