94. After the outbreak of war, a mutual assistance treaty was signed between Turkey, Britain and France on October 19, 1939. According to this first alliance treaty between Turkey and the Western powers, the three countries pledged to help each other in case of war in the Mediterranean region. On June 18, 1941, however, four days before Operation Barbarossa, a Turkish-German friendship pact was signed.

95. While the mobilization and increased military spending during the Second World War further worsened the living and working conditions of the workers and poor peasants, the government’s “Capital Tax Law” mainly served to expropriate the non-Muslim bourgeoisie. The growing exploitation of the working class, the changing hands of the capital and the growing black market contributed to the increasing accumulation of capital by the Turkish bourgeoisie.

96. Through its policy of formal neutrality throughout the war, Turkey received arms, machinery, equipment and loans on favorable terms from both Germany and Britain, and exported strategic minerals as well as agricultural products to the belligerents. As a result, the balance of trade, which had been in deficit in 1938, changed radically; Turkey’s exports exceeded its imports by 64 percent in 1941 and by 74 percent in 1945.

97. Before World War II, the TKP was instructed by the Stalinist Comintern to cease its independent party activity and fully support the Kemalist regime, but its position was partially changed in 1941 when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union and the pro-Nazi Şükrü Saraçoğlu became prime minister in Ankara. Its main goal then focused on preventing Turkey from entering the war in alliance with Germany.

98. Ankara remained officially neutral in the war, but on February 23, 1945, when the Allied victory was certain, it formally declared war on Germany and Japan. With the declaration of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, Turkey, along with Greece, secured extensive military and economic support from US imperialism against the USSR. Ankara was then included in the Marshall Plan and the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) in 1948. These decisive steps laid the foundations for the decades-long military-strategic alliance between Turkey and the United States. At its Second Congress in 1948, the Fourth International stated the following on this issue:

American intervention in the Eastern Mediterranean is having a more direct effect. The May 1947 laws on aid to Greece and Turkey and President Truman’s speech at that time, mark a decisive turning point in American policy in this sector. The loan of 100 million dollars to Turkey, which was solely devoted to military and strategic purposes, has transformed Turkey into an advanced American bastion against the USSR.^[1]

99. Ankara’s post-war efforts to fully integrate into the US-led Western capitalist system were accompanied by the introduction of a multi-party regime in 1946. However, left parties were not included. The Socialist Party of Turkey (TSP) and the Socialist Party of Laborers and Peasants of Turkey (TSEKP), founded in 1946 on the initiative of TKP members, were closed down in the same year. The program of the TSEKP, which was co-founded by Şefik Hüsnü, the leader of the illegal TKP at that time, reflected the Stalinist bureaucracy’s policy of “peaceful coexistence” with imperialism and emphasized “the need to maintain friendly relations with the governments of Great Britain and the United States.”^[2]

100. In 1945, the Kemalist regime, facing a stagnant economy and growing social anger, embarked on a limited land reform to win the support of the poor peasants. With the passage of the land reform law, the fragile alliance between the Kemalist bureaucracy and the landlords and big rural capitalists suffered a serious rupture.

101. As a result of the unrest within the ruling CHP over the bill, three deputies representing the landlords and the commercial bourgeoisie were expelled from the party and the Democrat Party (DP) was founded. The DP came to power with a majority of votes in the May 1950 elections.

102. In the postwar period, first under the CHP and then the DP, the Turkish bourgeoisie increasingly retreated from the already fragile foundations of secularism. In 1949, theological faculties were opened and religious education was reintroduced into the primary school curriculum. During the DP period, the influence of religious sects in political life was opened up and religious vocational (“imam-hatip”) schools were rapidly expanded.