ABSTRACT
This study argues that Türkiye’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based defence strategy is not limited to military capacity building but has also become an effective tool in foreign policy-making processes. Systems such as Bayraktar TB2, ANKA, Akıncı, Kızılelma, and Aksungur have been the most concrete indicators of Türkiye’s increasing influence in regional and global geopolitical balances. Through these platforms, Türkiye has developed new doctrines in military operations and battlefields and proven itself in war/conflict zones such as Syria, Libya, Karabakh, and Ukraine. This study, based on the neorealist theoretical framework, examines Türkiye’s UAV policy as a strategic response to structural pressures, including the anarchic structure of the international system, the security dilemma, and the relative distribution of power. In this regard, it is argued that Türkiye’s UAV production and export policies have created a new form of foreign policy, one that is based on multidimensional power projection and transcends its middle power status. Qualitative methods were adopted in the study, and Türkiye’s UAV policies in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Asia-Pacific regions were examined through case analysis. The findings obtained through thematic content analysis show that Türkiye has influenced security architectures, redefined alliance relations, and supported the pursuit of strategic autonomy by using UAV technology in line with its foreign policy objectives. In this regard, the study situates Türkiye’s UAV strategy within the context of regional and global power balances and discusses, at both theoretical and empirical levels, how middle powers achieve strategic autonomy through defence industry investments.