Bridge across the Bosporus

Originally published in 1971. With Ataturk's guiding reforms, Turkey underwent a sweeping modernization of the country's administration. More specifically, by adopting the Latin alphabet, secularizing the country's governance, and importing European laws and jurisprudence, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk effectively reformed the Republic of Turkey into a secular, modern nation-state. In doing so, he introduced a number of foreign policy commitments. Ferenc A. Vali examines the flexibility of Turkey's foreign commitments in light of the country's modernization; depending on the circumstance, Turkey's foreign policy has wavered between Western alliance and neutrality. Examining Turkey's foreign policy in the twentieth century, Vali provides historical background for Turkey's transition form an empire to a nation-state. Vali also assesses Turkey's relations with NATO, Western allies, Russia, the Baltic States, and the Middle East. For his research, Vali conducted interviews with officials of the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, political party leaders, academics, journalists, and members of diplomatic missions.