U.S. Foreign Policy's Effects on Modern Turkey Essay

Throughout the course of history, the United States has remained consistent with its national interest by taking many different actions in foreign policy. There have been both immediate and long term results of these actions. Foreign policy is the United States policy that defines how we deal with other countries economically and politically. It is made by congress, the president, and the people. Some of the motivations for United States foreign policy are national security, economics, and idealism. The United States entry into World War I in 1917 and the escalation of the Vietnam War in 1964 and the both had great impact on the United States.

The Armenian massacres of the 1890 's are an important marker in the history of humanitarian aid by the United States. Before this point, American humanitarian aid had been up to small committee efforts thrown together for an individual international crisis. During the 1890 's humanitarian reformers became more organized and elected officials began to look at the role the United States federal government could play in international humanitarian aid. (Wilson 27) At this time Protestant missionaries and Armenian nationals joined forces with former abolitionists, woman suffragists, and newspapermen to bring the condition of the Armenians to the attention of the citizens of the United States.

To put the names “Armenia” and “Turkey” together evokes a wave of grief and anger. Over the years, a very few have challenged the two and strived to bridge the gap between Armenians and Turks. Dink “crossed that bridge to become a symbol of the struggle for human and minority rights, and of the struggle for democracy and European integration” (Cheterian, 16). Hrant Dink was one of whom who challenged the perceptions of the relationship between Armenians and Turks, starting with his discovery of the newspaper Agos, founded in 1996. The newspaper, which was written and published in both Armenian and Turkish, confronted topics about the complexities that existed between both countries over the years and advocated human rights and democratization.

The Modernization efforts undertaken by the leadership of Iran and Turkey after World War I share numerous similarities across ideological, and social lines. Both countries shared and benefitted from strong social identities, and resistance to outside influence. While these countries were unified using comparable methods, they were also exploited to further the individual goals of both countries? respective leaders.

America may be a relatively young nation, turning 240 years old this year, but in its short existence, it has had a powerful influence over world affairs, for better or worse. George Washington once said, “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” However, since his presidency, the United States’ position in the world has steered from a steely isolationist stance to one open and hungry for involvement in the matters of other countries. America craved land and power to bolster itself and utilized foreign policy to do so, shifting towards an imperialist position. However, this change in foreign policy resulted

United States Foreign Policy has always been in a constant form of metamorphosis. Gradually, since the birth of the United States of America, the country has been slowly evolving it’s policies and relations with other countries. The United States began its history as a insignificant isolated nation. It slowly overtime would change to what the powerhouse that it is today: A Global Superpower.

The notion that we do not need foreign policy, or that it is an antiquated concept is greatly misleading. In fact, we need a strong foreign policy now more than ever. We are living at a time when the world’s geographical divides are shrinking due to ever increasing advancements in communication, technology, trade, and a strong global economic interdependence. Even though the notion that we are somehow economically dependent upon other countries is not something new for the US, we still see a strong indifference to foreign policy. In order to understand the problems, let us take a step back and examine the history of US foreign policy.

Turkey was a concern because it was on the border of the Soviet Union and had previously been a target for expansion. After Britain had informed the United States that it could not afford to give Greece and Turkey financial aid, Truman was determined to persuade Congress to allocate funds to fight the spread of communism into Greece and Turkey. 2. How

were willing to comply with the democratic and liberal U.S. ideals. Both Turkey and Greece are presently good allies with the United States because of the democratic relationship they were able to build. Again Owen states, that liberal peace is only possible if both states are liberal, which Turkey and Greece are, hence why their relations with the United States resulted in peace. Although, one can argue that despite Owen’s argument, both states can be liberal and still result in conflict.

American foreign policy has gradually changed since the birth of our nation. On July 4, 1891, John Quincy Adams addressed the Senate and House of Representatives during a powerful Independence Day speech designed to prevent an alliance with the Greeks against the Ottoman Empire. Although sympathetic to their cause, he warned against involving America in other states’ affairs, stating,” America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to Freedom and independence of all”. This paper seeks to evaluate the implications of John Quincy Adams’ statement, examine the trends of foreign policy and national security from the late nineteenth century to the present, and address current policy issues regarding

So when Mustafa Kamal (Ataturk) began to form a Turkish nation state, it was not clear what constituted a Turk but soon, Kurds were considered as Turks and a policy aiming at the detribalization and assimilation of the Kurds was adopted… The Turkish government's pursuit of full assimilation has led to the proscription of publications of any book, newspaper, or other material in the Kurdish language. Moreover, there has also been an instance of arrests of entertainers for singing songs or performing in Kurdish.

The transition of a multinational empire to a nation state has happened; therefore, Turkey's national identity has been established. In the creation of this identity, qualification of individuals as a 'citizen' has been a crucial point. Ataturk found the path for the public administration by setting a new democracy which is “Republic”.

Throughout history, the middle east has often been the focus of news reporters. A middle eastern country that has not been exempt from this, is Turkey. Turkey has not only been a focus, but it also has had a very long, complicated history.

Middle East considers one of the most studied areas in the world due to its rich history of politics, social, economic, and its culture and civilization. Its borders are still arguable geographically, generally in the west it starts from morocco until Iran in the east, however, many scholars don’t agree on including Turkey either as a Middle Eastern or as a European country (Milton-Edwards, 2006. P: 4). The origin of the name was invented by the colonies as a necessity to describe the place geographically, which was the era of bringing “Middle East” the language of academic writings and political scientists. Changes, innovations, and new ideologies create gaps between the transformations of any perspectives to a different

I have always wondered about the affairs between states and political strategies the states apply to determine their relations. My interest and curiosity in affairs between states and their designated policies to determine their affairs became more obvious when I was at high school. I started to read about political history, specifically; political history of Europe between 16th – 20th centuries. Events like Thirty Years War, Treaty of Westphalia, French Revolution, First and Second World Wars in Europe, which shaped today’s international system in many ways, developed my interest in International Politics and their effects to the societies. Throughout high school years, In addition to my readings on European political history; my country, Turkey’s foreign policy influenced me to study on it. Turkey’s geostrategic position is unique and worthy to study. By security perspective, economically and politically stable Turkey is vital for the stability of the Middle East and Caucasus. Also important for the security of EU. By economic point of view, developing energy projects such as; TANAP (Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project), which will be passing through Turkey and existing energy projects such as; Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which is passing through Turkey, are important for energy distribution to Europe. Furthermore, Turkey can play an important role to enhance commercial and economic