Turkish-American Relations in the Post-Cold War Era, 1990-2005 Isa Afacan [email protected]
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-31-2011 Turkish-American Relations in the Post-Cold War Era, 1990-2005 Isa Afacan [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI11041509 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Afacan, Isa, "Turkish-American Relations in the Post-Cold War Era, 1990-2005" (2011). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 347. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/347 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA, 1990-2005 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS by Isa Afacan 2011 To: Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Isa Afacan, and entitled Turkish-American Relations in the post-Cold War Era, 1990-2005, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Thomas Breslin _______________________________________ Aisha Musa _______________________________________ Charles MacDonald _______________________________________ Mohiaddin Mesbahi, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 31, 2011 The dissertation of Isa Afacan is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Interim Dean Kevin O’Shea University Graduate School Florida International University, 2011 ii © Copyright 2011 by Isa Afacan All rights reserved. iii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my wife, Esra. Without her patience, understanding, support, and most of all love, the completion of this work would not have been possible. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation benefitted from many individuals’ contributions along the way. I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to those who inspired and helped me through this long process. My major Professor, Mohiaddin Mesbahi, has been the prime scholar to lay out the intricacies of international relations and to give me the inspiration to write on Turkish-American relations. Professors on my committee, Charles MacDonald, Thomas Breslin and Aisha Musa, provided me their invaluable feedback and contributed greatly to my study. I would like thank all four for their time, patience and support. This dissertation could not have been completed without support from the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies and the Middle East Studies Center at Florida International University, both of which provided the graduate student research funding for this research. I would like to thank Paul Kowert, Luz Aviles and Martha Rodriguez from the Department of Politics and International Relations for their valuable support in helping me navigate university bureaucracy. I also thank my colleague Sarabrynn Hudgins for her assistance in editing the text under a tight schedule. I would like to recognize and give utmost appreciation to my parents and my late- uncle, who offered unconditional love and support. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Esra. Without her patience, understanding, support, and, most of all, love, the completion of this work would not have been possible. v ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA, 1990-2005 by Isa Afacan Florida International University, 2011 Miami, Florida Professor Mohiaddin Mesbahi, Major Professor This study examines the contours of Turkish-American foreign relations in the post-Cold War era from 1990 to 2005. While providing an interpretive analysis, the study highlights elements of continuity and change and of convergence and divergence in the relationship between Ankara and Washington. Turkey’s encounter with its Kurdish problem at home intertwined with the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish authority in northern Iraq after the Gulf War that left a political vacuum in the region. The main argument of this dissertation is that the Kurdish question has been the central element in shaping and redefining the nature and scope of Turkish-American relations since 1991. This study finds that systemic factors primarily prevail in the early years of the post-Cold War Turkish-American relations, as had been the case during the Cold War era. However, the Turkish parliament’s rejection of the deployment of the U.S. troops in Turkey for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 could not be explained by the primacy of distribution of capabilities in the system. Instead, the role of identity, ideology, norms, and the socialization of agency through interaction and language must be considered. The Justice and Development Party’s ascension to power in 2002 magnified a wider vi transformation in domestic and foreign politics and reflected changes in Turkey’s own self-perception and the definition of its core interests towards the United States. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................... 1 The Significance of This Research ..................................................................... 8 Literature Review.............................................................................................. 10 Methodology ..................................................................................................... 14 Chapter Outline ................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER II: TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS: AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES, 1800-1990 ........................................................................................... 19 Early Encounters ............................................................................................... 19 World War I, the Interwar Period and the Relations ........................................ 22 World War II and the Cold War ....................................................................... 28 Disappointments and Crises .............................................................................. 40 CHAPTER III: THE SHADOW OF THE GULF WAR AND THE KURDISH QUESTION....................................................................................................................... 52 The Post-Cold War Security Thinking and Turkish Calculations .................... 53 The Gulf War and the U.S. Engagement in Iraqi Kurdistan ............................. 56 Facing Twin Problems: The de facto Kurdish State in the Neighborhood and Kurdish Insurgency at Home ..................................................................... 68 Implications of the Kurdish Problem for the Turkey-U.S. Relations ............... 81 CHAPTER IV: TOWARDS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP, 1994 – 2000 .................... 84 Disappointments and Prospect for Engagement ............................................... 85 Turkey’s Domestic and foreign affairs intricately mingled: Israel and the United States ................................................................................................... 101 Gearing towards Strategic Partnership between Ankara and Washington ..... 110 CHAPTER V: TOWARDS AUTONOMY, 2001-2005 ................................................. 116 Allies Agreed and then Disagreed: The September 11 Attacks, and the Polices of “War on Terror” and “Axis of Evil” .............................................. 120 Strategic Partnership in Jeopardy: Iraqi War of 2003 ..................................... 126 The Contours of Turkey's Transformation in Domestic and Foreign Affairs . 132 CHAPTER VI: CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 156 VITA…………………………………………………………………………………... 175 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DECA Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement DLP Democratic Left Party DP Democrat Party EPR European Recovery Program GAP Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi GMEI Greater Middle East Initiative IMF International Monetary Fund ISRO International Strategic Research Organization JDP Justice and Development Party KDP Kurdistan Democratic Party MP Motherland Party NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NSC National Security Council OPC Operation Provide Comfort PKK Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan PLO Palestinian Liberation Organization PUK Patriotic Union of Kurdistan RPP Republican People’s Party SDPP Social Democrat People’s Party TGNA Turkish Grand National Assembly TPP True Path Party TRT Turkish Radio and Television ix TUSIAD Turk Sanayicileri ve Isadamlari Dernegi UN United Nations UNSC United Nations Security Council VP Virtue Party WB World Bank WP Welfare Party x CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION Statement of the Problem Since the beginning of the Cold War, the Turkish-American relationship has been very important for both sides. Turkish security during the Cold War was mostly shaped by