A godly progressive nation: The Korean War and Turkey’s Cold War reordering

Abstract

On June 25, 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea and started the Korean War. The United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 82, which urged North Korea to withdraw from South Korea’s soil. North Korea’s failure to abide by the United Nations’ call prompted Security Council Resolution 83, which called on all member states to support South Korea. The newly elected Democrat Party in Turkey elaborated on this issue very carefully. Eventually, Turkey became the second country after the U.S. to positively respond to Security Council Resolution 83 and committed a brigade of 6092. Relying extensively on American, Korean, and Turkish declassified archival materials, this dissertation brings the impact of foreign policy decisions on inner politics to the forefront of Turkey’s Korean War experience. It argues that Turkey’s decision to intervene in the Korean War and its spillover effects not only changed Turkish diplomacy but also altered Turkey’s international perception and its society in a fundamentally different way than the period preceding the Korean War.