AVETIK HARUTYUNYAN
foreign policy suggestion . Furthermore , the fact that in practice the Security and Foreign Policy Council is headed by the senior advisor of the president guarantees the Council ’ s direct access to the decisionmaking process and the actual decision-maker .
However , as can be assumed from the duties of the Council , it does not generate new information but receives it from relevant state entities . Moreover , although the Security and Foreign Policy Council is granted access to any required information in order to receive it the Council should send a special request to relevant state institutions ( such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs , the Armed Forces , the National Intelligence Organization or others ) that actually generate and possess that information . Thus , although with possible limitations , the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in foreign policy decision-making still remains relevant , since it is the main source of direct information about the developments abroad with its own expertise to analyze and present it to the president , as well as the main state body designated to implement state foreign policy . 79
Conclusion
The article traced the development of the legal framework encompassing the foreign policy decision-making process in Turkey from the establishment of the Republic to the present . As a result of this study , we can claim that changes made in relevant legal documents over time mostly contributed to the diversification of foreign policy decisionmaking structures in Turkey and made possible participation of several state institutions in foreign policy making . Although in practice it could not completely exclude the possibility of the dominance of one of these institutions in foreign policy decision-making , it was meant to provide the others with enough authority at least to balance it .
This situation has changed significantly after the Constitutional amendments of 2017 . With these changes , almost all the authority in foreign policy decision-making was concentrated in and around the presidency and the president , while the supervisory role of the parliament over the government was almost entirely eliminated . The accountability of all institutions included in the process of the formulation of foreign policy was transferred directly to the president , and a special council was
79 Siri Neset , Arne Strand , “ Turkish foreign policy : structures and decision-making
processes ,” Chr . Michelsen Institute ( CMI Report R 2019:3 ), https :// www . cmi . no / publications / 6854-turkish-foreign-policy-structures-and-decisionmaking-processes .
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