3203) American Perception Of The Turks Historical Record by Cagri Erhan

ABSTRACT
Turkish-American diplomatic relations, since its foundation in the first half of the nineteenth century, was conducted within a friendly atmosphere. Two countries never entered into wars with each other, or became members of opposing alliances. Trade relations, too, flourished during the nineteenth and early twentieths centuries; especially, Turkish traditional goods have been widely exported to the United States. In spite of fairly warm political and economic relations, Turkish image in the United States has not been able to keep up with this. Importing negative images about the Turks, Turkey and Islam from the European writers, the American people initially developed prejudicial Turkish image. These negative images further developed during the rebellions of the Ottoman Empire's non-Muslim subjects against the Turkish rule, and, despite the Turkish efforts to the contrary, carried over to he Republican period. This article evaluates the emergence of the Turkish image in the United States during the late eighteenth century onwards, in order to find underlining causes of negative American perception of the Turks.

KEYWORDS
Turkey; the United States; Turkish image; Ottoman Empire; Missionaries; Armenians . . .

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Ankara University Journal Database

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