Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T15:31:36.863Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Turkish Politics and Policies under the Impact of the 1980’s PKK Revolt and the Gulf War of the Early 1990s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2012

Haldun Çanci  and
Şevket Serkan Şen
Haldun Çanci
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North Cyprus, Mersin 10, Turkey. Email: haldun.canci@emu.edu.tr
Şevket Serkan Şen
Affiliation:
Department of Public Relations, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North Cyprus, Mersin 10, Turkey. Email: serkan.sen@emu.edu.tr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines Turkish politics and policies during the 1980s and 1990s in light of occurrences in Turkey and neighboring states, with particular attention to the impact of the 1980’s PKK revolt and the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1990. In doing so, it outlines the political debates among the major political parties and the perspectives of the Turkish army generals on the important political issues of the period. These events, and those of the subsequent decade, have led to the emergence of a new status quo in Turkey that has had major political and economic repercussions.

Type
Focus: Knowledge Management in Contemporary Europe
Information
European Review , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , 30 March 2012 , pp. 222 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References and Notes

1.Cooper, M. (2002) The legacy of Atatürk: Turkish political structures and policy-making. International Affairs, 78(1), pp. 115–128 (115).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Bilgin, M. (2009) The Nature of Turkey's Foreign Policy and the Middle East: Europe's World. Available from: http://www.europesworld.org/NewEnglish/Home_old/CommunityPosts/tabid/809/PostID/852/TheNatureofTurkeysForeignPolicyandtheMiddleEast.aspx [accessed 28 October, 2009].Google Scholar
3.Hale, W. (1988) Transition to civilian governments in Turkey: The military perspective. In M. Heper and A. Evin (eds) State, Democracy and the Military: Turkey in the 1980s (New York: Walter de Gruyter), p. 166. See also S. Laçiner (2009) The Turgut Özal period in Turkish foreign policy: Özalism. Journal of Turkish Weekly 2, 153–205. Available from: http://www.turkishweekly.net/article/333/turgut-ozal-period-in-turkish-foreign-policy-ozalism.html [accessed 2 May, 2009].Google Scholar
4.Directorate General of Press and Information (2009) History: The 12 September regime. Office of the Prime Minister, Ankara. Available from: http://www.byegm.gov.tr/YAYINLARIMIZ/kitaplar/isteturkiye/english/history138.htm [accessed 29 April, 2009].Google Scholar
5.Sakallıoğlu, Ü.C. (1997) The anatomy of the Turkish military's political autonomy. Comparative Politics, 29(12), pp. 151–166 (162).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Isyar, O.G. (2005) An analysis of Turkish-American relations from 1945 to 2004: initiatives and reactions in Turkish foreign policy. Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, 4(3), pp. 21–52 (22).Google Scholar
7. For more information, see Cooper, H.H.A. (2001) Terrorism: the problem of definition revisited. American Behavioral Scientist, 44(6), pp. 881–893.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.This war also coincided with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979–1988).Google Scholar
9.Hale, W. (1992) Turkey, the Middle East, and the Gulf Crisis. International Affairs, 68(4), pp. 680–682 (682).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Bruinessen, M.V. (1988) Between Guerilla War and Political Murder: The Worker's Party of Kurdistan. Middle East Report 153, July–August, p. 41.Google Scholar
11.Gunter, M.M. (2009) The A to Z of the Kurds (Lanham: Scarecrow Press), p. 119.Google Scholar
12.Kürkçü, E. (1996) The Crisis of the Turkish State. Middle East Report 199, April–June, p. 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Sayarı, S. (1997) Turkey and the Middle East in the 1990s. Journal of Palestine Studies, 26(3), pp. 44–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.Country Studies (2010) Political Interest Groups in Turkey. Available from: http://www.country-studies.com/turkey/political-interest-groups.html [accessed 13 February, 2010].Google Scholar
15.Aslankaya, M. (2009) Dosyalar, siyasetin şairi, Karaoğlan. Hürriyet. Available from: http://dosyalar.hurriyet.com.tr/ecevit/3bolum.asp [accessed 16 October, 2009].Google Scholar
16.Library of Congress Country Studies (1995) Turkey. Available from: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+tr0031) [accessed 9 May, 2010].Google Scholar
17.Kohen, S. (1991) Bush Visit Moves US and Turkey into New Era of ‘Strategic Cooperation.’ Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August–September, p. 46. Available from: http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0891/9108046.htm [accessed 13 February, 2010].Google Scholar
18.Pope, H. (1993) Obituary: Turgut Özal. The Independent, 19 April. Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-turgut-ozal-1456191.html [accessed 9 May, 2010].Google Scholar
19.Beyazıtoğlu, Y., Ersel, H., Öztürk, E. (1991) Financial Market Reforms in Turkey 1980–1990. Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Research Department Discussion Paper 9102 Library of the Central Bank of Turkey, Ankara, p. 1.Google Scholar
20. See Kocher, M. (2002) The decline of PKK and the viability of a one-state solution in Turkey. MOST Journal on Multicultural Societies [online], 4(1), pp. 128–147. Available from: http://www.mmo.gr/pdf/library/Balkans/PKK%20in%20Turkey.pdf [accessed 9 May, 2010].Google Scholar
21.Göçek, F.M. (2008) Through a glass darkly: consequences of a politicized past in contemporary Turkey. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 617(1), pp. 88–106 (92). Available from: http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/617/1/88.pdf [accessed 11 May, 2010].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22.Nachmani, A. (2003) Coping with Intertwined Conflicts (Manchester: Manchester University Press), p. 12.Google Scholar
23.Rivlin, P. (2003) Two Middle Eastern inflations: Israel and Turkey 1980–2001. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 30(2), pp. 211–235 (211).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Dunn, M.C. (2010) The Arab World and the Kurds (Washington, DC: American University Center for Global Peace). Available from: http://www1.american.edu/cgp/pdf/dunn.pdf [accessed 12 February, 2010].Google Scholar
25.Romano, D. (2006) The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization, and Identity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26. Quoted in Marcus, A. (2007) Blood and Belief: The PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence (New York: New York University Press), p. 188.Google Scholar
27.Roth, M.P. and Sever, M. (2007) The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) as criminal syndicate: funding terrorism through organized crime, a case study. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 30(10), pp. 901–920 (906).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
28.Robins, P. (1993) The overlord state: Turkish policy and the Kurdish issue. International Affairs, 69(4), pp. 657–676 (658).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
29.Anderson, P. (2008) After Kemal. London Review of Books, 30(18), pp. 13–22. Available from: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n18/ande01_.html [accessed 12 March, 2009].Google Scholar
30.Kalın, İ. (2007) Who should the next president be? Today's Zaman, 22 March. Available from: http://www.setav.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=225&Itemid=29 [accessed 12 February, 2010].Google Scholar
31.Deringil, S. (1992) Introduction: Turkish foreign policy since Atatürk. In: C.H. Dodd (ed.) Turkish Foreign Policy: New Prospects (Cambridge: Eothen Press), p. 5.Google Scholar
32.Kaynak, M. (2009) The new face of politics. Turkish Press Review-Star, 14 April. Available from: http://www.byegm.gov.tr/YAYINLARIMIZ/chr/ing2009/04/09×04×14.htm [accessed 13 February, 2010].Google Scholar
33.Zarate's Political Collection (2009) Leaders of Turkey (Republic of Turkey). Available from: http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/turkey.htm [accessed 8 February, 2010].Google Scholar
34.El-Najjar, H.A. (2001) The Gulf War: overreaction and excessiveness [e-book] (Dalton: Amazon Press). Available from: http://www.gulfwar1991.com/Gulf%20War%20Complete/Chapter%201,%20The%20Iraqi%20Claims%20of%20Kuwait%20By%20Hassan%20A%20El-Najjar.htm [accessed 12 February, 2010].Google Scholar
35.BBC News (1990) Saddam's Iraq: Key events, Kuwait invasion, 2 August. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/02/iraq_events/html/kuwait_invasion.stm [accessed on April 11, 2009].Google Scholar
36.Dunne, M. (2003) The United States, the United Nations, and Iraq: multilateralism of a kind. International Affairs, 79(2), pp. 257–277 (263).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37. Resolution 660 demanded that Iraq immediately withdraw its troops to the positions held prior to the invasion on August 1, 1990. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2246037.stm [accessed 11 March, 2009].Google Scholar
38. Resolution 661 imposed a full trade embargo, stopping all imports from and exports to Iraq except for food, medicine, and humanitarian supplies. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2246037.stm [accessed 11 March, 2009].Google Scholar