National security discourse and chancing dynamics of Turkey-US relations: The example of the March 1 'Tezkere'

In this research, Turkey-US relations, since the Gulf War, have been analyzed over the national security discourse and the March 1 'Tezkere' (resolution). The main purpose of the study is to put forward the idea that the dynamics of the relations between the two countries have started to change with the Gulf War and the US policies towards the region has been seen as a threat to its national security by Turkey. The theoretical claim of the thesis is that the securitization theory of the Copenhagen School offers a new perspective to understand the change in Turkish-US relations. Securitization Theory offers an alternative perspective through discourse, in carrying the relations between the two countries from the political field to the national security field. With the emergence of the Kurdish organization in Northern Iraq, Turkey-US relations have been dominated by the politics of insecurity in the first place. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with the possibility of the Kurdish formation turning into an independent state, it has been explained how the relations between the two countries have been transferred to the security area with the theoretical framework provided by the securitization theory. These arguments have been tested on the March 1 'Tezkere' (resolution), which is accepted as a turning point in the relations between the two countries. In the study, it has been concluded that the relations between the two countries which were shaped by military cooperation against the common threat during the Cold War and are sometimes expressed with strong concepts such as "strategic partnership", have been now constructed as a threat to national security by Turkey's political elite, due to US policies in the region.