Middle East Review of International Affairs

Volume 9, Number 3, September 2005

 

Turkish Public Opinion toward the United States in the Context of the Iraq Question
by Nasuh Uslu, Metin Toprak, Ibrahim Dalmis, and Ertan Aydin ^*

 

Abstract

Turkey is a traditional ally of the United States, however, certain events, notably Washington's 2003 military intervention in Iraq and the Turkish response to this, have soured Turkish-American relations. Based on opinion polls, this article analyzes and explains the Turkish people's perceptions of the United States during the period between December 2002 and September 2003. The Turkish were displeased by what they saw as an American attitude of pursuing unilateral policies aimed solely at protecting American interests. The Turkish people believed that the U.S. decision on Iraq was taken without regard for Turkey's national interests or bilateral relations. In their eyes, the American intervention, and Turkey's possible participation in it, would be harmful for Turkey, especially in the context of the Kurdish question. Therefore, it was not surprising that the Turkish nation opposed supporting the Americans in Iraq.

Full Text (PDF, 33 pages, 2.04 MB)

Note *: Nasuh Uslu is associate professor of international relations at the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences of the University of Kırıkkale. Turkey. His books include: Türk-Amerikan İlişkilerinde Kıbrıs (Ankara: 21. Yüzyıl Yayınları. 2000); Türk-Amerikan İlişkileri (Ankara: 21. Yüzyıl Yayınları. 2000); Turkish Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Period (New York: Nova Publishers. 2004). The Turkish-American Relationship Between 1947 and 2003: the History of a Distinctive Alliance (New York: Nova Publishers. 2003). The Cyprus Question as an Issue of Turkish Foreign Policy and Turkish American Relations 1959-2003 (New York: Nova Publishers. 2003).

Metin Toprak is vice president of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency of Turkey. His books include: Türk Ekonomisinde Yapısal Dönüşümler (Structural Transformations in Turkish Economy): 1980-1985 (Ankara: Turhan Kitabevi. 1996); İktisatta Yeni Yaklaşımlar (New Approaches in Economics) (Kırıkkale: Savaş Ofset. 1996); Cumhuriyet Dönemi Türkiye Ekonomisi (The Economy of the Turkish Republic): 75 Yıl Armağanı; (Ankara: Kara Harp Okulu Yayınları. 1999;. Türkiye Ekonomisinde Reel ve Finansal Etkileşim (Ankara: Kara Harp Okulu Yayınları. 1999). Yeni İktisat (New Economics). (İstanbul: İz Yayıncılık. 1997); Küreselleşme ve Kriz: Türkiye ve Dünya Deneyimi (Globalisation and Crisis: the Experience of Turkey and the World) (Ankara: Siyasal Kitabevi. 2001).

Ertan Aydın teaches at Çankaya University in Ankara. Turkey. From 2000-2001. he was a research affiliate at Harvard University. Center for Middle Eastern Studies. He was also a visiting fellow at The Ohio State University in the spring semester of 2002. In the fall semester. 2002-2003. he was a research fellow at Dartmouth College. His articles include. "The Peculiarities of Turkish Revolutionary Ideology in the 1930s: The Ülkü Version of Kemalism. 1933-1936." published in Middle Eastern Studies. Vol. 40. No. 5 (September. 2004) and "Dilemmas of Turkish Democracy: The Encounter Between Kemalist Secularism and Islamism in the 1990s" in Democracy and Religion. Free Exercise and Diverse Visions. ed. by David W. Odell-Scott. (Kent: Kent State University Press. 2004).

İbrahim Dalmış holds a Ph.D. in social psychology from the Middle East Technical University in Turkey. His research focuses on social identity and inter-group relations. He is a research assistant at Kırıkkale University in Turkey. Dr. Dalmış has written seven articles related to the social and political behaviors of the Turkish.