Mesut Yılmaz: from Özal’s shadow to mediator (original) (raw)
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This essay highlights the underlying role of the leader in policymaking and argues that, from his premiership to his presidency, Turgut Ozal was the major actor behind the change. Moreover, the essay aims to contribute to the existing literature by adding a conceptual discussion on change and leadership in foreign policy, as well as by evaluating Ozal’s statements and practices during his premiership within this framework. With this analysis, this essay then revisits the existing debate, moving from investigating whether there was a change to instead examining the extent and level of change in Ozal’s foreign policy. Applying Charles F. Hermann’s model of change in foreign policy, this essay argues that the changes in Turkish foreign policy during the Ozal governments were changes in the level of effort as well as changes in the methods and the purposes of foreign policy. However, these changes were not implemented at Hermann’s level of “international orientation change.” Finally, this essay emphasizes that there is more room for the integration of theoretical frameworks in the existing literature, as the abundance of “change in Turkish foreign policy” arguments need to be tested against other models on change in political science and international relations.
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One of the significant shifts in Turkish politics occurred during the Turgut Özal era. Turgut Özal, who profoundly transformed the political, social, and economic paradigms that had dominated Turkish political life since the establishment of the Republic, also played an important role in shaping the country's foreign policy during his approximately ten-year tenure. Özal's influence, particularly through the new initiatives, understandings, and strategies he pursued in foreign policy, aimed to provide a new perspective on the country's international identity and its regional and global role. Türkiye's regional role in the Middle East was also impacted by this evolving understanding, marking a significant shift from the perspectives that had prevailed since the founding of the Republic. However, this transformation was not confined to foreign policy alone; Özal's foreign policy decisions also led to changes and transformations in the established dynamics of Turkish political life in the subsequent years. This article aims to reveal the reflections of Özal's foreign policy decisions regarding developments in the Middle East on Türkiye's domestic politics. In other words, it examines the changes in Turkish political life in terms of both decision-making processes and outcomes, focusing on the impact of Özal's policies on critical developments in the Middle East. In this context, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iran-Iraq War, and the Gulf War between 1983-1993 have been identified as key developments to study Özal's foreign policy decisions. Adopting a qualitative analysis method and based on the analysis of secondary sources, the article argues that Özal's Middle East policies caused changes in Türkiye's domestic politics in terms of actors, structural arrangements, and state tradition.
Turgut Özal Period in Turkish Foreign Policy: Özalism (1983-1993)
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This study examines the factors underlying the Özalist approach, such as Özal's personality, the 1980 coup and the isolation of Turkey, the economic boom, change in the socioeconomic structure, globalisation of the Turkish economy and finally Kurdish separatism. A special emphasis will be laid on the ideological background of Özalist foreign policy, with a view to demonstrating the close relationship between Özal's Ottomanist foreign policy and his domestic approach and its translation to foreign policy.
Özal döneminin ölü doğan yeni Osmanlıcı diş politika hevesi
2020
Turkish foreign policy makers have at times become tempted by aspirations of regional leadership. The political leadership of Turgut Özal, first as prime minister from 1983 to 1989 and later as president from 1989 until his death in 1993, is crucial in this sense, as the “neo-Ottomanist” foreign policy aspiration became a much-contested issue during the period of his rule. This thesis, therefore, seeks to examine how and in what circumstances this aspiration flourished under Özal. This thesis argues that the domestic neoliberal restructuring that took place throughout the 1980s is a key factor that formed the basis on which neo-Ottomanism could be proposed in a way that could be considered a subimperialist hegemonic project in the early 1990s. The transformation in the international order that took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s is another key factor thought to have opened up space for aspirant regional powers. However, the neo-Ottomanist foreign policy aspiration of the Öz...
The Most Important Legacies Of Turgut Ozal For Turkey In Particular Economic Liberalism
Turgut Özal was an important Turkish bureaucrat, politician and statesman. Turgut Özal had served five years and ten months as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey and six years as the leader of the Motherland Party between 1983-1989. Turgut Özal was also eighth President of the Republic of Turkey between 1989-1993 years. Furthermore after Atatürk, Turgut Özal, who died while on duty, was the second president who died in office.