Turkey's Northern Iraq Policy in the Shade of Security Problems (1991-2003)

A new era started in foreign and national security policies of Turkey with the end of Cold War. In this period, Turkey followed a more active foreign policy in the regions such as Balkans, Central Asia and Caucasia. Ethnic conflicts occured in these areas were defined as new security problems by Ankara. In this period, Turkeys policies to neighbours in the south were mainly shaped within the context of security problems. Within this period, Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) terror became the important security issue for Turkey. One of the most important reasons for increasing PKK threat was the vacuum of powerthat occured in Northern Iraq after the Gulf War. PKK settled in the area and increased its attacks on Turkey from here. Especially after the invasion of Iraq, Northern Iraq-based security problems increased much more. However, in this period, Turkeys economic and trading activities also increased in the area. The present study analyzes Turkeys policies during 90s to form an sphere of influence in Northern Iraq, to overcome security issues.