Policy Entrepreneur or Policy Implementer? The Role of İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil in Türkiye’s Distancing from the United States in the 1960s and 1970s

In this study, it is attempted to understand the influence of İhsan Sabri Çağlayangil, as the minister of foreign affairs, on Türkiye’s relations with the United States (US). In the years he served as the minister, from mid-1960s to mid-1970s, Türkiye witnessed a fundamental change in Türkiye’s huge commitments to and trust in Washington. To question his role as an individual in these developments is expected to contribute to studying and analyzing Turkish-American relations in historical perspective. The study makes use of primary sources like official archives, parliamentary records, memoirs and interviews provided by both Turkish and American circles as well as some scholarly works on Çağlayangil himself and Turkish foreign policy in general. The findings derived from Turkish and American sources are compared with each other and it is concluded that the alteration in Türkiye’s close ties with the US at those times was mostly driven by the changing perception of Turkish state and public about the US following its unacceptable disregard for Türkiye’s national interests. In addition to having the detente process in international relations as a facilitator to hold a more balanced stance towards the US, this process was not initiated by Çağlayangil’s innovation or efforts, and instead was a state-policy that emerged as a result of some structural and principle changes.