Aegean conflict in the Turkish foreign policy in the period of 1983-1989: Turgut Özal factor

The distrust between Turkey and Greece in the process of gaining a national identity and becoming a nation-state has led to problems that are still not fully resolved between the two states. The Aegean Sea, which is an important geopolitical, military, political and strategic waterway, has also been the subject of disputes between the two countries and these conflicts went down in history as the Aegean dispute in Turkey-Greece relations. The effort to find solutions to the disputes about continental shelf, territorial waters, airspace and FIR, disputed islands, islets and rocks, militarization of the islands and search and rescue authorization continued with different approaches in different periods in the relations of the two countries, but no result could be obtained. In this thesis, the scope of the Aegean dispute is explained and Turgut Özal's attempts to solve this problem during his prime ministry between 1983-1989 are examined. Neoclassical realism has been determined as the conceptual framework of the thesis, because it is a foreign policy analysis theory that examines the foreign policy behaviors of states in the face of the pressures and constraints of the international system, through local factors and leadership perceptions and their interaction. This thesis focuses on Turgut Özal' foreign policy considering the neoclassical realism's acceptance that political leaders are in the position of determining and making final decisions in foreign policy choices of states. Özal's personality and leadership characteristics were discussed and his foreign policy behaviors towards the Aegean dispute were examined in terms of his foreign policy under the influence of these characteristics. In this context, the thesis seeks to answer whether Özal's moderate, active and collaborative foreign policy has an influence on the solution of the problem, and Özal's foreign policy has been evaluated from a neoclassical realist point of view, especially in the light of prominent events in the Aegean dispute. Focusing on Turgut Özal, this thesis examines the effect of the foreign policy behaviors towards the solution of the Aegean dispute, which has not been resolved for years, from the point of view of neoclassical realist theory, and presents a different perspective on the role of leaders in the foreign policies of states. In this context, the thesis will also serve as a steppingstone for future studies that will examine the subject from different aspects.