Turkey’s Comeback to Central Asia

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Turkey emerged an influential player in the Muslim and ethnically Turkic republics Central Asia. Despite an unrealistic initial policy approach at creating a wide-spanning Turkic union, Turkey reoriented foreign policy toward the region and since the mid-1990s relied on a sophisticated combination of bilateral engagement, institutions, economic linkages, and soft power vis-àvis Asia. The recent thaw in Turkish-Uzbekistan relations new opportunities for cooperation, while Central Asia as a is likely to gain importance in Turkish foreign policy against backdrop of Turkey’s deteriorating relations with traditional allies.