The first five-year industrial plan :|discussions on Turkish industrialization during the great depression

Abstract

This work treats the background of the decision to implement the First Five-Year Industrial Plan in Turkey in 1934. The originality of the research relies on its perspective focusing on foreign policy, in a way that has generally been underestimated in most of the academic works on the subject matter. While arguing that Turkish industrialization of the 1930s was carried out despite the West, this research also shows that the conjunctural rapprochement between Turkey and the Soviet Union did not last long. After a general presentation of developmentalist ideas in Turkish political tradition and related practices in economy, a large section is dedicated to the contemporary discussions in a world staggered by the Depression of 1929. Findings show how remedies that Western experts had drawn for Turkish economic development concentrated solely on agricultural production and financial reforms. The Soviet Union appeared in this context as an ally in diplomacy with a bold anti-imperialist discourse and a viable assistant in economy with her model of five-year plans. Thus, there developed a deep collaboration between the revolutionary governments in Ankara and Moscow. However, as World War II approached, priorities began to change rapidly, which had dramatic effects on the existing collaboration in economy. An essential part of the thesis is reserved for explaining the story of Turkish industrialization of the 1930s in relation with Ankara’s foreign policy.