TURKISH PRESS AND THE EARLY COLD WAR (1945-1950) A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY SEMİH GÖKATALAY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MIDDLE EAST STUDIES AUGUST 2016 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Tülin Gençöz Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assist. Prof. Dr. Derya Göçer Akder 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. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ebru Boyar Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Bedirhanoğlu (METU, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ebru Boyar (METU, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nazan Çiçek (AÜ-SBF, PADM) PLAGIARISM 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 materials and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Semih GÖKATALAY Signature : iii ABSTRACT TURKISH PRESS AND THE EARLY COLD WAR (1945-1950) Gökatalay, Semih M.Sc., Department of Middle East Studies Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ebru Boyar August 2016, 302 pages This thesis investigated how Turkish press’ perceptions of the early Cold War were shaped from 1945 to 1950 by utilizing newspaper articles from the relevant period. The period at hand experienced Soviet demands from Turkey, Turkey’s drive to the West, and domestic political (i.e., transition to the multi-party system) and economic (i.e., transition to the liberal economy) changes. In this atmosphere, the Turkish press, which had organic links with politicians, had a vital role in shaping the domestic public opinion according to the early Cold War dynamics. In other words, the press was instrumental both to make the Turkish public to believe that a change in Turkish foreign policy direction was absolutely necessary and to spread out messages to the world with regard to Turkey’s understanding of struggles among foreign powers, which could not be uttered by Turkish political figures through the official channels. Early Cold War perceptions and presentations of the Turkish press, including governmental and oppositional newspapers did not follow a linear trend, in fact they had many inconsistencies; besides, the press did not perceive international developments in a uniform manner. Nonetheless, as this thesis argued, the abovementioned perceptions did not appear to be divergent from each other. Keywords: Turkey, Press, Early Cold War iv ÖZ TÜRK BASINI VE ERKEN SOĞUK SAVAŞ (1945-1950) Gökatalay, Semih Yüksek Lisans, Orta Doğu Araştırmaları Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç.Dr. Ebru Boyar Ağustos 2016, 302 sayfa Bu tez, dönemin gazetelerini kullanarak, Türk basınının 1945-1950 arasındaki erken Soğuk Savaş algılarının nasıl şekillendiğini incelemiştir. Bu dönem, Sovyetlerin Türkiye'den talepleriyle Türkiye'nin batıya yönelmesine ve çok partili sisteme geçiş gibi siyasi ve liberal ekonomiye geçiş gibi iktisadi dönüşümlere tanıklık etmiştir. Bu atmosferde, siyasilerle organik bağları bulunan Türk basını, erken Soğuk Savaş kamuoyunun şekillenmesinde anahtar bir role sahiptir. Basın, kamuoyunu Türk dış politikasındaki değişikliğin zorunluluğuna inandırmak görevini üstlenmiş ve ayrıca dış güçlere politikacıların resmi kanallardan veremeyeceği mesajları iletmek için aracı rolünü oynamıştır. Hem hükümet yanlısı hem de muhalefet destekçisi gazeteleri içeren Türk basınının, erken Soğuk Savaş algıları ve sunuşlarının doğrusal bir biçimde ilerlemediği hatta pek çok tutarsızlıklara sahip olduğu, bununla birlikte basının dış gelişmeleri algılamasının tek düze olmadığı gözlemlenmiştir. Ancak yine de bu tezin tartıştığı üzere, yukarıda bahsi geçen algılar birbirlerinden çok uzak görünmemektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Türkiye, Basın, Erken Soğuk Savaş v DEDICATION To My Parents vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Among all the people that I would like to thank for their direct or indirect contribution to this thesis, Ebru Boyar unsurprisingly comes first. She was the one who has always encouraged me to study the discipline of history with her endless support and understanding. I want to thank her for all the support she had given me before and during the time that I wrote this study. She not only taught me about how to do a historical research but also showed me what a perfect ‘mentor’ should be. As I said before, I will never forget her academic and mental supports during my tough times, which was a priceless experience for me, as being ‘only’ a candidate to become an academic. The valuable advices of Pınar Bedirhanoğlu and Nazan Çiçek are also gratefully acknowledged. Of course, I am grateful to Gözde Emen, ‘still’ as the best colleague in the world, for its enthusiastic engagement with my work. I am so thankful for having her in my life, as I will always be. With only her company and despite my constantly changing mood from the Brainy Smurf to the Grouchy Smurf, I was able to write this thesis. That’s why I should like to express both my gratefulness and apologies for my future wife. I want to thank my lovely and intellectual family as well. Without their understanding and patience, I would most probably have given up writing my thesis. They taught me importance of knowledge and being an altruistic person, who respects ‘all other human beings’. For these reasons, I would like to dedicate this study to them for my great privilege to become a member of such a family. I wish I would be a family guy like my parents and my sister in the future. I am undoubtedly most grateful for Armağan Hergüner, who is the best friend that a person could meet in her/his life. His company, as it always did, made me feel vii comfortable while his limitless support helped me to overcome my enervated state of mind. I am also indebted to İmran Ürkmeztürk, Bekir Kırkıcı, Kartal Akdeniz, Çağlar Dölek and my dear colleagues. I also thank my dear professors Fikret Şenses, Seven Ağır, Mustafa Türkeş and Ozan Eruygur for their contribution to my overall academic knowledge. Moreover, İrem Dikmen Toker absolutely deserves my praises and compliments for its endless understanding and admirable approach to research assistants. Last but not least, I owe further thanks for Fernand Braudel, Eric Hobsbawm and Ömer Lütfi Barkan, whose studies directed me to study the discipline of history. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ............................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................ v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... xii 1)CHAPTER INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 2) THE ATTITUDE OF THE GOVERNMENT AND THE OPPOSITION TO THE EMERGING COLD WAR .................................................................................. 9 2.1) THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE TO THE COLD WAR ....................................................................... 10 2.1.1) The End of the Second World War and the Turkish Government: January 1945 - July 1945 .................................................................................... 11 2.1.2) The Reaction to the Soviet Demands and Accusations in Public: July 1945 – July 1947 ................................................................................................. 19 2.1.2.1) Transition from the One-Party Rule to the Multi-Party System and the Domestic Pressure in Turkey ................................................................... 19 2.1.2.2) Search for International Support ....................................................... 23 2.1.3) The Government Attitude to the Cold War: July 1947 - May 1950 ......... 37 2.1.4) Anti-Communism of the Government ...................................................... 47 2.1.5) Developmentalism of CHP in the early Cold War ................................... 53 2.2) OPPOSITION’S ATTITUDE TO THE COLD WAR .................................... 70 ix 3) TURKISH PRESS AND ITS ROLE: REFLECTING THE COLD WAR TO THE PUBLIC ............................................................................................................. 80 3.1) TURKISH PRESS IN THE EARLY COLD WAR ........................................ 81 3.2) DEVELOPING A COLD WAR LANGUAGE .............................................. 93 3.3) COVERAGE OF THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR BY TURKISH PRESS: JANUARY 1945 - JULY 1945 ............................................ 102 3.4) THE PRESS AND THE EMERGING COLD WAR: JULY 1945 – JULY 1947 .....................................................................................................................