Soğuk Savaş Dönemi'nde Jeopolitik: Türkiye ve Afganistan Örnekleri

Abstract

With the West gaining supremacy in the international system, other societies embarked on a protracted struggle to catch up with the advancements seen in the West. In this direction, Turkey and Afghanistan have experienced modernisation in order to catch up with the transformation that started in the West. The success of Mustafa Kemal’s National Struggle against imperialism and the implementation of a major modernisation project inspired the modernisation movements in Afghanistan. Both countries, which faced threats from colonialist states for the last few centuries, were exposed to the Soviet threat during the Cold War. Turkey eliminated the Soviet threat with the policies it pursued, while Afghanistan became subject to Soviet occupation. The significant geopolitical positions of both countries make them suitable subjects for this study. Our study seeks to answer the question of whether an important geopolitical position does not always guarantee favorable outcomes for countries. In studies on geopolitics, the opportunities offered by geopolitics to countries are emphasised. However, having an important geopolitical position may not always be a good opportunity for countries. Afghanistan, which has an important geopolitical position, has been subjected to the competition of great powers throughout history and became the focus of wars. Afghanistan experienced instability due to the rivalry between Britain and Russia in the 19th century and the USA-USSR rivalry in the 20th century. Although separate studies have been conducted on issues such as the Cold War Period, Turkey's geopolitics and Afghanistan's geopolitics, unlike other studies, this study analyses the concept of geopolitics holistically and comparatively through the examples of Turkey and Afghanistan. In the first part of the study, the conceptual and theoretical framework of the concept of geopolitics is discussed and important geopolitical theories are analysed. In the second part of the study, the Cold War Period, which developed on the axis of the USA and the USSR, is discussed and organisations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact established in this period are examined. In the third part of the study, within the framework of geopolitical theories, the examples of Turkey and Afghanistan during the Cold War Period are analysed separately through geopolitical, economic and political factors, and the threats and opportunities offered to countries by their geopolitical positions are evaluated.