Turkey’s South Asia policy remains an underexplored area of research in Turkish foreign policy literature despite a rich history of Turkish activism in the region. While bringing to surface Turkey’s perception of South Asia, this article utilises insights from foreign policy analysis literature to make sense of international and domestic drivers behind Turkey’s South Asia policies during and after the Cold War. Using primary resources drawn from Turkish, American, Indian and Australian archives, memoirs by retired Turkish generals and diplomats, and interviews the author conducted with retired Turkish diplomats serving previously as ambassadors to New Delhi and Islamabad, the article argues that Turkey has felt most motivated to be involved in the region when encouraged by and had the ability to coordinate its policies with its western partners. I highlight Turkey’s mediation missions in inter- and intra-state disputes in the region, attempts to shift its South Asia policy and discuss Turkey’s approach to various hot conflicts within and between states in the region. I finally provide the place of South Asia in Turkey’s recent ‘Asia Anew Initiative’ and seek to explain an actor-based evolution of Turkey’s South Asia policy under the AKP governments over the last two decades.

尽管土耳其在该地区的激进主义历史悠久，但土耳其的南亚政策仍然是土耳其外交政策文献中未被充分探索的研究领域。本文在揭示土耳其对南亚的看法的同时，利用外交政策分析文献的见解来理解冷战期间和之后土耳其南亚政策背后的国际和国内驱动因素。文章利用土耳其、美国、印度和澳大利亚档案、土耳其退休将军和外交官的回忆录以及作者对曾担任驻新德里和伊斯兰堡大使的土耳其退休外交官进行的采访的主要资源，认为土耳其感到最有动力在受到西方伙伴的鼓励并有能力与西方伙伴协调政策时参与该地区。我强调土耳其在该地区国家间和国家内争端中的调解任务，试图改变其南亚政策，并讨论土耳其对该地区国家内部和国家之间各种热点冲突的方法。最后，我在土耳其最近的“亚洲新倡议”中提供了南亚的位置，并试图解释过去二十年来土耳其在正发党政府领导下的南亚政策基于参与者的演变。