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Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance

Year 2021, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 133 - 144, 31.12.2021

Abstract

The dramatic transformation in international politics is progressing both very quickly and very comprehensively. Since the 2016, relations between Turkey and the United States have deteriorated noticeably. Relations were negatively affected by the differentiation over time of the general goals that brought the United States and Turkey closer during the Cold War era, and Turkey’s regional interests beginning to outweigh the ever-declining common threats and interests between the two sides. This article focuses on the crises that tested Turkey-US relations between 2016-2020, how these crises and differentiated interests shook ties and the reasons for the transformation that occurred in relations. In doing so, it aims to discuss whether the asymmetrical alliance, which was constructed during the cold war and post-cold war period, has evolved into a different understanding of alliance. This article lays out the argument for the fragility of the alliance that emerged in the Trump era. As a result, a clear definition of new goals and new expectations has been reached beyond conceptual toolkits such as asymmetric alliance, strategic alliance, or model partnership to describe the relationship between the parties.

References

  • Alaranta, T. (2018) A "Eurasian Turn" in Turkish Foreign Policy? Not Likely, Available at Http://Turkeyanalyst.Org/Publications/Turkey-Analyst-Articles/Item/594-A-Eurasian-Turn-In-Turkish-Foreign-Policy?-Not-Likely.Html (accessed 17.10.2020)
  • Aybet, G. (2020) Turkey, Nato, And The Future Of The Transatlantic Relationship In A Declining Liberal Order, Turkish Policy Quarterly, 19 (2), 19-40.
  • Beyoghlow, K. (2020) Turkey and The United States On the Brink: Implications for NATO and The US-Turkish Strategic and Military Partnership, Strategic studies Institute, Available at https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/3721.pdf. (Accessed 11.09.2020)
  • Buhari Gulmez, D. (2020) The resilience of the US–Turkey alliance: divergent threat perceptions and worldviews. Contemporary Politics, 1-18.
  • Cha, V.D. (2009/2010) Powerplay: Origins of the U.S. Alliance System in Asia, International Security, 34 (3), 158-196.
  • Cook, S. (2018) “Trump is the first president to get right”, Available at https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/13/trump-is-the-first-president-to-get-turkey-right/. (Accessed 11.09.2019)
  • Çopur, H. (2019) Türk-Amerikan İlişkileri 2019’da dalgalı seyrini sürdürdü, Available at https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/turk-amerikan-iliskileri-2019da-dalgali-seyrini-surdurdu/1688398 (Accessed 07.10.2020)
  • Dalay, G. 2021) US-Turkey relations will remain crisis-ridden for a long time to come, 29.01.2021, Available at https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/01/29/us-turkey-relations-will-remain-crisis-ridden-for-a-long-time-to-come/ (Accessed 02.02.2021)
  • Doğan, Z. (2019) Türkiye-ABD İlişkilerinin Temel Dinamikleri Ve Stratejik İttifak Boyutu, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 9 (2), 133-156.
  • Düzgit, S., Balta, E., O’donohue, A. (2020) “Turkey, Russia, And The West: Reassessing Persistent Volatility, Asymmetric Interdependence, And The Syria Conflict, Istanbul Policy Center.
  • “The unhappy marriage Turkey and NATO are growing apart”, 3 February 2018, https://www.economist.com/europe/2018/02/01/turkey-and-nato-are-growing-apart. (Accessed 02.12.2021)
  • Eralp, A. (1994) Turkey and European Identity: Forging New Identitites Along Old Lines, Toward a European Nation?, in Max Haller, Rudolf Rihter( Eds), NewYork: Routledge.
  • Gözen, R. (2017) Türkiye ve ABD: Çıkarlar-Değerler Çatışmasında Asimetrik İttifak, TYB Akademi Dil Edebiyat ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 7, 9-34.
  • Güvenç, S. (2015) NATO’nun Evrimi ve Türkiye’nin Transatlantik Güvenliğe Katkıları, Uluslararası İlişkiler, 12 (45), 101- 119.
  • Güvenç, S. and Özel, S. (2012) NATO and Turkey in the post-Cold War world: between abandonment and entrapment, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 12(4), 533-553.
  • Kasapoğlu, C. (2017) “Türkiye’nin S400 İkilemi”, EDAM Dış Politika ve Güvenlik, 2017/5,. Available at http://edam.org.tr/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/s400tr.pdf (Accessed 22.10.2020)
  • Kasapoğlu, C. and Ülgen, S. (2018) “Türkiye NATO İttifakı’ndan Uzaklaşıyor mu? F-35 Teslimatları ile S400 Alımının Değerlendirilmesi”, EDAM, Dış Politika ve Güvenlik, 7.
  • Lake, David A. 1999. Entangling Relations: American Foreign Policy in Its Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Larrabee, S. (2010) Troubled Partnership U.S.-Turkish Relations in an Era of Global Geopolitical Change, Project Air Force, Available at https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG899.pdf. (Accessed 11.10.2020)
  • Lefebre, M. (2005) Amerikan Dış Politikası, (çev) İsmail Yerguz, İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alliance?src =search-dict-box (Accessed 11.11.2021)
  • Morrow, James D. (1991) “Alliance and Asymmetry: An Alternative to the Capability Aggregation Model of Alliances,” American Journal of Political Science 35 (4).
  • Oğuzlu, T. 2(011) “Turkey and the west: The rise of Turkey-centric westernism”, International Journal, 66 (4).
  • Özel, S. (2019) At the End of the Day, Where Will Turkey Stand?, Instituto Affari Internazionali.
  • Özel, S.and Morillas, P., Lindgaard, J. (2017) Evolution of the EU’s and Turkey’s Security Interests, Threat Perceptions and Discourse, FEUTURE Online Paper, No:3, Available at https://www.feuture.uni-koeln.de/sites/feuture/pdf/D4.2_final.pdf (Accessed 29.10.2020)
  • Parlar Dal, E. and Oğuz Gök, G. (2014) Locating Turkey as a ‘rising power’ in the changing international order: An introduction. Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, 19(4) pp.1–19.
  • Sarı Ertem, H., and Karadeniz , F. (2019) “Lost In Translation: A System-Level Analysis of the Turkish-U.S. Alliance under the Obama and Trump Administrations”, Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, 24 (1), pp 7-38.
  • Sander, O. (2006) Türkiye’nin Dış Politikası, 3. Baskı, (Ankara: İmge Kitabevi)
  • Snyder, G.H. (2007) Alliance Politics, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
  • Smith, A. (1998) “Extended Deterrence and Alliance Formation.” International Interactions 24(4), 315-343.
  • Reynolds, M. (2018) The End of a “Strategic” Relationship? How American-Turkish Relations Hit Historic Lows, , Available at https://www.fpri.org/article/2018/09/the-end-of-a-strategic-relationship-how-american-turkish-relations-hit-historic-lows/ (Accessed 29.12.2020)
  • Walt, S. (1990) The Origins of Alliances, Cornell University Press.
  • Tocci, N. (2011) Turkey’s European Future. Behind the Scenes of America’s Influence on EU-Turkey Relations, (New York/London: New York University Press)
  • Turan, İ. (2018) “Avoiding Further Deterioration in Turkish–U.S. Relations: Less Emotion, More Wisdom,” The German Marshall Fund of the United States, No. 009, Available at http://www.gmfus.org/ file/26147/download (Accessed 20.11.2020)
  • Turkey: Backround and US Relations, 2018, Congress Research Services, Available at https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R41368/66. (Accessed 11. 12. .2020)
  • The unhappy marriage, Turkey and NATO are growing apart, 2018, https://www.economist.com/europe/2018/02/01/turkey-and-nato-are-growing-apart. (Accessed 20.12.2020)
  • “Türkiye Fransa’da Eurosam Konsorsiyumu ile füze savunma sistemi anlaşması imzaladı, https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-42579445, 5.01. 2018 (Accessed 09.11.2020)
  • Erdoğan, Macron’dan Türkiye’nin Avrupa hava savunma sistemi SAMP-T’ın üretimine dahil edilmesini istedi, https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-54294480, 25.09.2020. (Accessed 18.12.2020)
  • Yesilyurt, N. (2020) 2011 Sonrasında Türkiye-Mısır İlişkilerinde Yaşanan Ani Yükseliş ve Sert Düşüşü Anlamak. SİYASAL: Journal of Political Sciences, 29(2), 337–365. http://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2020.29.2.0083.
  • Yılmaz, N. (2011) “U.S.-Turkey Relations:Partnership as an ‘Empty Signifier’”, Insight Turkey, 13 (1), 19-25, https://www.insightturkey.com/file/662/us-turkey-relations-model-partnership-as-an-empty-signifier-winter-2011-vol13-no1 (Accessed 11 Aralık 2021)

Türkiye-ABD İlişkileri (2016-2020): Asimetrik İttifakın Dönüşümü

Year 2021, Volume: 5 Issue: 2, 133 - 144, 31.12.2021

Abstract

Uluslararası siyasetteki dramatik dönüşüm hem çok hızlı hem de çok kapsamlı ilerlemektedir. 2016’dan bu yana Türkiye ile ABD arasındaki ilişkiler gözle görülür şekilde kötüleşmiştir. Soğuk Savaş döneminde Amerika Birleşik Devletleri ve Türkiye'yi yakınlaştıran genel hedeflerin zaman içinde farklılaşması, ilişkileri olumsuz yönde etkilemiş ve Türkiye'nin bölgesel çıkarları, iki taraf arasında giderek azalan ortak tehdit ve çıkarlardan daha ağır basmaya başlamıştır. Bu makale, 2016- 2020 arasında Türkiye-ABD ilişkilerini sınayan krizlere, bu krizlerin ve farklılaşan çıkarların ilişkileri nasıl sarstığına ve ilişkilerde meydana gelen dönüşümün nedenlerine odaklanmaktadır. Bunu yaparken, Soğuk Savaş ve Soğuk Savaş sonrası dönemde inşa edilen asimetrik ittifakın, özellikle Trump döneminde farklı bir ittifak anlayışına evrilip evrilmediğini tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır. Sonuç olarak, taraflar arasındaki ilişkiyi tanımlamak için asimetrik ittifak, stratejik ittifak veya model ortaklık gibi kavramsal araç setlerinin ötesinde yeni hedeflerin ve yeni beklentilerin net bir tanımına ulaşılmıştır.

References

  • Alaranta, T. (2018) A "Eurasian Turn" in Turkish Foreign Policy? Not Likely, Available at Http://Turkeyanalyst.Org/Publications/Turkey-Analyst-Articles/Item/594-A-Eurasian-Turn-In-Turkish-Foreign-Policy?-Not-Likely.Html (accessed 17.10.2020)
  • Aybet, G. (2020) Turkey, Nato, And The Future Of The Transatlantic Relationship In A Declining Liberal Order, Turkish Policy Quarterly, 19 (2), 19-40.
  • Beyoghlow, K. (2020) Turkey and The United States On the Brink: Implications for NATO and The US-Turkish Strategic and Military Partnership, Strategic studies Institute, Available at https://publications.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/3721.pdf. (Accessed 11.09.2020)
  • Buhari Gulmez, D. (2020) The resilience of the US–Turkey alliance: divergent threat perceptions and worldviews. Contemporary Politics, 1-18.
  • Cha, V.D. (2009/2010) Powerplay: Origins of the U.S. Alliance System in Asia, International Security, 34 (3), 158-196.
  • Cook, S. (2018) “Trump is the first president to get right”, Available at https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/13/trump-is-the-first-president-to-get-turkey-right/. (Accessed 11.09.2019)
  • Çopur, H. (2019) Türk-Amerikan İlişkileri 2019’da dalgalı seyrini sürdürdü, Available at https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/dunya/turk-amerikan-iliskileri-2019da-dalgali-seyrini-surdurdu/1688398 (Accessed 07.10.2020)
  • Dalay, G. 2021) US-Turkey relations will remain crisis-ridden for a long time to come, 29.01.2021, Available at https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/01/29/us-turkey-relations-will-remain-crisis-ridden-for-a-long-time-to-come/ (Accessed 02.02.2021)
  • Doğan, Z. (2019) Türkiye-ABD İlişkilerinin Temel Dinamikleri Ve Stratejik İttifak Boyutu, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, 9 (2), 133-156.
  • Düzgit, S., Balta, E., O’donohue, A. (2020) “Turkey, Russia, And The West: Reassessing Persistent Volatility, Asymmetric Interdependence, And The Syria Conflict, Istanbul Policy Center.
  • “The unhappy marriage Turkey and NATO are growing apart”, 3 February 2018, https://www.economist.com/europe/2018/02/01/turkey-and-nato-are-growing-apart. (Accessed 02.12.2021)
  • Eralp, A. (1994) Turkey and European Identity: Forging New Identitites Along Old Lines, Toward a European Nation?, in Max Haller, Rudolf Rihter( Eds), NewYork: Routledge.
  • Gözen, R. (2017) Türkiye ve ABD: Çıkarlar-Değerler Çatışmasında Asimetrik İttifak, TYB Akademi Dil Edebiyat ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 7, 9-34.
  • Güvenç, S. (2015) NATO’nun Evrimi ve Türkiye’nin Transatlantik Güvenliğe Katkıları, Uluslararası İlişkiler, 12 (45), 101- 119.
  • Güvenç, S. and Özel, S. (2012) NATO and Turkey in the post-Cold War world: between abandonment and entrapment, Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 12(4), 533-553.
  • Kasapoğlu, C. (2017) “Türkiye’nin S400 İkilemi”, EDAM Dış Politika ve Güvenlik, 2017/5,. Available at http://edam.org.tr/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/s400tr.pdf (Accessed 22.10.2020)
  • Kasapoğlu, C. and Ülgen, S. (2018) “Türkiye NATO İttifakı’ndan Uzaklaşıyor mu? F-35 Teslimatları ile S400 Alımının Değerlendirilmesi”, EDAM, Dış Politika ve Güvenlik, 7.
  • Lake, David A. 1999. Entangling Relations: American Foreign Policy in Its Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Larrabee, S. (2010) Troubled Partnership U.S.-Turkish Relations in an Era of Global Geopolitical Change, Project Air Force, Available at https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG899.pdf. (Accessed 11.10.2020)
  • Lefebre, M. (2005) Amerikan Dış Politikası, (çev) İsmail Yerguz, İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alliance?src =search-dict-box (Accessed 11.11.2021)
  • Morrow, James D. (1991) “Alliance and Asymmetry: An Alternative to the Capability Aggregation Model of Alliances,” American Journal of Political Science 35 (4).
  • Oğuzlu, T. 2(011) “Turkey and the west: The rise of Turkey-centric westernism”, International Journal, 66 (4).
  • Özel, S. (2019) At the End of the Day, Where Will Turkey Stand?, Instituto Affari Internazionali.
  • Özel, S.and Morillas, P., Lindgaard, J. (2017) Evolution of the EU’s and Turkey’s Security Interests, Threat Perceptions and Discourse, FEUTURE Online Paper, No:3, Available at https://www.feuture.uni-koeln.de/sites/feuture/pdf/D4.2_final.pdf (Accessed 29.10.2020)
  • Parlar Dal, E. and Oğuz Gök, G. (2014) Locating Turkey as a ‘rising power’ in the changing international order: An introduction. Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, 19(4) pp.1–19.
  • Sarı Ertem, H., and Karadeniz , F. (2019) “Lost In Translation: A System-Level Analysis of the Turkish-U.S. Alliance under the Obama and Trump Administrations”, Perceptions: Journal of International Affairs, 24 (1), pp 7-38.
  • Sander, O. (2006) Türkiye’nin Dış Politikası, 3. Baskı, (Ankara: İmge Kitabevi)
  • Snyder, G.H. (2007) Alliance Politics, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
  • Smith, A. (1998) “Extended Deterrence and Alliance Formation.” International Interactions 24(4), 315-343.
  • Reynolds, M. (2018) The End of a “Strategic” Relationship? How American-Turkish Relations Hit Historic Lows, , Available at https://www.fpri.org/article/2018/09/the-end-of-a-strategic-relationship-how-american-turkish-relations-hit-historic-lows/ (Accessed 29.12.2020)
  • Walt, S. (1990) The Origins of Alliances, Cornell University Press.
  • Tocci, N. (2011) Turkey’s European Future. Behind the Scenes of America’s Influence on EU-Turkey Relations, (New York/London: New York University Press)
  • Turan, İ. (2018) “Avoiding Further Deterioration in Turkish–U.S. Relations: Less Emotion, More Wisdom,” The German Marshall Fund of the United States, No. 009, Available at http://www.gmfus.org/ file/26147/download (Accessed 20.11.2020)
  • Turkey: Backround and US Relations, 2018, Congress Research Services, Available at https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R41368/66. (Accessed 11. 12. .2020)
  • The unhappy marriage, Turkey and NATO are growing apart, 2018, https://www.economist.com/europe/2018/02/01/turkey-and-nato-are-growing-apart. (Accessed 20.12.2020)
  • “Türkiye Fransa’da Eurosam Konsorsiyumu ile füze savunma sistemi anlaşması imzaladı, https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-42579445, 5.01. 2018 (Accessed 09.11.2020)
  • Erdoğan, Macron’dan Türkiye’nin Avrupa hava savunma sistemi SAMP-T’ın üretimine dahil edilmesini istedi, https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-54294480, 25.09.2020. (Accessed 18.12.2020)
  • Yesilyurt, N. (2020) 2011 Sonrasında Türkiye-Mısır İlişkilerinde Yaşanan Ani Yükseliş ve Sert Düşüşü Anlamak. SİYASAL: Journal of Political Sciences, 29(2), 337–365. http://doi.org/10.26650/siyasal.2020.29.2.0083.
  • Yılmaz, N. (2011) “U.S.-Turkey Relations:Partnership as an ‘Empty Signifier’”, Insight Turkey, 13 (1), 19-25, https://www.insightturkey.com/file/662/us-turkey-relations-model-partnership-as-an-empty-signifier-winter-2011-vol13-no1 (Accessed 11 Aralık 2021)
There are 39 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Political Science
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Sezin İba Gürsoy 0000-0001-5795-9982

Publication Date December 31, 2021
Submission Date November 5, 2021
Published in Issue Year 2021 Volume: 5 Issue: 2

Cite

APA İba Gürsoy, S. (2021). Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance. Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi, 5(2), 133-144.
AMA İba Gürsoy S. Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance. Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi. December 2021;5(2):133-144.
Chicago İba Gürsoy, Sezin. “Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance”. Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi 5, no. 2 (December 2021): 133-44.
EndNote İba Gürsoy S (December 1, 2021) Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance. Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi 5 2 133–144.
IEEE S. İba Gürsoy, “Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance”, Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 133–144, 2021.
ISNAD İba Gürsoy, Sezin. “Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance”. Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi 5/2 (December 2021), 133-144.
JAMA İba Gürsoy S. Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance. Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi. 2021;5:133–144.
MLA İba Gürsoy, Sezin. “Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance”. Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi, vol. 5, no. 2, 2021, pp. 133-44.
Vancouver İba Gürsoy S. Turkey-US Relations (2016-2020): Transformation of the Asymmetrical Alliance. Ulisa: Uluslararası Çalışmalar Dergisi. 2021;5(2):133-44.
Ulisa: Journal of International Studies is published by the ULİSA Institute.