TURKEY PIVOTING TOWARDS "HARD POWER" OVER GROWING DOMESTIC AND REGIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES.

Located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Turkey boasts a strategic importance in both regions. Although, in the past decade Turkey has resorted more to public diplomacy in order to extend its spheres of influence, nevertheless over the past six years, it has slowly but surely transitioned from a "soft power" into a "hard power." Its strong military and involvement in various conflicts and peacekeeping missions have already established it as a "hard power" in international politics. As a member of NATO and with a growing economy, Turkey has become a major player on the global stage. In recent years, Turkey has become increasingly assertive in its foreign policy, engaging in military operations in Syria and Iraq, Nagorno Karabakh, and playing a key role in the conflicts in all those countries. It has also been involved in efforts to resolve the ongoing conflict in Libya by intervening militarily, thereby altering the course of war and political landscape there. Additionally, for some time now Turkey has exhibited a belligerent response to Greece's attempt to extend its territorial waters by 12 nautical miles in the Aegean Sea and militarize Dodecanese islands in contravention to Lausanne and Paris Treaties, forcing Turkey to issue stark warnings and threats to Greece. In addition, from 2019 onward, Turkey has been sending vessels for seismic surveys in disputed continental shelves of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, a move that has upset Greece especially due to Turkish warships and fighter jets roaming around and hovering over Turkish seismic ships, which has led to numerous dogfights and even physical contact between warships of both sides. This paper attempts to provide a rationale behind the researcher's personal observations and premise that Turkey has already positioned itself as a hard power on the international arena and is gradually departing from its position of a soft power. In order to shed light on all of the above mentioned, the research relied on a multi method of data collection and an extensive opensource data research. Also, review of a number of literary works of authors from the relevant field was conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]