ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY OF TURKEY IN THE CONTEXT OF POLITICS OF PRESTIGE IN FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Abstract

The primary factor leading to a change in the foreign policy objectives of the states is the changes in the structure of the international system, or rather changes in the international power balance. States are obliged to adjust their foreign policy according to circumstances like relaxation in the conflicts between the in-block or inter-blocks caused by the socio-political, socio-economic and socio-psychological developments; change of power balance; and emergence of new strong states as these circumstances can present new possibilities or, on the contrary, hazards before the world states.   States living between two double-poled blocks from the World War I to the late 1950s witnessed China pulling itself out of the Soviet Socialist system in the early 1960s and beginning to increase its effectiveness as a third major in its region. The creation of a new “pole” by the People's Republic of China in the international distribution of power, the beginning of new commercial, economic and cultural relations led to the weakening of the block system that reigned until then. The most effective factors accelerating such changes are the economic ones. The reason is that commercial relations can develop independently from cultural or political intimacy, but then through these developments, they can lead to emergence or consolidation of relations in other areas over time. Therefore, the fact that the world has begun to take a multipolar view has laid the foundations­ for “relaxation” (detente) period towards globalization which aims to keep trade networks wide. This study, which takes into account the developments related to Turkey's economic policy in this process, is a statistical descriptive research on the Foreign Economic Relations Board — DEIK as the global horizon of Turkish business world. DEIK's activity framework has been discussed in order to open a discussion on the dimensions of Turkey's economic diplomacy.