Tehran Declaration and beyond: The Rise and Decline of Turkish-Brazilian Global Partnership

During the first decade of the 2000s, Turkish foreign policy adopted the policy of opening towards the different regions of the world in order to develop political and economic relations. Within this framework, 2006 was declared as the Year of Latin America and the Caribbean. Similarly, in the post-2003 period, Brazil headed towards diversifying its partners at the global level. In accordance with the mutual regional opening policies and the quest of finding trustworthy partners in the target regions, Turkey-Brazil relations have entered into a special advancement period as of 2006. Mutual high level visits resulted in an increase in diplomatic, economic, social and cultural relations. Although the regional openings of both countries mostly had economic goals, their desire to become active players in the international system as emerging powers brought another dimension to Turkey-Brazil relations. Within this context, the two countries played important roles in three specific diplomatic initiatives: The Joint Declaration of Iran, Turkey and Brazil prepared due to the efforts of Turkey and Brazil, the Alliance of Civilizations initiative in which both countries work as partners and the Trilateral Solidarity for Peace initiative started by Turkey, Brazil and Sweden. This paper analyzes Turkey-Brazil relations in the post-2006 period within the context of bilateral relations and the developments in the regional opening policies of both countries. The paper reveals that Turkish-Brazilian relations have entered into a period of decline since 2013 in every field in opposition to the advancements of the 2006-2013 period. This paper asserts that besides the internal political and economic problems of Brazil, geographical distance and the limited potantial of economic cooperation are the main barriers in front of establishing a long lasting partnership between the two emerging powers.