English » CIVIS » 70784, Turkish Diplomacy during the Cold War

Department of Turkish Studies and Modern Asian Studies

Course 70784, Turkish Diplomacy during the Cold War, 5 ECTS, 5th semester. 

Tutor: A. Deriziotis, Lecturer

Antonis Deriziotis <aderiziot[at]turkmas.uoa[dot]gr>

Thursday, 19:00 - 21:00 4 Dragatsaniou str, Classroom 410

Aims and Objectives

 

This course was set up to cover Turkish diplomatic history during the complex Cold War years, in parallel to the analysis of Ankara’s relations to the West. From the evasive neutral to the Iran-Iraq war and the collapse of the Soviet Union, it focuses on the Cold War period and specifically, from the Marshall Plan (1948) until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Through this course the students are introduced to the Cold War and its particularities and study the development of Turkey’s foreign policy, on the one hand as a member of the western block and NATO, and on the other through its bilateral relation to the USA and Ankara’s role as Washington’s Middle East and Eat Mediterranean policy carrier. The course aims at presenting and discussing:

i) Turkey's course from World War II, its international treaties and alliances and the struggle to secure its borders in the polarized post World War II international environment, and the challenges of its western orientation.

ii) The principles of Turkish diplomacy, which have formed its political choices.

 

Course outline

 

1. Introduction to the Cold War (2 lectures)

Introduction course to the meaning of the Cold War. A presentation of the theoretical approaches to who is to be blamed for the Cold War and an analysis of the basic events that led to it. A presentation and a discussion of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, and Turkey’s relation to them is included.

2. US Cold War strategy and Turkey (4 lectures)

This section is aiming at analysing the four basic elements of US Cold War strategy and Turkey’s relation to them:

  • NATO
  • Korea War
  • Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO)
  • Eisenhower Doctrine

3. Turkey’s role in the Middle East (3 lectures)

This section aims at Turkey’s Middle East role during the Cold War. It is divided into two subsections:

  • Iran, Israel, Jordan
  • Egypt, Syria, Iraq

4. US-Turkish relations in the 1970s and 1980s (3 lectures)

In this last section of the course, the students approach:

  • The Cyprus issue and the ensuing crisis
  • The lift of the 1974 US arms sales embargo and the US-Turkish rapprochement
  • Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Özal’s foreign policy

 

 

 

Course assessment

Group essay and presentation (40%), final written exam (60%).

 

 

Bibliography

Course basic bibliography

1. Athanassopoulou, E., Turkey: Anglo-American security interests, 1945-1952, (London: Frank Cass, 1999)

2. Ashton, N., Regional conflict and the superpowers 1967-1973 (London: Routledge, 2007)

3. Aydin, M., and Erhan, Ç., (eds), Turkish American relations: Past, present and future, (London: Routledge, 2004)

4. Barrett, R.C., The greater Middle East and the Cold War - US foreign policy under Eisenhower and Kennedy (London: I.B.Tauris, 2007)

5. Bilgin, M., Britain and Turkey in the Middle East: Politics and influence in the early Cold War era (London: Tauris, 2007)

6. Brown, C., Diplomacy in the Middle East: the international relations of regional and outside powers, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2003)

7. Buzan, B., People, States and fear: the national security problem in International relations (London: Harvester-Wheatsheaf, 1991)

8. Davutoĝlu, A., Το στρατηγικό βάθος, μτφ Ν. Ραπτόπουλος, (Αθήνα: Ποιότητα, 2010)

9. Hale, W., Turkish foreign policy, 1774-2000, (London: Frank Cass, 2000)

10. Mayers, D., George Kennan and the dilemmas of US foreign policy (Oxford: OUP, 1988)

11. Owen, R., State, Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East (London: Routledge, 2006)

12. Painter, D., The Cold War-an international history (London: Routledge, 1999)

13. Reynolds, D., From World war to Cold War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)

14. Robbins, Ph., Στρατός και διπλωματία, μτφ Ε. Μπαρτζινόπουλος, (Αθήνα: Σύγχρονοι Ορίζοντες, 2004)

15. Tamkin, N., Britain, Turkey and the Soviet Union, 1940-45 (New York: Palgrave-McMillan, 2009)

16. Terry, J., US foreign  policy in the Middle East: the role of lobbies and special interest groups (London: Pluto press, 2005)

17. Ulgul, M., The Soviet Influence on Turkish Foreign Policy (1945-1960),

Vaughan, J.R., The failure of American and British propaganda in the Arab Middle East, 1945-57 (New York: Palgrave-McMillan, 2005)

18. Wenger, A., Nuenlist, Ch., Locher, A., Transforming NATO in the Cold War - Challenges beyond deterrence in the 1960's (London: Routledge, 2007)

19. Yesilbursa, B.K., The Baghdad pact: Anglo-american defence policies in the Middle East, 1950-1959 (London: Frank Cass, 2005)

20. Webber, F.G., The Evasive Neutral: Germany, Britain and the Quest for a Turkish Alliance in the Second World War, (Columbia, University of Missouri press: 1979)