Turkey in the shadow of the superpowers: Turkish foreign policy (1960-1980)

Turkey tried to follow a balance policy against the USA and the USSR between 1960s and 1980s. The main constituent of Turkey's foreign policy was the West until 1960. On the Cyprus matter, Turkey which couldn't see its nearest ally, the USA, beside began to improve the relations with the USSR and its neighbors. When the element which brought Turkey closer the USA was the Soviet threat, Turkey got closer to the USSR in time because of the fact that the USA wasn't with Turkey in our legitimate case, Cyprus. If you have a look from a wide perspective, besides the fact that Turkey kept its foreign policy limited with the West, namely the USA, Turkey began to improve economic and cultural relations with the USSR. After the Cyprus case, the poppy matter and the arms embargo which created the breaking points of the Turkish foreign policy, a common ''who is the threat'' question was begun to talk in Turkey. As the Turkish political life was affected after each American sanction, the anti-Americanism began to show itself in the Turkish public opinion. Despite the whole negative attitude against the USA, Turkey didn't have an entire trust on the USSR. When we evaluate the process generally, you see the harms of having a one-way foreign affairs with only one state besides the benefits of the national defense and national policy.