Foreign relations of Turkey

Foreign relations of Turkey refers to the diplomatic and trade ties between Turkey and other nations. As of December 2024, Turkey maintains diplomatic relations with 189 member states of the United Nations.

Prior to declaring war against the Axis powers on February 23, 1945, Turkey's primary ally had been the United States, with both countries aiming to contain Soviet expansion. In support of the United Nations, Turkey contributed personnel to the Korean War in 1950 and joined NATO in 1952.

Turkey's relations with the Arab World and Iran have been strained due to its recognition of Israel in 1949 and its alliance with Israel during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This subsequently led to overt Syrian support for Palestinian and Armenian militant operations against Turkish diplomats abroad until 1990.

Historically, the foreign relations of the Ottoman Empire and later Turkey balanced regional and global powers against one another, forming alliances that best protected the interests of the incumbent regime. The Soviet Union played a major role in supplying weapons and financing Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's faction during the Turkish War of Independence, but Turkey followed a course of relative international isolation during the period of Atatürk's reforms in the 1920s and 1930s. International conferences gave Turkey full control of the strategic straits linking the Black Sea and the Mediterranean through the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 and the Montreux Convention of 1936.

In the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made a major effort to promote anti-Soviet propaganda in Turkey. In response, Britain and France negotiated a tripartite treaty with Turkey in 1939 in which they gave Turkey a line of credit to purchase war materials from the West and a loan to facilitate the purchase of commodities. After threats from Germany and the Soviet Union, Turkey maintained neutrality. It sold chrome—an important war material—to both sides, but by 1944, as the eventuality of German defeat grew more evident, chrome sales to Germany halted.

Turkey became one of the early members of the Council of Europe in 1950. Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, joined the European Union Customs Union in 1995, and started accession negotiations with the European Union in 2005. In a non-binding vote on 13 March 2019, the European Parliament called on the EU governments to suspend EU accession talks with Turkey, citing violations of human rights and the rule of law. The negotiations, which have been effectively on hold since 2018, remain active as of 2025.

According to the United States government, the other defining aspect of Turkey's foreign policy has been the country's long-standing strategic alliance with the United States. The Truman Doctrine in 1947 enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece during the Cold War, and resulted in large-scale U.S. military and economic support to the countries. In 1948, both Turkey and Greece were included in the Marshall Plan and the OEEC for rebuilding European economies.

Turkey joined NATO in 1952, strengthening its bilateral ties with the United States. In the following decades, Turkey benefited from American political, economic, and diplomatic support—particularly on critical issues such as its longstanding bid for European Union membership. In the post–Cold War era, Turkey's geostrategic importance shifted towards its proximity to the Middle East, the Caucasus, and the Balkans.