Barry Rubin and Kemal Kirişçi (ed.), Turkey in World Politics: An Emerging Multiregional Power, London, Lynne Reiner Publishers,
2001.
After the end of the Cold War, a common debate on what Turkey's nevv role in international and/or regional politics would be vvas begun among the scholars. Many articles and books on this issue vvere published in the last decade. The book titled Turkey in World Politics: An Emerging Multiregional Power is one of the signifıcant examples of these works. The book is attracted attention vvith its editors, Barry Rubin and Kemal Kirişçi, and surely its authors each of vvhom are experts on their ovvn fields. It is composed of thirteen articles except for Rubin's introduction and conclusion. This composition provides a comprehensive view for the readers.
In the introductory chapter, Rubin dravvs outlines for the main periods of Turkish foreign policy briefly. In this context, for example, he uses some arguable concepts such as "Turkism in one country" (for the 1930s) and "post-Atatürk era" (for the 1990s). This kind of conceptualisation makes the book more attractive for the readers most of whom are used to encounter the traditional ways of expressions. After these general statements he then sets the framework and the basic themes of the book as such:
The first theme is that the recent changes in Turkish foreign policy are not only quantitative ones. The basic principle of limiting international entanglement can be no more sufficient for Turkey in
contemporary world. Consequently, according to the book, some characteristics of the foreign policy tendencies of Turkey have differed from its original nature (the so-called "post-Atatürk era").
The second theme of the book is related to Turkey's restructuring of its international strategy in the post-Cold War era. Because of the concern of sustaining its image of being an important actor, Turkey has had to develop new and more active policies tovvards the neighbouring regions, e.g. the Middle East, Balkans and Caucasus.
In this regard, Rubin states that there is a third theme of the book related to Turkey's greater assertiveness in defining and seeking to fulfil its interests. Turkey has been vvilling to confront Arab, Iranian or Russian criticism shovving a greater readiness to take risks for the sake of fulfilling these redefıned national interests.
The fourth one is about the increasing impact of the economic factors on Turkish foreign policy. The requirements of domestic economy (need of export markets and raw materials) in particular and the globalisation in general have been important factors shaping Turkish diplomacy. This dimension is especially examined regarding to oil, natural gas and vvater politics of Turkey in the book.
The final majör theme of the book covers the changing nature of the Turkish domestic politics. Beside the armed forces, political parties and business leaders, the emergence and rise of the Islamist organisations and revival of ethnic consciousness as the forces of civil society have made the decision-making process much more complex. In such an atmosphere ali of these institutions and factors vvere able to propose different, sometimes even competing policies, and foreign policy has become open to the alternative approaches and criticism.
From this point of vievv, Şule Kut's article deals vvith the general evaluation and developments during the 1990s, vvhich affect Ankara's decisions. Marking the requirement of a nevv strategy, identity and set of goals for the post-Cold War era, she concludes that the nevv conditions both enabled and required Turkey to pursue an active policy around its borders.
The next chapter written by Gencer Özcan is about the role of the armed forces in the making of Turkish foreign policy. He states that the most important change in shaping foreign and security policy during the 1990s was the increased role of Turkish military. In his chapter, he examines the legal backgrounds of this influence and also its informal instruments.
The chapters from fourth to eleventh ones deal vvith the bilateral relations of Turkey. In these chapters, relations with the European Union (by William Hale and Gamze Avcı), the Balkans (by İlhan Uzgel), Greece (by Arnikam Nachmani), the Middle East (Kemal Kirişçi), Israel (by Efraim Inbar), the U.S. (by Kemal Kirişçi), Russia (by Duygu Sezer), Central Asia and the Transcaucasus (by Gareth Winrow) are evaluated vvith a multidimensional manner.
The economic factors and effects of globalisation, generally ignored or oversimplified in foreign policy books, are vvidely examined by Mine Eder in the book. She argues that Turkey was directed to a new "economic" diplomacy vvithin the liberalisation process. By doing so, she mentioned the ties among the international political economy, the domestic institutional reforms and the foreign policy directions. In this regard, she emphasizes that even though globalisation places significant constraints on nation-state, it is stili the national policy framevvork that can and vvill shape the prospects of a state development.
Energy politics and vvater conflict are the subjects of the last tvvo chapters. On the first issue, after stating that Turkey's geopolitical locale makes it an important actor in the regional politics, Brent Sasley argues that being an important and active actor in the regional politics is a necessity or almost a must for Turkey at the same time because of the domestic energy needs. He proposes that Turkey had better to involve more directly and develop its relations vvith the other regional actors at top level.
On the vvater conflict, one of the most leading issues of the Turkish foreign policy agenda, Ali Çakıroğlu and Mine Eder's chapter sets the conflict generally and the positions of ali parties. Israel vvas considered among these parties, too. In this regard, the authors evaluate the issue not only as a vvater question but also as a regional
question, which has various dimensions, in a broader political sense. In this relatively short chapter, they touch upon the importance of Turkish-Israeli relations and its effects on easing Syria's opposition. There is also a short chronology on the vvater conflict from 1950 to 2000 at the end of this chapter.
As a conclusion, it can be said that the book vvould be useful for the students and researchers of Turkish foreign policy because of its comprehensive contents. The international and regional context of Turkish foreign policy are explained successfully. At first, Turkey as an emerging multiregional power seems to be an ordinary idea but the context and expressions of the book offer interesting and different reasons to the readers. Especially people vvho think that Turkey's position has declined in the international politics after the Cold War and Turkey had no ability to affect the developments in the region must read this book absolutely.
ERSİN EMBEL
* * *
William Hale, Turkish Foreign Policy, 1774-2000, London and Portland, Frank Cass, 2000, 375 pp.
William Hale is one of the leading experts on Turkish politics and society. Like his previous works, he has tried to examine the history of the Turkish foreign policy from a different perspective1. Hale, vvho aimed filling the gap in the Turkish foreign literatüre, says that the Turkish experience is the best example to see how the middle povvers behave in changing international systems throughout the last 200 years. (p. 1)
'Hale's previous books: The Political and Economic Development of Modern Turkey, London, Croom Helm, 1981 and Turkish Politics and the Military, London, Routledge, 1994.
Hale states that his second aim to write this book vvas to locate the "concept of middle power" into the center of the analytical context. According to Hale Turkey as a clear example of a middle power, vvith her military povver, economic resources, level of development and population can follovv balanced foreign policy against big povvers and use the povver struggles among them. (p. 2) Thus, Hale provides us vvith a useful analytical tool to analyze Turkish foreign policy.
Hale's book consists of 6 historical periods and 10 chapters. They are: Foreign Relations of the Late Ottoman Empire 1774-1918; Resistance Reconstruction and Diplomacy 1918-1939; Turkey and the Second World War 1939-1945; Turkey and the Cold War: The Engagement Phase, 1945-1963; Turkey and the Cold War: Global Shifts and Regional Conflicts 1964-1990; Turkish Foreign Policy after the Cold War: Strategic Options and the Domestic Environment; Turkey and the West after the Cold War; Turkey and Regional Politics after Cold War: I- Greece, Cyprus, the Balkans and Transcaucasia; Ü-Central Asia and Middle East; Conclusions and Prospects.
As Hale states, methodologically, the period betvveen 1774-1918 vvas not vvritten by using a diplomatic history approach, but he tried to shovv the elements of continuity from the Ottoman past to the republic. (p. 15)
We see that part of the book that covers the period until the 1990s vvas vvritten chronologically, although other parts of the book vvere vvritten thematically. In this context, the chapters, vvhich cover the post-Cold War period seems as not detailed as the other chapters.
Despite the fact that Professor Hale is fluent in Turkish language, he has used only a limited number of Turkish sources. Basically, he relied on the literatüre on Turkey in English language, vvhich also provides a vast resource. In addition, he has not used primary sources such as archive materials and has used only a fevv periodical source such as Turkish nevvspapers. But vvith its lucid style and user-friendly reading, the book vvould be a useful and concise source for those vvho are interested in Turkish politics and Turkish foreign policy. Also, having a rich bibliography mainly based on
English sources the book provides both students and academics of Turkish politics with a useful reference guide.
In his book, Hale puts forward very controversial arguments. For example, according to Hale during the Second World War years Fevzi Çakmak the Chief of General Staff had an uneasy relationship with İnönü since he had been a candidate for the presidency vvhen Atatürk died. (p. 80) It is a vvidespread view among the scholars on Turkish politics that Çakmak had supported İnönü to become a president after Atatürk's death.2
It is interesting to see that Professor Hale, though having a deep knovvledge on Turkish domestic politics, pays very little attention to the domestic dynamics of Turkish foreign policy, mainly because he seems to prefer to stay within the realm of the neo-Realist paradigm.
The author's general approach seems to be in contradiction vvith his vievvs on the relations between Turkey and the West. Because Hale points out that Turkey's relations vvith the US had not been based on "dependency". (p. 137-138) Additionally, the author argues that Turkey's membership in Western alliance after the Second World War has been primarily motivated by Turkey's security anxieties. Hale points out that economic, political, cultural and ideological factors vvere not very important for Turkey's Western orientation. (p. 109-110)
In this book, there are some factual mistakes. For example, Münir Ertegün, the Turkish ambassador in US vvas named Mehmet Ertegün (p. 114), Turkey sent F-16s to the Operation Allied Force in Kosovo but not F-15s (p. 261), barrage in national elections vvas not 5 % but 10 % (p. 201) to name some of the mistakes.
Similarly, Kamran İnan has never become minister of foreign affairs (p. 230), Erbakan government ruled not betvveen June 1995 and June 1996 but betvveen June 1996 and June 1997 (p. 255), Turkish Army did not liberated İzmir on 11 September but on 9 2For example, Cemil Koçak, Türkiye'de Milli Şef Dönemi (1938-1945) (The
National Chief Era in Turkey (1938-1945)), Vol. 2, İstanbul, İletişim, 1996, pp. 128-129.
September 1922 (p. 52), the Mudanya Armistice vvas signed on 10 October but 11 October 1922 (p. 52).
Although Hale's book includes some mistakes and controversial arguments, it is a very important and leading effort in Turkish foreign policy literatüre. Especially, the use of a novel analytical tool to analyze Turkish foreign policy, i.e., "middle povver concept", represents a contribution to the studies of Turkish foreign policy, vvhose reflections has been already possible to see in some recent works.3
GÖKHAN ERDEM
3For example, see Baskın Oran (ed.), Türk Dış Politikası, Kurtuluş Savaşından Bugüne Olgular, Belgeler, Yorumlar, (Turkish Foreign Policy from the War of Independence to the Present; Facts, Documents, Analysis), İstanbul, İletişim, 2001.
