Close Encounters between Turkey and the U.S: American Indirect Influences on Turkey’s Political and Socio-cultural Life During the 1950s

Tez Türü: Doktora

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, History, Türkiye

Tez Danışmanı: Saadet Seçil Karal Akgün

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2017

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Özet:

This thesis analyzes indirect American influences on Turkey’s political and socio-cultural Iife during a period when major political changes as well as cultural wars were ignited by the two major world powers: the US and the USSR. This was also the time when the world order was shaped by the Cold War in which Turkey played a major role. The study, without mentioning too much political details related to the major events, also attempts to analyze in a historical context how Turkey was drifted away from her neighbor Russia to the protector umbrella of the United States. The events do not constitute the core of the thesis, however, without their historical account it cannot be very possible to make a connection to the American socio-cultural influence on Turkey in the 50s. Therefore, this study aims to acquaint the reader with many of the important events of the time with a specific focal point about how they were portrayed and presented to the Turkish public. The thesis will also analyze the American socio-cultural influence upon the daily life of the Turks from various and selected walks of daily life ranging from education to food and from literary works to the Hollywood stars. These analyses are carried out to find answers to questions concerning Turkey’s dependence to a major power, adherence to foreign cultural values and the future expectations of young generations. The study claims that with all the means, the major power is not always successful to win the hearts of the people it targets to influence.