This book presents a colourful and analytical picture of Turkish-American relations from the early nineteenth century to the post cold war era, providing excellent reference for study of their impact as well as for a deeper understanding of the region.

Recent public squabbles between American and Turkish leaders and lawmakers have led many to question what kind of an alliance Turkey and the United States have. This book is directly concerned with this question and attempts to shed light on every single detail related to the nature of this alliance. With discussions on the historical evolution of the bilateral relations and current disagreements on various issues such as the Turkish acquisition of Russian air defense systems and the Kurdish question in the Middle East, this study offers a lucid genealogy of the Turkish-American alliance for all those interested in the subject.

This book aims to take the reader on a journey along the intricate web of Turkish-American relations. It critically examines the process, during which the relations evolved from those of strangers into an occasionally troubled, yet resilient alliance. Through the extensive use of Turkish, American and British archival documents and numerous private paper and manuscript collections, the book examines Turkish-American relations from 1800 to 1952, starting with the earliest contacts and ending with the institutionalization of the alliance after Turkey’s entry into NATO. Its purpose is to provide a better understanding of the significant issues pertaining to Turkish-American relations such as the impact of international developments on foreign policy decisions, the role of key figures and organizations in shaping the relations, the interaction of political, economic, cultural and military factors in policy formation and the importance of mutual perceptions in shaping actual relations. The analysis also situates Turkish-American relations in the larger context of diplomatic history, through an evaluation of how the United States’ relations with Turkey fit into the general framework of American foreign policy and also through an examination of the conduct and changing priorities of Turkish foreign policy in this era. Such a study not only enhances our knowledge of Turkish-American relations for the period of 1800-1952, but also provides further insight into the relations during the Cold War and its aftermath.

Turkish-American Relationship Between 1947 & 2003 - The History of a Distinctive Alliance

This book provides a unique and timely window into the views and opinions of a wide segment of the Turkish society on the subject of contemporary Turkish-U.S. relations. Based on interview data collected and analyzed largely by Turkish academicians, this study focuses on the opinions and attitudes of Turkish citizens across nine different sectors of Turkish society. Ranging from military officers to university students to the labor and media sectors, the depth and breadth of this multi-sectoral survey, looked at carefully by a group of scholars from broad academic backgrounds and public service expertise, serves as an important contribution to the literature. Serving as a "snap-shot" of contemporary views being expressed in Turkey, this work serves to identify and address those issues and events that have impacted or might tend to influence the conduct and future of Turkish-U.S. relations.

For the last seventy years, experts have tried to define the nature of Turkey's partnership with the US. While Turkish-US relations have always been susceptible to different crises, they enjoyed a brief “golden era” in the 1950s. This book argues that a false nostalgia about that period - when the strategic interests of two countries fully converged - has distorted analyses by scholars and policymakers ever since. To provide a more accurate assessment, this book look at the patterns of crises between the two countries throughout history and how these relate to the current points of tension in Turkish-American relations today. It coins a new conceptual framework to understand the Turkey-US partnership: the “vulnerable partnership”. The book outlines the key causes of this vulnerability, showing that for the last 70 years, there have been recurring frictions and faultlines that have been repeated across different political periods. These especially involve the US congress, public opinion, Russia, and crises in the Middle East. Based on journalistic, archival and scholarly sources, the topic of the book is at the intersection foreign policy studies, Middle East politics, the history of Turkish-American relations, and foreign policy making.

The relationship between Turkey and the United States is complicated because of differing core purposes and somewhat differing memberships, i.e., NATO and the European Union. Current Turkey-U.S. diplomatic and military relations are strained, but both countries recognize how vital it is to address issues of mutual importance. In mid-2007 the Atlantic Council, Strategic Studies Institute, and German Marshall Fund of the United States jointly organized a conference to discuss the current state of U.S.-Turkish-EU ties and to consider how those relations might be repaired and enhanced. This conference report provides an overview of the enduring issues that must be addressed if Turkey-U.S. relations are to move beyond current roadblocks and begin to realize their full potential. Since this conference took place, the political environment in Turkey has changed, and several of the issues, such as the use of Iraq as a staging area by Kurdish insurgents, have continued to evolve. Such dynamics reveal the importance of the ideas surfaced in each of the conference presentations and the need to continue addressing the issues identified.