Memory of an institution: The Turkish ministry of foreign affairs and Turkish diplomats in the 1960-1980 perio

Abstract

This dissertation scrutinizes the Cold War Turkish diplomatic bureaucracy with an emphasis on the 1960-80 period in comparison to the world examples. The study is not a narrative of Turkish foreign policy but presents the story of the transformation of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as an institution and the Turkish diplomat as a professional in response to the challenges of the time. Throughout the period following World War II, diplomatic bureaucracies were subject to criticism in national public opinions, and in some cases, the necessity of diplomacy as an institution was questioned. Nonetheless, through new and transforming scopes of work, diplomatic bureaucracies managed to consolidate their status in diplomatic processes. The Turkish diplomatic bureaucracy was influenced not only by foreign policy issues but also by significant developments in domestic politics, and as a consequence, recorded relative success by both transforming itself and influencing state practices and the views of public opinion. With reference to an approach that evaluates diplomacy as a “social” phenomenon –, as an outcome of the interactions among various actors –, this dissertation, as well, puts forward that Turkish diplomacy was not isolated from the values and demands of the society in the aforementioned period. On the contrary, in many cases, it executed its operations in an interaction with public opinion, governments and other bureaucratic institutions.