The United States Helps Turkey Assume its NATO Responsibilities, 1951–55

Abstract

Turkish entry into NATO was welcomed joyously by the Turks. It represented to them acceptance by the West on a basis of equality, and it presaged a broadening of the scope of Turkey’s relations with its new NATO allies, particularly the United States. US military assistance was institutionalised and put on a longer-term basis. We became Turkey’s principal arms supplier under NATO, only minor amounts being available from others, principally from Canada and, after 1963, West Germany. Turkey had to adjust to directives from NATO commands in Paris, Naples and Izmir, to participation in joint military exercises, and to NATO command of its troops in time of war. Its 600 000 ground troops were expected to take the brunt of any Soviet attack against NATO’s eastern flank, since Turkey could exnect little reinforcement in the event of war excent bv air.