土耳其與美國的關係長期以來，被學者形容成「希望與失望」、「密切結盟與裂痕」之間的辯證關係。近期的發展亦然，從2018年美國的制裁、土耳其購買俄國飛彈到敘利亞安全區的行動，都可以看到土美關係的困境。而在AKP執政後，庫德議題開始從早期的領土與主權等議題（如抵禦蘇聯、希臘與北塞普勒斯的問題，轉移至環繞在庫德區為中心的議題（包括兩國在庫工黨議題的合作關係、在伊拉克庫區議題上既衝突與合作以及在敘利亞有關庫德族問題上的衝突），實有必要以庫德作為主題，分析庫德議題如何影響土美之間的關係。 土美關係研究途徑，大致上可以分成：(1)土耳其「歐亞主義」的再起，(2)土耳其正在進行「避險」的策略，企圖在美、俄兩國中取得平衡，以及（3）戰略文化等三個面向。本計畫將從戰略文化的角度探討庫德議題如何影響土美關係，並探討土耳其戰略文化的轉變。將以歷史的事件與菁英反應作為主要核心，試圖從文本中，比較出土耳其在該事件中，相關決策者受到何種因素影響，及其與戰略文化的關聯性，並探討庫德議題對未來地緣政治的影響。
Turkey-US relation is described as “dialectics of hope and disappointment, of close alliance and major rift”. Recent developments are similar. Conflicts between two states include purchase of S-400 from Russia, economic sanction by the U.S. in 2018 and the Syrian issues. It can also be observed that under the AKP period, the Kurdish factors, such as PKK, KRG, Syrian Kurds become much more important in the Turkey-US relation then before. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze how the Kurds factors affected the Turkey-US relation.Three aspects are frequently proposed on the Turkey-U.S. relations, including Eurasianism, hedging, and strategic culture. This project will start with the discussion among these different aspects and uses strategic culture as research lens to evaluate issues happened in the Kurds-related events. It will also examine Turkish strategic culture with the discourses of elites and how Kurdish factors impact on geopolitics.
