On the way to the crucial G20 summit in Antalya this November, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has embarked on a tour of established and emerging global powers in an attempt to reconfirm Turkey's claim to join the elite league of global governance and invite the leaders to the G20 summit in person. Incidentally, the first leg of Erdogan's visits to China and Indonesia corresponded to an extremely sensitive political and security conjuncture in Turkey amid protracted coalition negotiations between the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Republican People's Party (CHP), and more importantly, a multipronged security operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), the PKK and the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).The political impasse created by the June 7 general elections, which did not enable the formation of a single-party government, meant that a temporary AK Party government under interim Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has to manage the country at a critical time. Initially, there was criticism that this government would be politically weak and unable to make critical decisions on domestic and international security concerns. However, recent developments confirmed exactly the opposite as fundamental policy decisions were made one after another. Ankara decided to face the terrorist threat posed by ISIS, the PKK and DHKP-C head on by conducting coordinated security operations aimed at cells in Turkey while organizing unprecedented airstrikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq. This strategy was complemented with the completion of an agreement with the United States concerning the use of İncirlik Base by the U.S. and coalition air forces for anti-terror operations against ISIS, along with the creation of a de facto safe zone in northern Syria between Azez and the Euphrates River, which could be used to support the Syrian opposition and counter new mass waves of refugees. Erdoğan's visit to China and Indonesia at this critical time is symbolically important to show that despite ongoing terrorist attacks and efforts for destabilization, Turkey still can think and act as an emerging power pursuing its political and economic interests around the globe. Erdoğan is accompanied by around 100 members of the business community. The several agreements that were signed with China on political, military and economic cooperation was also a signal to the West that Turkey's autonomous foreign policy stance with multiple alignments and relations of mutual interdependence will continue into the future. Moreover, Erdoğan masterfully utilized the occasion to attract the attention of global media outlets and deliver Turkey's messages concerning both global issues such as the reform of the United Nations system and specific issues such as domestic and international sources of terrorism. We need to remember that Erdoğan was personally accused by global media outlets and left-wing intellectuals of deliberately discontinuing the reconciliation process and reigniting military operations against the PKK with narrow-minded political motives as well as providing tacit logistical support to ISIS. He was also criticized at home by nationalist circles for leaving the army command and embarking on a long trip to China and Indonesia at a time when Turkish security forces are involved in uninterrupted military operations against PKK targets.Both lines of critical argumentation are unjustified as Erdoğan was the chief architect of the reconciliation process and proved his categorical opposition to any form of terrorism in the past. Furthermore, as historical examples have thought us, the reflexes of major powers have to involve taking domestic measures for public security while pursuing political, military, economic and diplomatic interests around the globe to galvanize international networks and alliances. No wonder, in the long term these alliances may play a vital role to support and facilitate the solution of domestic and regional problems. China and Turkey are strategic partners in the context of international trade, finance as founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and infrastructure investments on the Silk Road Economic Belt, not to mention the geopolitically critical missile defense system negotiations. Indonesia, in turn, is bound to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world in coming years, which more than suffices the justification of this critical visit despite rising tensions at home. Great leaders are supposed to manage the present while viewing the horizon for future development.