British Perceptions of Turkey and Turks in the Mid-Twentieth Century

Year 2020, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 33 - 57, 20.01.2020

Behçet Kemal Yeşilbursa

Abstract

A permanent British embassy has been present in Constantinople (İstanbul) since 1583, and William Harborne, a merchant and former member of parliament, was appointed as Britain’s first ambassador. The main British interest in developing diplomatic relations with Turkey at this time was to promote trade, but even during Harborne’s time, political interest in British friendship with Turkey had also gained importance. Between 1583 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Britain’s permanent diplomatic presence in Turkey was unbroken. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed for ten years between 1914 and 1924. Following the establishment of the republic in 1923, friendly diplomatic relationships between the two countries began to develop. This article presents the observations of three British Ambassadors to Turkey, Sir James Bowker, Sir Alexander Knox Helm and Sir Roderick Sarell, on the characteristics of the Turks and the situation in Turkey. A major theme of the article is British diplomats’ perceptions of Turkish politics, diplomacy and society, particularly in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, an era of fundamental and lasting changes for Turkey, as it was for Britain. The article touches specifically upon the British embassy’s evaluations of the Democrat Party governments of the 1950s, and the military regime that succeeded them in 1960.

Keywords

Sir James Bowker, Sir Alexander Knox Helm, Sir Roderick Sarell, Turkey

References

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