'A most voluble proponent of anti-western multi-faceted foreign policy'? Ahmet Gündüz Ökçün as Turkey's foreign minister (1978-1979)

This thesis seeks to introduce Ahmet Gündüz Ökçün, Turkey's foreign minister in the 42th government (1978-1979) and discuss his role in Turkey's foreign policy decision making in one of the most tumultuous periods in Turkey's relations with the West. Notwithstanding vast Turkish foreign policy literature, there are yet only few studies on individual actors in foreign policy making in the history of Republican Turkey. Given the historical bureaucratic weight of Turkey's foreign ministry in Turkish foreign policy making during the Cold War period, Ahmed Gündüz Ökçün's non-conventional rise from academia to foreign ministry and his distinct role as foreign minister have remained understudied. This thesis aims to narrow down this gap by studying Ahmet Gündüz Ökçün in a period during the Cold War when Turkey's western foreign policy orientation came under immense strain. While engaging Ökçün's actorness, this thesis seeks to go beyond traditional biographical studies by critically discussing the role of individuals and their beliefs/worldviews on Turkey's foreign policy at a particular time, that is Cold War, when systemic pressures on Turkish foreign policy was arguably the highest. To do so, this thesis examines all of Ökçün's writings before he became foreign minister, considers his speeches/statements during his ministry of foreign affairs, uses interviews conducted with diplomats who worked with him or knew him while he was foreign minister, and finally takes advantage of telegrams used for official communication between US Embassy in Ankara and Washington.