Abstract Turkey has emerged as a major actor in the Middle East over the last decade, since the ruling party AKP came to power in 2002. Turkey is now playing a mediation role in regional conflicts and has been speaking out loudly on sensitive issues such as the Iranian nuclear program and the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. Furthermore, Turkey has established close ties with the Arab world which has suffered the relationship with its long-time ally Israel. This new presence in Middle East has been criticized by Turkey's allies in west. Critics argue that the country is about to abandon its former western relationship and strengthen their ties with the Arab world instead. This thesis has two main purposes. First, an empirical purpose which is to describe and explain changes in Turkish foreign policy towards Middle East. Second, this thesis has a theoretical purpose, aiming to make a contribution to the study field also on a theoretical level. The ambition is therefore to provide with ideas and/or modify the model of Gustavsson in order to make it more applicable of other cases of foreign policy change. The theoretical framework applied on this thesis is Jakob Gustavsson's model for explaining foreign policy change. Turkey's foreign policy change will be analyzed through a qualitative case study that focuses on the country's relations with the Middle East. Based on Gustavsson's model, possible explanations to Turkey's foreign policy change towards Middle East are structural changes in the international and national system. The end of the bipolarity system during the cold war resulted in a major structural change, thus Turkey had to adapt to the new system by hammering out a new foreign policy doctrine. In addition to this, the growing opposition to a Turkish membership within the EU is considered to be another explanation to Turkey's improved relations with the Middle East. The results shows furthermore possible explanations on a national level such as growing economy, a strong Turkish public opinion, new actors and also AKP:s ideological affinity with Muslim aspirations. The Iraq crisis, which arose in 2003 when Turkey rejected a resolution authorizing the deployment of American forces in Turkey in a war against Iraq, functions as a catalysts for the changes in Turkish foreign policy. One of the main components in the model emphasizes that the individual key actor needs to go through a change within its belief system, however the author have not found such evidence in this case and thus suggests that this part of the model becomes slightly modified or even removed. Keywords: Turkey, AKP, Ahmet Davutoglu, Middle East, foreign policy change, zero problems towards neighbors

The paper analyzes Ahmet Davutoglu’s “Strategic Depth” doctrine and its implications for Turkey’s new foreign policy. The author explores determinants, historical framework and traditional inputs of Turkish foreign policy, as well as long-term strategic objectives, directions, dilemmas and limitations of modern Turkey in the quest for leadership role in the West Asian and the Balkans regions. / Работа посвящена анализу концепции «стратегической глубины» Ахмета Давутоглу и ее влияния на формирование новой внешней политики Турции. Автор раскрывает ключевые факторы и исторические особенности внешнеполитического процесса в Турции, выявляет долгосрочные стратегические цели, направления, альтернативы и ограничения современной Турции в ее борьбе за лидерство в Западной Азии и на Балканах.