Turkey likely to maintain same foreign policy line after polls

The mayoral elections in Turkey brought in unexpected results. This is so, even as the Justice and Development Party of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came in first position.
The
victory of the Republican People's Party (CHP) in Ankara; Antalya; Izmir, and
Istanbul was one of the biggest surprises of the elections.
Win-win
The
results of the elections open the door for questions on the possibility of
change in Turkish foreign policies in the coming period.
Turkey
knows well that it suffers isolation, especially in its immediate vicinity. This
is why it knows that it is becoming very difficult for it to hammer out national
alliances.
This is
one reason why Turkey is keen to stress its Islamic identity. It does this in
its bid to draw in non-nationalist forces within the Turkish society. It is
also important to note that the ruling elite in Turkey looks down upon
secularists.
Islamist
forces also realize that they are unacceptable in their societies. This is one
reason why they work to strike alliances with Turkey, which can bring in needed
financial and media support to them.
Destructive goals
The
Justice and Development Party believes that any change in its foreign policies
would mean a defeat for it and a victory for the CHP. This means that the party
will be more adamant to pursue the same foreign policy line in the coming days.
The
party also knows that success in the elections depends primarily on offering
services to ordinary people. It also knows that these elections have nothing to
do with foreign policies. Nonetheless, issues like refugees are becoming
debatable by the opposition. The CHP can easily prevent support to the Syrian
refugees, for example, in the provinces where it won the elections.
The
Justice and Development Party will try to pretend that the slap it received in
the latest elections was not very strong. The party is also expected to pay
more attention in the coming days to foreign relations, in its bid to win the
confidence of Turkish citizens yet again. This makes some people believe that
Turkey would reduce support to Islamist forces in the region in the coming
days.
Turkish
affairs specialist Mohamed Hamed says Turkey will most likely maintain its
support to some Islamist forces with the aim of disquieting some of the regimes
of the region.
"After
all, the elections are about services," Hamed said. "They cannot
force the ruling party to change its foreign policies."