Turkey as a role model for the Arab awakening in The Middle East

Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, whether or not the "Turkish Model" will be the best democratic model for the countries in the Middle East has become one of the crucial discussion issues. However, it has caused misperceptions because of the misinterpretation of the model. The study claims that the full application of the "Turkish Model" to Middle Eastern countries is not possible due to cultural and political differences, however, despite these differences, the "Turkish Model" is a good alternative for several areas such as the state-religion relations, economic development and advanced democracy. In the first part of the thesis, general international theories that form the basis for understanding Turkish Foreign Policy are introduced. In this respect, firstly classical international theories of Alexander Wendt and Kenneth Waltz are analyzed and then, Turkish Arab relations both in the Ottoman and Turkish Republic era are examined. In the second part of the thesis, global, regional, social, economical, political, cultural and religious issues that provoked Arab Awakening in various Arab countries are introduced. The third part of the thesis focuses on the global and regional effects of the Arab Spring in Egypt and particularly in Syria. Furthermore, the main part of the thesis examines the global, regional and local analyses which affect the Arab Spring. This thesis is supported in the last part of the thesis which compares both advantages and disadvantages of the Arab Spring for Turkey. In this respect, it is obvious that the reasons which provoked the Arab Spring must be analyzed in details. This thesis includes important analyses of academic studies in this field.