They view any novelty as a new foreign threat. It was with this mentality that they opposed the opening of a university and a law faculty in Ankara in the 1930s, the opening of Anatolian universities in the 1980s, the start of private radio and television broadcasting and the opening of foundation-owned universities. The rise of think tanks in 2000 was both belittled and perceived as a threat by Turkish intellectuals and academicians. They did not accept the knowledge generated at these centers as information. They despise and ridicule their workers and the knowledge that is generated there. Any thought or information produced at think tanks is considered to be a deformed version of academic studies. Turkish academicians see think tanks, which they describe as the “deep state” and a “nest of agents,” as a passing fancy and believe that one day they will all be closed down. Turkish academicians who concern themselves with international relations are also against specializing. The 30 to 40 hour teaching load, the pressure to find a second job due to low pay and the sole concern of getting enough points to win an academic title have kept Turkish academicians from specializing in one area.
Besides, in Turkey, academicians who deal with international relations prefer the slow and static job of focusing on theory or the history of foreign policy instead of specializing in a specific area, a difficult job that requires more daily work. As for the current Turkish system, it does not prefer academics who are experts who can get to the root of the problem like an antibiotic but instead aspirin-like academics who can superficially write and speak only on broad issues.
Since Turkey's foreign policy is oriented around the European Union, the Middle East and Cyprus, the media, academicians who deal with international relations, bureaucrats and journalists also focus their attention mainly on these three regions.
At this point, think tanks gain more importance. Think tanks can close the gap in policy by training expert strategists in many different fields. Although Turkish strategists desire an active policy, foreign policy in Turkey is neither a valid nor a sufficient field for active policy. Moreover, foreign policy and security issues are handled by retired ambassadors in political parties. Since Turkish political parties do not have their own think tanks, retired ambassadors that are employed by the party are considered sufficient enough to carry out foreign policy issues. Political parties attach importance to foreign policy to the extent that it serves as a mechanism for domestic policy. The importance of developments in foreign policy depends on the developments in domestic policy. Domestic policy is more popular in Turkey, and it is much easier to talk and write about domestic policy. Although more people are concerned with this area, there is more political advantage in domestic policy. It is much easier to become popular with the public with domestic policy. It has more customers and more consumers. It is for this reason that it is easier to enter politics in Turkey by dealing with domestic policy, leaving no incentive to come up with new ideas in foreign policy. There is no need to put in any more effort than answering questions, defending yourself and emphasizing protecting stability and the permanence of borders. Since there is no need to create new ideas, there is no need to have think tanks either.
In the West (especially in the US and Germany), every political party has its own think tank and has branches in countries that are important for bilateral relations. These think tanks are allocated funding according to the percentage of the vote the party they are affiliated with wins. In Turkey, however, political parties use most of the funding they receive to pay for party bureaucracy and propaganda efforts. Opening up a think tank is disfavored because it has the potential to create an alternative to the party administration.
Political parties in Turkey should be able to set up their own think tanks, which should then open branches in countries of close interest to Turkey (Turkic and related countries, former Ottoman states, countries with a large Turkish population, countries that are important for Turkey's foreign trade). When parties are in opposition to each other, policies need to be developed at these centers.
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