The First Ten Years of the Turkish Republic Thru the Reports of American Diplomats

In this volume, Rifat Bali collects sixteen American consular reports from the first decade of the Turkish Republic (1924-1935). The new state, having emerged from the First World War and a war with Greece, engaged in a period of social engineering to create a modern secular nation-state on a European model. The observers include Howland Shaw, Chargé d’Affaires of the American embassy in Turkey, and ambassadors J. MacMurray and Joseph Grew. Shaw in particular had a deep understanding of Turkey and his insights are visible in his report entitled “An Intellectualistic Interpretation of Modern Turkey” from 1924. He also surveyed other issues, such as the Turkish language reforms, the new capital Ankara and religion in the new republic. Among the other papers, there are reports on the place of women and an appraisal of the Menemen incident of 1931.