DIŞ POLİTİKA - FOREIGN POLICY a Quarterly of the Foreign Policy Institute

DIŞ POLİTİKA - FOREIGN POLICY A Quarterly of the Foreign Policy Institute Vol. XXIII 1999 Nos. 1-2-3-4 CONTENTS PAGE Foreword Foreign Policy Institute, Its 25t" Anniversary Seyfi Taşhan ............................................................................................ 2 Articles Foreign Policy in the Light of Theories Selahaddin Bakan ........................................................................ 6 The Use of Force in Relation to Self-determination in International Law Mustafa Şahin .............................................................................. 26 Turkish Foreign Policy towards the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation: A Comparative Analysis M. Fatih Tayfur............................................................................ 48 The Past and Present State of Turkish - Bulgarian Relations Ömer E. Lütem ............................................................................ 64 The Question of Cyprus and the Question of Taiwan (ROC): A Comparison Yüksel Söylemez........................................................................... 78 Conference Notes Regional Cooperation in South East Europe: Prospects and Limitations Ali Hikmet A1p ............................................................................ 85 The Relations between the Council of Europe and Turkey in the 50th Anniversary of the Council Metin Örnekol.............................................................................. 90 Romanian - Turkish Cooperation Emil Constantinescu.................................................................... 92 1 FOREWORD Foreign Policy Institute, Its 25th Anniversary Seyfi Taşhan♣ Dış Politika-Foreign Policy journal began to appear in March 1971. Its basic purpose was to provide objective analysis of foreign policy issues both to Turkish and foreign readers. It soon appeared that the main function of the Journal could not be sustained without research and other activities of an institute and this led to the creation of the Foreign Policy Institute. Since its foundation a quarter of a century ago, the Institute has had to work in an environment of constant and dynamic change in world affairs and in Turkey’s own geopolitics and in internal political and economic systems and values. How has the Foreign Policy Institute responded to the events in this phase of constant transformation? At its thresholds the new Century is calling us to look towards new horizons of Turkish foreign policy; yet this might also be a good occasion to look back remember what has happened to the world and the Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) in the course of those eventful 25 years. When Richard Nixon and Nikita Khruschev signed in Moscow in 1972 the documents that heralded the beginning of the period of détente, this was met with joy in the world and with mixed feelings in Turkey. It presented the world with the prospect that the signing of these documents would lead to a thaw in East-West relations, as it was subsequently proven by the Helsinki Final Act in 1975. Nevertheless, Turkey’s own threat perceptions from the Soviet Union had not become any weaker and furthermore, détente could have an adverse influence on Turkey’s relations with the West, since basic Western interest in Turkey was due to its strategic position as a bulwark against any possible Soviet aggression. The elimination of this danger, would not only reduce the strategic significance of Turkey, but would aggravate the disputes between Turkey and Greece on Cyprus and the Aegean Sea; because, Turkish cases, no matter how right they might have been, would no longer find obliging ears in the West, thus hardening the negotiating positions of Greek Cypriots and mainland Greeks. The recognition of the illegal Makarios administration as the Government of Cyprus in 1964 when the Turks were driven out of the administration and government, and subjected to massacres had already eliminated the equi-distance policy of the West towards Turkey and Greece. The lack of a solution to the problems between Greece and Turkey until today may be to a large extent due to this abandonment of balanced Western policy. ♣ Mr. Seyfi Taşhan is the founder and current director of the Foreign Policy Institute 2 Signs of Western disengagement towards Turkey were not going to being delayed in appearing in the horizon. In 1973 Turkey’s decision to allow poppy cultivation, although under a tight system of control, had infuriated the US Congress where calls came demanding a halt to US economic and military assistance to Turkey. The oil crisis and embargo had led European countries to slow down their economies and the Turkish guest workers were no longer welcome guests, and ties between EEC and Turkey were slackening. The military Junta in Athens thought that in view of the change in the international climate they could, with one coup, achieve their great dream of Enosis with Cyprus. With or without Western co-operation Turkey had to intervene. Turkey’s pleas to the other constitutional guarantor of Cyprus, namely UK had been rejected and Turkey was not left with any other alternative than landing troops in the island in order to protect the lives of the Turkish community, which was going to be massacred once again in the hands of EOKA leadership in Cyprus. It was in 1974 that the Institute published a comprehensive volume of Dış Politika- Foreign Policy which proved to be an important source material on Cyprus.1 While there was national consensus in Turkey on the question of Cyprus, the country’s political system and social order suffered from extreme polarisation of domestic politics to the detriment of Western minded centre. Although the association relations between Turkey and the EEC had transformed from preparatory to transition stage in 1973; immediately thereafter however, the relations had begun to cool down with the EEC and particularly after the Cyprus intervention there was a critical deterioration both in the Turkish economy and in Turkey- EEC relations. In 1976 the DPI organised its first seminar on Turkey’s relations with the West and the views expressed in that meeting centred around the basic idea that the Soviet threat had not disappeared despite détente and there was a limit in the deterioration of Turkey’s relations with the West. Acting on the belief that despite unfavourable local and international environment Turkey’s relation with the West could be salvaged, the FPI organised its first international conference in Istanbul in 1978 August under the title “The enlargement of EEC and Turkey”. While there were elder Turkish statesmen, academics, and some businessmen who favoured immediate application for full membership in the EEC, there were many others who seriously opposed such an idea. Many businessmen and some academics continued to believe in the theories that weak countries grouped with rich countries would become weaker, and some were simply motivated by their ideological dogmas.2 The government, on its part, had already approached EEC for freezing its obligations under the Association Treaty of 1963. Had Turkey made a full membership application at that time could she have obtained a favourable result? This is still an enigma in the Turkish public opinion. It was possible that we could have been faced with a decision similar to the one taken at the Luxembourg summit of 1997; yet, it was also possible that such an application might have retarded the full membership of Greece. Our historians have not yet produced any convincing documents, and it seems that we have to await until the opening of the archives for that period. The effects of Turkish intervention in Cyprus were often quoted as the major stumbling-block for the 1 Dış Politika-Foreign Policy Vol.4, No.2-3 2 See: Dış Politika- Foreign Policy, Vol. 7, No.3-4 Special issue on the symphosium “The enlargement of EEC and Turkey”, İstanbul, 25-26 August 1978. 3 development of EEC- Turkey relations.3 Indeed, 25 years after the Turkish intervention in Cyprus to defend the lives and safety of the Turkish Cypriots, the question of Cyprus has crept into the agenda of Turkey-EC relations, and its solution together with a number of additional pre-conditions, has since become a sine qua non for the adhesion process to come to a fruition. The quality of relations have regressed and, even though a customs union was established for industrial products at the end of 1995 mainly due to Turkey’s desire for appeasement, in all other areas of integration, foreseen in 1960s, a marked deterioration has become apparent. From the view-point of the FPI, Turkey’s relations with the rest of Europe having a paramount importance in Turkey’s external relations, no effort should have been spared to create and maintain an effective dialogue at ‘think tank levels’. The Institute, therefore, engaged itself in arranging research work and conferences with similar Institutes in Western Europe. The back issues of Dış Politika-Foreign Policy are full of reports of these endeavours. Yet it was clear that the European public opinion was becoming less interested in expanding its borders to the Anatolian peninsula. While Turkey’s application for full membership could not be rejected for legal reasons and due to the acquis in Turkey EC relations, nevertheless the EC Commissions report on Turkey in 1989 was negative even though Turkey’s “eligibility” for membership could not be denied. European attention after the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the unification of two Germanys had reverted to

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