THE CHECKERED PATTERN OF UNITED STATES - TURKEY RELATIONS IN AK PARTY ADMINISTRATION

Historically, the United States-Turkey relations followed a checkered pattern notably in the aftermath of the World War II when direct political inter courses commenced in earnest. Throughout the Cold War, Turkey implicitly acted as the outpost of American-led Western World against the then omnipresent threat of Soviet expansion, thereby pursuing a foreign policy concurrent with US expectations. Though Turkey was highly regarded as an ally, it was left in the lurch on many occasions by American policymakers, which bruised the spirit of the alliance and generated an atmosphere of mistrust in bilateral relations. Likewise, the bilateral relations in the wake of the Cold War era might be characterized with consecutive thaws and tensions as the demise of the Soviet threat paved way for more independent Turkish foreign policy. Toward and after the turn of the millenium, the bilateral relations were identified with more conceptual terms like “strategic partnership”. However, from the very inception of the AK Party tenure hitherto, the trajectory of relations has taken on a new and unprecedented dimension as Turkey has become a regional power of greater potency and been in search of a more ranking position on the global and regional scale