AVETIK HARUTYUNYAN
1984 . 55 Further , the “ Law on the Organization and Responsibilities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ” of 1994 envisaged the formation of the Center for Strategic Research ( Stratejik Araştırmalar Merkezi / SAM ) of the MFA of Turkey , which was defined as a consultative body to the Ministry with the goal of studying known issues of international relations in a scholarly and scientific manner , thus facilitating the development of new ideas and approaches on these issues , and providing the results and assessments to the relevant entities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey . 56
To summarize , while the Council of Ministers was responsible for state general policy , the Minister of Foreign Affairs was accountable to the prime minister for the implementation of the government ’ s policy in the sphere of foreign affairs . The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the main source of information for the government about international affairs since it was responsible for the generation of information ( directly through its diplomatic missions ) and its provision to the Council of Minister . Moreover , the MFA participated in the process of formulation of state foreign policy and possessed he necessary expertise . Eventually , this ability was further enhanced by additional academic capacity in 1994 through the establishment of the Center for Strategic Research of the MFA . Finally , the MFA was the major state body responsible for the implementation of foreign policy and regulation of foreign activities conducted by other state entities . So , the influence of the MFA in foreign policy decision-making was based on the following pillars : collection , analysis and flow of information , expertise in foreign affairs , participation in the process of the formulation of Turkish foreign policy and the authority to implement it .
As a result , although the ministry and acting ministers were not the final decision-makers , from the establishment of the Republic they were among the top advisors of decision-makers on foreign policy issues . The foreign ministry and minister ’ s participation in decision-making can be divided into two periods , when its role was significantly reduced . The first was during T . Ozal ’ s term as prime minister of Turkey , who was in many cases simply bypassed the MFA when pursuing his foreign policy goals . This was probably caused by the traditionalist views of the MFA on foreign policy based on the principles of Kemalism , which were sometimes incompatible with the approach of the acting prime minister .
55 Dışişleri Bakanlığının Teşkilat ve Görevleri , KHK 206 / 1984 , article 10 . 56 Dışişleri Bakanlığının Kuruluş ve Görevleri , No . 4009 / 1994 , article 10 , point B .
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