Turkish Foreign Policy in the Early Cold War Era

After World War II, Turkey began to search for a place in the Western bloc in the bi-polar world. It might be said that this was the natural consequence of the westernization policy of Turkey starting from more than a century ago as well as the Soviet threat directed towards its territorial integrity. Turkey's phobia for isolationism from the western world, which was a result of the criticism concerning the country's neutral stance in the war, was escalated even further by the strong criticism and cold attitude demonstrated at the beginning by USA and Great Britain. However, the interests of Turkish foreign policy were compatible with US regional interests, which in turn helped Turkey to find a place in the Western security system. This study firstly focuses on the Turkish foreign policy makers' efforts to find a ground in the western bloc; then it evaluates Turkey's eagerness to become a regional Cold War player by leading the establishment of regional pacts with the support of USA.