The influence of the turkish left on turkish foreign policy between the 1961 constitution and the 1971 military intervention (PDF)

After the military takeover in 1960, Turkey was endowed with a new constitution in 1961 that provided guarantees of freedom of thought, expression, association and publication, and other civil liberties. These changes allowed for the first time in Turkish history for the creation of a socialist party, and the Worker's Party of Turkey (WPT) was established in that same year. The party won 14 seats in the 1965 Assembly and had an oppositional role. Leftist youth movements emerged and soon became radical. They were promoted by student discussion groups (Fikir Külübüler), radical journalism and the world-wide radicalism of youth in the late 1960s.
On the other hand, Turkish governments during that period took for the first time some foreign policy steps independent of the United States, notably in the case of Cyprus. The Demirel government found itself under frequent attack by his political opponents for being too 'pro-American', as anti-American sentiments in Turkish society surged.
This essay deals with the question to what extent the Turkish Left did exert its influence on the conduct of Turkish foreign policy during the period from the 1961 constitution to the 1971 memorandum of the military that forced Demirel to resign. Therefore, the Turkish leftist party and movement, and Turkish foreign relations in the period chosen will be analyzed and brought into a broader context.