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The concept of "civilization" was not very popular among most Western social scientists in the 20th century, although it was somewhat influential in 19th-century scientific thought. More recently, civilization has been rediscovered by social scientists in the West after it was inserted into politics through the "clash of civilizations" thesis and the September 11 attacks as well as with the rise of the "Asian tigers" with their different civilizational roots. A final factor has been the increasing migrations to the industrial, Western countries from different parts of the world. In Turkey, too, the concept has increasingly been used in foreign policy discourses as well as in popular political debates. President R. Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, in particular, frequently make references to "civilization." These references (and the AK Party's civilizational discourse in general) might be taken as manifestations of Davutoğlu's "strategic depth doctrine," which has, according to many, heavily influenced Turkish foreign policy.
The Islamic credentials of the AK Party leadership and the recent intensification of relations with neighboring countries have led some to argue that Turkish foreign policy has undergone a "Middle Easternization," or even a radical shift toward "neo-Ottomanism." Others believe that the increasing tide of "Islamization" in Turkish society has led the AK Party to shift its emphasis from the West to the East/Muslim World. Still others, however, argue that Ankara's foreign policy remains principally Western-oriented; they often read Turkey's recent foreign policy activism as part of a wider trend toward the Europeanization or democratization of foreign policy, noting the close links between Turkey's foreign policy and domestic politics. There is, however, little attention paid to the discourse of civilization in Turkish foreign policy.
Assuming that Turkish foreign policy maintains a multi-directional orientation, rather than simply a "Middle Easternization," "Islamization" or "Europeanization," this paper provides an alternative reading of Turkish foreign policy. The AK Party government's general foreign policy approach has been based at least partly on a civilizational discourse that is somewhat ambiguous but also very flexible. This article tries to demonstrate that the concept of civilization in Turkish foreign policy discourse has a vague meaning, entailing at least three different layers, the national, regional and universal dimensions. Thus, Turkish political actors often refer to "our civilization," implying a vague Turkish civilizational tradition; with this they sometimes refer to the Islamic civilization, the Muslim people or cultures of the Middle East and the Balkans. However, they also often invoke universal humanitarian values and a "common legacy of humanity," including justice and freedom. The exact boundaries of these layers of civilization are not clear; these actors also often switch between them in a pragmatic and skillful manner. Furthermore, this ambiguity adds dynamism to Turkish foreign policy and is useful within the pragmatic discourse of the AK Party leadership.
Secondly, the paper demonstrates that the Alliance of Civilizations is located, both as a concept and an institution, within the third dimension of Turkish foreign policy discourse, particularly in relation to Turkey's EU membership process. Thus, on the one hand, the Alliance of Civilizations is constructed as a concept that brings Turkey (as the representative of the Muslim World) and Europe (as that of the West) together on the common ground of the "legacy of the humanity." On the other hand, it is presented as a sociopolitical project and institution - the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) - that will end current divisions and clashes among different regions and countries on a global scale.8 This double utilization of the Alliance of Civilizations (as a concept and institution) proves useful in the self-presentation of Turkish foreign policy and as an element of Turkish diplomacy. The paper explores how civilization is variously utilized within this framework. Finally, the paper ends with a discussion on why the AK Party leadership finds the civilizational discourse useful for Turkey's assertive foreign policy performance and the party itself.