The Roots of Anti-Americanism in Turkey 1945-1960

2015-12-01
The conventional wisdom asserts that anti-Americanism in Turkey started as a result of the Cyprus Crisis in 1964. Yet the roots of anti-Americanism can be traced back to the 1945-1960 period, the rosy years of Turkish-American relations. In these years, some in Turkey criticized the government for granting political and economic concessions to the U.S. which were, they thought, reminiscent of the infamous capitulations of the Ottoman period. Furthermore, they argued, Turkey did not become an equal ally but was downgraded to a U.S. colony. Many critics voiced their concerns that Turkey's internal and external affairs were shaped in accordance not with Turkish but with American interests. Last, but not least, many accused America of cultural imperialism. These anti-American views were repeated over the succeeding years with slight alterations. Hence, this study will attempt to shed light not only on the 1960s' fiercer version of anti-Americanism but also on the current debates.
BILIG

Suggestions

The Debate on “Turkey as a Role Model” (1990-2011)
Torun, Zerrin (2016-01-01)
This article revisits the debate on the idea of Turkey as a role model by bringing together Turkish and Middle Eastern perspectives between the Justice and Development Party’s (JDP) rise to government in 2002 and the popular uprisings in the Middle East between 2010 and 2011. Participants to the debate were clearly divided over the virtues of the Turkish political system. However, in the Middle East, they were united in their appreciation of the democratic nature of then Turkish foreign policy-making and it...
The possibility and limit of liberal middle power policies: the case of Turkish foreign policy toward the Middle East during the AKP period
Imai, Kohei; Altunışık, Meliha; Department of International Relations (2011)
The main aim of this dissertation is to understand the change of Turkish state identity related to foreign policy behaviors after the collapse of the Cold War structure. The research question of this dissertation is why and how Turkey has constructed middle power identity, which is based on liberal foreign policies. This dissertation examines two main purposes. First purpose is to analyze AKP’s liberalism based middle power policies from 2005 to 2010 toward the Middle East. In this dissertation, the liberal...
An assessment of trade and investment flows between Turkey and the European Union: Perspectives on future political integration
Mesanza, Ricardo Bustillo; González, Carlos Rodríguez (Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi (Ankara, Turkey), 2009-6-1)
The last three decades have witnessed a deep change in Turkish economic integration with the world economy, and have also caused an impact in the bilateral relationship with the European Union. The political challenge of accession to the European Union has demanded an important shift in order to favour structural changes in the Turkish economy and the involvement of society in those transformations. The growth in foreign trade and direct investment figures is a consequence of trying to accomplish these obje...
The Turkish economy and the challenge of technology: a trade perspective
Ege, Aylin; Ege, A. Yavuz (2017-11-01)
This article provides an analysis of Turkish trade deficits from the perspective of technology, with particular focus on the period that began with the new millennium. It draws special attention to the technological structure of Turkish exports vis-a-vis Turkey's major trade partners and illustrates how Turkish trade deficits are primarily structural in nature and essentially caused by weak technology as compared with Turkey's partners. Turkish products lack competitiveness, particularly in the case of rela...
The trajectory of a modified middle power: an attempt to make sense of Turkey's foreign policy in its centennial
Altunışık, Meliha (2022-11-01)
This article explores the general characteristics of Turkey's foreign policy in long duree by introducing the concept of a modified middle power. It argues that its historical legacy, the ambiguity of its regional belonging, and its real and constructed pivotal geography have modified Turkey's 'middlepowerness' and led to its in-betweenness. As such, the Turkish Republic, in its 100 years of history, has developed different strategies that aim to both remedy and sustain this in-betweenness. It is argued tha...
Citation Formats
T. Ünlü Bilgiç, “The Roots of Anti-Americanism in Turkey 1945-1960,” BILIG, pp. 251–280, 2015, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/54680.