Turkey’s quest for NATO membership: the institutionalization of the Turkish–American alliance

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the institutionalization of the Turkish–American alliance through the Turkish pursuit of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership. It examines the external as well as some of the internal factors that shaped this transformation during the period of 1945–1952, starting with the end of the Second World War and lasting until Turkey’s accession to NATO. The main argument of this paper is that Turkey’s NATO membership has institutionalized three important transformations. The first one is the culmination of Turkey’s long-lasting search for security. The second one is Turkey’s quest for Westernization and an acknowledgement of its identity and role as an integral part of the West and its institutions. Finally, the third and more specific one is the institutionalization of the Turkish–American alliance through Turkey’s NATO membership, which has become one of the main pillars of Turkish foreign policy to this date.

Keywords:

• NATO
• Turkey
• USA
• Cold War
• Westernization

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank TUBA for its financial support through GEBİP and TÜBİTAK for its support through the BİDEB Programme. She would also like to thank CREEES at Stanford University.

Notes

1. For a detailed account of the reasons underlying the changing American stance towards the Soviet Union and its impact on Turkish–American Relations, see Ulman (1961, 69–85).

2. Personal Interview with Ahmet Ertegün, Mica Ertegün Conference, Princeton University, April 2003. On the illness and the death of Ertegün, see Mehmet Münir Ertegün, TFMA, Sicil No.63; From Turkish Foreign Ministry to the Turkish Embassy in Washington, Telegram, 11 November, 1944, TFMA, no. 301; From the Turkish Embassy in Washington to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Telegram, 11 November, 1944, TFMA, no. 360.

3. For the Turkish Press coverage on the visit of the Missouri, see Ayın Tarihi, April, 52–71.

4. USFR, 1946, vol. 7: 902–3.

5. For the text of the Soviet note, see US Department of State, The Problem of the Turkish Straits [hereafter Straits] (Washington, 1947): 47–9.

6. For the text of the US note, see Straits, 49-50; USFR, 1946, vol. 7, 840–2.

7. For the texts of the Soviet note of 24 September 1946, the American and the British notes of 9 October 1946 and the Turkish note of 18 October 1946, see Straits, 55–68.

8. See Public Law 75, 80th Cong., 1st Sess., Chap. 81.

9. See Aid to Turkey, Treaties and Other International Act Series, 1629, 12 July 1947.

10. On the Turkish Foreign Ministry reports regarding the Marshall Plan, see Report on America’s Economic Aid to Europe, TFMA, N. America, Political, Box 3, a.13, 25 June 1947.

11. The part in italics has been added by the author.

12. Report on General Marshall’s Speech and Marshall Aid, by Mr. Uşaklıgil, the General Director of the Department of Economic Relations and Commerce, TFMA, North America, Political, Box II, 3 July 1947.

13. The original 12 signatories were the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Norway, Iceland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg.

14. For İnönü’s statement, see Sabahat Erdemir, ed., Muhalefetde İsmet İnönü (İstanbul, 1956), 18, 32–3; the former Foreign Minister Necmeddin Sadak was also very critical of the Korean expedition, Necmeddin Sadak, ‘Kore Savaşı ve Türkiye’, Akşam, 16 July 1950.