Aydın, Mustafa, Ten Years After; Turkey’s Gulf Policy (19901991) Revisited, Ankara Paper 3 (London: FrankCass, 2002)
The 1980s brought profound changes to Turkey. Politically, economically, culturally and socially the country witnessed sharper changes than at any time since the 1920s. Foreign Policy also changed and this paper looks at the changing environment of Turkish foreign-policy making and the evolving reasoning behind the general policies throughout the Gulf War. There are many reasons for choosing the Gulf Crisis of 1990-91 to demonstrate changes. I twas the closest Turkey came to entersing an international war for which it was unprepared and unenthusiatic. Yet the crisis had the most serious repercussions on Turkey's own national security and highlighted the changes that had taken place in Turkey. It took place at a time when the fundamental paradigms of the bipolar system were dramatically altered and the so-called "new world order" was emerging. Thus the Gulf War also poised to demonstrate Turkey's responses to the newly emerging world system that effectively made it impossible for Turkey to follow its traditional foreign policy posture. Since then Turkish foreign policy has come under heavy criticism both inside and outside Turkey. Accordingly this paper evaluates Turkish foreign policy at one of its critical moments. A shorter version of this paper was written in 1994 and published by the American University Cairo as "Turkish Foreign Policy during the Gulf War", Cairo Paper in Social Science, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring 1998). I like to thank the editors of the Cairo Papers for allowing me to revise and update my article for the Ankara Papers series.