ABSTRACT
Turkish-American security relations in the Middle East after the Cold War present an interesting puzzle. While Turkey's strategic role was redefined to a large extent in connection with this region by both Ankara and Washington in the early 1990s, this redefinition also led to enormous tension and mistrust in addition to cooperation between the two countries. This contradiction emerged especially in relation to Iraq. Although Turkey and the US shared some interests as regards that country, their policies also differed in important ways. This chapter sets out the essential dilemma faced by Turkish-American relations in the security realm in the Middle East and tries to explain the shared and contradicting interests of the two allies. Within this context, the chapter mainly focuses on Turkey-US relations with respect to Iraq because of its centrality to the redefinition of alliance relationship between the two countries. Although post-Cold War Turkish-American relations continued to reflect earlier modes of behaviour on both sides, the Iraqi issue became the crux of the contradiction embedded in the relationship. This issue also represents an interesting case of alliance bargaining, in which the US, the superpower, negotiated with Turkey, a major regional power, on an issue salient to both.
