An analysis of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus's foreing policy with the framework of patron-client state relations with Türkiye

Whereas the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) attempts to prove its capability as an independent state, the recognition of its lands as a territory of the Republic of Cyprus without actual control puts both the Turkish Cypriots and the Republic of Türkiye in a hard position. Türkiye is the only window of the TRNC, which lives under heavy economic and political isolation, to connect with the rest of the World. The Republic of Türkiye, Great Britain and Greece became the guarantor states with the founding London-Zurich Agreements of 1959. Türkiye, which carried out the 1974 Peace Operation, expressed at every opportunity that it received this right of intervention from the founding agreements.The establishment of the TRNC in 1983 made the division on the Island permanent.After this process, embargoes were imposed on the north of the island by many international actors including the United Nations. In this thesis, the relations of Turkish Cypriots with Türkiye are examined in the context of patron-client state relations.The person representing the Turkish Cypriot Community in the international arena is the President of the TRNC.Since the TRNC Presidents are elected by referendum, it can be said that they represent the will of the people and the thoughts of the people of that specific period.This study took the importance of leadership in the Turkish Cypriot Community into account and made a leader-centred analysis.The President of the Turkish Cypriots is both the foreign policy maker and implementer and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot Community according to the international system.Considering that Türkiye is the only state that recognizes the TRNC as a state, the TRNC's foreign relations are inevitably linked with Türkiye.This work examines the TRNC's foreign policy, based on the variable of TRNC's leadership, in the context of relations with Türkiye and with the framework of the "patron-client state". The lack of studies in the Turkish literature (especially in postgraduate thesis works) specifically examining the relations between Türkiye and TRNC with the acceptance of these two as separate sovereign states is noteworthy.This thesis especially aims to fill this gap in the literature and aims to reveal results in terms of understanding Türkiye's role in TRNC foreign relations.The main purpose of the study is to search for the existence of a patron-client state relationship between Türkiye and TRNC and to show how autonomously the TRNC can act from Türkiye. Another aim is to investigate whether there is a change in TRNC's foreign policy moves depending on the leader.The thesis also gives an idea about whether the presidency of the TRNC can be accepted as an independent variable in foreign policy making.From another angle, the study aims to create a holistic source of political history that includes the foreign policy steps of the TRNC Presidents after Rauf Denktaş.Finally, the study aims to contribute to the Turkish literature on International Relations and Foreign Policy Analysis by explaining the patron-client state perspective, as well as putting forth the foreign relations steps of each TRNC leader together chronologically.