The Turkish Foreign Policy Under The Justice And Development Party (AKP): A Paradigm Shift? (original) (raw)

I am dedicating this work to the people who supported me throughout this journey. I would like to dedicate this to Monteze Starling; without her belief in me and her support I would not have been able to return to the United States to study. I wish she could have lived to see me receive my degree. I only hope I can live up to the kind of person she believed possible for me to be. I want to thank my mother, Sukran Ormeci for bringing me into this world and supporting me throughout this journey and my sister Fatma Demirdas Calik, who always loved and encouraged me. I also want to thank my Uncle Nuri Ormeci, who helped me learn and who believed in me. Most of all, I would like to thank my daughter Marki for pushing me forward and sometime in the not-so-far future I will be helping her go through this same process for her degree. Finally, I would like to thank my dear love Susan Starling, whose infinite support helped me finish this dissertation and earn the degree.. the direction I needed to go to do the research, which resulted in this body of work; Dr. Gordon Smith, who gave me a job working with him, which helped me survive my years at school in the Doctoral program; Dr. Mustafa Kibaroglu, who, though very busy with his academic works, took time out to read and advise me on my writing; Dr. Timothy Peterson, who graciously agreed to serve as a committee member and read this lengthy body of work. I would also like to thank Mariam Dekanozishvili, who helped me organize my thoughts so this would make sense to others. There are many others who, though not named, helped me along the way to research, find the information I needed and encouraged me along the way. Most of all, I would like to thank my daughter Marki Starling and the love of my life, my sweetheart, Susan Starling for devoting countless hours to reading and editing all my papers, encouraging me when I felt discouraged and helping me find the light at the end of the tunnel. Without her I am not sure I would have survived this process. v