Weapon sales and grant aids as a foreign policy tool: Theexample of Turkish-American military-security relations

In this study the issue of arms trade and grant aids between Turkish-American relations from the Ottoman period to the 21st century has been evaluated. This study, which will examine the place of American-centered aid policies in Foreign Policy, has been analyzed with in the framework of the periodic developments in political, military and economics terms between the Turkish-American sides. The Turkish-American apporoach, which started in the Ottoman period, became official with the 1830 Seyr-i Sefain Treaty. The possession of arms and materials belonging to Foreign states in the Ottoman State became the element that left local weapons and other military commodities behind the country even more. The Republic of Turkey during the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Turkish-American relations with the announcement of the south wing of the country has gained a further dimension. During the Cold War the American-Turkish bilateral treaties with the United States increased aid for Turkey has also increased. In this context, Marshall aid given economically and militarily was used as a tool to spread American utilitarianism to the world. In the study, examples of hard power policies that serve American interests rather than the soft power element of the American-centered foreign aid program and play a leading role in the spread of American hegemony beyond the national borders are included. In the thesis, it is explained in which interests the foreign aid programs offered by the United States are used in American foreign policy and the issue of transforming arms aid into a foreign policy tool has been articulated and analyzed in today's developments. For this reason, information about American foreign policy interests, the security dimension of the Turkish foreign policy adhered to the West, the arguments that will cause the Turkish-American alliance to be questioned, the national arms trade and the examination of national security have been evaluated.