German soft power in Turkey and the Balkans in the Interwar Era, 1918-1939

Abstract

This thesis examines German soft power policies in the Balkans and Turkey in the Interwar Era. How certain German non-state actors such as the Messeamt, the Leipzig Trade Fair, chambers of commerce, etc. took the initiative and re-established German economic presence in certain Balkan countries in the mid-1920s in the absence of the Weimar government’s support is discussed. How German economic drive in the Balkans gained speed following the proclamation of the New Plan in 1934 and how the Balkans played a decisive role in realizing Hitler’s rearmament venture by supplying Germany with various raw materials needed by German war industry are also examined. Similarly, how Turkish-German political, economic, military and cultural relations were re-established and developed in the Weimar period and what kind of changes came out in the bilateral relations and Germany’s soft power practices with the emergence of the Nazi rule in Germany are also addressed. Certain German soft power practices such as investments, student exchange programs, supporting the employment of German specialists and academicians in Turkey, arms trade, and using well-established German institutions in Turkey to achieve imperialist aims, etc. are examined in the light of a variety of primary and secondary sources.