Turkey - Anglo-American Security Interests, 1945-1952: The First Enlargement of NATO

Western-Soviet rivalry in the eastern Mediterranean in the early post war years culminated with the entry of Turkey and Greece into NATO in 1952. Today, Turkey's inclusion in NATO seems natural given Soviet pressure against Turkey in 1945-46 and the geostrategic position of the country. Yet in the early postwar period this was not a foregone conclusion in the minds of policy makers in Washinghton and particularly in London, despite Ankara's relentless efforts after 1947 to obtain an American security guarantee. This book aims to enhance our understanding of how American presence came to become consolidated - through NATO - in the easten Mediterranean in the early cold war period by examining how American and British security considerations toward the region evolved between 1947 and 1952 and the impact Turkey's pressure had on American and British security thinking.

Ekavi Athanassopoulou is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Mediterranean Studies at Bristol University.