Turkey’s Antarctic quest: historical legacies, geopolitical ambitions

In the past five years, Turkey has become active in Antarctica, although these efforts have been overlooked in political and academic debates on Turkish foreign policy. In this article, Ali Bilgic explains the underlying reasons for Turkey’s accelerated efforts in Antarctica as part of its status-seeking foreign policy with a global geopolitical scope. He argues that, while Ankara clearly wants to build influence around the world, including Antarctica, it is unlikely that Turkey is seeking significant changes in the Antarctic geopolitical balance. Nevertheless, the patterns in Ankara’s behaviour suggest if the Antarctic Treaty System parties ignore or reject Turkey’s status-seeking in the region, then there might be a change in Turkish strategy.