The history of Turkish-American relations in the early years of the twentieth century, before World War II, forms a significant part of the background necessary to an understanding of the present political importance to America of the Middle East. This book, after a brief introduction covering the period before 1914, analyzes in detail the course of relations between Turkey and the United States from the beginning of World War I to the start of World War II.

The period which Professor Trask covers in this study was a critical time in both nations’ histories. The relations between the two countries varied from cool neutrality (1914) to a rupture of formal ties (1917) to rapprochement (by 1939). Conditions affective Turkish-American contacts included two world wars, a major world depression, and, especially, a Turkish nationalist revolution under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk. Professor Trask analyzes the process of American accommodation to this revolution, with emphasis on diplomatic, political, economic, social, and cultural ties, and points out the implications for the balance of power during World War II and the cold war.

$50.00 paper ISBN 978-0-8166-6048-3
292 pages, 6x9.25, 1971