Routledge Handbook of Strategic Culture

26 Turkey’s Strategic Culture State of the Literature

George E. Bogden

DOI: 10.4324/9781003010302-29

Introduction

Perhaps the most peculiar monument in Ankara is the pagoda in the open park across from the city’s main train station. Etched in the stone structure are the names of the Turkish soldiers who perished in the Korean War. Alluding to their valor during the 1950 Chinese breakthrough, when they fought bloody, rearguard bayonet battles to protect retreating American troops, General Douglas MacArthur described each as a “hero of heroes.” They were, in his mind, men for whom there was “no impossibility.”¹ In Western popular culture, these once celebrated fighters have largely been reduced to “commie-killing” caricatures by M*A*S*H reruns. ...