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    Neighbours of Turkey in 1942. Turkey stayed neutral through the war.
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    Neighbours of Turkey in 1942. Turkey stayed neutral through the war.


    Neighbours of Turkey in 1942. Turkey stayed neutral through the war.

    Posted by cenkiss

    View 39 Comments

    39 Comments

    4. 73347 on

      This was a diplomatic masterpiece that should be studied in international relations courses. Also one of the catalysts of the demographic balance decisively changing in Turkey’s favor in it’s area. For ex: Romania had a bigger population than Turkey before WW2.

    5. Merto04 on

      Wrong, Turkey did not stay neutral throughout the war. They have also declared war against Germany and Japan in 23rd of February, 1945. It is nearly end of the war and did not have any conflicts, but they did infact join the war.

    11. akfgndz on

      As of that date, the republic may still be young, but Anatolia’s and Istanbul’s imperial memory exceeds that of all the surrounding WWII parties combined.

    12. GustavoistSoldier on

      One of the reasons turkey stayed neutral is that it lost its empire after joining WWI.

    13. DefiantAsk4473 on

      I don’t understand why Turkey is always criticized, even when it makes the right decision, like remaining neutral during World War II.

      Turkey had no real interest in entering the war. Not because it lacked the capacity to be a meaningful ally, and not because it was only thinking about itself, but because its population had already suffered immensely: World War I followed by the War of Independence. Barely twenty years later, it was being pushed toward yet another major conflict, with the very real risk of losing everything again.

      At some point, we have to be honest. Turkey’s neutrality was not the result of clever tricks or political scheming, but simply an instinct for survival. Given its recent history, that decision was both logical and legitimate.

    20. onlyPornstuffs on

      I don’t think I’ve ever seen a post with more USSR-loving bots in the history of history.

    24. Annual_Background_35 on

      If the Axis invaded Turkey it would have worse than Greece. Considering that the Turkish war of Independence (and Gallipoli) was such a shitshow for the Entente, it doesn’t surprise me that France and Britain also steered clear. For either side invading Turkey would have represented an immense commitment with very few upsides. Iran had a much weaker army and a resource that everyone wanted. From Turkey’s perspective – and experience in the previous conflict – even if invasion and occupation were prevented, the political, social, and economic effects of war could be devastating.

      I also think that Turkey’s proximity to the Soviet Union gave it a considerable incentive to maintain neutrality. Although the Germans had always planned on going to war the USSR at some point down the line, they wanted to do so on the terms/timing favorable to them. Until then, the Germans would adopt what was essentially a policy of appeasement towards the Soviet Union at the expense of its smaller allies. This was demonstrated with the Soviet ultimatum to Romania in the summer of 1940. After the commencement of Operation Barbarossa the following year, the Soviets would not have hesitated to invade Anatolia from the Caucasian republics.

      The countervailing forces of British and Italian naval power in the Mediterranean also acted as a powerful deterrent. Participation on either side would immediately put many of Turkey’s industrial and population centers at risk and would probably kill its highly import-dependent economy right then and there. The Italians also long had designs on Turkey’s Aegean Coast (they already held the Dodecanese and Rhodes), and Il Duce’s grand ambitions meant that any alliance with the Italians would not survive in the long term regardless, and the British would make hell for them in the meantime. If Hitler dangled any territorial promises, the Turks were either not interested or did not feel they were worth the risk.

    25. Careful_Manager_4282 on

      Some will call it smart, others cowardice in the face of evil.

      I stand with the latter.

    34. Correct_Jicama_2280 on

      Some of the folks here can’t think logically nor nonbiasfully I swear so I’ll list it for those

      1.Turkey had no obligation to fight the Nazis remember even USSR and America did not gave crap about the genocide of the ethnic minorities until the fan hit them. Before Pearl Harbor America was going with “America First” and Soviets were even invading other countries together with the Nazis. Everyone cared about their own. Countries don’t have morals they only got interests thats why we need things like Geneva Convention in the first place. British and French had no problem watching their ally Poland destroyed , getting their population genocided and falling as a puppet state to USSR after the war.
      I can list other examples too but I think you get it.

      2.Turkey at the time was involved in these conflicts in the span of just 2 decades : Italo-Turkish War , I. Balkan War , II. Balkan War , World War I and Turkish War of Indepence . Therefore not only the country itself was tired and needed time to reassemble and rearange itself but the leaders at time were veterans of these conflicts so they were extra cautious.

      3.Turkey was taunted by both sides constantly to join because they were planning to open a brand new Anatolian front , now I want you to think at first even British and French did not want to keep the war close to themselves and instead tried to keep it in Norway and Sweden without direct involvement.
      So why would anyone would wish to start a conflict so close to their most economically advanced city of Istanbul?