From analysis to policy: Turkish studies in the 1950s and the diplomacy of ideas

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.