Change Turkey: Facing a New Millennium
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nachmani [26.5].jkt 27/5/03 4:13 pm Page 1 Europeinchange E K T C facing a Turkey: new millennium ✭ Turkey’s involvement in the Gulf War in 1991 indirectly helped to pave the way for the country’s invitation almost a decade later to negotiate its accession into the European Union. This book traces that process and in the first part looks at Turkey’s foreign policy in the 1990s, considering the ability of the country to withstand the repercussions of the fall of communism. It focuses on Turkey’s achievement in halting and minimising the effects of the temporary devaluation in its strategic importance that resulted from the waning of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. It emphasizes the skilful way in which Turkey avoided becoming embroiled in the ethnic and international upheavals in Central Asia, the Balkans, the east-Mediterranean and the Middle East, and the ✭ change change development of a continued policy of closer integration into the European and western worlds. nachmani Turkey: facing Internal politics are the focus of the second part of the book, addressing in the curbing of the Kurdish revolt, the economic gains made, and the in a new millennium strengthening of civil society. Nachmani goes on to analyse the prospects for Turkey in the twenty-first century, in the light of the possible integration into Europe, which may leave the country’s leadership free to Coping with deal effectively with domestic issues. intertwined conflicts This book will make crucial reading for anyone studying Turkish politics, or indeed European or European Union politics. ✭ ✭ Amikam Nachmani is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Studies, Bar-Ilan Univerity, Israel amikam nachmani Europe Europe Turkey: facing a new millennium EUROPE IN CHANGE T C E K already published Committee governance in the European Union ₍₎ Theory and reform in the European Union, 2nd edition . , . , German policy-making and eastern enlargement of the EU during the Kohl era Managing the agenda? . The European Union and the Cyprus conflict Modern conflict, postmodern union The time of European governance Greece in a changing Europe Between European integration and Balkan disintegration? ₍₎ An introduction to post-Communist Bulgaria Political, economic and social transformation The new Germany and migration in Europe Turkey’s relations with a changing Europe - The road to the European Union, volume 2 () Righting wrongs in Eastern Europe The road to the European Union, volume 1 The Czech and Slovak Republics () Two tiers or two speeds? The European security order and the enlargement of the European Union and NATO (.) Recasting the European order Security architectures and economic cooperation The emerging Euro-Mediterranean system . . Amikam Nachmani turkey: facing a new millennium Coping with intertwined conflicts MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS Manchester and New York distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave Copyright © Amikam Nachmani, 2003 The right of Amikam Nachmani to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA Distributed exclusively in Canada by UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN 0 7190 6370 1 hardback First published 2003 111009080706050403 10987654321 Typeset in Minion with Lithos by Northern Phototypesetting Co Ltd, Bolton Printed in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King’s Lynn Contents Acknowledgements page vi List of abbreviations vii Introduction 1 1 Turkey and the Gulf War: coping with intertwined conflicts 5 2 The Kurdish problem 33 3 On culture, economy, and demography: Turkey and Europe 55 4 The quest for identity 86 5 International encounters 122 6 What the neighbor to the west says: Greek–Turkish relations 165 7 A bridge across the Middle East: the Turkish–Israeli rapprochement 201 Conclusion 245 Bibliography 248 Index 258 Acknowledgements Individuals and institutes helped me in writing this book. Some gave good advice; some gave access to documents; some financial support. Without their help this research would not have been completed. Much of this work was written during my 1998/1999 sabbatical year, which I spent it in Ankara, Turkey, where I was the Israeli visiting pro- fessor at the Middle East Technical University, Department of International Relations, and in Athens, Greece, where I was a research fellow of the Alexander Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. I am indebted for the assistance and support given to me in Ankara and Athens, and for the helpful and inspiring atmosphere of learning that I found in both institutions. My very special thanks are extended to the Israeli embassy in Ankara, headed by Ambassador Uri Bar-Ner, who eased hardships and loneliness. So did Dr. Wilhelm Humen, who headed the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, Turkey branch. Mr Jacob Schibby and Dr John Nomikos were the best of friends and companionship in Athens; to them I owe a great debt of gratitude. I talked to officials in Ankara and Athens whom I thank for granting me their precious time and I respect their wish to remain anonymous. The deepest of gratitude is to Nitza, Shira, Amos and Hagai, who, with admirable fortitude, endured – and survived – the years of spiritual, almost physical presence in our house of Turkey in the 1990s. Dr Inbal Rose from Jerusalem; Rachel Armstrong, Carol Lucas, Richard Delahunty, Tony Mason, and an anonymous reader – all at Manchester University Press – have helped to turn an impossible manuscript into a book. The Harry S. Truman Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; the BESA Center for Strategic Studies, the Department for Political Studies, the Judith Steinman Foundation and the Schnitzer Foundation – all at Bar-Ilan University – have generously lent their financial support, for which I am deeply grateful. Since September 2000, vicious, beastly and brutal terror attacks have been launched in my country. My neighborhood in Jerusalem has been attacked, as have Bar-Ilan University and the Hebrew University. Writing a book on Turkey in the 1990s turned to be the most prudent means to remain sane. Amikam Nachmani Bar-Ilan University List of abbreviations AIOC Azerbaijan International Operating Company AJC American Jewish Committee ANAP Anavatan Partisi BSECR/BSEC Black Sea Economic Cooperation Region CBM Confidence Building Measures CIA Central Intelligence Agency CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CPC Caspian Pipeline Consortium CPJ Committee for the Protection of Journalists CRS Congressional Research Service DNB Daily News Bulletin DSP Demokratik Sol Partisi EMU European Monetary Union ERNK National Liberation Front of Kurdishtan EU European Union FIR Flight Information Region FP Fazilet Partisi FSA Freedom Support Act FTA Free Trade Agreement FYROM Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia GAP Southeastern Anatolia Project GDP gross domestic product GNP gross national product HADEP People’s Democracy Party IAI Israel Aircraft Industry IMF International Monetary Fund IMKB Istanbul Stock Exchange KDP Kurdistan Democratic Party MHP Milliyetci Hareket Partisi MIT Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization MP Member of Parliament NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NCO non-commissioned officers NEM newly emerging market NIC newly industrialized country NOTAM Notice to Airman NSC National Security Council PAN International Organization of Authors and Poets PCB Polychlorinatedbiphenyl PKK Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan viii List of abbreviations PLO Palestine Liberation Organization PUK Patriotic Union of Kurdistan RP Refah Partisi SEEBRIG South East European Brigade TDN Turkish Daily News TICA Turkish International Cooperation Agency TL Turkish lira TRNC Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus UAE United Arab Emirates UDD Unified Defence Doctrines UN United Nations Introduction It has been said that Turkey’s participation in the Korean War in the 1950s bought it the entrance ticket into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Forty years later, in 1991, Turkey participated in the Gulf War. Not a single Turkish soldier crossed the Iraqi–Turkish border, yet the six or so Turkish divisions that were deployed along the border drew off Iraqi forces from the Kuwaiti battlefield. This was meant by Turkey’s late President, Torgut Ozal, to pave the way towards his country’s accession into the European Union (EU). Was there any connection between the 1991 war in the Gulf and the December 1999 EU Helsinki decision to invite Turkey to negotiate its entrance into the Union? Perhaps not a direct one, but one cannot fail to see that the 1990s were marked by crossroads, developments, events, etc., which linked the two dates, perhaps even led to the December 1999 decision. This study will attempt to analyze these years. The 1990s were successful years as regards Ankara’s foreign relations. Turkey manifested its ability to withstand the repercussions of the fall of communism, to stop the temporary devaluation in its strategic importance that resulted from the waning of