SYRIAN-TURKISH RELATIONSHIPS IN THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL MIDDLE EASTERN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SYSTEM

The article spotlights decisive factors of the Syrian-Turkish interstate relations evolution after the end of the Cold War, special attention was given to clarify place of the water and the Kurdish problems in the relations between the two countries. After World War I in Syria and many other Arab states the Republic of Turkey was seen primarily as a legal successor of the Ottoman Empire that for several centuries colonized these countries and prevented their civilizational development. With the collapse of the bipolar system of international relations between Syria and Turkey broke a serious struggle for influence in the region. An important security problem in the Syrian-Turkish relations was left water, ie the distribution of resources river Euphrates because hydrographic feature of the Middle East is extremely uneven distribution of freshwater. Normalization of bilateral interstate relations delineated only with coming to power in Republic of Turkey the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose foreign policy aimed at establishing closer ties with the Middle East countries and a visible mediating role in resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. Immediately after the consolidation of the power vertical Justice and Development Party began to distance itself from Israel in order to establish a more open dialogue with Mashriq states.