AK Parti Döneminde Ortadoğu’da Türk-Amerikan İlişkilerinin Jeokültürel Ekseni: İslami Kimlik
Geocultural Axis of Turkish-American Relations under the JDP Rule in the Middle East: Islamic Identity

Summary/Abstract: Turkish-American relations have historically always experienced its several ups and downs. TurkishAmerican relations have maintained this continuity while Turkey’s geocultural dimension have gained importance instead of its jeopolitical position during Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) decade. The dynamics of global politics have began to take shape within the framework of ‘Islamic terror’ after the September 11 terrorist attacks that influenced herein. This paper analyzes the axis of geoculture in the context of model country rhetoric in the U.S.-Turkey relations focusing particularly on the Middle East politics within the scope of public diplomacy. The main research question of the study is as follows: what is the primary factor and axis that determines the U.S.-Turkey relations? The research has two fundamental arguments: First, the determining factor has been Turkey’s Muslim identity under JDP. The U.S. has opted to use JDP’s Islamic identity as a model in its grand strategy of Greater Middle East and North Africa Initiave. The bilateral relations have set by the rhetoric of model country in the axis of geoculture, which aimed to transformation of Muslim Middle Eastern societies. Second, the relations have began to deteriorate with Syrian and Egyptian crisis in the process of ‘Arab Spring’ since 2013 and the interests of two states have conflicted over the political Islam and moderate Islam. More particularly, the abandon of the U.S.’s moderate Islam policy became a turning point of the relations between JDP and Obama administration. In this context, it is suggested that the one dimension of political Islam and the other dimension the U.S.-Iran rapprochement which will determine the future of the U.S.-Turkey relations.

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