The international system has changed drastically over the last two decades. Small states and middle powers have begun to revise their foreign policies against regional and global dynamics, including accelerated global rivalries and increased uncertainties. Increasing global problems and uncertainties, intensifying global rivalry, erosion of universal values and irrelevance of international institutions force all states to take measures against the challenges.
As one of the most penetrated regions in the world, the Middle East has largely influenced by these global developments. In addition, two regional developments, namely Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the Doha attack, have largely changed the regional balances.
A new geopolitical reality has emerged since Oct. 7, 2023, as Israel has directly attacked seven different countries in the region since then. These attacks were carried out with the consent and support of Western powers. Israel’s last attack against Qatar, one of the closest allies of the United States and also host of the largest U.S. military base in the region, on Sept. 9, 2025, turned into another turning point for regional countries. It has demonstrated that no state, friend or foe, is immune to the Israeli attacks. Thus, regional states were forced to change their foreign policy orientation, which led to a paradigm shift in the region.
Many Middle Eastern states have taken concrete steps to improve their relations with Türkiye, one of the leading regional military powers and a strong advocate of normalization among regional countries. This process is expected to create a win-win situation that will benefit all people of the region, including the Kurds. The reestablishment of Turkish, Arab, Persian and Kurdish brotherhood, and the end of the alienation of any nation in the region, will contribute to regional stability.
In response, Ankara has decided to develop a new diplomatic perspective in order to strengthen its relations with its partners. Türkiye is the initiator of this new strategy, offering it to the regional actors. It played a constructive role in the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Because it calls on all Arab states to participate in a shared project for regional normalization, the Turkish initiative was welcomed by both Arab public opinion and Arab political elites.
This new vision, developed by Türkiye, is based on “regional ownership.” This vision offers an exit strategy not only for Türkiye but also for all regional actors willing to participate in the project. The new diplomatic perspective calls for the development of regional cooperation processes and the strengthening of regional states’ capacities to address existing and potential threats and challenges. It prioritizes the creation of complementary regional platforms, institutions, mechanisms and networks.
Regional ownership provides a framework based on equal partnership. In other words, no one state will be able to dominate the Middle East. On the contrary, all states will equally contribute to building stability by sharing the burden and undertaking the responsibilities. It ultimately aims to provide integration, since Ankara believes that cooperation and mutual trust can be achieved through regional ownership. Türkiye has been insistently calling on both Israel and Iran to normalize their relations with the rest of their neighbors. So far, these two states opposed the normalization efforts.
The regional ownership concept reflects an advanced, concrete and institutional expression of a principle that has been repeatedly underlined by the Turkish officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdoğan has been calling on regional states not to leave the future of the Middle East to the mercy of others.
This principle calls for states to find their own solutions to their problems. This is the only way to avoid external interventions of global powers in the region. Türkiye calls for the establishment of new cooperation mechanisms and is determined to increase interdependence through connectivity projects. Similarly, Burhanettin Duran, the head of Türkiye’s Directorate of Communications, pointed out that “the region must reclaim authorship of its own narrative” and “its own story” in his speech made during the 17th Al-Jazeera Forum held in Doha last week.
Without collective action, it is impossible to achieve economic development and political stability in today’s chaotic global system. If Middle Eastern states fail to achieve ownership of the region, they will remain dependent on some of their neighbors and global powers.
All in all, Türkiye is determined to bring Middle Eastern states together, to enter into a continuous dialogue and to increase their capacity against all threats and challenges. For this, it encourages the establishment of institutional structures and joint struggle against obstacles. Türkiye asks these states to show political will for joint efforts. While regional ownership will consolidate the intra-regional relations, it will open the Middle East to the rest of the world, since it will prevent other states from manipulating the area. Eventually, normalized relations will benefit all sides through mutual empowerment and trust.
