The Impact of Iraq on Turkey-US Relations

This research assesses how Iraq as an external factor influenced, shaped and altered intra-alliance relations between Turkey and the US between 1990 and 2003. It develops an integrative foreign policy model of Turkey-US intra-alliance behaviour with a specific focus on the parameters that enable security cooperation between Turkey and the US on Middle Eastern issues. It studies Turkey’s cooperative and non-cooperative relations with the US vis-à-vis Iraq in three major phases: During the 1990 Gulf Crisis and 1991 Gulf War and their immediate aftermath, Turkey and the US shared a common understanding of the nature and urgency of the threat Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait posed to their national interests, and on the requisite strategy to deal with that threat. Between 1991 and 2001, it became apparent that the unintended economic, political and strategic consequences of the conflict in the Gulf had disproportionately affected Turkey’s interests, creating serious dilemmas for Turkey-US relations, while both countries closely cooperated on Northern Iraq, albeit with different motivations. From the inauguration of the Bush-Cheney administration in 2001 to 1 March 2003, when the Turkish Parliament refused to allow the opening up of a northern front through Turkey for the US invasion of Iraq, Turkey diverged entirely from the US over the level and urgency of the threat from Iraq and also the devised US strategy for a military solution, but attempted to pursue a policy of unwilling cooperation in the hope of preserving the alliance and indirectly securing its interests in the future of Iraq without compromising domestic stability. The research thus tests its integrative foreign policy model on an empirical case study of Turkey-US relations, and thereby aims to contribute to the academic understanding of intra alliance behaviour.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral Thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

King's College London

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Balik, Gurcan

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Park, William
• Freedman, Lawrence
• Chin, Warren Anthony

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

oai:kclpure.kcl.ac.uk:studenttheses/2b9e6545-b355-4aae-bc95-b3245a8e3931

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kclpure.kcl.ac.uk:studenttheses/2b9e6545-b355-4aae-bc95-b3245a8e3931