Adana station 1943–45: prelude to the post‐war American military presence in Turkey

Abstract

The American military presence in Turkey after the Second World War is generally acknowledged to have originated from President Harry Truman's decision to grant substantial military assistance to that country in early 1947 in reaction to the Soviet Union's demands on Ankara after June 1945. This aid arrived with American advisers and technicians and helped lay the groundwork for the establishment of the first joint air base at Adana Air Field (later known as Incirlik), construction of which began in 1950, and Turkey's eventual accession to NATO in 1952.' But the United States had recognized Turkey's geopolitical and military importance before 1947. Indeed, in the midst of the war, in 1943, the United 'States had already begun to use Turkey as a base for certain kinds of military operation. These operations were of immediate practical importance for the prosecution of the war, but they were also significant for post-war military relations with Turkey. Because of Turkey's neutrality, these operations were sometimes clandestine. Nevertheless, they helped confirm in the minds of American military planners the strategic importance of Turkey and represented a military foothold in that country, a foothold that dramatically expanded in the 1950s. The initial focus of these operations was the secret 'Adana Station'. During World War II, Turkey took great care to avoid being drawn into the conflict by one side or the other. Unsympathetic to Fascism and leery of Italian ambitions, she had concluded a military alliance with Britain and France on 19 October 1939. But for various reasons, above all the lack of military assistance, the terms of the alliance could not be implemented, so Turkey did not join the Allies at the beginning of the war. In fact, on 18 June 1941, Ankara signed a treaty of friendship and non-aggression with Berlin as part of a strategy of 'defensive neutrality'. At the time, this action appeared to be prudent. A few months earlier, in April, Germany had occupied Greece and then some of the Aegean islands off the Turkish coast, while Italy held the others. As late as July 1941, Syria was controlled by Vichy France. And subsequently, in August 1942, the Wehrmacht, which