ABSTRACT
This essay investigates the choices made by the Turkish political leadership at three crucial moments in the history of Turkey between World War I and the Cold War. It asks the question if viable alternatives to the chosen route were available, and to what extent the choices made reflected international developments of the time. The episodes looked at are the establishment of a nation-state and of a republic (two separate issues) in 1920–23, the turn towards authoritarianism during the World Crisis (1930–32) and the transition to multi-party democracy in 1945–50.
