Decoding Anti-Americanism in Türkiye

Abstract

“Why do people hate us?” was an interesting question for many American scholars trying to understand other peoples’ thoughts and prejudices about the United States. While some political decisions made by Washington during and after the Cold War offer a rich menu for non-Western nations to criticize and even dislike the United States, there could also be some political reasons and psychological aspects that affect the perception of Washington negatively in other countries. This chapter will focus on anti-Americanism in Türkiye and analyze the two main trends in the late 1960s and early 2000s that led to high anti-Amer ican sentiment in the country. The chapter will begin with a short section defining anti-Americanism. In the second section, the author will focus on anti-Americanism in Türkiye in the twentieth century. The third section of the chapter is devoted to analyzing anti-Americanism in contemporary Türkiye. The fourth and final section will be about the political psychology-based explanations of anti-Americanism.