Turkey under president İsmet İnönü, successor of the legendary Kemal Atatürk, still tries to keep out of World War II, so they try to play off Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the British Empire against each other. The country is a source for chrome, which Germany needs very much.
Since the attack of Italy on Albania on April 7th in 1939, Ankara tried to approach London and Paris, which resulted in France ceding the Republic of Hatay, so far a part of Syria, to Turkey. On October 8th in 1939, alliances with Great Britain and France were signed. The country made a non-aggression pact with Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan, which is directed against the Soviet Union.
On a map, the state looks impressive, but in practice the country is underpopulated (about 18 Millions) and has an infrastructure that is lacking (many railroads are single-track). Their Military is at best comparable to that of Yugoslavia, with about 200,000 men in the Army, 8,000 in the airforce (for below 400 planes), and below 5,000 in the navy, which even still uses the former battlecruiser Goeben from World War I. A Turkish Ministry of Defence letter to the Turkish General Staff dating March 22nd of 1940 stated that the Turkish Army was to be increased to 1.3 million effectives.
So far, everything went well....
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Iraq | Iran | Afghanistan | Transjordan | Saudi-Arabia | Aden |