Turkey and Qatar Relationship: A Social Constructivism Perspective

Turkey and Qatar have played a role as two active countries in the developments in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Turkey has sought to expand its relations in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf with the idea of “strategic depth” and “zero problem with neighbors” proposed by Ahmet Davutoglu. With the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2011 and the Syrian crisis, the Doha-Ankara relationship underwent significant changes. After the Arab Spring, relations between the two countries improved significantly, and Doha, as a partner and ally of Turkey's regions, has found an important place in Turkish foreign policy. One of the reasons for the improvement of Turkish-Qatari relations, especially after the Arab Spring, is the existence of shared ideas and perceptions, and as a result, the two countries’ identities and ideological ties, especially to the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which brought the two countries closer. In this article, using Social Constructivism theory, we seek to explain the factors affecting Turkey-Qatar relations (2011–2020). The method used in the article is analytical-descriptive method. The main question in this article is how can the regional relations between Turkey and Qatar (2011–2020) be explained on the basis of social constructivism? The hypothesis is that: Based on social constructivism theory, common Turkish-Qatari intersubjectivity and perceptions derived from the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood resulted in a common identity bringing the two states closer together in regional level (2011–2020).