Browsing by Subject "US"

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Open Access
Debates on the future role of nuclear weapons
(2002) Özer, Özkan
Nuclear weapons are the most destructive power of the world, because of their inherited and unique potential capability to destroy the humanity in a matter of minutes. While some experts have perceived them as the main mechanisms of the international stability, peace and security, others have recognized them as the most formidable threat to the humanity. Meanwhile, on part of the US, they had been, throughout the Cold War, the main equalizer against conventional superiority of the Soviet Block and the main instrument of deterring a Soviet nuclear or conventional attack against the US and its allies. Hence, nuclear deterrence became the dominant concept of the Cold War to escape their actual use. However, the nuclear question of “how much is enough to deter enemy,” induced the Soviets and Americans to have huge nuclear arsenals, bigger than the nuclear stockpiles of each other. With the collapse of Soviet Union, this strategic system has transformed. The threat of nuclear war between two superpowers disappeared but new nuclear dangers began to surface within the unpredictable framework of the post-Cold War period. Moreover, the rational behind possessing huge nuclear stockpiles vanished. Because of these imperatives of the post-Cold War era, a number of people including military and civilian leaders, and prominent experts or academics in the US began to articulate their views on the future role of nuclear weapons in the US security policy. While some recommend realizing the goal of total elimination of nuclear weapons as envisaged in the Article VI under NPT and abandonment of nuclear deterrence, others seem to reject making any radical change in the US nuclear strategy. In this context, there are many arguments and counter-arguments capturing substantial support from different groups and consequently a contemporary debate about the US nuclear strategy in the post-Cold War and the ongoing strategic arms reduction process.
Open Access
Dynamics of the alliance between Turkey and USA : the South Caucasus case
(2003) Ayhan, Halil Sıddık
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the South Caucasus presented several opportunities and challenges in the political, economic and military domains to the US as the unique superpower of the world, and to Turkey as a regional power. Though there occurred several crises in the Turkish-American alliance from its outset, both states whose interests converged; encouraging the development of democratic pro-Western regimes and free-market economy, hindering ethnic conflicts, expanding NATO’s membership, blocking monopolization of oil export routes in the Caucasus, securing oil reserves in the Caspian, preventing the rebuilding of the Russian Empire and falling the newly independent states of the South Caucasus from falling into the hegemony of Russia and Iran, keeping Iran’s fundamentalist regime in check, and pursuing active politics in the South Caucasus as a duty for the sake of their own global and regional interests. But, there had been also differences in the allies’ politics as in the NagornoKarabakh conflict. However, the South Caucasian states, including Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia faced enormous difficulties in enhancing their national security, implementing the process of state building and improving their economic situation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and therefore, independence for these states did not initially provide political stability. Internal conflicts, and Russia’s imperialist policies undermined these states’ efforts in order to be strong and independent states, and they could not cope with the challenges of the new geopolitical and economic environment due to the lack of their own military power, and strong economy. Thereupon, these states’ first years of independence have been fraught with economic, political, and social difficulties. But the vigorous efforts of the US and Turkey prevented the South Caucasian states from falling into Russian hegemony and accelerated state-building process of these countries as examined in this study
Open Access
The impacts of non-statist threats on alliance cohesion : Turkish-American case
(2017-07) Yılmaz, Yasemin
There is a complex web of alliances formed against a range of actors from states to NSAs and diversified agenda of threats from statist to non-statist. This thesis aims to explore the changing nature of alliances in light of the increased role of VNSAs by challenging Walt’s balance of threat theory. The Turkish-American alliance is selected to demonstrate non-statist threats’ impacts on alliance cohesion. This thesis argues that concurrence/divergence of threat perception and threat management between two allies affects the degree of cohesion as high or low. In this regard, I aim to find an answer to this research question: How have the evolving Turkish and American perceptions of the PKK/PYD affected the alliance cohesion between Turkey and the US? I will analyze the historical period from 1952 to 2017, dividedby the Kobane siege, using a single-longitudinal case study method. I observe that certain Kurdish entities have become the “Achilles heel” of this partnership and constitute the major challenge for the cohesiveness of the alliance. The rise of Kurdish capabilities in the region against ISIS has led the US to ally with the PYD/YPG as the ground force of choice. This choice has forced apart the two allies by decreasing the cohesiveness of the alliance and given way to a kind of “veiled trilateral relationship” among the US, Turkey and the PYD/YPG. This outcome demonstrates how “diverse-actored” alliances can be formed simultaneously to balance against different external threats contrary to the “state to state” origin of BoT theory.
Open Access
Minimum resale price maintenance in EU in the aftermath of the US leegin decision
(Springer New York LLC, 2016) Hazıroğlu, E. C.; Gökatalay, S.
Leegin decision of the Supreme Court in 2007 affirmed that minimum RPM was to be evaluated under the rule of reason henceforth. Conversely, minimum RPM retains its position as a hard-core restraint in EU’s BER 2010 and the De Minimis Notice. The limited amount of case law reveal that in the absence of certain factors, such as significant market power of the parties, minimum RPM is unlikely to result in the detriment of consumers. Consequently, despite the retention of the maintenance of the single market as a significant aim in EU competition policy, minimum RPM practices are entitled to a more lenient approach, if the ultimate aim is to attain consumer welfare as stated by the Commission and through most judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.