US Foreign Policy and Turkey: Relationships, Challenges and Tensions

The United States and Turkey were extraordinarily close allies during most of the Cold War with Turkey being central to U.S. strategy in the Middle East. In the aftermath, the United States and Turkey faced a range of new challenges to their relationship which nonetheless remained strong until the 2003 Iraq War. The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein revealed divergences in the interests of the two allies and led to tensions not seen since the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. Lansford and Pauly seek to identify the main convergences and divergences of U.S. and Turkish interests and analyzes the trends in relations between the two states. They provide a thorough examination of national interests and how those interests define foreign and security policy for the two states. The examination of interests provides deep insight into the U.S.-Turkish relationship. The book explores U.S. support or opposition to Turkish actions toward Greece, Cyprus and the Kurds within the broader context of the machinations of U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, including support for Israel and efforts to contain first Iran and then Iraq.