The Welcome That Wore Thin

In 1946, when the U.S.S. Missouri called at Istanbul, U.S. sailors found it difficult to pay for anything, including prostitutes. The Russians, after 13 wars with Turkey in 300 years, were again menacing the Bosporus and Dardanelles, and the Turks gave the Americans a welcome that lasted for two decades. The U.S. reciprocated with more than $5 billion in military and economic aid. Symbolic of the "very, very special relationship," as a U.S. diplomat described it, was the fact that Turkey sent a tough, all-volunteer brigade of 2,500 troops to Korea in 1950.

By 1969, however, when the U.S.S. Forrestal visited Istanbul, the climate had changed. Several U.S. sailors had been thrown into the Bosporus by anti-American crowds, and Turkish women greeted the Forrestal--the last American carrier to visit--with signs proclaiming ISTANBUL IS NOT A BROTHEL FOR THE SIXTH FLEET.

In recent weeks, bombs have been hurled at U.S. homes, offices and installations in Istanbul and Ankara. Last week a U.S. airman was kidnaped near Ankara by five young Turks, and released 17 hours later. After that incident the U.S. embassy advised its personnel to take such precautions as driving to work along different routes and refusing to accept unexpected packages.

State of Limbo. The kidnaping, like the recent bombings, is thought to have been the work of a Maoist guerrilla group known as Dev-genc (a Turkish acronym for "revolutionary youth movement"). Premier Sueleyman Demirel has been reluctant to deal harshly with terrorists, lest he acquire the reputation for repression that brought down Premier Adnan Menderes and led to his hanging. Nevertheless, last week Demirel asked parliament to widen his government's powers to control the violence.

At the root of the rising anti-Americanism, reports TIME Correspondent Dan Coggin, is the fact that the proud and xenophobic Turks resent any sign of dependence on the U.S. "Atatuerk's death in 1938 left Turkey in a limbo of incomplete Westernization," writes Coggin. "City-bred granddaughters of veiled harem favorites practice law and medicine in Ankara and Istanbul today. But in the Moslem countryside and small towns, where 80% of Turkey's 35 million people live, little has changed from centuries ago."

Plain Paper Bag. The 1961 constitution took away much of the urban elite's power and gave it to the peasantry, which put Demirel's Justice Party in office in 1965. U.S. support for Demirel's government irritated the urban elite, which consists of students, intellectuals, professionals and a largely leftist press.

The U.S. has reduced its military presence in Turkey from 27,000 (including dependents) in 1966 to roughly 15,000 today, and will pare down to 10,000 next year. Such conspicuous U.S. facilities as a huge PX and a boisterous enlisted men's club have been moved from downtown Ankara to the suburbs. More than 500 Peace Corps volunteers were withdrawn last year.

The Americans who remain know that the student radicals consider them fair game, and they shudder at incidents such as the one that occurred last week at the residence of U.S. Ambassador William Handley. Even though the usual half a dozen guards were patrolling the area, Handley gulped when he saw his wife answer the doorbell and accept a plain paper bag. It turned out to be filled with avocados sent over by an embassy staffer.

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