The CHP, The U.S., and Ulus: the portrayal of the United States in Ulus Gazetesi during WWII

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1221500 (Table of Contents)

Traditional accounts of Turkish-American relations point to the 1945-1947 period as the point at which political ties between the two countries became "important." However, when one looks at the information about the United States published by Ulus Gazetesi, the semi-official newspaper of the CHP, during that period, one sees a fully-developed pro-U.S. perspective, complete with many articles directly translated from U.S. sources. From this situation, we can infer that the Turkish-American alliance cemented after WWII had deeper roots than just the international situation following the war. In an effort to determine exactly when the pro-U.S. outlook displayed in Ulus during WWII developed, this thesis identifies, traces, and assesses the information about the U.S. that the newspaper published during the war years. This thesis also evaluates Turkish-American relations during the 1930s and finds that the 1930s saw an advance in the relations between the two countries, and prepared the way for a more comprehensive political, economic, and cultural relationship. The role of Ulus in Turkish society, and the role of Reader's Digest, the primary source of Ulus' U.S.-sourced information, in American society and the U.S. government's WWII information efforts, are also examined. The thesis concludes that U.S.-sourced information played an important role in Ulus' wartime publishing practices and that relations between the Turkish and U.S. governments during the 1930s and WWII need to be re-evaluated in order to explain Ulus' pro-U.S. attitude and the prevalence of pro-U.S. and U.S.-sourced information in the newspaper during WWII.