‘People are not the servants of the state, but the state must be servant of the people.’
Turgut Özal, 1993

‘The next century will be a Turkish century.’
Turgut Özal, 1992

‘Turkey cannot be prisoner of the Misak-i Milli (National Pact) borders’.
Turgut Özal, 1992

First published by USAK Yearbook of International Politics and Law, Vol. 2, 2009, pp. 153-205. USAK Yearbook is an USAK publication. All rights reserved.

The developments of the 1970s literally invited the third military coup. After the terror and years of instability, the army intervened yet again on 12 September 1980 with four distinct aims in mind: to suppress terrorism and radicalism; to restore economic growth and stability; to introduce a new constitution and legal arrangements that would stabilise the system and prevent anarchy; to re-establish civilian democracy on a Kemalist basis.[1] In other words, in line with previous take-overs, the 1980 coup was not envisaged as a permanent military regime but aimed at the eventual restoration of civilian parliamentary rule once the army had put the government’s house in order.[2] The Army was not against the democratic political system but its results. Were the political system to be truly Kemalist, the army would not intervene in its affairs any more. Indeed, the constitution and other laws defined the army as the ‘guardian of the regime’; however the rules had been re-written by the military leaders in 1960 and 1971. Similar to previous take-overs, General Kenan Evren declared that the 1980 coup had been carried out in accordance with Article 34 of the military by-law, charging the army with the defence of the Republic, the Kemalist regime and unity. Hence it is arguable that the Turkish military intervention was fundamentally different from the Latin American and indeed most Third World coups since the Turkish Army has been legalist and based its acts on the ‘law’.

Having suppressed the internal anarchy and terror, one of the first acts of the military rulers was to revive the Kemalist doctrine.[3] For the army, left and right-wing ideologies were alien to the Turkish people, responsible for the 1970s’ catastrophe. Only Kemalism (Atatürkçülük) [4] was a suitable ideology for Turkey that could foster national unity. Accordingly, a massive Kemalist campaign was launched: Kemalist books were published; 1981 was named the ‘Atatürk Year’ and new institutions were established or financially supported to boost Kemalism in society. Streets, roads and buildings were re-named after Atatürk. The various institutions were consolidated in one central Supreme Atatürk Society. Kemalism had been restored as the state ideology while all others were swept away from power. Yet the 1980 Coup’s Kemalism was very different from previous versions of Kemalism. It was a neutral and pragmatic ideology lacking unchangeable principles, instead arguing that what was good for the Turkish nation was good for Kemalism. Secondly, this new Kemalism, contrary to �nönü’s autocracy, was loyal to democracy. Third, unlike Ecevit’s Kemalism, it was pro-Western and pro-American. For Evren, the coup leader, the United States was the most important ally and the Soviet Union still posed the greatest threat to Turkish security.[5] Finally, this Kemalism was capitalist in orientation viewing Turkey’s future in the capitalist rather than socialist world.

The thing the generals understood least of all was the economy, and without economic success the coup could not be successful. Therefore, when Bülent Ulusu formed the first government, the Turkish National Security Council (NSC) announced that it would retain Turgut Özal, having been the spirit behind the last Demirel government’s liberal economic reforms, as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs. In 1981 inflation dropped, exports increased rapidly, the GDP increased by 4.5 %. Tourism revenues and Turkish construction activities abroad increased dramatically. As a result the current account deficit was sharply reduced.[6] Özal’s and the army’s liberal policies showed them as closer to the capitalist world and more conservative than previous Kemalist military take-overs. In other words, the 1980 coup was a conservative-capitalist interpretation of Kemalism. Secondly, thanks to the government’s success in the economy and the suppression of terrorism, the NSC gained credit before the people and continued its reforms. The military restored the regime’s ideology of Kemalism; restored the economic system as a free capital market, yet the political structure remained unsettled. Some generals like Nurettin Ersin viewed this as proof that ‘Our social structure is not suitable for an advance and open democracy. We need an autocratic administration.’[7] However, the dominant opinion among the generals was that the civilian rule should be restored. American and European pressure gave further impetus to this view.[8] The NSC was ready to do that, yet before handing over power it wanted to guarantee its favoured political structure. In the autumn of 1982 the constitution, written by the military and its favoured academics, was put to a national referendum. With the referendum, Kenan Evren became the President and the NSC gained extraordinary powers over government and parliament. As one of its first move, the NSC banned all political activities. It did not initially abolish the two major political parties (RPP and JP) or arrest deputies, but a few party leaders were temporarily detained and some deputies associated with radical groups and Kurdish separatists were taken into custody.[9] However in a short time the NSC understood that it could not reshape the Turkish political system with the old parties, abolished the two and banned all old political leaders from re-entering politics. Evren and his friends did not want to repeat the DP case, where the banned parties had re-established themselves under different names after the 1960s and 1970s coups against the DP. According to the new rules, the chairmen, general secretaries and all other senior office holders in the former political parties could not join or have ‘any kind of relations’ with future political parties, or run for election (even as independent) for the next ten years.[10] Moreover, the new constitution forbade political organisations based on religion, a religious sect, regional considerations or Marxism. Having banned the old politicians and ideologies, the NSC encouraged new names. Before the elections the moderate right-wings Milliyetçi Demokrasi Partisi (Nationalist Democracy Party, NDP) and the moderate left Halkçi Parti (Populist Party, PP) were established. The leader of the NDP was a former general and Evren had implied that this party was the army’s choice. The NSC hoped that with these moderate and Kemalist right and a left party a permanent democratic system could be established, and it was sure for the victory of NDP. When Özal, as a prestigious bureaucrat, formed a new party - Anavatan Partisi or ANAP (Motherland Party, MP) - the army’s plans were spoiled. As the architect of the economic reforms Özal was a well-known person now, both inside and outside the country. Evren indicated that the military did not favour Özal’s party, yet the NSC could not ban the party, and in the first elections Özal’s Motherland Party won 45 % of the votes and 212 of the 400 seats in parliament. Thus the 1983 elections marked the beginning of the Özal era, which would last for some 10 years and would transform Turkey economically, technologically, educationally and politically. For the first seven years the military rulers provided the President with special authority to protect the system they had established, hence Özal could not carry out his all ideas, particularly in the field of social and human rights and foreign policy. However, when the military gradually lost its power over government, Özal implemented his revolutionary ideas.

During these years Özal also created a new foreign policy: Özalism or neo-Ottomanism, which in Çandar’s words constituted the ‘funeral’ of Kemalism.[11] It is true, as Özal accepted that he came from the same school as Bayar, Menderes and Demirel, and that Özalism can be viewed as a representative of the neo-Democrat or neo-JP current. However, as will be shown, despite the continuity of the democratic-liberal-conservative current since the Ottoman Empire, Özalism is distinguished from these currents in domestic and foreign policy term.

The Army’s Foreign Policy (1980-1983)

Before moving to the Özal era, we need to explore the military’s foreign policy, because it deeply affected Özalist foreign policy. As noted earlier, Turkey had been isolated from the EC, from the Third World and from the United States due to the Cyprus crisis the American arms embargo, and the Kemalist block on relations with the Muslim countries. In addition, the Kemalist legacy and Turkey’s NATO membership prevented the improvement of relations with the communist bloc while internal problems (terror, economic collapse) and the oil crisis exacerbated Turkey’s isolation so did the 1980 military coup. The EC’s reaction to the coup was very moderate in the first days because it stabilised the domestic situation. Yet when the military regime retarded the restoration of democracy, the EC toughened its policy towards Turkey. First the European Parliament suspended financial aid to Turkey on 22 January 1982. Then, the European wing of the Joint Turkish-European Parliamentary Committee was abolished. The Commission also froze the Fourth Protocol. As a result, ironically, the Kemalist generals saw the Muslim world as the only way to get away from this economic and political isolation. Bülent Ulusu, the Prime Minister of the military government, for example, announced that Turkey would continue to develop and consolidate its relations with the Muslim world. In December 1980 the Turkish Foreign Ministry declared the new government’s decision to reduce diplomatic representation with Israel to a minimum level in order to underscore Turkey’s support of the Arabs, as a member of the Islamic Conference.[12] In particular, Turkey looked for IOC members’ support on the Cyprus issue and succeed in some degree. In the military period, Turkey joined almost all ICO meetings. Even Prime Minister Bulent Ulusu participated at the third ICO summit and made a speech underlining change in Turkish foreign policy towards détente. Despite this, Turkey rejected basing its relations on a Third World approach or Islamic values. Turkish Foreign Minister Ilter Turkmen, for example, refused to sign some decisions of the 1981 Mecca Declaration regarding on embargo on Afghanistan, Islamic principles and values, and Third World movement.[13]

Turkey-Israel relations can be considered a perfect reflection of Turkish-Western relations. Since the West had closed all doors down against Turkey, it needed new political support and economic markets. The Arabs offered money, markets and political support for Turkey, while Israel’s effect on the West’s Turkey policy was extremely limited. In these years Turkey’s reputation among the European states was low. The only countries that the Turkish President could visit were Pakistan, the Arab world and the Balkans. In short, when Özal came to power he found a country isolated from both West and East. Turkey needed a radical shift in domestic and foreign policy in order to escape this political and economical isolation.

1980’s AS PRELUDE OF ÖZALISM AND FACTORS CREATED ÖZALISM

Özal’s Personality


Turgut Özal’s personality played a crucial role in the formation and success of Özalism. In the words of Zürcher, ‘he had a foot in both camps: he had been a successful manager in the private industry in the 1970s and was very well connected in big business circles, which liked his liberalisation of the economy. On the other hand, he was known to have connections with the Nak�ibendi order of dervishes.’[14] In fact he had a foot in more than two camps. He was not only a successful businessman, and a religious person with good relations with religious sects: he was a successful bureaucrat and had very good relations with the IMF, the World Bank (between 1971-1973 Turgut Özal was adviser to the World Bank on special projects) and the US administration. He was a religious, nationalist, conservative, liberal politician, businessman, economist and bureaucrat.[15] Above all, Özal was a moderate who could do business with everyone regardless of their social or ideological background. For example, in the 1970s he was an Islamist NSP candidate, before becoming head of the economy under secular military rule. Özal’s other key feature was his Americanism. Having graduated from Istanbul Technical University in 1950 as an electrical engineer, Özal studied in the United States, and during these years became an admirer of the United States. In his view, the United States owed its success to its liberalism. Özal further argued that the United States and the Ottoman Empire were similar political structures: Both allowed different cultures and gave people freedom to exercise their religion, nationality and economic preferences. From this perspective, Turkey had to desert its authoritarian official understanding, namely the Kemalist state ideology.

Coup, Isolation and Thirst for Economic Success

The military coups had put an end to the Menderes and Demirel governments. Ironically, the 1980 military coup provided a suitable political base for Özalist foreign, economic and domestic politics, though he was from the same school of thought as Demirel and Menderes. First, the coup eliminated Özal’s political rivals by banning old politicians like Demirel, Ecevit, Türke� and Erbakan. Secondly, Özal’s co-operation with the Kemalist army legitimised his ideology in the system. Özal’s co-operation with the Army and the authoritarian nature of the Army rule also contributed to implementation of the economic reforms. For Özal the coup provided stability and order which needed for economic success:

“In the past 32 months the sacrifices and courage of our nation, and its supreme ability to understand what was best for it, together with the restoration of peace and order through the successful war waged against anarchy and violence by the September 12 operation, has turned the bleak picture of the economy into a promising one.”[16]

Nevertheless the Army was a political rival for Özal too and the military elements were gradually banished from politics by the Özal governments.

Third, the lack of political rivals granted Turgut Özal a respite to concentrate on the country’s problems. Thus, Özal became one of the most creative and productive political figures in Turkish politics. Until the 1990s Özal won the election with new projects. Finally, the unique environment of the 1980s provided enormous public support for Özal’s governments. For example, in the 1983 elections his Motherland Party (MP) scored an overwhelming victory, with 45 per cent. Thus, MP received an absolute majority in the new assembly.

Economic Boom and Re-gaining of Confidence

In the 1980s, Turkey’s political agenda was dominated by a high economic growth rate, and a revolutionary structural change towards an industrialised country. Thanks to Özal’s liberal economic policies, the Turkish economy grew at an annual rate of over 5 %, the highest among the OECD countries.[17] The volume of Turkish exports rose from $ 2,910 million in 1980 to over $ 20 billion in the early 1990s, with an annual increase of 15,6 %; a staggering 350 % increase in 10 years.[18] Moreover, the share of industrial products in Turkish exports rose from 41,1 % to 84 % in 1990. Now only 14 % of the exports were agricultural. Likewise, imports rose from $ 7,909 million in 1980 to $ 22.5 billion in 1990 (a 182% increase) while tourism leaped from a marginal industry to a major earner of foreign currency with an increase from $212 million in 1980 to about $3 billion in 1990. For its part the Turkish construction sector dramatically increased its projects in the Middle East, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Despite this remarkable record, the real figures were even higher than the official statistics due to the underground economy. That is to say, Turkey in the 1980s was a miracle economy, or in the words of Mango ‘a young tiger’.[19] Moreover, the Turkish economy had by now been liberalised and globalised. The Turkish government adopted the EC’s nomenclature for commodity classification and in 1988 initiated legislative adjustments for adopting EC legislation. The main aim was integration of the Turkish economy with the world economy. For some scholars, all these developments were ‘the Özal revolution’.[20]

The first effect of the economic success was the regaining of national confidence lost in the 1970s. Özal’s slogan was ‘again a great Turkey’. This also affected the conduct of Özalist foreign policy. With economic power, Turkey’s foreign policy horizons were widened, as Turkey gradually became a regional power.

Change in Social and Economic Structures

Another effect of the economic boom was the radical change in economic and social structures. As noted earlier, economic power had been in the hands of the Kemalist bureaucracy and state-sponsored businessmen. Although the Menderes and Demirel governments supported the conservative Anatolian capital, their success was limited. Thanks to Özal’s policies, the periphery, villagers, workers and traditional religious groups entered the economy, and as a result, strengthened their autonomy against the core, namely the bureaucracy, the military and the state-created industry. During these years, industrialisation of many towns increased immigration from the rural areas, and the portion of those who lived in urban areas rose to 75 %. These developments, together with the high economic growth, urbanisation and Özal’s liberal reforms accelerated the restoration of democracy. Many non-democratic rules were abolished, and the masses gained legal rights to resist pressure from the establishment. When ordinary Turks and minority ethnic groups gained power they insisted on good relations with those with whom they shared common values, namely the Muslim and the Turkish worlds.
 

Changing Turkish Economy Changes in Sectoral Shares (%) 1970-1985 [21]

Year Agriculture Industry Services 1965 34.1 17.8 48.1 1970 28.5 20.2 51.3 1975 24.8 22.3 52.9 1980 24.1 21.8 54.1 1985 22.1 24.5 53.4

Re-emergence of Ethnic Pluralism and Its Impact on Foreign Policy Pressure Groups

Indeed, the restoration of democracy and a growing income enabled the political and ethnic minorities to join the democratic system fully. Bosnians, Albanians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Chechens and Turkmens in particular brought their problems to the foreign policy agenda. No government could any longer ignore these groups because they sponsored or supported the main political parties both through financial assistance and voter power.

Already during the Ottoman epoch Turkey had been a migrant-country. With the collapse of the Empire millions of the Ottoman subjects, particularly Muslims and Turks poured into Anatolia from Russia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. This trend continued throughout the Republican era. In addition to the Turkish and Kurdish population the number of Caucasian, Balkan and Russian immigrants was very high. However these people were not allowed to use their ethnic identity in politics, and were seriously warned not to interfere in the affairs of the country of their origin. The early Republican policy was based on the Turkification of these people, and this policy continued until the end of the Cold War. In the 1980s the leftist and Kemalist groups perceived the outside Turks and the problems of the ethnic groups in Turkey as endangering Turkish independence. For them, any connection between Turkish citizens and any other country was unacceptable. However there were millions of them.

By now their numbers had grown substantially. According to Edward Shvardnadze, the President of Georgia, the number of the Georgians in Turkey was about 2 million.[22] There was similar number of Azerbaijanis and Chechens. Though most of these people had been Islamised and Turkified, they still spoke their language and had a different identity awareness. As a result, thanks to the democratisation and economic growth, each of these minorities came to its own lobbying organisations, publishing houses and established links with political parties. Particularly active were the Azerbaijanis and the Chechens. Another large migrant group, Balkan migrants, settled down in the Bursa, Adapazar� and Istanbul provinces. Millions of them had come during the Ottoman years, like Albanians, Bosnians, Pomaks, Bulgarian and Macedonian Muslims. With the exchange of populations between Turkey and Greece in the 1920s and in subsequent years, their numbers dramatically increased and they became an important pressure group. In the 1980s, the ethnic cleansing campaign in Bulgaria forced about 300,000 Bulgarian Turks and Muslims to move to Turkey which made the Balkan community as one of the biggest lobbies in Turkey. As a result the Balkan migrants became one of the largest pressure group in Turkey. Apart from the Balkan and Caucasia migrants, there were Central Asian migrants as well, like the Kazaks and Uygurs Turks, who came to Turkey after the communist revolution in China, and the Kyrgyzs and Afghanis, who came after the Soviet occupation.

The effect of these ethnic groups on foreign policy was dramatic. With the increasing role of ethnic groups, Turkey’s relations with the region intensified. These ethnic pressure groups forced Turkish policy makers into a more sensitive foreign policy towards these countries. As a result, the problems in these countries became Turkey’s own problems, as witnessed by the Bosnian War and the Nagorna-Karabagh problem between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In other words, the ethnic groups created their own foreign policy aims, which were different from the state’s Kemalist foreign policy. Turgut Özal saw this change and sought to develop a foreign policy covering all these sector demands.

Globalisation of the Turkish Economy

Apart from the structural change and the rapid development of the Turkish economy, the share of exports in the economy was dramatically increased. In the first years, when the difficulties with the EC markets increased, Turkish businessmen focused on the Middle East countries, notably Iran, Iraq, Libya and Saudi Arabia. Thus, for the first time in Republican history, the Turkish economy became dependent on economic conditions in the Muslim world. In addition to the oil trade, Turkey attached great importance to export, tourism and the construction sectors. Moreover, in time, the European Community, became the first and most important export area for Turkish goods, with over a 50 % share. In addition to the EC and the Middle East, trade with the US, the Balkans, Central Asia and the Russian Federation markets became vital for Turkish businessmen, and the dependant classes. Thanks to the Özalist economic measures of the early 1980s, by abandoning its inward-oriented economic policies Turkey succeeded not only in diversifying its exports but also in becoming an important market for direct foreign investment.[23] The Istanbul exchange was now considered one of the most important financial markets in south-eastern Europe, together with that of Athens. That is to say, contrary to the small Turkish market in the 1920s-30s, Turkey was now one of the most rapidly developing international markets, with billions-dollars of foreign investments. Hence, an isolationist policy, like Kemalist foreign policy of the early Republican years, was virtually impossible. Turkey became the third biggest market among the non-EC European countries, after Switzerland and Russia. All these factors affected and sometimes forced the Özal administration to improve Turkey’s economic and political relations with the EC and other economic partners. Thus, for example, Turkey was very careful not to annoy Germany, its biggest economic partner. Similarly, contrary to the early Republican indifference towards the region Turkey’s growing economic interests in the region and new export-oriented policies inevitably raised Turkish consciousness toward the Middle East.[24]

In short, with the internationalisation of the economy, Turkish businessmen imposed their agenda on the state or manipulated the official foreign policy.

Kurdish Separatism and the Need for a New Identity

Kemalist nationalism let many Kurdish nationalists down after the Independence War. As a Turkist, Kemal sought to establish a homogeneous country and eliminated other ethnic and cultural differences from the state machinery. Kurdish was banned and Kurdish names of towns were changed into Turkish names. In the Seyh Sait Revolt (1925) and in the Dersim (Tunceli) Revolts (1937-1938), the Kemalist state suppressed the Kurdish-Islamist separatists by using violence. Many were hanged. The main factor that united the Kurds and Turks was Islam. The secular and nationalist Republicans undermined that, hence, the unrest in the region continued. Yet the separatists were too weak to launch a general riot. However, thanks to the anarchic environment of the 1970s, the separatist Kurds united groups and claimed an independence or autonomy for the Kurdish people. In 1980s the separatist Kurdish became a significant armed movement under the PKK’s leadership. In a decade the PKK gathered about 10,000 armed men and thousands more sympathisers. By the late 1980s, the Kurdish question dominated the political agenda, and all political parties searched for a solution. Kemalist Turkish identity, thus, was no longer satisfying for some parts of Turkish society, and the Kurdish problem underscored this problem. Kurds and other ethnic and political groups (Islamists, socialists etc.) demanded a new identity and citizenship definition that would include ethnicity, cultures, religion, political ideas and minority languages. Özal claimed that the main pillars of the Republic needed to be re-considered, notably Turkish citizenship, unity, individual rights and the state’s rights and responsibilities.

This policy created a Second Republican current in domestic politics.[25] In foreign policy matters it created neo-Ottomanism or Özalist Foreign Policy understanding. This manifested itself in a wider identity abroad, Ottoman rather than Turkish covering all neighbouring Muslim peoples (like the Kurds in the northern Iraq) and all minorities in Turkey. For example, after the Gulf War Özal claimed that Turkey was the protector of the Iraqi Kurds and Turkmens in its capacity as the ‘big brother’ of these peoples, arguing that a federation between these peoples was possible under Turkish sponsorship. In sum, the Kurdish problem not only increased the political liberalism of Özalism but also nourished its Ottomanist elements.

IDEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND OF ÖZALIST FOREIGN POLICY: DEMOCRAT, WESTERN, MUSLIM AND TURKISH

A New Civilisation Understanding and Özalist Westernism

It will be recalled that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his friends had aimed at creating a mostly religious-free and European Turkey by changing the civilisational mode of the country, as they viewed Islam and Ottoman tradition as responsible for poverty, political corruption and economic collapse. For Özal there was no compulsory relationship between progress and Western civilisation. Contrary to the positivist �ttihatcilar and Republicanists, Özal argued that Western civilisation was not the only civilisation on earth, and that Turkey did not have to choose between either the European, Turkish or Islamic civilisations. For Özal, the Turks were European Muslims; therefore Turkey did not need to change its mentality or civilisational mode to be European. In his book ‘Turkey in Europe, Europe in Turkey’ [26], he argued that Turkey had always been, still was, and would be a part of Europe. In brief, the main difference between Kemal and Özal’s European vocation was that the former internationalised the European values while the latter did not see any problem with Turkish civilisation. For Özal, responsibility for Turkish backwardness lay in the lack of liberalism and scientific thinking. He formulated his understanding as ‘ça� atlamak’ (skipping an age), whereby Turkey did not have to re-experience the enlightenment process undergone by the West because the fruits of the enlightenment could easily be adopted by today’s Turkey. These, in his view, were liberalism, human rights, democracy, technological and scientific developments and Turkish culture was not an obstacle to receive all of them. Özal even claimed that if Turkey tried to re-experience the European positivist, autocratic past, it would never reach these aims. In other words, Özal’s Western vocation, contrary to Atatürk’s, was based on the assumption that the Europeans must accept the Turks as they were. Undoubtedly, the reason for this confidence was Özal’s ideological background and dramatic economic performance, which let to the stability and co-existence between Islamic values and modernity witnessed in the 1980s.

For Özal, the Islamic awakening was also on advantage in integrating Turkey with the rest of Europe and the Western system because the Turkish version of Islam was different from the Iranian or the Arab Islam. He claimed that the Turkish Islamic outlook could provide peace between Muslims and the others, since religion and progress could go hand in hand.[27] As a Westernist and a pious Muslim, Özal accommodated his Islamic understanding to Westernism:

“I have demonstrated that Turkey has never abandoned secularism. In this context one can refer to Ghazali’s distinction between faith and reason. The Turks are aware that faith in itself does not affect secularism, nor does prevent him from being rational, provided that their respective realms are not encroached. In life today there is no difference in this respect between the Christian European and the Muslim Turk. Thus a synthesis has been achieved between the West and Islam, a synthesis which has put an end to the identity crisis of the Turks… the universal humanism created by secularised Islam, together with the concept of the brotherhood of mankind, a product of Turkish Sufism.” [28]

For Özal, Turks do not need to be shamed of their civilisation, because Turkish civilisation was not a lower civilisation, but one of the many advanced civilisations in the world:

“The Turks living in this territory for a thousand years, have inherited some part of culture of every civilisation which flourished here since prehistory. They have evolved a synthesis derived from the cultural legacy of Anatolia, from the culture they brought with them from Central Asia, and from the Muslim religion. Their talent for synthesis and their ecumenical character have enabled them to blend these three strands together.” [29]

Apart from his different civilisation understanding, Turgut Özal, contrary to Kemalist Western scepticism, believed that Turkey could solve its security problem only through integration with the West, because Turkey and the Western countries were opposed to any possible conflict or instability. If Turkey managed to enter the EC, it would be far away from any war risk: ‘Like the founding members of the EC, we favour integration primarily in order to eliminate any possibility of war between the constituent nation-states. Turkey like all European countries, has suffered enormously from wars.’[30]

In line with this view, Özal made efforts to convince the Europeans to accept the Turks as Muslim Europeans into the European political system. On the other hand he tried to demolish the Turkish Western scepticism, were Turkey to be integrated with the West, it would be advanced in terms of democracy and economy:

“Political integration with Europe will further ease the institutionalisation of democracy in the Turkish political system. A secular and pluralist culture has been gradually taking root in Turkey. Integration with the EC will only enhance its ability to persist into the twenty-first century.” [31]

A New Look at the Ottoman Past and the Region

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had sought to eradicate anything reminiscent of the Ottoman-Islamic past. For Özal, Turkey’s past was its most important advantage in entering the Western club. Moreover, while Mustafa Kemal saw the Ottoman heritage as the source of problems in the region, Özal claimed that Turkey could solve the regional problems due to the Ottoman past. He even argued that the Ottoman heritage granted Turkey great power to control the region, saying that ‘Turkey cannot be prisoner of the Misak-i Milli (National Pact) borders’. He further implied that the only solution to the Kurdish problem and other matters in the Middle East was a federation between Turkey, Syria and Iraq, which was considered as the resurgence of the Ottoman Empire by the leftist groups in Turkey. For Özal, Ottoman political and cultural systems could be a perfect model for 20th century Turkey. For example, his eyalet sistemi (state system), the localisation of the administration, and the presidential system suggestions were all inspired by the Ottoman past.

Turkish Islam and Turkish-Islamic Synthesis

In spite of Kemalism’s anti-religion stance, Özal was known as a pious Muslim, if not an Islamist. As noted earlier, he was one of the candidates of Islamist NSP in the 1979 elections. However, his Islam was different from either the Kemalist or the NSP Islam. His friend and follower Cengiz Çandar spelled out the difference:

Republican secularism was inspired by French and Soviet atheism. Therefore, in the 1920s Republican secularism became atheism. In time, Kemalist secularism became an anti-religion and anti-Islam concept. When Turkish Islam, rooted in the Ottoman and Seljuki Islamic cultures was suppressed by the State, Arabic Islam, which is a less moderate, more radical version, became the leader in the world. Now when Özal and me visited the Turkish communities in the Balkans, in Bosnia, in Kosovo, in Central Asia, in Azerbaijan, in Kazakhstan, we saw a completely different Islam from the Arab version: a Turkified Islam. A more moderate Islam. An Islam which is suitable for liberalism and democracy. I mean Turkish Islam is so different. Kemalists cannot accept that a country needs religion as well, because their ideology was an imported ideology and not suitable for Turkish cultural structure. We have to accept that Turkey is a Muslim country. [32]

In other words, Özal was against the Kemalist interpretation of secularism and Arab Islamism. He argued that Turkey needed an Anglo-Saxon secularism and a Turkish version of Islam, which was much more tolerant of other religious groups and more moderate than French and Soviet secularism, or rather atheism. He searched for a middle-way between Islamism and Turkism, his aim being to formulate a religious understanding which was suitable for democracy, liberalism and capitalism. The answer was Türk-�slam Sentezi (Turkish-Islamic synthesis). Originally developed by the Turkist Ayd�nlar Oca�� (Hearts of the Enlightened Society), this synthesis was seen by Özal as the answer for 1980s Turkey, hence it became the guiding principle of his policies. According to this approach, Islam held a special attraction for the Turks owing to a number of striking similarities between their pre-Islamic and Islamic cultures. ‘They shared a deep sense of justice, monotheism and a belief in the immortal soul, and a strong emphasis on family life and morality.’ [33] However, despite these similarities, Turkish culture was not merely based on Islamic or pre-Islamic culture but on both of them. Therefore, Turkish Islam is more tolerant, more liberal and democratic than the other interpretation of Islam.

Özalist Turkism

Turkism constituted one of the main elements of Özalism. However, his Turkism was neither irredentist, like Enver Pasha’s Turkism, nor isolationist, like Kemal’s. For Ottoman Turkists, the ultimate aim was a Turkish Empire covering all Turkish tribes who were under Russian, Chinese and Iranian rules. On the other hand, as a reaction to adventurist Turkism, Atatürk developed an isolationist Turkism, viewing the outside a danger for the Anatolian Turks. Hence Atatürk’s Turkey had no interest in the outside Turks, and gave no support for Turkish resistance against any power, like the Azerbaijanis against the communist attacks in the 1920s. Conversely, for Özal Turkism was an important element in Turkish citizens’ identity and in Turkish foreign policy particularly after the Cold War, when the new world order was based on economic alignment and solidarity among kin states. As a result Özal saw Turkism as one of the cornerstones of Turkish modernisation inside and of the transformation of Turkish foreign policy. However, territorial nationalism or an irredentism did not match his Turkism. Özalist Turkism was a cultural concept aimed at economic and cultural domination of the Turks rather than territorial expansionism. The Turkish states were relatively poor and weak countries, therefore possible co-operation among them would be useful to overcome their problems. Özal saw Turkey at the heart of a possible Turkish bloc and he predicted that it would benefit from the leadership of a Turkish alignment.

Moreover, unlike Kemalist Turkism, Özalist Turkism was not a reactionary movement in domestic politics. As noted earlier, Atatürk’s nationalism was a reaction to the minority separatism, Western antagonism and Ottoman Islamism. However Özal’s Turkism was not against the West or any minority group in Turkey. On the contrary, it was a search to accommodate all different ethnic and political groups under a wide Turkish concept. Özal’s Turkism can be likened to Americanism in United States.



Özal fused the previous Turkism, Ottomanism, Conservatism and Liberalism into a new kind of Ottomanism or rather Özalism

Although exports to all regions grew substantially, trade with the Middle Eastern countries exploded. [54] Thus the economic factors became more important role in shaping relations with the Middle East. With the rise of oil prices and growing Turkish consumption Turkish dependency on the Middle East oil continued to increase in the 1980s. Turkish import from the Middle East rose from about 64 million dollars in 1970 to 2.8 billion dollars in 1985. [55] Turkey needed to find new markets in the region in order to balance its energy imports and Turkish export boomed to the region. Turkey’s export to the region was only 54 million dollars in 1970. The Turkish export figure to the region dramatically rose and reached 3 billion dollars in 1985. [56] 40.8 % of Turkish export goods went to the regional countries in 1985. The Middle East and Islamic countries in general became main consumer of Turkish industrial goods while Turkey exported to the West chiefly agricultural and textile goods.[57] The share of Middle Eastern countries in Turkish manufactured exports rose from 15.1 % in 1979 to 33.2 % in 1981, 40.3 % in 1983 and 41.9 % in 1985. [58]

Apart from foreign trade, Turkish companies won about 18.3 billion dollars worth contracts from the Middle Eastern countries between 1974 and 1990. In 1978 there were 22 Turkish contracting companies in the region. The number first increased to 113 in 1981 and 242 in 1982. More than 300 Turkish companies poured into the Middle East during the 1980s and made billions of dollars business. Libya became the biggest market for Turkish contracting companies. Saudi Arabia and Iraq were also popular markets. The Government supported Turkish contracting and trade companies with low interest credits in the Middle East region and Turkey became one of the significant creditors especially for Iraq and Iran. Iraqi debt to Turkey was about 2 billion dollars in 1989. [59]

When the contracting companies demanded more Turkish workers for their Middle East businesses, the number of Turkish emigrant workers in these countries reached 250.000 people.

The economic ties strengthened the political relations and Ankara made more efforts for more co-operations. Decline and crash of oil prices in 1985 and the end of the Iran-Iraq War caused greater competition for Turkish companies yet the region did not lose its special place in Turkish economic and political relations. The economic slow down of the Arab economies badly affected Turkish contracting sector and the number of Turkish workers in the Arab world shrank to 151.860 in 1987.





Turkey in the coup regime and Özal period sought to avoid taking sides in the regional disputes. It for example maintained strict neutrality in Iran-Iraq War. [60] The booming economic relationship with both sides was one of the reasons. Another reason was that Turkey still saw the Middle East problems as source of instability. Turkey, different from the Menderes period, also became more cautious in supporting the U.S.’ and European powers’ policies in the Middle East. Turkish and Western interests in the region were not considered identical although the similarities and common interests were accepted.

Turkey became more pro-Palestinian under the 12 September Military regime. Özal Governments continued this policy. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had opened its first Turkey office in 1976. However the close relations between some of the PLO groups and the Armenian ASALA terror organization [61], some far left Turkish terrorists and Kurdist separatist terrorists made Turkey more careful. The Syrian and Lebanon support for the Turkish Marxist and Kurdist terrorists also undermined Turkey-Arab relations during the 1980s. The disagreements over the flow of water from Euphrates (F�rat) and Tigris (Dicle) also deteriorated Turkish-Syrian and Turkish-Iraqi relations. [62] The construction of huge dams in the South-eastern region of Turkey angered the downstream countries, Syria and Iraq, and they made political pressure to get legal guarantees on the water. Almost all Arab countries supported Syria and Iraq as part of ethnic solidarity. Greece and some other countries also abused the water issue to weaken Turkey’s position in the region. Greece (and Greek Cyprus) also tried to establish an anti-Turkish bloc with Syria and other countries. Terrorists, especially the PKK, abused this international competition and the eastern provinces of Turkey became more destabilised in these years.

Relations with the Balkan Countries

In the first Özal period, in spite of a significant détente, the Cold War circumstances continued to shape Turkey-Balkan relations. Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and Yugoslavia were the socialist countries while Turkey and Greece were in the capitalist bloc. Ironically Turkey’s relations with Greece thanks to the Cyprus and Aegean issues, were worse than its relations with the other Balkan countries although Turks and Greeks were allies in the NATO defence system.

Although Bulgaria was a Soviet ally in the Balkans; Turkey sought Bulgarian friendship since 1964. The reason was partly economic and partly political. Turkey saw Bulgaria as an important balancing power against the Greeks in the region. Bulgaria was also a strategic country for Turkey because it with Greece is one of the only two territorial border gates to other European countries. However the assimilation and discrimination of the Bulgaria Turks caused serious problems. The subsequent repressive measures and discrimination against the Turks and some other Muslim groups like Pomaks in Bulgaria during the 1980s became a subject of international outrage (Bulgarize Campaign). [63] The crises erupted at the end of 1984, when Bulgaria began a sudden and violent campaign to compel all members of the Turkish minority to change their Turkish names and adopt Bulgarian names. In 1986 Amnesty International said it had received the names of more than 100 ethnic Turks reported to have been killed and more than 250 arrested. [64] The Sofia Government repeated denials of such violence and at the same time did not recognise the Bulgarian Turkish and other Muslim groups’ separate identity. For Bulgaria all Muslim Bulgarians had to change their name to ‘true Bulgarian names’, and they were forced to deny their basic minority rights. Those who resisted the racist campaign were arrested and some of them were even tortured by the Bulgarian police. At the end of 1984 the repressive measures and official racist attacks became an obvious assimilation campaign. The Turkish people were forbidden to speak Turkish language. Many Turkish Bulgarians resisted the decisions in the northeast and southeast of Bulgaria and many of them were arrested and injured. The racist campaign lasted for years and Todor Zhivkov regime in 1988 strongly encouraged the Turks to leave the country for Turkey. [65] More than 350.000 Bulgarian Turkish crossed the border as a result of state terror and repressive policies against the minorities.[66] With the deposition of Zhivkov in November 1989 in Bulgaria the new regime officially encouraged the Turkish refugees to return to Bulgaria because the Turkish immigration had badly affected Bulgarian economy and caused labour shortage. As a result about half of the Bulgarian Turkish refugees returned to Bulgaria and ‘the situation of the Turks continued to improve in the post-communist Bulgaria despite the difficulties of many returning Turks in regaining their land and property’.[67] The Bulgarian Turkish refugees crisis nourished the public interest towards the former Ottoman societies in the Balkans. The Bulgarian Crisis also witnessed the Özalist activism: Prime Minister Turgut Özal harshly criticised the Zhivkov regime and even threatened Bulgaria. [68]

Relations with the EC

The last significant Turkish initiative in foreign policy, in the first Özal period, was its application for full EC membership. Turkey had been an associate member of the EEC since September 1963 and according to Özal, there were three requirements for full membership: being European, democracy and a developed liberal economy. As he saw it, Turkey had met these criteria. The increasing share of the EEC countries in Turkish economic relations also convinced Özal that Turkey’s economic future lay with the EEC. [69] However Özal’s enthusiasm for membership was not shared by the EC, notably by Germany. As a result, the Community warned Turkey unofficially that the timing for membership application was not right. [70] Ignoring these warnings, Turkey applied for full-membership on 14 April 1987, being confident of the acceptance of its application. Turkey the following day also applied for full membership in the West European Union. Özal asserted that ‘according to the written agreements, there is no other way, they can delay it, but they cannot refuse it.’[71] The Commission’s response took thirty months and it issued the official Opinion in December 1989. The Council of Ministries accepted the Opinion in February 1990. The reluctance of the EC was clear though the Commission tried not to spell out its negative opinion. For the EC the official obstacles were economic gap and the political problems, notably human rights issues and Turkey’s problems with Greece. The disappointed Özal, in contrast, argued that the real reason was cultural differences and European biases about the Turks. Paul Henze argues that the real reasons to reject the Turks were the German fear that Europe will be flooded with Turkish workers and the reluctance of the many EEC members to accept a state with a large and growing Muslim population as a full member. [72] Many studies in these years concentrated on Turkish identity crisis, yet the EEC decision vividly showed that Turkey was not alone who faced an identity crisis.

The EC Commission recommended that no accession negotiations should begin until after 1993 at the earliest.