Türk-Amerikan savunma ilişkilerini üreten mekanizmalar: 1973-1980, bilimsel gerçekçi bir yaklaşım

The Turkish-American relations hit a hard bottom in 1974 and then enjoyed a high level of cooperation with the DECA of 1980. This thesis explores how bilateral relations evolved from a conflictual level to a high level of cooperation in just six years and the causal mechanisms that induced change in bilateral relations. In doing so, it targets to find out causal mechanisms of the Turkish-American defense relations during one of the most turbulent periods of this relationship. In order to solve this puzzle, a causation theory based on Aristotelian four causes typology was applied. Accordingly, structural, agential, material and ideational causes that produce the major milestones of the said relations in the studied period were analyzed in the light of the scientific realist philosophy. Hence, the study reviews the arms embargo imposed upon Turkey in 1975, the removal of that embargo in 1978, and the signature of the Defense and Economic Cooperation Agreement in 1980 based on the declassified official US foreign policy documents.