Türkiye's regional security environment: A review in terms of "Milieu goals" in international relations

This thesis focuses on the question of why a state helps to stabilise the milieu in which it is located and in which it takes political action. The goals of states' foreign policy actions can basically be divided into two categories: possession goals and milieu goals. Possession goals are the primary goals that a state seeks to protect. Milieu goals are the goals of a state for the environment in which it operates. Milieu goals can be means for Possession goals. In addition, milieu goals reflect a state's effort to stabilize the environment in which it operates. These two aspects of the concept of milieu goals are the reason why it was chosen as the concept to explain this problematic. This is because a state may have a realist motive to promote milieu goals in order to protect its possession goals, or it may have a liberal motive to promote harmony, stability and prosperity in the milieu in which it takes political action. In addition, since the identity, culture and role of a state cannot be ignored in understanding the motivation behind a state's actions, social constructivist factors can also constitute the justification for political actions. In this thesis, a typology that builds the concept of milieu goals on a theoretical basis is put forward. Through this typology, Turkish foreign policy has been examined in three main periods, and initiatives to protect and develop milieu goals in these periods have been evaluated. In the first two periods, milieu goals were generally a tool for possessions goals and were guided by realist motives. In the third period, the post-Cold War period, liberal motives are effective in shaping milieu goals.