The 16th installment of the Foreign Policy Talks, a series of closed roundtable meetings organized by IstanPol to bring together experts, researchers, academics, and journalists to discuss current foreign policy issues, was held online on May 15, 2025. The event focused on how mounting domestic challenges, from democratic backsliding to the unresolved Kurdish issue, reshape Türkiye’s foreign policy ambitions.

The arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, has reignited debate over the state of democracy in Türkiye. At the same time, a fragile attempt by the government to address the Kurdish issue is unfolding, with the unresolved question of the PKK -a group designated as a terrorist organisation that has waged an armed struggle against the Türkiye for over four decades- at its center. These domestic developments raise critical questions: as Ankara seeks to assert itself in Ukraine, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Global South, how will internal political instability affect its capacity to project influence and maintain balance in a fragmented international order?

Under the moderation of Riccardo Gasco, the coordinator of IstanPol’s Foreign Policy Program, the session explored these questions with the participation of distinguished speakers:

• Dr. Soner Çağaptay, Director of the Turkish Research Program, The Washington Institute
• Dr. Dorothée Schmid, Head of the Turkey/Middle East Program, Ifri
• Dr. Seren Selvin Korkmaz, Co-Director, IstanPol
• Dr. Edgar Şar, Co-Director, IstanPol