Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Atatürk Research Center academic staff member Asst. Prof. Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk presented his new book titled “Türkiye’nin 1974 Öncesi Kıbrıs Politikası, Vizyonu ve Uygulamaları” to EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Necdet Osam.
During the visit which took place at the Rector’s Office, EMU Rector Prof. Dr. Necdet Osam congratulated Asst. Prof. Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk on his impressive work stating that the main indicators of good work; richness and diversity of sources are present in his work. Prof. Dr. Osam concluded by indicating that the book will be an important resource for academicians working on the topic of Cyprus.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk published his doctorate thesis which he completed in 2013 titled “Türkiye’nin 1974 Öncesi Kıbrıs Politikası, Vizyonu ve Uygulamaları” as a book in March 2018. Asst. Prof. Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk expressed his respect and gratitude to TRNC Founding President, the late Rauf Raif Denktaş for guiding him and always sparing time to tell his stories so that they could be recorded as well as sharing information and documents in his personal achieve.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk emphasized that since adopting the idea of Enosis Greek Cypriots have never backed down from this vision and that they always set the agenda therefore ensuring that international politics favors them. Asst. Prof. Dr. Göktürk indicated that his latest work examines how Turkish political powers viewed Cyprus pre-1974.
According to Asst. Prof. Dr. Göktürk in order to find this out he has examined the historical processes before Cyprus officially being on Turkey’s agenda and problems faced by the Turkish Cypriot Community during this period. The book also touches upon Cyprus’s historical, cultural and strategic importance for Turkey as well as Turkey’s Cyprus policies pre-1974, variables in the policies as well as interior and exterior factors that affected these policies. During his work, Asst. Prof. Dr. Göktürk benefited from Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry archives, British Foreign archives, TRNC National archives, Halkın Sesi and Milleyet newspaper archives and other British, Greek and Greek Cypriot sources which allowed him to view the opinions and speeches of politicians first hand.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk who has attended numerous international congresses and symposiums on Cyprus has had his books titled Enosis’in Doğuşu ve Düşünceden Eyleme Geçişi-1931 İsyanı”, “Amerikan Basınında İzmir Yangını- 1922” and “Kıbrıs Rum Ortodoks Kilisesi ve Enosis Politikaları” published before his latest book published by Güneş Publishing.
