The Korean War and Turkish-American Relations

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

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

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2019

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: NUR SEDA TEMUR

Danışman: Tuba Ünlü Bilgiç

Özet:

This thesis aims to analyze the relations between Turkey and the United States during the Korean War and asks how Turkey’s involvement in the KoreanWar affected bilateral relations. Therefore, this thesis examined the bilateralrelations by relaying on primary sources and applying a theoretical framework. Thearchival documents shed light on the bilateral relations and bandwagoningtheoretical framework helps to understand the war. The various aspects of the closerelationship between two sides are presented with the framework of theory. In doingso, the thesis first examined the Turkish-American relations between 1945 and1950. Then, it focused on the Korean War. After this, it evaluated the involvement ofTurkey and the U.S. in the Korean War. Lastly, the thesis examined the impact of theinvolvement of Turkey in the war on Turkish-American relations. As a result, this thesis argues that the impact of Turkey’s involvement in the Korean War on Turkish-American relations during the Korean War can be explained within thebandwagoning theoretical framework.The impact was most apparent in twodomains: security and economy. In the first domain there are four main factors that affected the relations in terms of security which are the Turkish desire for moreAmerican military aid, Turkish desire for UN Security Council Membership, thedesire to overcome the communist threat, and lastly Turkish desire for NATOmembership. In the second domain, the impact is quite observable given the continuity of American economic aid and the increase in American investment inTurkey.