Turkey-United Arab Emirates relations within the framework of threat and balance of power

This study explains the foundations and details of the competition between Turkey and the UAE after 2011 based on the balance of threat theory, which has been widely used in the international relations literature in recent years. In the study, the balance of threat was discussed within the framework of descriptive and connectionist methods, which examine whether there is a relationship between the variables that occur, with the aim of examining the relationships between events and developments in detail and making an evaluation within the framework of the analysis criteria. The study, which deals with the competition between Turkey and the UAE after 2011, examines how relations between the two countries have developed between 1983-2011 and 2011-2021. The uprisings that took place in many countries in the Middle East region in 2011 played an important role in the transition of the international system. For some countries in the region, the international system in the Middle East and the world is undergoing a transition period, and as a result, the influence of the US in the Middle East region and the active role of great powers such as Britain, France, China and Russia are declining; while it provides an opportunity to be active, especially for Turkey and the UAE, the lack of authority in some countries and the emergence of an unstable balance of power in the multipolar system has led to the emergence of many threats. When Turkey, which wanted to become a regional power by carrying out active geopolitical activities in the Middle East, started to support the "Arab Spring" revolutions, a major survival threat arose for the UAE and other Gulf countries, which adopted the goal of preserving the status quo. On this basis, it has been argued that there is a mutual threat balance between Turkey and the UAE.