Turkish foreign policy between 1960-1971: neo-Kemalism vs. neo-Democrats?

Abstract

In the post-coup years two main factors; the détente process, and as a result of the détente significant change in the United States’ policies towards Turkey, started a chain-reaction process in Turkish foreign policy. During the 1960s several factors forced Turkish policy makers towards a new foreign policy. On the one hand, the Western attitude undermined the Kemalist and other Westernist schools and caused an ideological transformation in Turkish foreign policy. On the other hand, the military coup and disintegration process that it triggered also played very important role in the foreign policy transformation process. Indeed, by undermining Westernism in Turkey, the West caused an ideological crisis in Kemalism and other foreign policy schools. The 1960s also witnessed the start of the disintegration process in Turkish politics that provided a suitable environment for the resurgence of the Ottoman schools of thought, such as Islamism and Turkism. Finally, with the 1961 Constitution’s pluralistic approach, Turkey witnessed a divergence of political and social ideas. All these developments forced the governments to reshape its foreign policy.