The Carter Administration and the Turkish Political Crisis, 1977–1978: An Analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy Responses
https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2025-3-102-87-114
Abstract
The contemporary volatility in U.S.–Turkish relations underscores the need to revisit their historical underpinnings. The Turkish domestic crisis of 1977–1980 unfolded against the backdrop of deteriorating bilateral relations with Washington and was embedded within a wider spectrum of global instability. This conjunction of events prompted U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski to articulate the notion of an “Arc of Crisis” spanning the Eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East.
This article examines the evolution of U.S. perceptions of the Turkish political crisis during the initial phase of the Carter administration (1977–1978), with particular attention to the intersection of domestic turmoil in Turkey and American strategic calculations in the region. The analysis draws on a diverse set of primary sources, including declassified documents from the Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, internal State Department cables, National Security Council memoranda, and Central Intelligence Agency assessments.
The findings suggest that, up until the declaration of martial law in December 1978, the Carter administration treated the Turkish crisis not as a self-contained domestic development but as a component of broader programmatic foreign policy goals. These included the stabilization of NATO’s southeastern flank and the management of geopolitical realignment following détente. However, Washington's delayed recognition of the severity of the Turkish crisis, coupled with a lack of coherent policy engagement, contributed to missed opportunities for early mitigation.
From a longer-term perspective, the article argues that the Carter administration’s hesitant and inconsistent approach helped entrench a pattern of mistrust in Ankara toward U.S. policy, laying the foundations for structural tensions that continue to shape U.S.–Turkish relations in the post-Cold War era.
Keywords
U.S.–Turkey relations,
Jimmy Carter administration,
Turkish political crisis,
Eastern Mediterranean,
NATO,
Cold War,
U.S. foreign policy,
Truman Doctrine,
Military-political stability
Supporting agencies: This study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 22-7810179 (https://rscf.ru/project/22-78-10179/)
About the Author
A. I. Sennikov
Vyatka State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Alexey I. Sennikov – Ph.D. (History), Associate Professor, Department of History and Political Sciences
36 Moskovskaya Str., Kirov, 610000, Russia
References
1. Aslan O. 2018. The United States and Military Coups in Turkey and Pakistan: Between Conspiracy and Reality. Ankara: Department of Political Science and Public Administration. 309 p.
2. Athanassopoulou E. 2014. Strategic Relations between the US and Turkey, 1979–2000. London: Routledge. 228 p.
3. Bezci E. 2020. Turkish Intelligence and the Cold War: The Turkish Secret Service, the US and the UK. London: I.B. Tauris. 304 p.
4. Bozdağlioğlu Y. 2003. Turkish foreign policy and Turkish identity: a constructivist approach. New York: Routledge. 232 p.
5. Criss N.B. 2002. A Short History of Anti-Americanism and Terrorism: The Turkish Case. Journal of American History. Vol. 89. Is. 2. P. 472–482.
6. Ecevit B. 1978. Turkey's security policies. Survival: Global Politics and Strategy. Vol. 20, Is. 5. P. 203–208. DOI: 10.1080/00396337808441766
7. Gökay B. 2006. Soviet Eastern Policy and Turkey, 1920–1991: Soviet Foreign Policy, Turkey and Communism. New York: Routledge. 208 p.
8. Gökay B. 2021. Turkey in the Global Economy: Neoliberalism, Global Shift, and the Making of a Rising Power. Chicago: McGill-Queen's University Press. 224 p.
9. Gourisse B. 2023. Political Violence in Turkey, 1975–1980: The state at stake. London: I.B. Tauris. 233 p.
10. Kösebalaban H. 2011. Turkish Foreign Policy: Islam, Nationalism, and Globalization. New York. Palgrave Macmillan. 256 p.
11. Larrabee F.S., Lesser I.O. 2003. Turkish Foreign Policy in an Age of Uncertainty. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. 236 p.
12. Oran B. (ed.) 2010. Turkish foreign policy, 1919–2006: facts and analyses with documents. Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press. 984 p.
13. Sayari S. 2010. Political Violence and Terrorism in Turkey, 1976–80: A Retrospective Analysis. Terrorism and Political Violence. Vol. 22. Is. 2. P. 198–215.
14. Söyler M. 2015. The Turkish Deep State: State Consolidation, Civil-Military Relations and Democracy. New York: Routledge. 250 p.
15. Zürcher E. J. 2017. Turkey: A Modern History. London, New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. LTD. 485 p.
16. Erkan S. 2017. CIA Günlük Raporlarına Göre Türkiye’de 1978 Bülent Ecevit Hükümeti Dönemi [1978 Bülent Ecevit Government Era On CIA Daily Reports]. Journal of History Studies. Vol. 9. Is. 1. P. 127–144. DOI: 10.9737/hist.2017.516/ (In Turkish).
17. Yalçın E., Akçakaya, N. 2024. TBMM tutanaklarında Maraş olayları ve komplo teorileri [Maraş Events and Conspiracy Theories in the Parliamentary Minutes]. Anemon Muş Alparslan Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi. Vol. 12. Is. 1. P. 189–210. DOI: 10.18506/anemon.1309089 (In Turkish).
18. Avatkov V.A., Kochkin M.V. 2016. Osnovnye napravleniia krizisa vo vnutrennei i vneshnei politike Turetskoi respubliki [Principle trajectories of the Domestic and Foreign Policy Crises in Modern Turkish Republic]. MGIMO Review of International Relations. Vol. 2. Is. 47. P. 7–14. DOI: 10.24833/2071-8160-2016-2-47-7-14. (in Russian)
19. Bobkin N.N. 2018. Krizis strategicheskogo partnerstva SShA i Turtsii: ot nedoveriia k protivostoianiiu [Crisis of the U.S. and Turkey Strategic Partnership: from Distrust to Conflict]. USA & Canada: Economics – Politics – Culture. Issue 7 (583). P. 33–50. DOI 10.31857/S032120680000014-9. (in Russian)
20. Danilov V.I., Kornienko R.P. 1981. Politicheskoe razvitie i osnovnye politicheskie partii [Political development and the main political parties]. In Gankovsky Yu.V (ed.). Problems of development of the countries of the modern Near and Middle East (Iran, Pakistan, Turkey). Moscow: Nauka. P. 140–162. (in Russian).
21. Davydov A.A. 2019. Sistemnyi krizis amerikano-turetskikh otnoshenii pri D. Trampe [Systemic Crisis in the US-Turkish Relations Under the Presidency of D. Trump]. MGIMO Review of International Relations. Vol. 12 Is. 4. P. 145–160. DOI: 10.24833/2071-8160-2019-4-67-145-160. (in Russian).
22. Eremeev D.E. 2017. Istoriia Turetskoi Respubliki s 1918 goda do nashikh dnei [The history of the Turkish Republic from 1918 to the present day]. Moscow: Kvadriga. 376 p. (in Russian).
23. Ganser D. 2017. Sekretnye armii NATO: Operatsiia «Gladio» i terrorizm v Zapadnoi Evrope [NATO’s secret armies: Operation Gladio and terrorism in Western Europe]. Transl. by A.Yu. Kolgashkina, ed. by E.V. Gorina., 2nd ed. Moscow: Kuchkovo pole. 336 p. (in Russian).
24. Gegelashvili N. Politika SShA v otnoshenii Turtsii v kontekste ukrainskogo krizisa [The U.S. Policy towards Turkey in the Context of the Ukrainian Crisis]. USA & Canada: Economics – Politics – Culture. Issue 7. P. 27–36. DOI: 10.31857/S2686673022070033. (in Russian).
25. Grafov D.B. 2022. Strategiia balansirovaniia vo vneshnei politike Turtsii [Strategy of Balancing in Turkish Foreign Policy]. MGIMO Review of International Relations. Vol. 15. Is. 3. P. 115–142. DOI: 10.24833/2071-8160-2022-3-84-115-142. (in Russian).
26. Ivanova I.I. 2019. Evoliutsiia blizhnevostochnoi politiki Turetskoi Respubliki v XX–XXI vv. [The evolution of the Middle East policy of the Turkish Republic in the XX–XXI centuries]. Ed. by A.V. Shtanov; MGIMO MID Rossii. Moscow: Izdatel' Vorob'ev A.V. 380 p. (in Russian).
27. Kireev N.G. 2007. Istoriia Turtsii XX vek [The history of Turkey XX century]. Moscow: Kraft+. 608 p. (in Russian)
28. Lebsky M. 2016. Kurdy. Poteriannye na Blizhnem Vostoke [The Kurds. Lost in the Middle East]. Moscow: Algoritm. 352 p. (in Russian).
29. Potskhveriya B.M. 1981. Turtsiia v sisteme mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii. In Gankovsky Yu.V (ed.). Problems of development of the countries of the modern Near and Middle East (Iran, Pakistan, Turkey). Moscow: Nauka. P. 163–180. (in Russian).
30. Shenin A.S. 2014. Turetskaia politika SShA: genezis i evoliutsiia v 1980-e gg. [The U. S.’s Turkish Policy: Genesis and Evolution in 1980s] Izvestiya of Saratov University. History. International Relations. Vol. 14. Is. 3. P. 54–58. (in Russian).
31. Shlykov P.V. 2019. Turetsko-amerikanskie otnosheniia v zerkale blizhnevostochnogo i evroatlanticheskogo izmerenii [Turkish-American relations in the mirror of Middle Eastern and EuroAtlantic dimensions]. Current problems of Europe. Vol. 1. P. 184–228. DOI: 10.31249/ape/2019.01.09 (in Russian).
32. Smolnyak I.V. 2016. Sredizemnomorskii rubezh sderzhivaniia: kiprskaia problema v amerikano-turetskikh otnosheniiakh, 1962–1978 gg. [Mediterranean frontier Containment: the Cyprus problem in the US-Turkish relations, 1962–1978]. Vestnik ViatGU. Vol. 12. P. 42–53. (in Russian).
33. Tovsultanova M.Sh., Tovsultanov R.A., Galimova L.N. 2020. Politicheskii krizis v Turtsii 1970-kh gg. i voennyi perevorot 12 sentiabria 1980 goda [Turkey’s Political Crisis of the 1970s and the Military Coup on September 12, 1980]. Samara Journal of Science. Vol. 9. Is. 3. P. 234–238. DOI: 10.17816/snv202093210. (in Russian).
34. Vorobyova T.A., Yungblyud V.T. 2016. Afganistan v politike SSSR i SShA v 1979 g. [Afghanistan in the politics of the USSR and the USA in 1979]. Voprosy Istorii. Vol. 10. P. 105–125. (in Russian).
35. Vorobyova T.A., Yungblyud V.T. 2019. SShA teriaiut soiuznika na Blizhnem Vostoke: politika administratsii Dzh. Kartera v otnoshenii Irana, 1977–1980 gg. [The United States Are Losing an Ally in the Middle East: J. Carter’s Administration Policy towards Iran, 1977—1980]. ISTORIYA. Vol. 10, No. 3 (77). Available at: https://history.jes.su/s207987840005469-4-1/ DOI: 10.18254/ S207987840005469-4 (accessed: 23.06.2024). (in Russian).
36. Yungblud V.T. (ed.) 2014. Vstrechnymi kursami: politika SSSR i SShA na Balkanakh, Blizhnem i Srednem Vostoke v 1939–1947 gg. [Collision course: the policy of USSR and the USA in the Balkans, the Near and Middle East in 1939–1947]. Kirov: Izd-vo ViatGGU. 510 p. (in Russian).
37. Yungblud V.T., Sennikov A.I. 2023. Kurdskii faktor v politike SShA na pike krizisov v Irane i Afganistane, 1979 – ianvar' 1981 gg. [The Kurdish Movement’s Factor in US Politics at the Peak of Iran and Afghanistan Crises, 1979 – January 1981]. MGIMO Review of International Relations. Vol. 16 Is. 5. P. 22–51. DOI: 10.24833/2071-8160-2023-5-92-28-57 (in Russian).
Review
For citations:
Sennikov A.I. The Carter Administration and the Turkish Political Crisis, 1977–1978: An Analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy Responses. MGIMO Review of International Relations. 2025;18(3):87-114. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2071-8160-2025-3-102-87-114
Views:
6
Email this article 