Reflection of the events in Turkey in the American media between 1960-1980

The period between 1960 and 1980 spanned the years that the Turkey-US relationship reached both the peak and almost the breaking point. After 1945, Turkey, which endeavored to find a suitable place in the democratic bloc under the conditions of the bipolar world, was met with a cold attitude by the USA and the United Kingdom, as Turkey had followed the neutrality policy in World War II. However, security concerns created by the Soviet threat allowed the alignment of Turkey's foreign policy path with the US's regional interests and helped Turkey to secure a safe place in the Western security system. The US, seeking to establish a firewall against the Soviet threat until 1960, provided significant economic aid to Turkey and contributed to the development of the Turkish economy. After the 1960s, Turkey's approaches to the poppy issue in domestic politics and the Cypriot issue in international politics began to conflict with the interests of the US. After that, Turkey spiraled down into political instabilities by facing military coups, elite-level political disagreements and civil conflicts, and an economic bottleneck due to the economic embargo applied by the USA. While Turkey's ties with the United States began to weaken with the economic embargo, she gradually moved away from the US axis. This triggered anti-Americanism, and anti-American student protests took place in many parts of the country. While the country had to struggle with right-left conflicts, on the other hand, the worsening of the economy made things even more difficult. After the Iranian revolution shook the world in 1979, the American government could not afford to lose Turkey, and therefore the economic embargo decision was lifted after a while. With the military coup of September 12, 1980, the relationship between Turkey and the United States was greatly restored. Political and social events that took place in Turkey had a wide coverage in the American press, due to the alliance between Turkey and the USA, which started after 1945 and continued at the highest level after 1952. In this study, after giving general information about the historical development of Turkish-US relations, it has been tried to give the most objective way of how and in what way the events in Turkey took place in the American press between the years 1960-1980, which were the most dynamic times of Turkey.