Foreign policy of turkey and spain versus middle east, after 2002. Transition to democracy and new international agents

Resum

Turkey and Spain experienced drastic changes after Second World War. Turkey started the occidentalization process, with the reforms made by Atatürk but today the country still has continued struggle somewhere between full democracy and authoritarianism. On the other hand Spain stands as a solid example of democratic consolidation. The focus of the thesis is to analyze the effects of democratic transition and consolidation to foreign policy decision making process. The idea is to properly examine similar and different cases in both states and see the results in decision making. In particular, the main focus is Middle East policy of Turkish Republic between 2002 and 2013. The perspective of research is mainly based on the relations of Turkey with Middle East countries, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Israel and also Cyprus. Alternately, purpose of the dissertation is to comprehend the fundamental characteristic of Turkey‘s foreign policy under AKP rule and in what way and wherefore Turkish foreign policy changed. Additionally, the importance of Alliance of Civilizations and Barcelona Process clarified in the framework of democracy and peace promoters in Middle East region. Key worlds: Turkey, Spain, foreign policy, Middle East, democracy, revolutions, Islamism, Alliance of Civilizations and Barcelona Process