A Re-evaluation of the Revisionist - Status Quo Dichotomy in Interwar Turkish Foreign Policy, 1936-1939

Turkish history during the interwar period (1918-1939) has been described in terms which place it on a dichotomy best used to analyse the actions of the eventual belligerents in World War II. This dichotomy describes the eventual defeated Axis countries as revisionist and the victorious Allies as status quo nations in the interwar period. The contention is that this distinction, taking as its basis the actions of belligerents, is unhelpful in analysing the foreign policy of a non-belligerent state in WWII.Three case studies are examined through the secondary literature as well as archival sources to show that notions of Turkey as either status quo or revisionist are not entirely accurate. This is because Turkish foreign policy can be classified as either or both, thus diminishing the terms’ explanatory utility. Three case studies are; the Montreux Straits Convention (1936), the Saadabad Pact (1937) and the Sanjak dispute of Alexandretta (1936-39). A reading of history which assumes macro level (1914-1945) superiority based on Great Power interests and actions undermines the complexity of Turkish foreign policy in the 1930s. By extension, the practice of subsuming the actions of smaller states under terminology which was intended for Great Powers is challenged

Belligerent · Economic history · Foreign policy · Interwar period · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Status quo · Turkish · World War II · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Historical Turkish Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Turkey's Politics and Society

• Fezzes in the River

  Open Access•Nur Bilge Criss•Turkish Studies•2011

  Incluir item

• Turkish‐German relations on the eve of world war two

  Open Access•Yücel Güçlü•Turkish Studies•2000

  Incluir item

• Turkish foreign and strategic policy 1934–42

  Brock Millman•Middle Eastern Studies•1995

  Incluir item

• Turkish Diplomacy in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. Opportunities and Limits for Middle-power Activism in the 1930s

  Open Access•Dilek Barlas•Journal of Contemporary History•2005

  Incluir item

• The United States Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform 1914-1939

  Robert H Ferrell, Roger R Trask•Journal of American History•1972

  Incluir item

• The Eden Memoirs. Facing the Dictators

  F H Soward•International Journal Canada s…•1963

  Incluir item

• The Foreign Policy of Iran. A Developing Nation in World Affairs, 1500-1941

  Roger M Savory, Rouhollah K Ramazani•International Journal Canada s…•1967

  Incluir item

• Turkish Foreign Policy, 1774-2000

  L Carl Brown, William Hale et al.•Foreign Affairs•2001

  Incluir item