Özet:

Of all the cleavages throughout the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis was by far the closest one to eradication by a nuclear war. Although the USA and USSR were using diplomatic tools to avoid such a disaster, the incident was so severe that a nuclear war was expected in the first week of the crisis. Although the world was on the brink of a conflict that might have ended up with a nuclear confrontation, which was likely to entail complete destruction of the world, the problem was resolved through the deep labyrinths of diplomacy. As an active member of NATO and the country hosting Jupiter Missiles on its soil, Turkey constituted a substantial party of the crisis. Although this incident was studied carefully by the academy, the deployment process of the missiles and debates on the removal of the Jupiters need further examination. Notably, the background behind Turkey’s will to deploy these missiles need attention. This article investigates the reasons behind Turkey’s consent to deploy the missiles and the removal process. Some argued that Turkey was a passive actor. Moreover, the chief reason for its consent was to obey the superpower of Western bloc and maintain its position. Nevertheless, the main argument of this article is contrary to the popular view; the reasons behind Turkey’s consent were various. Regarding the domestic and external dynamics of the era, it is explained in this article that the economy, political power groups such as the army, perception of threat, and international factors were hand in hand in shaping the decision of Turkey. To evaluate Turkey’s stance in this crisis, primary sources of the era, including international newspaper archives, were used aside from the secondary literature.

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