Locating Change in Turkish Foreign Policy: Visa Policies of the Justice and Development Party in the 2000s

Abstract

This article evaluates foreign policy change under the Justice and Development Party (JDP). After examining the concept of change in foreign policy analysis and in the literature on Turkish foreign policy, the article offers an approach to visa regimes as significant indicators of change in foreign policy. It first provides a qualitative analysis of Turkish visa policies in comparison to those of the European Union (EU) and shows that, after a brief period of convergence, Turkish visa policies have increasingly diverged from the EU. Subsequently, by way of analyzing the incoming mobility of foreign nationals, first the JDP era is compared to its predecessors. Then, two distinct eras within JDP's period of rule are identified and compared. It concludes that, while there are differences between the JDP and the previous eras, the most significant change occurs between the first and second JDP governments.