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ABSTRACTTHE PROCESS of DECISION MAKING MECHANISMin TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY:THE SAMPLE of II. GULF CRISIS (2003)Muharrem AKSUSüleyman Demirel University, Department of Public AdministrationM.A.P., 282, June 2004Supervising: Asst.Prof. Dr. Erol KURUBASThe aim of this thesis is to expose which the foreign policy decision making units take part inTurkish foreign policy decision making mechanism are and to examine their constitutional authorityin historical process in terms of the increases and the decreases as well as determining the mosteffective decision making units in specific foreign policy events -especially in the II.Gulf Crisis - inhistorical process.Although the basic starting point of the study is to examine the government which performsthe foreign policy in the parliamentary democracies and has initiative in decision making, in theTurkish case it is seen that many decision units especially Turkish Army is effective in foreign policydecision making process. Consequently the understanding and the explaining of the constitutionalauthorities of Turkish foreign policy decision making units and their efficiencies and sources indecision making process in the historical perspective are essential.The theoritical frame of the study is “decision making approach”. What the decision makingapproach is, the components that effect the decision making, the levels of the decision making processare examined in the light of this theoretical frame.The unit that defined the process is exposed byexamining the process of Turkish decision making mechanism, the authorized units in foreign policyand their effects to foreign policy withal the effective units in foreign policy decision making processin the Gulf Crises in 2003. The findings of the working are;The factors; that make some of the decision making units more effective than others inTurkish foreign policy decision making process are strong leading, the personal active participatinginclination to foreign policy decision making, the superfluous national prestige of the decision makingunit for many reasons, the importance level of foreign policy and constitutional arrangements aboutunits.In connection to these factors sometimes the government, sometimes the foreign affairsbureaucracy sometimes the presidency but mostly Turkish Army come to the fore in the process offoreign policy decision making in the historical progress. furthermore in the Gulf Crisis of 2003although the function of foreign policy and taking the decisive decisions belong to the government,Turkish Army has decided on foreign policies and effected the framework of the decisions of thegovernment. Besides the effectiveness of foreign affairs bureaucracy the presidency has less impactrelative to the ex-presidencies in the process. The active participation of presidency could not beobserved. Turkish Great Nation Assembly has also been effective as much as Turkish Army whichdefined the framework of the governments foreign policy. As a result Turkish Great Nation Assemblyrejected the government’s 1 March note which is recommended by Turkish Army and so has alteredthe foreign policy process. In the period Turkish Great Nation Assembly which always approves thegovernments’ foreign policies since the declaration of the republic and is ineffective in the foreignpolicy supervising. Has been one of the most effective decision making units.Keywords: Turkish Foreign Policy, Decision Making Process, Decision Making Mechanism,Decision Making Units, Northern Iraq, USA, Iraq.