Abstract
‘Recognizing that the Turkish case paled by comparison with the crisis facing
Greece, Truman made only the barest mention of Turkey in his historic message to
Congress on March 12, 1947. Nor did testimony before congressional committees
reflect greater emphasis.’1 This comment by George Harris indicates the well-known
fact that Turkey was not a focal point of interest for the Truman administration at
the beginning of the Cold War. Nevertheless, Turkey from the beginning of the Cold
War had enjoyed the advantages of being located at the crossroads of two
geographic areas for which the US developed special tools to control post-war
dynamics.