According to the deputy chief of the General Staff and other Turkish officers, it is hoped eventually to make the Tunçeli [Tunceli] region into a “second Switzerland,” as it is extremely beautiful. It appears to me, however, that its inaccessibility and the difficulties which visitors experience while travelling in Turkey will be considerable obstacles to the realisation of this dream.

A. Ross, Military attaché to the British representative in Turkey, 5 September 1938

In the 1920s, Turkey was hard-pressed with difficulties on both the international and the domestic levels. The fledgling republic was isolated in international affairs, other than its friendship with the Soviet Union (Gürün 1991, pp. 103-32), and its borders were still far from being consolidated (Psomiades 1962, pp. 112-35; Newman 1927, pp. 81-83, 173-77). The Kurdish rebellions in the east, the top-down modernization efforts of the nationalists, and the ongoing settlement problems of many Turkish-Muslim immigrants who came from Greece through a population exchange, created uncertainty and instability within the country (Zürcher 1993, pp. 173-82).

“Song of the Children's Protection Society” (Himaye-i Etfal Türküsü)

Oh, Homeland! Homeland! Homeland!

It is these Turkish children

Who protect you, who make you shine,

Who increase your renown.

Oh, Nation! Nation! Nation!

It is these Turkish children

For whom you wished happiness

And created this great state.

It is these Turkish children

Who walk, crawl,

Who adorn your homes

Who await nurturance and assistance.

It is these Turkish children

For whom assistance should be endless.

Do not distinguish rich from poor,

They are all your eyes, your heart, and your equals.

It is these Turkish children

Who will be the guardians of the country tomorrow,

Armed with science and ammunition,

The grandchildren of the Grey Wolf.

-Aka Gündüz, 1929

The effects of the Great Depression of 1929 on peasants in Turkey is an area of study that has remained neglected, despite the fact that peasants then constituted 75 percent of the population. The reason why the condition of peasants has not attracted much attention is the dramatic change between the economic policies of the 1920s and those of the 1930s. The immediate consequence of the stock-market crash and the sudden drop in prices was the shrinkage of international trade. Governments dealt with the depression by implementing quotas on imports, and liberal economic policies were no longer considered successful. Protectionism became the most popular policy for the management of economies in difficulty. The change in economic policies during this period constituted a break with the past and therefore has been the principal focus of studies on the Great Depression.

During the 1930s, in the upper circles of public life and the professions, the Kemalist excitement and energy for establishing a great new nation was strong. Leadership came from many individuals, each offering what he or she could do to involve younger persons in the process. The state was not yet a robust civil institution, as it lacked economic resources, especially during the 1920s and the depression years of the 1930s. It was only beginning to gain experience in dealing with and taking the lead in civil affairs.

The typical view of the Turkish economy in the 1930s generally has been that it not only performed well while coping with the hardship brought about by the Great Depression, but that it also received a big boost from the state's industrialization program. This usually has been characterized as the success of the economic policies implemented by the new republic in the 1930s. These policies have been considered successful because the young republic not only recovered from the wounds it suffered during the turbulent transition period from the Ottoman Empire, but it also began to realize considerably higher growth rates-mainly in industry, but also across the national economic spectrum.

The essays contained in this volume challenge and complement standard treatments of Turkish history during the 1930s. Typically, the 1930s are cast as a decade that opened with the Turkish economy reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. Decisionmakers in the ruling Republican People's Party (RPP) were not without a response, however. They introduced statist economic policies whereby the Turkish state began to play an augmented role in production and capital accumulation. The conventional story thus chronicles the ruling elite's most visible policy reaction to the material hardships of the 1930s.