Soviet-Turkish rapprochement in the 1960s :|trade, aid and transfer of technology

Abstract

After World War II, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Republic of Turkey entered a period of political estrangement. This thesis focuses on the reestablishment of relations between these two countries in the form of trade and economic cooperation in the 1960s. Drawing upon the Cold War context, the thesis initially provides the political background to the rapprochement, and continues to focus on the particular reasons for the types of economic transactions. In the 1960s, the Soviet Government agreed to assist Turkey’s industrialization efforts by agreeing to export technology, machinery, equipment for the construction of several industrial plants. This study aims to evaluate the reasons for this unique cooperation between Turkey, a NATO member, and the Eastern Bloc superpower, the Soviet Union with references to primary sources from the Russian State Archive of the Economy. The main hypothesis of this thesis is that the rapprochement between the Soviet Union and Turkey in the 1960s coincides with a period of a rise in multilateralism in international politics within the context of the Cold War. Both the Soviet Union and Turkey were willing to cooperate with members of the opposing block in favor of their own economic interests. Turkey’s industrialization efforts in the 1960s required foreign assistance, which was partially met by the Soviet Union’s financial and technical assistance. Regardless, Soviet influence over Turkey, along with the scope of Soviet-Turkish economic relations, remained limited due to various reasons.