US-Turkish Relations During the AKP Era

Abstract

The relationship between the US and Turkey has had many stages since the end of the Second World War, and a new era arose after the AKP party came to power. Based on the arguments of Buzan, Turkey is not part of any regional security complex (RSC), but is an “insulator state” located between three regional security complexes. However, unlike other insulator states, it has a very active foreign policy. While the US and Turkey are allies in NATO and have military and economic ties, their (geopolitical) interests differ in many areas, thus marking a new era in their bilateral relations when realpolitik may play a greater role. After giving a theoretical introduction and an overview of the global status of both states, as well as a historical background of US-Turkish relations, the paper analyzes the political, economic, military, and societal aspects of their bilateral relations after 2003 using the toolkit of regional security complexes theory. The main argument of the paper is that while diverging foreign policy approaches, different national interests, as well as more active Turkish engagement in the region, have resulted in several rifts in the US-Turkish partnership, the countries remain willing to cooperate and coordinate in the case of converging interests, especially defense and countering terrorism.