How to read U.S.-Turkish relations: An analysis of scholar literature

Abstract

Despite the great geopolitical importance of U.S.-Turkish bilateral relations and multilateral cooperation in which both countries participate, it is noticeable that only a small number of authors outside the United States and Turkey deal with this topic directly. As both countries are considered to be important players in the international arena, such small number of authors outside the bilateral circuit can be understood as illogical in academic terms. Especially if we take into account a large number of countries which, after the adoption of Davutoglu's foreign policy doctrine, found themselves in a stronger international interaction with Turkey. Therefore, we consider that a selective review and critical analysis of scientific literature on modern U.S.- Turkish relations can provide the possibility of a deeper insight into the current Turkish foreign policy. In this paper author gives a critical review of thirty-five academic papers. In order to facilitate transparency and more complete analysis, the author suggests a classification of papers according to three criteria: the timeframe of the paper, the attitude of the author (towards the given problem), and theoretical approach of the author. The aim of this paper is to review the literature, and enable the reader to summarize certain conclusions which then can be used as guidelines for further research of U.S.-Turkish relations, and the Turkish foreign policy in general.