Analysis of Turkey's regional leadership struggle interms of Turkey – Russia relati̇ons

The State of the Republic of Turkey and the State of the Russian Federation, which are located in the geopolitics of the Middle East, are in a leadership struggle in the Middle East in order to establish dominance in the region, to be a playmaker, to direct the policies in the Middle East, and also to be a regional power element. Both states have made efforts to establish their foreign policy with well-founded and rational perspectives in the playmaker and leadership struggle they have put forth and in this region, where they are geopolitically important. The aim of this study is to evaluate the policies followed by the Republic of Turkey and the Russian Federation to be the leading power in the region, as well as to predict how the Republic of Turkey and the Russian Federation have strong roots in the Middle East. While trying to direct and lead the Middle East, it is known that these two states take care to protect both national and commercial cooperation interests, and it is known that there is a serious commercial volume in cooperation between Turkey and Russia. It is known that both states have become dependent on each other for years due to commercial concerns. Turkey and Russia desire to lead the region. Russia is affecting the region economically and militarily in the Middle East in order to make it feel and prove that it is a regional power. In order to prove its regional power, Turkey protects its air and land borders in the region and shows its will in the region by intervening in the issues in neighboring countries in line with its national interests. This process has been examined within the framework of a realist perspective in the study. In this thesis, data collection tools such as qualitative research method, document and text analysis were also used. Keywords; Region, Leadership, Policy, Power, Turkey