Turkish Foreign Policy Toward the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62)

Abstract

Turkish foreign policy toward the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was construed as persistent Turkish endorsement of official French positions generating abiding resentment among the states of the Third World, especially Arab states, and understandably in Algeria, which was to elicit backlashes from the Third World states thereafter consequently causing substantial complications in Turkish foreign policy. Stressing the importance of incorporating nonmaterial and ideational factors in analyses of foreign policy, two arguments are put forward in this article for an accurate explanation of Turkish foreign policy toward Algerian War of Independence. First, it was the conception of the West, defined not only in strategic or military terms, but also in ideational and civilizational terms that induced Turkish policy-makers to adopt insular policies regarding Algeria. Second, a “temporal contextualization” of Turkish foreign policy during the Algerian War of Independence is required for a proper understanding of Turkish foreign policy toward the Algerian War of Independence.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Nur Bilge Criss for her valuable comments and criticisms on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

Matthew Connelly, “Rethinking the Cold War and Decolonization: The Grand Strategy of the Algerian War of Independence,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2 (2001), pp. 221–245, p. 233.

Atatürk’ün Bütün Eserleri, Vol. 15 (İstanbul: Kaynak Yayınları, 2005), p. 24.

Atatürk’ün Bütün Eserleri, Vol. 13 (İstanbul: Kaynak Yayınları, 2005), p. 136.

Stephen P. Duggan, “Factors in the Chinese Situation,” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 3 (September 1929), pp. 379–96, p. 389. The other event, to Duggan, was “the offer of Bolshevik Russia actively to support China against the other powers.” Ibid, p. 389.

Faruk Demirtaş, “Cezayirli Lider Mesali Hacı ‘Yarı Yarıya Türküm Diyor’,” Milliyet, January 30, 1959.

Bige Yavuz, Kurtuluş Savaşı Döneminde Türk-Fransız İlişkileri (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 1994).

Lütfü Akdoğan, Krallar ve Başkanlarla 50 Yıl (İstanbul: ABC Ajansı Yayınları, 2002). Emphasis added.

“National independence through restoration of the Algerian state, sovereign, democratic, and social, within the framework of the principles of Islam”. For the full text of the proclamation in French, see, Pierre Montagnon, Histoire de 'Algérie: Des Origines à Nos Jours (Paris: Pygmalion, 1998), pp. 267–271.

Raymond F. Betts, France and Decolonisation, 1900–1960 (Hampshire: Macmillan, 1991), p. 103.

Franz Ansprenger, The Dissolution of the Colonial Empires (London: Routledge, 1989), p. 229. Emphasis in original.

Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962 (New York: New York Review of Books, 2006), p. 98.

See, for example, “Fransızlar Cezayirde Tank ve Uçak Kullanmaya Başladılar,” Milliyet, November 6, 1954; “Cezayir'de Çarpışmalar Birdenbire Şiddetlendi,” Milliyet, November 11, 1954.

“Cezayirli Milliyetçiler Dün Fransızların Çemberini Yardı,” Milliyet, November 22, 1954.

“Afrika'ya İstiklal Verilemez,” Milliyet, January 20, 1955.

Horne (2006), p. 131.

“Fransa B. Milletlerdeki Delegelerini Geri Çekti,” Milliyet, September 2, 1955.

John Ruedy, Modern Algeria: The Origins and Development of a Nation (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), p. 169.

Ergun Göksan, “Dün Fransız Başvekil İle İktisadi Görüşmeler Yapan Menderes Paris'ten Döndü,” Milliyet, December 21, 1957.

The massage was delivered to the embassies of the four members of the Baghdad Pact, namely Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq. See, “Cezayir Bizden Yardım İstedi,” Milliyet, February 1, 1958.

Horne (2006), p. 315.

Refi Cevat Ulunay, “Cezayir Kurtulacak,” Milliyet, May 19, 1958.

Connelly (2001), p. 232.

“Cezayir Hakkındaki Tasarıyı B.M. Reddetti,” Milliyet, December 15, 1958.

Charles-Robert Ageron and Michael Brett (Trans.), Modern Algeria: A History from 1830 to the Present (London: Hurst and Company, 1991), p. 120.

Sami Kohen, “Cezayir: Müzakere Safhası,” Milliyet, October 15, 1959.

Charles C. Cogan, “France, the United States and the Invisible Algerian Outcome,” Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 25, No. 2 (June 2002), pp. 138–158, p. 144.

Berdal Aral, “Fifty Years On: Turkey's Voting Orientation at the UN General Assembly,” Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 40, No. 2 (March 2004), pp. 137–160, p. 139.

Mustafa Aydın, “Determinants of Turkish Foreign Policy: Changing Patterns and Conjunctures during the Cold War,” Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 36, No. 1 (January 2000), pp. 103–139, p. 116.

Sami Kohen, “Yeni Dış Politikamız,” Milliyet, September 22, 1960.

“Fransa Cezayir İçin Arabuluculuk Teklifimizi Reddetti,” Milliyet, September 27, 1960.

Ibid.

“Resolutions Adopted on the Reports of the First Committee,” UN. http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/153/47/IMG/NR015347.pdf?OpenElement

İskender Songur, “B.M. Cezayir İçin Referandum İstiyor,” Milliyet, December 17, 1960.

“Arap Talebeler Gürsel'e Tasvip Telgrafı Çekti,” Milliyet, December 19, 1960.

See, for example, the editorial of the daily Milliyet, “Nihayet … Cezayir'de Barış!” Milliyet, June 30, 1962.

Ali Halil, Atatürkçü Dış Politika ve NATO ve Türkiye (İstanbul: Gerçek Yayınevi, 1968), pp. 155–156.

Melek Fırat and Ömer Kürkçüoğlu, “Orta Doğu'yla İlişkiler,” in Baskın Oran (ed.), Türk Dış Politikası, Vol. I (İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2005), pp. 615–635, p. 634.

Kenan Akın, Cezayir'de Fransız Vahşeti ve Ötesi (İstanbul: Derin Yayınları, 2003), p. 53.

Bülent Zarif, “Özal: İlişkilerimizin Canlanmasına Çalışacağım,” Milliyet, February 5, 1985.

Aydın (2000), p. 113.

Ömer E. Kürkçüoğlu, Türkiye'nin Arap Orta Doğusu'na Karşı Politikası (1945–1970) (Ankara: Sevinç Matbaası, 1972), pp. 91–101.

Bülent Akarcalı, “Türkiye, Fransa ve Cezayir,” Vatan, February 6, 2005.

Aydın (2000), p. 112.

Ibid.

William Hale, Turkish Foreign Policy, 1774–2000 (London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2002), p. 128.

Oral Sander, Türk-Amerikan İlişkileri (1947–1964) (Ankara: Sevinç Matbaası, 1979), pp. 62–67.

George Harris, Troubled Alliance (Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute, 1972), p. 115.

Ahmet Ş. Esmer, “Uyduluk Siyasetine Son,” Milliyet, December 24, 1964.