A significant change in Turkey’s foreign policy came with an active engagement in regional issues that, in turn, produced more risks, new areas of interest, regional policy arrangements, and different security challenges in the 2000s. In this vein, Turkey’s military spending has increased to sustain its active policy behavior and goals, both regionally and globally. This article examines Turkey’s military spending between 2000 and 2018 by using Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) Military Expenditure Database and its effects on bilateral and regional relations. It argues that the increase in Turkey’s military spending in the 2000s can be explained not only by diversified security threats but also by the quest for autonomy, the desire to be a regional actor, economic capacity increase, efforts to nationalize the defense industry, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance’s inability to form a sufficient umbrella time in the face of security threats, notably in the face of missile threats. The results show that the traditional alliances and strategic cooperation do not guarantee Turkey’s military demands, and its military spending increases, while the proportion of military spending in GDP falls, due to economic growth.

土耳其外交政策的重大变化是积极参与地区问题，从而在2000年代产生了更多的风险，新的关注领域，地区政策安排以及不同的安全挑战。因此，土耳其的军事开支增加了，以维持其在地区和全球范围内积极的政策行为和目标。本文通过使用斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所（SIPRI）的军事支出数据库研究了土耳其在2000年至2018年之间的军事支出，及其对双边和区域关系的影响。它认为，土耳其的军事开支在2000年代有所增加，不仅可以用多种多样的安全威胁来解释，而且可以用对自治的追求，成为地区参与者的愿望，经济能力的提高来解释，努力使国防工业国有化，以及北大西洋公约组织（NATO）联盟在面对安全威胁（尤其是面对导弹威胁）时无法形成足够的保护时间。结果表明，由于经济增长，传统的联盟和战略合作不能保证土耳其的军事需求，土耳其的军事支出增加，而军事支出在GDP中的比例下降。