Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkish Studies - Economics, Finance, Politics , cilt.20, sa.2, ss.1059-1080, 2025 (TRDizin)
Turkish foreign policy, which the CHP tried to direct at the
governmental level during the single-party government periods, progressed in a
certain continuity through the Kemalist doctrine and developed within the Cold
War conditions after Atatürk's death. The CHP handed over power to the Democratic
Party after the latter won the 1950 elections. The CHP, which slowly began to
change its political orientation in the process, offered a more inclusive
political experience as a result of the coups of 1960 and 1980. Subsequently,
the CHP was closed down by the 1980 coup d'état and re-established in 1992.
This study analyses the extent to which the re-established CHP differs from the
old CHP in terms of the impact of the change in the party leader. The main
questions of the study are how Deniz Baykal's leadership in the post-1992 CHP
has affected Turkish foreign policy and how it has changed the CHP's perception
of foreign policy. The article aims to determine how the post-1992 CHP's
involvement in Turkish foreign policy has changed under the influence of the
change in party ideology, the struggle for existence due to coalition processes
and periodic developments in international politics. The study is handled with
a methodological framework based on interpretation and understanding with a
question-oriented research method. In terms of the leader factor, Deniz Baykal
was the most prominent leader of the CHP during the periods in question. Deniz
Baykal's 50 years of political life and his leadership of CHP is the main
reason for analysing him as a leader. In addition, it has been determined
through the literature review that Deniz Baykal, although he has a very popular
image in domestic politics, has not been brought to the forefront in the
existing studies on foreign policy and his statist identity. The Kennedy
analogy is a description of Baykal by Cemal Süreya, one of the famous poets of
the period, and this study emphasises the effect of Baykal's dishevelled hair
on his characteristic. In this study, it is argued that Baykal provides a
framework that develops flexible and consensus-based politics within the party
while justifying the change in the CHP's foreign policy convergence. Therefore,
the article concludes that Deniz Baykal has left an impact on the CHP's foreign
policy perceptions that could lead to a change in the CHP's foreign policy
perceptions today. Re-reading Baykal's foreign affairs ministerial periods
gives a clearer picture of the change in Baykal's foreign policy decisions
within the struggle for existence in the CHP coalitions and deepens the
understanding of the CHP's domestic political reflections and foreign policy
orientations during the coalition periods in 1995. In the article, Baykal's
ministerial terms (Minister of Finance, Minister of Energy and Natural
Resources, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister) are analysed
mainly through primary sources from that period. In particular, the performance
of the election government during his four-month term as foreign affairs
minister is analysed through government programmes, official newspaper data and
historical news of the period, Baykal's discourses and Baykal's impact on
Turkish foreign policy output. The research attempts to understand how Baykal's
leadership influenced Turkish foreign policy by analysing the change processes
in the perception of foreign policy under Baykal's leadership in the CHP
period, which was re-established in the 1990s.