Turkey's Strategic Autonomy within NATO: The Evolution of an Independent Foreign Policy within the Alliance (2010–2025)

This article provides a comprehensive scientific analysis of the evolution of Turkey's strategic autonomy within NATO and the process of pursuing an independent foreign and security policy within the alliance between 2010 and 2025. The main goal of the study is to determine how Turkey's capacity for independent decision-making based on national interests, while maintaining its NATO membership, was formed, under the influence of which internal and external factors this process developed and became institutionalized over time. The article reveals the theoretical and methodological foundations of the concept of strategic autonomy and provides a comparative analysis of it with NATO's collective security obligations. The study analyzes Turkey's foreign policy activity in 2010–2020, its independent approach to regional crises, and the gradual transformation of its role within the alliance. Also, the years 2020-2025 are considered a qualitatively new stage of strategic autonomy, and Turkey's independent political maneuvers in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war, Black Sea security, nationalization of the military industry, and diplomatic mediation activities are studied in depth. The results of the study prove on a scientific basis that Turkey's strategic autonomy within NATO is not a departure from the alliance, but a flexible, balanced and institutionalized policy model within the collective security system. This article is of significant scientific and practical importance in analyzing NATO's future internal balance and strategic decision-making mechanisms.