Challenging the stereotypes: Turkish–American relations in the inter-war era

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Notes

An earlier version of this article was presented at the Annual Mica–Ertegün Conference, Princeton University in April, 2003. Research for parts of the article based on the private papers of Ambassador Grew at the Houghton Library, Harvard University, was made possible by the Koç University–Harvard Grant and a grant from the American Research Institute in Turkey.

1. Among these important studies on Turkish–American relations during the Cold War era are, Oral Sander's Türk–Amerikan İlişkileri, 1947–1964 (Ankara: Ankara Universitesi SBF Yayınları, 1979) assessing the period from the Truman Doctrine (1947) to the first Cyprus crisis (1964); Bruce Kuniholm's landmark work tracing the factors that gave way to the Cold War, Origins of the Cold War in the Near East: Great Power Conflict and Diplomacy in Iran, Turkey and Greece (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980); George McGhee's The US–Turkish–NATO Middle East Connection: How the Truman Doctrine and Turkey's NATO Entry Contained the Soviets (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990) focusing on the strategic significance of Turkish–American relations during the Cold War; George Harris' Troubled Alliance: Turkish–American Problems in Historical Perspective (1945–1971) (Washington: American Enterprise Institute, 1972) examining the problematic foreign policy issues (for example the Cyprus question) shaping the relations among the two countries. Fahir Armaoğlu also presents a comprehensive selection of documents pertaining to Turkish–American relations in Belgelerle Türk–Amerikan Münasebetleri (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1991).

2. Roger Trask, The United States Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform, 1914–1939 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1971). In his comprehensive study, Trask presents a detailed account of various aspects of Turkish–American relations. However, as reflected in the title he focuses on the ‘US response’ and the only Turkish primary source that he uses is Djemal Pasha, Memoirs of a Turkish Statesman, 1913–1919 (New York: George H. Doran Company, 1922); Justin McCarthy, ‘Missionaries and American Image of the Turks', in Mustafa Aydın and Cağrı Erhan (eds.), Turkish–American Relations: Past, Present, and Future (London: Routledge, 2004), pp.26–48 examines how some of the missionaries contributed to the formation of stereotypes concerning the Turks.

3. Joseph L. Grabill's Protestant Diplomacy and the Near East: Missionary Influence on American Policy (1810–1927) (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1971); Robert Daniel's American Philanthropy in the Near East (1820–1960) (Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1970); and James Barton's Story of Near East Relief (1915–1930): An Interpretation (New York: J. C. & A. L. Fawcett, 1991) presents a detailed account of the activities of the missionaries and philanthropists.

4. E. Guy Talbot, ‘The Turk Malignant’, The New Armenia, Vol.19 (July–Sept., 1927), p.41.

5. Mark Malkasian, ‘The Disintegration of the Armenian Cause in the United States, 1918–27’, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.16 (1984), p.305.

6. When the United States declared war against Germany in April 1917, this situation inevitably led to the Turkish note of April 20, 1917 announcing the rupture of diplomatic relations between the Ottoman Empire and the United States. Since the Ottoman Empire was an ally of Germany, normally the next step would have been mutual declarations of war. However, since this path was undesirable for both sides, they refrained from taking it. Ahmet Nesimi (Ottoman Minister of Foreign Affairs) to Elkus, April 20, 1917, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States (hereafter FRUS), 1917, Supplement I, The First World War (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1931), p.603.

7. An additional cause of the bias was the scant information, which was also often wrong or pejorative, provided on the Ottoman Empire and Turkey in the textbooks. In his article, ‘The American Image of the Turks’, Justin McCarthy refers to a study conducted by Heath Lowry, Avigdor Levy, and himself on such misleading coverage of the Turks in textbooks. McCarthy stresses ‘Students themselves cannot be blamed for knowing next to nothing about the real history or the current status of the Turks. Their text books give them little information, and all too often what is said of Turks has been pejorative. …the standard of material on the Turks has proved to be deplorably ahistorical.’ Justin McCarthy, ‘The American Image of Turks’ (Tarih, Vol.2 1992), p.59.

8. Selma Ekrem, Unveiled: The Autobiography of a Turkish Girl (New York: Ives Washburn, 1942, originally published in 1930), p.302; also quoted in Roger Trask, ‘The ‘Terrible Turk’ and Turkish–American Relations in the Inter-war Period’ (The Historian, Vol.33, Nov. 1970), p.43.

9. Daniel Katz and Kenneth Barly, ‘Racial Stereotypes of One Hundred College Students’, The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol.28 (1933–34), pp.280–90; for a detailed examination of the image of Turks in the United States, see Justin McCarthy, ‘The American Image of Turks’, pp.55–72.

10. Since the independence movement itself had a strong religious undertone (especially in its earlier phases) and one-fifth of the first Grand National Assembly belonged to the ulema or brotherhoods, this was by no means an easy task. For a detailed account of the abolishment of the Caliphate and the Sultanate and secularizing reforms, see Niyazi Berkes, Development of Secularism in Turkey (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1964), pp.446–60.

11. TBMM Zabıt Ceridesi, Session 57, Ankara, 1926, Vol.22, p.267; for a detailed account of secularizing legislation, see Bülent Daver, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde Laiklik (Ankara: Son Havadis Matbaası, 1955), pp.181–201; Binnaz Toprak, Islam and Political Development in Turkey (Leiden: Brill, 1981), pp.35–58.

12. For instance, Atatürk's adopted-daughter, Sabiha Gökçen, became the first female pilot in Turkey.

13. Arnold Toynbee, Survey of International Affairs, 1928 (London: Oxford University Press, 1929), pp.200–3.

14. For favourable accounts of the impact of the reforms in Turkey, see Charles Sherrill, A Years Embassy to Mustafa Kemal (New York: Charles Schribner's Sons, 1934); Ernst Jackh, The Rising Crescent: Turkey Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1944).

15. Grew's Letters of Credence, 19 Sept.1927, Turkish Foreign Ministry Archives (hereafter TFMA), Protocol, D.1, No.1.

16. For newspaper articles on Grew's appointment to Turkey (both in Turkish and in the American press), see ‘Turks will Welcome Grew's Appointment’ New York Times, May 20, 1927; ‘Le Nouvel Embassadeur d'Amérique’, Le Milliet (Istanbul), 21 Sept. 1927; ‘Yeni Amerikan Sefiri Dün Şehrimize Geldi ve Hariciye Vekilimiz Tarafından Kabul Olundu’ Hakimiyet-i Milliye, 23 Sept. 1927; ‘Grew Received by Kemal’ NYT, 14 Oct. 1927; ‘America at Angora’ NYT, 15 Oct. 1927.

17. Joseph Grew, The Turbulent Era, Diary, Vol.II (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1952), p.724.

18. For example, on how Grew dealt with a number of problems concerning the American schools in Turkey, see Grew, The Turbulent Era, Vol.II, pp.754–95.

19. Grew, The Turbulent Era, Vol.II, p.790.

20. Ibid.

21. Address before Constantinople Woman's College and Robert College on the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of George Washington, 22 Feb. 1932. The Papers of Joseph Clark Grew (hereafter Grew MSS), Houghton Library, Harvard University, Speeches (1927–32), Vol.2, pp.241–2.

22. Report on Grew's new post in Tokyo and the possibility of his succession, by Sherrill, from Ahmet Muhtar (Washington, D.C.), 17 Feb. 1932, TFMA, Protocol, D.I, b.3, No.257. For a detailed account of Grew's mission in Turkey, see Roger Trask, ‘Joseph Grew and the Turco–American Rapprochement, 1927–32,’ in Sydney D. Brown (ed.), Studies on Asia (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967), pp.139–70.

23. Letter from father-in-law, 8 May 1928, Grew MSS, Diary, box. 41, pp.488–9.

24. Charles Sherrill's Letters of Credence, 14 May 1932, TFMA, Protocol, D.1, no.1. Sherrill's appointment to Turkey was a political one made upon the insistence of prominent New York Republican leaders. He was a lawyer and a businessman. His only prior diplomatic experience was as Minister to Argentina (1909–11).

25. The State Department, however, was apprehensive about the political implications of such a biography. Consequently, Sherrill had to wait until his retirement from the Foreign Service to publish the book.

26. Report on Skinner, by Ahmet Muhtar (Washington), 13 Aug. 1933, TFMA, Protocol, D.I, box.3, no.672; Skinner's Letters of Credence and his Résumé, Oct. 29, 1933, TFMA, Protocol, D.I, box.3 (attached to Ahmet Muhtar's report).

27. Report on Turkish–American Relations and the Issue of Reparations, 15 Aug. 1933, TFMA, N. America, Political, box.1, a.1).

28. Register of the Department of State, 1 Oct. 1942 (Washington: Government's Printing, Office, 1943), p.195.

29. MacMurray (Conn.) to Roger R. Trask, 8 Sept. 1958, quoted in Trask, American Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform, p.78.

30. Turkish–American Treaty of Commerce, 1 April 1939, TFMA, Department of Trade, box. 3, a.13.3.

31. MacMurray to Carr (Assistant Secretary of State), 19 June 1936, MacMurray MSS, Box. 153.

32. On Boardman and Polando's visit to Turkey, 27 July–11 Aug. 1931, Grew MSS, v.54; Grew, The Turbulent Era, pp.888–99. Grew was very excited about the arrival of the Transatlantic Flyers and a whole volume in his private papers is devoted to newspaper clippings concerning this topic. There are also numerous photos (including those with Mustafa Kemal).

33. For coverage in the American and Turkish press, see ‘Boardman plane safe in Istanbul breaking world's distance record’ NYT, 13 July 1931; ‘Hava Kahramanları’ Cumhuriyet, 31 July 1931; ‘La magnifique performance du Cape-Cod’ Akcham, 31 July 1931; ‘Une journée historique’, La République, 2 Aug. 1931.

34. ‘Turkey decorates American aviators’, NYT, 2 Aug. 1931; ‘Ismet Pasa ve Tayyareciler’ Milliyet, 2 Aug. 1931; ‘Gazi hazretleri ile aziz misafirlerimiz Amerikalı tayyareciler bir arada’ Vakit, 2 Aug. 1931.

35. Grew, Turbulent Era, Vol.II, p.895.

36. ‘Turkish President Honors Americans’, The Sunday Star (Washington), 2 Aug. 1931.

37. Grew, Turbulent Era, vol.II, p.889.

38. ‘Istanbul Fliers Honored at City Hall’, NYT, 25 Aug. 1931; ‘Istanbul Pilots Welcomed by Hoover’ NYT, 29 Aug. 1931.

39. Diary, 14 Sept. and 29 Dec., Grew MSS, Vol.41; Grew to Lindbergh, 25 Jan. 1929, ibid., Vol.44.

40. ‘J.P. Morgan and party arrive at Istanbul to visit his cousin Grew’ NYT, 8 Apr. 1928; Diary, 8 April 1928, Grew MSS, Vol.42.

41. Roger Trask, American Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform, pp.86–7.

42. William H. Hoover was the head of the Hoover Vacuum Cleaner Company at the time. Among the participants of this meeting were Asa Jennings, Mary Mills Patrick (former president of Istanbul Woman's College), Albert W. Staub (from the Near East Colleges Association), John H. Finley (the associate editor of the New York Times).

43. For detailed information on the origins and activities of the American Friends of Turkey, see the 23-page pamphlet, American Friends of Turkey (New York: American Friends of Turkey, Inc.,1931), in Bristol MSS, Box.96.

44. The meetings of the American Friends of Turkey organized for the ninth and tenth anniversaries of the establishment of the Turkish Republic were especially significant.

45. Report of the Executive Vice-President, American Friends of Turkey, 26 May 1937, p.4, Bristol MSS, Box. 96.

46. Report of Ahmet Muhtar Bey, 27 Dec. 1927, TFMA, N. America, no.53/26; Bilal Şimşir, ‘Türk–Amerikan İlişkilerinin Yeniden Kurulması ve Ahmet Muhtar Bey'in Washington Büyükelçiliği, 1920–27’, Belleten, Vol.XLI, No.162, Apr. 1977, pp.277–356; Bilal Şimşir, Bizim Diplomatlar (Ankara: Bilgi Yayinevi, 1996), pp.119–27.

47. Ahmet Emin Yalman, ‘Çelikten bir Barıs Elçisi’, Vatan, 4 April 1946; Yalman, ‘Hoş Geldin Ey Münir Ertegün’, Vatan, 5 April 1946; ‘Missouri'nin Yarattığı Heyecan’, Vatan, 6 April 1946; for the Turkish Press coverage on the visit of the Missouri, see Ayın Tarihi, April, pp.52–71.

48. These commemorative cigarettes, which would probably have been a politically incorrect token of gratitude today, were very popular at that time. After the departure of the American battleship, the Missouri cigarettes were made available for sale to the public. ‘Missouri Limanımızda’, Vatan, 5 April 1946.

49. ‘Hewitt'in Beyanatı’, Vatan, 6 April 1946. Giving evasive answers to the questions regarding the political significance of the visit, Admiral Hewitt stated that ‘the underlying reason for the Missouri's visit to Turkey is to symbolize the friendship among the two countries and to make gesture of international courtesy.’

50. See Halide Edib [Adıvar], Turkey Faces the West: A Turkish View of Recent Changes and Their Origin (New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1930); Grew to Kellogg, 10 Aug. 1928, DS 867.00/2001.

51. ‘New Turkey Lauded at Williamstown’ NYT, 3 Aug. 1928.

52. Memo, Murray, 16 Nov. 1934, on Conversation with Ambassador Ertegün, DS 811.4061 Musa Dagh/1; Skinner to Hull, 24 Dec. 1935, DS 811.4061 Musa Dagh/49; Ertegün to Murray, 12 Dec. 1938, DS 811.4061 Musa Dagh/54.

53. ‘Atatürk, Hoodlum as Hero’ Ken, Apr. 1938; Roger Trask, p.91.

54. ‘Kemal Becomes Democrat for a Day; Takes Orders from Movie Directors’ Christian Science Monitor, 8 Jan. 1931.

55. Diary, 11 Nov. 1930; Grew MSS, Vol.49, p.2024. Afet Hanım's vision concerning suffrage would materialize in 1934.

56. For an excellent account of étatiste policies and Turkish diplomacy in the inter-war era, see Dislike Burls, Etatism and Diplomacy in Turkey: Economic and Foreign Policy Strategies in an Uncertain World, 1929–1939 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), pp.3–110.

57. Cumhuriyet Arşivi (Republican Archives), No.7858/410–43, 3/21/6(1), 3 April 1929; Grew, The Turbulent Era, Vol.II, pp.800–2; Cumhuriyet Arşivi No.9016 K.1584, 9/15/16(1), 30 Mar. 1930.

58. For a detailed account of how the Turkish leaders emphasized mandatory primary education as a means of communicating the policies and the ideals of the young Turkish Republic to its citizens, see Jessica Tiregöl, ‘The Role of Primary Education in Nation-State-Building: The Case of the Early Turkish Republic (1923–38)’ (PhD Thesis, Princeton University, 1998), passim.

59. John Dewey, Impressions of Soviet Russia and the Revolutionary World, Mexico, China, Turkey (New York: New Republic Inc., 1929).

60. Trask, American Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform, p.137.

61. Memo of Conversation, G. Shaw and T.K. Schmuck (Texas Company), 16 Mar. 1927, DS 867.6363/122; Memo of Conversation, Shaw and John C. Case (Vacuum Oil Company), 6 Dec. 1928, DS 867.6363/130.

62. John DeNovo, American Interests and Policies in the Middle East, 1900–1939 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1963), p.264.

63. ‘T.C. ile Amerika Ford Motör Kumpani Eksports Enkorporeytet Şirketi Arasında Akdedilen Mukavelenamenin Tasdikine Dair Kanun Layihası Görüşmeleri,’ 28 Jan. 1929, Belgelerle Türkiye İktisat Politikası, Vol.I (Ankara, 1988), p.11.

64. ‘Constantinople Ford Assembly Plant’ Levant Trade Review, XVII (February, 1929), pp.43–7.

65. Grew MSS, Am 1687, vol.50, 1930: ‘First Motor Cars Produced by Turks’ Herald, 26 Jan. 1930; ‘First Turkish Fords Out’, New York World, 28 Jan. 1930. Ford's contract with the Turkish government required the company have at least 60 per cent Turkish employees within the first two years of operations, and 75 per cent within six years. This was an efficient way for the Turkish government to create employment opportunities as well as generating revenue. In the meantime, Ford Company benefited from the cheap labour in Turkey. For a first hand account of Ford company's activities and investments in Turkey also see the memoirs of prominent Turkish businessman, Vehbi Koc, Hayat Hikayem (Istanbul: Apa Ofset Basımevi, 1973), pp.55–8.

66. ‘Turkey's First Auto Plant’ New York Times, 9 Feb. 1930.

67. From Loraine, 9 Apr. 1938, PRO, FO. 371/E2170/135/44, quoted in Selim Deringil, Turkish Foreign Policy during the Second World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), p.3.