NATO and NATO-Turkey relations within the frame of neo-liberal institutionalism theory

NATO is a military alliance which was established based on collective defence to protect and defend the Euro-Atlantic Area. The alliance that was formed against Soviet Union, the common enemy in the Cold War Era is maintaning its existence as the most successful and active security organisation in world politics both politically and militarily. Despite the fact that its existence was questioned, NATO has begun to transform from a regional defence organisation into a global security organisation against the new challenges and threats after the collapse of Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. The basic hypothesis of this study is as follows: The alliance which was working in order to ensure cooperation and peace in the world within the frame of neo-liberal institutionalism theory has recently needed to deploy much more again with neo-realist perspective. As for Turkey, although there are occasional problems with NATO allies and it perceives threats from them in terms of neo-realism, by continuing to be the most loyal member of NATO, it has supported international peace and stability efforts, reinforced its Western identity and ensured its military modernization and security thanks to NATO. This study has addressed NATO in the eye of neo-realism and neo-liberal institutionalism theory debates and has aimed to analyse NATO-Turkey relations. In the first part, an answer to the question of what neo-realism and neo-liberal institutionalism theories mean was sought. In the second part, with neo-realism and neo-liberal institutionalist perspective, the answer to the question of why NATO emerged, its activities and whether it transformed into a global security organization for peace was sought and why it turned to the politics of redeployment within the framework of neo-realist theory was analyzed. In the third part, while NATO-Turkey relations were examined in the eye of the neo-liberal institutionalist and neo-realist theories, which issues Turkey and NATO allies disagree on was analysed and despite the challenges in the relations, why Turkey continues to be a staunch ally of NATO was examined.