Dış Politika Aracı Olarak İstihbarat: İkinci Dünya Savaşı Döneminde Tarafsız Türkiye’de CIA’nın Öncülü OSS’nin Operasyonları

Yıl 2026, Cilt: 11 Sayı: 1 , 752 - 782 , 31.03.2026

Murat Toman

https://doi.org/10.24186/vakanuvis.1794582

https://izlik.org/JA79SC48YL

Öz

Öz
II. Dünya Savaşı sırasında ABD Stratejik Servisler Ofisi (OSS), tarafsız Türkiye’de Müttefik diplomasisinin kaldıraçlarından biri hâline gelen gizli operasyonlar yürüttü. Bu makalenin amacı, arşiv belgelerinin yakın okumalarını uluslararası ilişkiler kuramıyla birleştirerek bu faaliyetlerin Ankara’nın savaş sırasındaki tarafsızlığını ve savaş sonrası yönelimini nasıl şekillendirdiğini açıklamaktır. Çalışmanın önemi, tarafsızlık ve ittifak oluşumunu açıklayan anlatılarda istihbaratın çoğu kez arka planda kalmasına; onu analizin merkezine yerleştirmenin belirsizlik ve tehdit altında devlet tercihlerini nasıl yeniden kalibre ettiğini görünür kılmasına dayanmaktadır. Yöntemsel olarak çalışma, ABD savaş dönemi arşivlerinden örneğin; OSS saha raporları, telgraflar, diplomatik yazışmalarından yararlanmakta, nitel bir vaka incelemesi yürütmekte ve bulguları realist tehdit dengesi ve kurumsalcı yaklaşımlarla yorumlamakta; operasyonlardan politikaya uzanan mekanizmaları, bilgi toplama, etki süreçleri ve karşılıklı tavizlere dayalı pazarlık, izlemektedir. Analiz, İstanbul’daki OSS ağlarının Mihver hareketleri hakkında zamanlı raporlar üreterek Alman nüfuzunu aşındırdığını ve Türkiye’yi Mihver’den uzaklaştırmaya dönük Müttefik baskısını güçlendirdiğini göstermektedir. Aynı anda Cumhurbaşkanı İsmet İnönü ve yakın çevresi, resmî tarafsızlığı korurken Müttefik istihbaratıyla seçici iş birliği yaparak yardım ve güvenlik güvenceleri elde etmeye yönelen bir “istihbarat diplomasisi” uygulamıştır. Çıktılar, Türkiye’nin savaşın sonuna doğru Almanya ile bağları koparmasını ve savaş sonrasında ABD tarafından liderliği yürütülen özgür dünyaya daha pürüzsüz bir geçiş yapmasını içermektedir. Çalışmanın literatüre katkısı, istihbaratı diplomasiyle eşgüdüm içinde işleyen bir dış politika aracı olarak kuramsallaştırmak, tehdit altındaki tarafsızlığa dair açıklamaları keskinleştirmek ve küçük devletlerin dengeleme/tedbir stratejilerine uygun bir “istihbarat diplomasisi” örneği ortaya koymaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

CIA , İkinci Dünya Savaşı; , Aktif Tarafsızlık , Dogwood , Evros Mission , istihbarat diplomasisi , OSS , Türkiye , ABD

Intelligence as Covert Statecraft: The OSS, CIA’s Predecessor, in Neutral Turkey, 1939-1945

https://izlik.org/JA79SC48YL

Öz

Abstract
During World War II, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) ran clandestine operations in neutral Turkey that became a lever of Allied diplomacy. The aim of this article is to explain how these covert activities shaped Ankara’s wartime neutrality and postwar alignment by integrating close archival analysis with international relations theory. The study is important because intelligence is often treated as background noise in accounts of neutrality and alliance formation; placing it at the center clarifies how states recalibrate choices under uncertainty and threat. Methodologically, the article conducts a qualitative case study using U.S. wartime archives such as; OSS field reports, cables, and diplomatic correspondence and interprets the evidence through realist balance-of-threat and institutionalist lenses, tracing mechanisms, collection, influence, and quid-pro-quo bargaining, that link operations to policy outcomes. The analysis finds that OSS networks in İstanbul generated timely reporting on Axis movements and eroded German influence, reinforcing Allied leverage to distance Turkey from the Axis. At the same time, President İsmet İnönü and his advisers practiced “intelligence diplomacy,” selectively cooperating with Allied espionage to extract aid and security assurances while maintaining formal neutrality. Outcomes include Turkey’s late-war rupture with Germany and a smoother path into the postwar U.S. led free world. The article contributes to the literature by utilizing the intelligence as a tool of statecraft that works in tandem with diplomacy, sharpening explanations of neutrality under threat, and offering an empirically grounded concept, “intelligence diplomacy”, that travels to other cases of small-state hedging.

Anahtar Kelimeler

OSS , CIA , World War II, , Intelligence Diplomacy , Active Neutrality , Turkey , U.S. , Dogwood , Evros Mission

Etik Beyan

This study was conducted in full compliance with academic ethical standards. It is based exclusively on historical and publicly available sources, with no human participants or sensitive personal data involved. All materials are cited with integrity, ensuring transparency, accuracy, and respect for scholarly conventions.

Teşekkür

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the editorial board of Vakunivist Journal for their careful consideration and support in facilitating the publication of this article.

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