ABSTRACT
Since the end of the Cold War, Turkey’s geopolitical importance to U.S. interests has grown steadily. As Alan Makovsky and Sabri Sayan explain, Turkey’s position in American foreign policy soared as efforts to curtail Saddam Hussein became a key U.S. policy objective. 1 Other post–Cold War developments in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the eastern Mediterranean region combined with the Iraq problem to make relations with Turkey crucial to achieving U.S. strategic goals. More recently, the events of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent international war on terrorism further demonstrated Turkey’s pivotal role in U.S. policy. Yet Turkey’s growing importance to U.S. strategic and political interests does not mean that the relationship between the two allies is free of potential problems. Among many issues, the following issues in Turkey are critical areas of concern: (1) domestic political and economic reforms as they affect the degree of support the United States can offer; (2) its European Union (EU) candidacy; (3) the Cyprus problem and other conflicts with Greece; (4) Turkey’s objections to the European Defense and Security Identity/Initiative (ESDI); (5) its energy needs; (6) its transregional interests; and (7) ethnic pressure groups and their effect on U.S. policy toward Turkey. This paper provides an overview of developing U.S.-Turkish relations with a special emphasis on how the post–September 11 war on terrorism is likely to affect relations between the two countries. Before this assessment, however, it is important to examine Turkey’s critical role in the war against terrorism and the consequences of the war in Afghanistan.
