Turkish-American Relations during the National Struggle and the Government of Ankara: 1919–1923

Abstract

During the National Struggle led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha and the Ankara government formed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Turkey’s most important goal in foreign policy was to establish an independent and national state. Meanwhile, the United States closely watched the struggle and tried to keep relations with Turkey under control. The reason for this was the steps taken by the United States to get to know the National Struggle Movement and the agenda of the issue of us mandate in Turkey. At the Paris conference, the United Kingdom offered the United States a mandate over Turkey, and in a week later on Istanbul and The Straits, as well as New Armenia, which would be established on the territory of Turkey. However, although the United States was initially interested in this mandate, it did not accept it in the end according to public opinion. As a result, at the Lausanne conference, the tendency of rapprochement has increased between Turkey and the United States. On August 6, 1923, a new agreement was signed between Turkey and the United States. The agreement signed between US Ambassador to Switzerland Joseph Clark Kru and Ismet Inonu regulated political and commercial relations. Despite the agreement, Turkish-American official relations still did not start immediately. However, as a result of the policy put forward by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, these relations began to develop year by year. The development of these relations showed that the events that took place against the backdrop of Turkish-American relations and the accumulated experience are always very interesting and important from the point of view of the international community and history. In this article, the relations between Turkey and the United States during the National Struggle period have been studied.