Geopolitics and Security Culture, the Case of Turkey

In case of Turkey’s security culture long-term structural and short-term conjectural factors come into play. Turkey’s geographical location, the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, the legacy of Ataturk, and the decades-old westernization process tend to produce long-term impact on Turkey’s security culture, whereas political ideologies and geopolitical imaginations of ruling elites, the structure of polarity and distribution of power capabilities at the systemic level as well as type of government at different periods can be considered as producing short-term impact. Turkey is a middle power, sits at a very critical geographical location, and embodies an imperial mindset. This suggests that its approach to geopolitics is defined more by structural than conjectural factors.