# Why did Hitler not attack Turkey? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033 "2012-11-25T02:15:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/41 "2012-11-28T06:43:01Z")
> [@benbo1](#): > > Nothing exists in a vacuum. Y’all wanna overlook the obvious for the exceptions, ok by me. All of which I was providing background for, was the Nazi belief that Turkey, if it did enter the war, would be on the Nazi side. U wanna delude, delude. While I didn’t specifically say ‘…except for French North Africa, including the _goumiers_’, when talking generalities one must be general. Revisionism is its own penalty, in the lack of background added to popular history. I need do nothing more than point to the Turkey of today to illustrate my point. In other words, you’re unable to provide any factual support for your statements. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/42 "2012-11-28T07:45:46Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > and the fighting in [Syria and Lebenon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria-Lebanon_campaign) in WW2 didn’t even have anything to do with the locals, it was a fight between the British and Free French on one side and Vichy France on the other. Correction: it did involve the locals, in the sense that both the Arab Legion (which would later become the Jordanian army) and the Haganah (which would later become the Israeli army) fought for the Allies, along with troops from Australia, France, India, and Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/43 "2012-11-28T09:50:01Z")
> [@benbo1](#): > > Nothing exists in a vacuum. Y’all wanna overlook the obvious for the exceptions, ok by me. There is no obvious for this position which can at this point only be the religious bigotry speaking. It is true nothing is in a vacuum, and we can easily say that those Arabs who were muslim and christian in the East who sympathised to Germany were more reacting from anti British feeling than anything > [@](#): > > While I didn’t specifically say ‘…except for French North Africa, including the _goumiers_’, when talking generalities one must be general. except this of course demonstrates that hundreds of thousands of muslims - for it is not only the North Africa but also West Africa of modern Senegal and Mali that very large numbers of “French” troops came from - signed to fight for Allies and not for Nazis. At 75% of the Free French strength they represented the vast majority of French forces. We know from this your claim that there was a general muslim movement for the nazis is no thing but prejudice and making up non-facts for particular reasons. Pointing to Iraq and Iran when the populations elsewhere are more important is only waving your hands to fabulate. For the falsehood you promote you have a small division in bosnia that is only a few thousand, and which mutinied and defected when the germans used them. > [@](#): > > Revisionism is its own penalty, in the lack of background added to popular history. I need do nothing more than point to the Turkey of today to illustrate my point. This makes no sense at all. You have no history in your claims,but it would seem you have some modern politics and modern prejudice to promote from the falsehoods. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/44 "2012-11-28T09:52:17Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Correction: it did involve the locals, in the sense that both the Arab Legion (which would later become the Jordanian army) and the Haganah (which would later become the Israeli army) fought for the Allies, along with troops from Australia, France, India, and Scotland. True enough, what I meant by it not having anything to do with the locals and perhaps not entirely clear about is that **benbo1** tries to present it as some sort of Muslim siding with the Axis when it was nothing of the sort. The cause of the fighting had nothing to do with the locals, though locals were involved in the fighting. The cause of the fighting was to remove the Vichy French government from these colonies after the Vichy French government allowed the Luftwaffe to use airbases to stage from and support the Iraqi revolt, ineffectual as it was. Your mentioning of the Arab Legion of course brings up yet another Muslim force that fought for the Allies. > [@Johanna](#): > > I am disappointed with the Dopers in general here, trying to discuss Turkey at the time of WWII, and nobody even remembered the name of the Turkish leader, İsmet İnönü, and why he tried so hard to keep his country at peace. He’d been a commander in WWI and in the Turkish War of Independence, and having seen what war did to a nation, he wanted peace in which to pursue rebuilding the nation and economic development. To be fair, the original question was why Germany didn’t invade Turkey, not why Turkey didn’t side with the Axis; the idea of Turkey siding with the Axis was only brought up by **benbo1** who clearly has no understanding of any of the facts or what he claims are facts and you quickly corrected him on that matter with regards to İnönü and internal Turkish politics. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/45 "2012-11-28T10:11:16Z")
Hitler’s most successful years as a conqueror came before 1939. He got countries to side with him without declaring war. He was no dolt. Invading a country is never a joke. If you don’t have to, then don’t. Same question with countries like Spain, and Switzerland, and Lichtenstein. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/46 "2012-11-28T10:21:19Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > To be fair, the original question was why Germany didn’t invade Turkey, not why Turkey didn’t side with the Axis; the idea of Turkey siding with the Axis was only brought up by **benbo1** who clearly has no understanding of any of the facts or what he claims are facts and you quickly corrected him on that matter with regards to İnönü and internal Turkish politics. OK, that’s fair. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/47 "2012-11-28T10:23:19Z")
Why does everyone forget the British Indian Army? A large contingent of that was muslim. Quite a few regiments of the current Pakistan Army have war trophies of various German units, my dads regiment has a bust of Hitler as its officers mess centrepiece (captured in Austriai May 1945). ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/48 "2012-11-28T18:16:17Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > You know who else [didn’t read threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15731303&postcount=10) before posting? 😛 Hitler? ---
**Author:** ![taskmgr.exe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@taskmgr.exe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taskmgr.exe)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/49 "2012-11-28T21:46:42Z")
> [@benbo1](#): > > I need do nothing more than point to the Turkey of today to illustrate my point. This is an important remark. Let me cite: [http://www.trt.net.tr/Haber/HaberDetay.aspx?HaberKodu=f693637a-d58a-434e-81b9-467659529069](http://www.trt.net.tr/Haber/HaberDetay.aspx?HaberKodu=f693637a-d58a-434e-81b9-467659529069) To summarize the article: The article simply explains the results of a survey conducted by a research institute. It’s asked to Turks that which nation or nationalities they dislike or about which nation or nationalities they hold negative opinions: 39% of participants dislike Arabs 39.5% of participants dislike Iranians 51.7% of participants dislike Russians 67% of participants dislike Greeks **71.5% of participants dislike Jews** 73.9% of participants dislike Armenians It’s also asked to Turks that whether they prefer Arabs over Europeans&Americans: %25.3 of participants said they’d **definitely** prefer Arabs over Europeans&Americans. And %19.9 of participants said they’d generally prefer Arabs over Europeans&American. **As total 45,2%** of participants prefer Arabs over Europeans&Americans It’s asked to Turks that with which country or countries Turkey should cooperate, as well: **31% of participants said their country should cooperate with Turkic countries (which are mostly Muslim by the way) 26% of participants said their country should cooperate with Muslim countries** **23,1% of participants said their country should cooperate with EU 11,8% of participants said their country should cooperate with USA** 8,1% of participants said their country should cooperate with Russia&China As you can see above, Turks, even educated ones tend to be overwhelmingly xenophobe, anti-Semitic, anti-Western, anti-Arab, perhaps anti-everyone except themselves. They are hated by/hate every single country around them. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033/50 "2012-11-28T23:18:25Z")
Look, I’m not crazy about a lot of stuff going on in Turkey these days, but all your poll says is that the Turks think of themselves as part of the Middle East, and that Turkey and Israel aren’t getting along all that well these days (and also, Greeks and Turks will \*never \*like each other). There’s nothing wrong for a Muslim-majority country to prefer Muslim countries over non-Muslim countries. It’s perfectly natural. And even if you were absolutely right in your analysis - and you aren’t - Turkey today is not the same country as the Kemalist Turkey of the 1940’s. For better or for worse, it’s a lot more religious and eastern-facing than it was during WW2. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-hitler-not-attack-turkey/642033.md?page=2)