Turkish Intelligence and the Cold War examines the hitherto unexplored history of secret intelligence cooperation between three asymmetric partners – specifically the UK, US and Turkey – from the end of the Second World War until the Turkey's first military coup d'état on 27 May 1960. The book shows that our understanding of the Cold War as a binary rivalry between the two blocs is too simple an approach and obscures important characteristics of intelligence cooperation among allies. Egemen Bezci shows that a pragmatic approach offers states new opportunities to protect national interests, by conducting ''intelligence diplomacy' to influence crucial areas such as nuclear weapons and to exploit cooperation in support of their own strategic imperatives. This study not only reveals previously-unexplored origins of secret intelligence cooperation between Turkey and West, but also contributes to wider academic debates on the nature of the Cold War by highlighting the potential agency of weaker states in the Western Alliance.
Author(s): Egemen Bezci
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 304
City: London
Cover
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Dark Origins of the Turkish-British-American Alliance
Intelligence diplomacy
Secrecy and the study of intelligence
Organization
Note on sources
Notes
1 Machinery in Comparison
Gearing the machinery
The American intelligence community
British intelligence community
The Turkish intelligence community
From intelligence to policy making
Conclusion
Notes
2 Historical Background, 1923–45
Early steps
The interwar years
Turkey and the powers, 1939–41
Wartime clandestine cooperation
An element of distrust
Conclusion
Notes
3 (Dis)Trusting Your Allies: NATO and CENTO
Intelligence Security and Confidence Building
Reds in the Ranks
Nato
Baghdad Pact
Military Intelligence
Nato
Baghdad Pact
Conclusion
Notes
4 Spies, Atoms and Signals
Human intelligence and smuggling of agents
Running errands in Bulgaria
Signals: Listening to the atoms
The Turks’ trial with atoms
Conclusion
Notes
5 Counter-Subversion: Our Common ‘Enemies’
Intelligence-made enemies: Communists and Kurds
Do Kurds have no friends but the mountains?
Convincing allies
Our common enemy
Radio debacle
Conclusion
Notes
6 Covert Action: The Turks’ Hidden Hand in Syria
Making sense of Turkish covert operations
Turkey’s struggle for Syria
Early approaches
Beginning of the coups
Back in Aleppo
Ankara does not give up
Alliance in discord
Last try
The coup against itself
Conclusion
Notes
Conclusion: Keeping up with the Alliance
Contributions and further investigation
Notes
Bibliography
Index
