부산대학교 도서관

What explains the Turkish government's growing political autonomy in both the domestic and foreign policies? As of January 2023, the Turkish military administration and the Syrian Interim Government share dual authority over the northern areas of Aleppo, Raqqa, and Hasakah. Previous studies tend to explain the Turkish military incursion into northeastern Syria with the classic alliance formation theories. However, the AKP does not depend entirely on the US or Russia to pursue its interests. Thus, this research attempts to explain Türkiye's growing political autonomy by taking the following steps. First, it reviews previous studies that use Türkiye as case studies to define the term 'middle power state.' It also points out the limitation of existing literatures that explain the middle power state's behaviors with the theories on balancing or bandwagoning strategies. Second, this research provides a theoretical explanation for Türkiye's political autonomy. Third, it analyzes the case of Türkiye's recent diplomatic efforts that effectively managed the conflicts between the competing regional hegemons. It concludes that Türkiye, the 'geopolitical middle-ground state,' has adopted 'doublehedging strategies' to achieve political autonomy. This autonomy allowed Türkiye to conduct military operations on foreign soil without any meaningful payoff and to justify its actions against the Kurdish population at home.