The 1970s (1973-83), the Cyprus Issue, the USA, and the Middle East Week 7

Brief Overview Principles and Actors Economy Does Matter: 1973 Oil Crisis Politics Does Matter: Cyprus 1974 Turkish-Greek Disputes in Aegean Sea Arms Embargo of the US on Turkey Relations with the Soviets Relations with the Middle East

Principles and Actors Bülent Ecevit and Süleyman Demirel were two leading figures in shaping foreign policy. The military: The Turkish Armed Forces retained its power over the main trajectory of foreign policy. Coalition parties: 1973-80 witnessed no stable and effective administration. The life of coalition governments were too short. Thanks to coalitions, small party leaders like Necmettin Erbakan and Alparslan Türkeş became effective in shaping foreign policy. Weak economy: Turkey was heading towards a total political and economic collapse. Inflation and deficits in the balance of payments limited the maneuvers of the governments. The public opinion: conflict between right and left groups shaped the political climate in Turkey. 1980-83: Only decision makers were Kenan Evren and the NSC Principles: multi-dimentional foreign policy, hunting for economic aid, self-help security for national interests

Economy Does Matter: 1973 Oil Crisis The oil crisis of 1973 led to a quadrupling of the price of oil on the international market. This meant a steeply rising import bill, which had to be paid in dollars. By the end of the 1970s, and after a second oil price shock in 1979–80, two-thirds of Turkey’s foreign currency earnings went to meeting the oil bill. (Zürcher, Modern Turkey, 2004, 267)

Macro Economic Performance in the 1970s

Pictures on Oil Crisis in Turkey

Politics Does Matter: Cyprus 1974 When the Greek junta was in declining in 1974, it engineered a coup d’état against Makarios in Cyprus with the aim of enosis in order to restore its power in Greece. Added to this, Makarios was agains the enosis. 15 July 1974: A section of the Cypriot National Guard, led by its Greek officers, overthrew the government and Makarios escaped. 16 July 1974: Nikos Sampson was declared as a provisional president of the new government. He was notorious for his killing in EOKA’s campaign and his hatred of the Turks. 16 July 1974: Turkey declared its opposition to the coup and listed the following demands: the immediate removal of Sampson, the withdrawal of 650 Greek officers from the island, the admission of Turkish troops to protect Turkish Cypriots, equal rights for both populations in the island. 17 July 1974: Upon the rejection of Turkey’s demands, Ankara applied to Britain (another signatory of the Treaty of Guarantee in 1960) to take action against developments to restore the situation in Cyprus. Britain declined this offer, and refused to let Turkey use its bases on Cyprus as part of the operation. As for the US, the President Nixon was busy with Water Gate scandal and Secreteary of State Kissinger was busy with Middle East peacekeeping. This left Turkey as the sole power in the case.

Cyprus Invasion 1974: 1th Phase Turkey now had sufficient landing-craft and other equipment to carry out a successful invasion of Cyprus. Turkish soldiers landed in northern Cyprus on 20 July 1974 and established a bridgehead around Kyrenia (Girne). Two days later a ceasefire was agreed. At that time, Turkish forces held 7 percent of the island and still a half of the Turkish Cypriots were outside Turkish protection. The other half of the Turkish Cypriots were in grave danger. Video: http://youtu.be/NCZIuBr7E3c

Cyprus Invasion 1974: Negotiations The first important result of Turkish invasion was the restoration of a civil government in Greece in 23 July. Sampson also lost power in Cyprus and replaced with Glafcos Clerides in 24 July. 25 July: peace talks between Turkey, Britain and the new Greek government were opened in Geneva. 29 July: The first round of talks fell apart as a compromise was unable to be reached. 9 August: the second round of peace talks started. Turkey demanded from the Cypriot government to accept a federal state, and population exchange. 13 August: the Greek Cypriots did not accept Turkey’s offers and negotiations failed.

Cyprus Invasion 1974: 2nd Phase 14 August: Turkish Armed Forces launched its second operation to increase the controlled territories in the island. 40 percent of the land came under Turkish control. After the conflict, 150,000 Greek Cypriots were forced to flee to the south and 120,000 Turkish Cypriots went to the north as part of population exchange.

Failed Negotiations: Cyprus Geneva negotiations after the second invasion collapsed as the Greeks refused to return to negotiation table. February 1975: Rauf Denktaş proclaimed the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus’ in the north. April 1975: inter-communal negotiations were restarted but did not produce any concrete results. February 1977: Makarios agreed on independent, non-aligned and bi- communal state. However, he died in August 1977. In the following years, neither part agreed on powers of the central government and geographical divisions. Turkey started to focus on domestic affairs at the end of the 1970s.

Turkish-Greek Disputes in Aegean Sea As part of the Cyprus dispute, the relations between Greece and Turkey deteriorated. the problems were related to the following topics: 1.) The delimitation of the territorial waters, 2.) The delimitation of the national airspace, 3.) the use of the continental shelf, 4.) The delimitation of Flight Information Regions (FIR), 5.) The issue of the demilitarized status assigned to some of the Greek islands in the area.

Territorial Waters Dispute in Aegean Sea The standard width of territorial waters: from initially 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) at the beginning of the century, to 6 nautical miles (11 km), and currently 12 nautical miles (22 km) [the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]. According to Lausanne, it was 3 miles, but Greece increased it to 6 miles in 1936 unilaterally. Because of Cyprus problem in 1964, Turkey increased it to 6 miles too. When Greece declared its plan to increase its own to 12 miles according to international law, Turkey did not accept this by sending a nota to Greece in 27 February 1974.

Continental Shelf Dispute in Aegean Sea When exploration license to search for oil were granted by Greece in 1970, continental shelf issue turned a problem between Turkey and Greece. May 1974: Turkey sent a survey ship to the Aegean but this was overshadowed by Cyprus invasion. July-August 1976: Turkey sent another survey ship. Greece applied to the UN and International Court of Justice. But it again remained unsettled. Turkey’s suggestion: the division of resources by a median line down the middle of the Aegean or joint exploration. But Greece claims the continental shelf must follow the territorial waters.

The delimitation of the national airspace and FIR Line With the agreement signed in 1952, the whole airspace over the Aegean, up to the national airspace of Turkey, has been assigned to Athens FIR. The reason behind this was Turkey’s reluctance to accept such a responsibility. Shortly after the Cyprus crisis of 1974, Turkey declared to change this arrangement. For Turkey, Greece was now an enemy and could use its advantage to assault on Turkey. 4 August 1974: Turkey sent a nota to Greece and proposed to take over the administration of the eastern half of the Aegean airspace. Greece did not accept this offer and closed Aegean air space to flights until February 1980 when Turkey retreated its claim.

Arms Embargo of the US on Turkey 5 February 1975: the United States Congress imposed an arms embargo on Turkey on the grounds that United States-supplied military equipment had been used in Cyprus intervention. This ban was opposed by President Henry Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. 25 July 1975: As a retaliation, Demirel government suspended the defense cooperation agreement of 1969 and ended all operations of the US forces in Turkey. The US lost its ability to monitor Soviet targets when all radar bases were transferred to the control of Turkish military. Therefore, under the pressure from the Ford administration, Congress agreed to a partial lifting of the embargo in October 1975 The embargo was completely lifted in August 1978 and Turkey allowed re-opening of major US facilities in Turkey

Turkey-US Relations in 1980-3 Turkey and the US signed a new Defense and Economic Cooperation agreement (DECA) in March 1980. For DECA, the US retained the use of its 12 most vital bases in Turkey. In return, the expansion of Turkey’s own defense would be realized with the establishment of a joint factory to produce the F-16 fighter. After the 12 September 1980 military coup: Turkey agreed to the return of Greece to the military wing of NATO. In return, the Americans helped to secure Turkey an IMF credit of $92 million in 1980 and postponed $350 million Turkish debts for the next year. American economic and military aid amounted to $453 million in 1981, $704 million in 1982 and $688 million in 1983 (İhsan Dağı, 1996). Turkey was the third largest recipient of US military assistance after Egypt and Israel.

Relations with the Soviets Turkey’s worsening economic conditions and sense of isolation in the Cyprus Case were the main motives behind the rapprochement with the Soviets. During the Cyprus intervention, the Soviets made it clear that it was prepared to accept a limited Turkish intervention. 1975: Turkey received $700 million from the Soviets. 1977: Turkey received 1,3 billion aid from the Soviets for its industrial investments. 1978: Ecevit paid a visit to Moscow. June 1978: A Political Document on the Principles of Good Neighborly and Friendly Cooperation was signed. After the 1980 coup and the restoration of Turkish- American relations, Ankara-Moscow relations were deteriorated. Also, Ankara strongly condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As a result, the Soviet aid to Turkey stopped.

Timeline of Relations with Soviets see, A Calendar of Soviet Treaties: 1974-1980, by George Ginsburgs, pp. 504-5

The Economic Crisis at the end of the 1970s

Relations with the Middle East Turkey continued its rapprochement policy towards the Middle East in the 1970s. Especially 1973 and 1979 oil crisis increased Turkey’s dependence on Arab countries. During the Arab-Israel war in 1973, the Turkish government announced that the Incirlik airbase could not be used for non-NATO purposes. Turkey recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1976 and let the PLO open an office in Ankara in 1979. After Israel declared Jerusalem as its “eternal and indivisible” capital in 1980, Turkey closed its Consulate General in Jerusalem as a sign of protestation. Also the representation in Tel Aviv was relegated to the level of “Second Secretary” on 30 November 1980. On the other hand, Turkey was not happy about relations of Palestinian organizations with PKK movement. Therefore it appreciated Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 by which Kurdish and Armenian (ASALA) terrorist were handed to Turkey.

Relations with the Middle East II 1979: Iranian Revolution changed the balance in the Middle East. It ended CENTO. In the new region, Turkey became the most important strategic ally of the US. But Ankara did not cut its diplomatic and trade relations with Tehran. On the other hand, the PKK, Kurdish terrorist organization, started to settle in Syria and Iraq at the end of the 1970s. This new development added new dynamic to Turkey’s relations with these countries.