Editted by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Işıksal, lecturer at Near East University, the book titled “Turkey’s Relations with the Middle East: Political Encounters after the Arab Spring” was published by Springer, which is one of the world’s leading publishing organizations
Date Added: 01 November 2017, 15:10
Last Updated Date:20 November 2020, 11:35

Co-edited by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Işıksal, lecturer at the Department of International Relations of Near East University, and Asst. Prof. Dr. Oğuzhan Göksel, lecturer at the Department of Political Sciences and International Relations of Istanbul 29 Mayıs University, the book titled 'Turkey’s Relations with the Middle East: Political Encounters after the Arab Spring' was published by Springer, one of the world's leading publishing companies.

According to the press release issued by the Directorate of Press and Public Relations Office of Near East University, the book, written by academics that specialized in their fields, consists of 14 chapters. Each chapter comprises articles that discuss or address the issues regarding the Middle East and Arab Spring with a theoretical perspective and critical manner. The chapters encompasses comprehensive information concerned with how the Middle East countries had pinned their hopes on Arab Spring, reawakening of Eurocentrism, the formation of "modern" Middle East, the rise and fall of the Turkish Model for Middle East, Turkey's relations with regional actors such as Syria, Iraq, Kurdish Regional Government, ISIS, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, and Egypt as well as the post-Arab Spring period.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Işıksal: "After AK Party came into power in 2002, Turkey has become one of the leading actors of the Political System of the Middle East"

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Işıksal, co-editor of the book, delivered information about the book. "This book presents studies on current political issues affecting the region and the rapidly changing relations of Turkey and Middle East countries over recent years. Turkey became one of the leading actors of the Middle East political system after AK Party came into power in 2002. The political uncertainties that experienced in the region in 2011 due to Arab Spring, the ongoing tragic Syrian civil war and terrorism throughout the region led radical changes in Turkish foreign policy and shaped Turkey's relations with regional powers such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq.

The book brings a closer look on the regional issues and their impacts on the foreign policies of Turkey and regional powers in the Middle East"

The political, economic and cultural interaction between Turkey and the Middle East continues to deepen after 2011 as well. The complex ties between Turkey and the Middle East cannot be fully understood without discussing issues such as terrorism, minorities, sectarian conflicts, economic development, democratization and modernization. The book not only addresses the regional dimensions of the aforementioned issues but also discuss their impacts on the foreign policies of Turkey and other regional powers in the Middle East.

"The readers can access the book in 10,000 libraries in various parts of the world, especially in the leading universities of USA and UK"

Along with his editorship, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Işıksal contributed to the book with three articles consisting of Turkish Foreign Policy, Arab Spring and Syrian Crisis: 1 Step Forward, 2 steps Backward", "Political Crisis in Iraq, ISIS and Turkish Foreign Policy: The High Cost of Westphalian Deception" and "Turkey-Middle East Relations in the Age of Turbulence". As the authorities state, this book has the qualities to be a bedside book for all readers since it comprises the latest and most comprehensive information about the relations between Turkey and the Middle East after the Arab Spring. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Işıksal underlined that the book, which came into existence after 3 year lasting intensive work and peer-review process, and all articles in the book would be accessible on online scientific citation indexing services such as Web of Science and Scopus. "As a result of the contract with Springer Publishing, the readers can access the book in 10,000 libraries in various parts of the world, especially in the leading universities of USA and UK. This will also provide an important contribution to the promotion of Near East University and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" said he.