Turkey Between Axis and Allies

A crossroads between Europe, the Middle East and the USSR, guardian of the Straits, the Turkey of President İsmet İnönü — Atatürk's successor — occupies a coveted strategic position. The democracies would like to make an ally of it to lock down the eastern Mediterranean; Germany and Italy, on the contrary, seek to neutralise it.

To win over Ankara, France agreed in June 1939 to cede to it the Sanjak of Alexandretta (the Hatay), detached from mandate Syria — a gesture heavy with meaning. An Anglo-Turkish declaration in May had already sketched a rapprochement.

İnönü must choose his country's orientation. To commit resolutely alongside the Allies through a treaty of assistance, at the risk of being drawn into a war that Turkey, barely recovered from decades of conflict, dreads? To maintain a prudent neutrality, selling its position without chaining itself? Or to draw closer to the Axis, which also courts Ankara? Control of the Straits and the security of the region are at stake.