THE COOPERATION AMID PROBLEMS: TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS IN THE 1980s

The uneasy relationship between Turkeyand the United States was further exacerbated by the resumption of poppy cultivation by the Turkish govemment in June 1974. The Americans, who believed that the main cause of the American drug addiction problem was the smuggling of Turkish opium into the United States, perceived this Turkish initiative as an antiAmerican act. While Congress was busy with trying to cut off aid to Turkey as a retaliation, a coup occurred in Cyprus on LSJuly 1974, bringing about the Turkish intervention to the island. In both cases the American government inclined toward accepting the new situations and avoided showing strong responses which would alienate both the Greeks and the Turks. Imposing of an arrns embargo on Turkey by the U.S. Congress, starting on 5 February 1975, was mainly a result of a power competition between the U.S. administratian and Congress, which was determined to make the arrogant rulers respect the rulc of lawand to regain its power in foreign policy-making. The unhappiness of congressmen on the Turkish poppy decision and propaganda activities of the Greek lobby, too, played role in the embargo dccision.