THE PRE-COLD WAR ORIGINS OF US STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT WITH TURKEY, 1920-1945

Date

2026-4-27

Author

Çengel, Esra

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This dissertation examines the evolution of United States strategic engagement with Turkey from the end of World War I to the conclusion of World War II, challenging the conventional view that meaningful US engagement began with the Truman Doctrine in 1947. Drawing on archival research from American and Turkish sources, it demonstrates that strategic engagement emerged through a cumulative and multi layered process during the interwar and World War II periods. The study develops a tripartite analytical framework consisting of material, ideological, and structural drivers to explain how this process unfolded across three phases: proto-strategic engagement in the 1920s, strategic learning in the 1930s, and strategic engagement during World War II. The findings show that material drivers consisting of commercial interests, military cooperation, and resource diplomacy, provided continuity and incentives for engagement. Ideological factors, including shifting American perceptions of Turkey from a problematic post-imperial state to a pragmatic and reliable partner, enabled political acceptance of closer ties. Structural pressures, particularly the intensification of great-power rivalry and the exigencies of World War II, acted as catalysts that transformed accumulated interactions into a quasi-alliance. By structuring the process from 1920 to 1945 as a three-step ladder, the dissertation further argues that American foreign policy moved from proto-strategic engagement in the 1920s, to strategic learning in the 1930s, and finally reaching full strategic engagement during World War II.

Subject Keywords

US foreign policy, interwar era, World War II, strategic engagement, Turkey

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/119095

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis