Turkey and Italy during the Interim Between the Two World Wars

Presented by the Ottoman Bank Museum in association with Boğaziçi University, The Making of Modern Turkey Seminars, host Assoc. Prof. Dilek Barlas, this month, with a presentation on "Turkey and Italy during the Interim between the Two World Wars" in which she describes the "ups and downs" of Turco-Italian relations, from the establishment of the Turkish Republic to the outbreak of World War II. The lecture is scheduled for Saturday, November 18, at 2:30 p.m.

"A year before the Republic was proclaimed in Turkey, Mussolini came to power in Italy and the policies he adopted toward the Balkan states were anything but friendly," says Barlas. "Until 1926, Italy considered Turkey a country on the brink of collapse. From 1928 on however, Rome realized that the Turkish Republic would not fall apart so easily. Subsequent developments in the Mediterranean and the Balkans improved Turkey's image in Italy and Rome began to see Turkey not only as Anatolia but as a part of the Balkans as well. Nonetheless, this new disposition toward Turkey was short-lived and after 1932, Italy reverted to its earlier hostile outlook. On the other hand, although all through the 1920s and 1930s, Turkey always perceived Italy as a threat, it never renounced its attempts at collaboration with that country."

The Making of Modern Turkey Seminars, presented on the third Saturday of each month,  address, this season, the general theme, "Turkey and the World in the Interim between the Two World Wars," and focus on Turkish foreign policy during the first half of the 20th century

Assoc. Prof. Dilek Barlas Barlas obtained a BA in political science from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Free University of Brussels) in 1982. After receiving her MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago in 1985, she completed an internship in the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. From 1985 to 1986, she was advisor to the Commercial Attaché of the Turkish Embassy in Brussels. Between 1988 and 1993, she served as Turkish Language teaching assistant at the University of Chicago and in 1993, obtained her Ph.D. from the Department of History at the same university. She was made associate professor by the Council of Higher Education (YÖK) in 2000. Barlas has published a number of articles and her book, Etatism and Diplomacy in Turkey, 1929-1939 came out in1988. She is a member of the Turkish Society of Political Science Graduates, the Society of Notre Dame de Sion Graduates, the Society of the University of Chicago Graduates, the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), KA-DER (Society for the Support and Education of Women Candidates), the Atatürk Araştırma Derneği (Center for Atatürk Studies) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA). Barlas is currently, and has been since 1993, on the faculty of the Department of History at Koç University.

The Making of Modern Turkey Seminars Turkey and Italy during the Interim between the Two World Wars Assoc. Prof. Dilek Barlas Saturday, November 18, 2006 2:30 p.m. Free admission The Ottoman Bank Museum Bankalar (Voyvoda) Caddesi 35/37 (0212) 334 22 70