3677) Impacts Of Lobbies On Turkish-American Relations In Context Of Middle East Politics by Prof Dr Tayyar ARI

Impacts Of Lobbies On Turkish-American Relations In Context Of Middle East Politics by Prof Dr Tayyar ARI
Oct 2009

Annual Conference of International Studies Association-Northeast, Baltimore, (Maryland/USA),
2-3 October 2009


Pressure groups which are very important for the representative democracies and democratic participation and their influences on the executive and legislative branch have been main topic of many scientific research so far. Besides, lobbies, interest groups, organized groups, political groups and civil societies are also used instead of the concept of pressure groups to explain such organizations established to influence the political process in favor of themselves. These organizations which are called by different conceptualization would be separated sub-organizations such as professional associations, trade unions, media organizations, companies, volunteer associations and lobbies. In this connection, Jewish, Greek and Armenian lobbies concerning the relation with Congress have an advantage over Arabian and Turkish lobbies whose relation with Congress very weak. However, Turkish and Arabian lobbies are preferring the direct relation with White House and other executive bodies. This situation doesn’t mean that they are absolute ascendancy about the executive relation, however, if Turkish lobby is taken on hand it is acknowledged its relative advantage to balance the Greek and Armenian lobbies. Due to the reelection considerations of Congressmen, they are under the pressure of public opinion and electors and aren’t able to assess foreign policy issues rightly. Whereas government is regarding the geopolitical importance of these countries and their role in regional and global politics of the USA even sometimes try to influence the voting process of Congress.

In this article we would like to highlight the lobbies which have been a significant part of American political system due to their influences on the decision-making process, both executive and legislative branch and in this context to underscore the relations between lobbies and American foreign policy, and also the position of Turkish lobby among other foreign lobbies in the USA would also be analyzed to figure out the relations of both countries. . .

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