Özet:

In this study, the historical development of the concepts of Westernism and status quoism, which are the basic characteristics of Turkish foreign policy, is examined and its transformation into an object of identity is discussed. In this regard, it is stated that Westernism and status quoism qualities in foreign policy inherited from the Ottoman Empire and formed Atatürk's foreign policy vision in the early Republican period. Following the death of Atatürk, the implementation of these principles continued and it was observed that they were strictly adhered to. Participation in the Western alliance during the Cold War, NATO membership and the ongoing European Union process proved this situation. In some periods, it is seen that the foreign policy phenomenon of the official ideology was tried to be overcome by identity centre, but these principles were generally applied. As a result, although Westernism is internally reformist and inherent to identity, it was indexed to security in foreign policy, and status quoism was surpassed to ensure security. Although the principles of Westernism and status quoism were maintained in the foreign policy understanding of the Republican People's Party, which is the representative of Kemalism, the identity approaches are dominant in the discourse of the Party texts and decision-makers in recent years. The analysis in this study was carried out using the post-structuralist theory.