Examining AKP’s Impact on Turkey’s Domestic and Foreign Policy

The conservative AKP came to power in Turkey in 2002 and ever since, it has been accused of following an Islam-driven domestic and foreign policy by many critics. This article argues that AKP has pursued only a moderate conservative agenda in the domestic arena which is consistent with its claims of being a conservative democratic party akin to similar parties in the West. In the foreign policy front, the article traces the historic evolution of Turkey’s foreign policy to show that AKP has only followed the Ozalist approach that originated in the 1980s. Thus, the article concludes against the notion that AKP’s foreign and domestic policies are driven by an Islamic ideology.