This research monograph, within the field of history of international relations, fills an important gap in the relevant literature by focusing on the critical decades before and after the end of the Cold War in the strategic relationship between the USA and Turkey. It questions the validity of a number of prevailing views in the context of the USA-Turkey relationship in the period 1979-2000 and it points to the inadequacy of systemic parameters alone - which so far have been the focus of the experts on US-Turkey relations in this period - to explain the evolution of the bilateral relationship. It offers both a fresh perspective on known material as well as interesting new findings based on empirical research.