During the last two decades and in parallel with its quest to play a more significant role on the international scene, Turkey began the process of re-opening up to the Arab world as its strategic depth. This initiative led to an increase in Turkey's political, economic, and cultural interaction with the Arab world. It was also accompanied by an apparent rise in Ankara's soft power in the region.
However, after the outbreak of the Arab revolutions, Turkey's relations with some Arab countries faced several challenges. The collapse of the legitimacy of many regional governments, the spread of the phenomenon of "failed states," the increase in foreign interventions, and the rise of radical groups created a chaotic environment. These developments prompted Turkey to increase its political and defense engagement and depend more on "hard power" to create to balance the regional and international actors in the region and to ward off the security repercussions resulting from the increase in the regional void, foreign interference, and terrorism.
The major global trends indicate that regional powers will play a more significant role in the future in terms of reshaping reality in different parts of the world, including the Middle East. In this context, the significance of Turkey as a regional power and its regional and international weight dictate the need to study it scientifically and objectively to reach a better and more accurate understanding of it. Therefore, and based on the fact that knowledge is power and that crises pose challenges but create opportunities, the conference seeks to be a regional and international platform for an in-depth scholarly discussion of Arab-Turkish relations: the challenges facing these relations, ways to overcome them, in addition to exploring new opportunities for cooperation, coordination, and increasing the joint workspace between the two parties in a way that would contribute to achieving security, stability, and prosperity for the countries and the people of the region..