TURKEY’S RELATIONS WITH ITALY (1932-39): REALITIES AND PERCEPTIONS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY MEHMET DOĞAR IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS JULY 2020 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Yaşar Kondakçı Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Oktay Fırat Tanrısever Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Ebru Boyar Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı (METU, IR) Prof. Dr. Ebru Boyar (METU, IR) Assist. Prof. Dr. Onur İşçi (Bilkent Uni., IR) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Mehmet Doğar Signature : iii ABSTRACT TURKEY’S RELATIONS WITH ITALY (1932-39): REALITIES AND PERCEPTIONS Doğar, Mehmet M.Sc., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ebru Boyar July 2020, 233 pages This thesis examines Turkey’s relations with Italy between 1932 and 1939 through key historical events and analyses the role of Italy in Turkish foreign policy making. In so doing, it underlines the complex and multifaceted nature of the relations between the two countries and challenges the widely-held axiom in the secondary literature that the relations evolved from friendship to enmity in a unilinear way. This thesis argues that what defined the relations between these two Mediterranean countries in the late interwar period was not a direct Italian threat to Turkey and Turkey’s fear of it; but was rather the divergence in the views of Turkey and Italy regarding the international system. In this period, while Turkey based its foreign policy on the idea of collective security, Italy adopted an aggressive foreign policy and opted for a great-power-led international system. In the context of the international environment, Turkey’s relations with Italy in 1932- 1939 were a prime example of the active, multilateral and pragmatic nature of Turkish foreign policy in the inter-war period. Keywords: Turkish-Italian Relations, Turkish Foreign Policy, the Early Turkish Republican Period iv ÖZ TÜRKİYE’NİN İTALYA İLE İLİŞKİLERİ (1932-39): GERÇEKLER VE ALGILAR Doğar, Mehmet Yüksek Lisans, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Ebru Boyar Temmuz 2020, 233 sayfa Bu tez, Türkiye’nin 1932-1939 yılları arasında İtalya ile olan ilişkilerini bu dönemin ana tarihsel olayları üzerinden incelemekte ve İtalya’nın Türk dış politikası yapımındaki rolünü analiz etmektedir. İki ülke arasındaki ilişkilerin karmaşık ve çok yönlü doğasını vurgulayan tez, ikincil literatürde çokça kabul gören ilişkilerin dostluktan düşmanlığa lineer bir şekilde evrildiği önermesine karşı çıkmaktadır. İki dünya savaşı arası dönemin son bölümünde, iki Akdeniz ülkesi arasındaki ilişkileri, İtalya’nın Türkiye’ye doğrudan tehdidinin ve Türkiye’nin bundan korkusunun belirlemediği savunulan tezde, asıl belirleyici faktörün Türkiye’nin ve İtalya’nın uluslararası sistemi algılayışlarındaki farklılık olduğu savunulmaktadır. Bu dönemde, Türkiye müşterek emniyet fikri üzerine dış politikasını temellendirirken, İtalya saldırgan bir dış politika benimsemiş ve büyük güçlerin yönetiminde olan bir uluslararası sistemi tercih etmiştir. Dönemin uluslararası ilişkiler sistemi içinde Türkiye’nin 1932-1939 yılları arasında İtalya ile olan ilişkileri aslında bu dönemdeki Türk dış politikasının aktif, çok katmanlı ve pragmatik doğasına başlıca bir örnektir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Türk-İtalyan İlişkileri, Türk Dış Politikası, Erken Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Dönemi v To my mentors, Professor Ebru Boyar and Dr Kate Fleet vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is dedicated to my mentors Professor Ebru Boyar and Dr Kate Fleet, who have been supporting my academic endeavours generously for many years. My thesis supervisor Professor Boyar’s first-year undergraduate course in world history was the reason at the first place why I planned an academic career in Turkish history. For the last six years, she has graciously offered academic guidance and has always been the best source of inspiration for me. In the writing process of this thesis, too, she devotedly supported me and was always there whenever I needed her help. Moreover, the opportunity of being her teaching assistant in this year was a priceless experience for me, an experience which enabled me to see the hard work behind such a great historian. I cannot thank her enough but at least I am relieved to know that I will have a lot of opportunities in the future to express my gratitude to her since she will continue to be my lifelong mentor. I should also like to thank my ‘unofficial mentor’ Dr Kate Fleet, who has always inspired me and generously offered help whenever I needed. From the very beginning, even as a second-year undergraduate student, she took me seriously, listened to my academic plans and helped me draw my academic path. Having such a guidance from an authority on Ottoman history has always made me feel privileged. Further, her help during the writing process of this thesis was also very kind and generous. She did not only offer invaluable comments on the earlier drafts of this thesis but also helped with its language. I am very grateful to her and I am delighted that she will soon be my ‘official mentor’ and my PhD supervisor at Cambridge. Moreover, I am also thankful to both Professor Boyar and Dr Fleet for their virtual company during this difficult period of a pandemic and for their generous sharing of the archival materials from the National Archives (London) and the Middle East Centre Archives, St Antony’s College (Oxford). vii I should also like to thank my thesis committee members Professor Hüseyin Bağcı and Assistant Professor Onur İşçi for their acceptance to be in my examination committee and for their helpful comments. Professor Bağcı’s belief in my studies has always been a source of motivation for me. I am also grateful to my Italian instructor Alessandra Nicolosi, who taught me Italian during my undergraduate studies and thus enabled me to use Italian sources in this thesis. She is the best language instructor I have ever had. Moreover, I would like to offer my special thanks to people behind the great project, Gazeteden Tarihe Bakış Projesi of İstanbul University Library, which significantly enriched the content of this thesis. Surely, I owe a very important debt to my friends, who have supported me in this process. Beyza Ungan, my best friend and a sister, unsurprisingly deserves the greatest appreciation since she was the one who listened to my endless complaints about the difficulty of writing this thesis and continuously encouraged me to do my best. I am always very grateful for her unconditional love and endless support. Yasemin Barık was also very supportive in this process and I am thankful for her support and her belief in me even at times when I doubted myself. I should also like to thank my flatmate Tayanç Güngör for his patience with me and for his companionship in the writing process of this thesis. Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to my parents Rana Doğar and Resul Doğar. My beloved parents have always supported me by all means and never ceased to believe in me. I will always be grateful to them. In this difficult period of a pandemic which coincided with the period of writing this thesis, they have been most patient with me, for which I must especially thank them. Moreover, my beloved sister Sena Doğar has been a source of great support during this process. I am thankful for her presence in my life not only as a sister but also as a wise friend. I also dedicate this thesis to them, my family. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ....................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................ v DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................... xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Secondary Literature Survey ..................................................... 10 1.2 Explaining Turkey’s Relations with Italy (1932-1939) .................... 13 2. RE-DEFINING TURKEY’S RELATIONS WITH ITALY (1932-1934) ... 15 2.1 Turkey’s Entry to the League of Nations in 1932 and Italy’s Response ...........................................................................................15