ABSTRACT

Recent years have witnessed increasing questions regarding Turkey’s international orientation. Many have defined Turkey as an over-ambitious middle power, a categorization similar to traditional middle power identity, yet also evincing a strong determination on the part of Turkish decision makers to transform Turkey into a regional power that has the potential to become a great power sometime in future. This essay examines why Turkey’s over-ambitious middle power strategy has failed in producing the expected outcomes and why adopting the strategy of restrained middle power will serve Turkey’s national interests much better at a time of great upheavals, polarization, and uncertainties in international politics. The restrained middle power strategy can be justified on both realist and liberal grounds.

摘要

近年来，人们对土耳其国际定位的质疑越来越多。许多人将土耳其定义为一个过于雄心勃勃的中等强国，这一分类类似于传统的中等强国身份，但也表明土耳其决策者将土耳其转变为有潜力成为大国的地区强国的坚定决心未来的某个时候。本文探讨了土耳其过于雄心勃勃的中等强国战略为何未能达到预期效果以及为何采取克制的中等强国战略在国际政治发生巨大动荡、两极分化和不确定性的时期，这将更好地服务于土耳其的国家利益。克制的中等强国战略在现实主义和自由主义的基础上都是合理的。