Film Diplomacy in Turkey-US Relations | Jülide Etem

E587 | During the Cold War period, Turkish cinema flourished, as American films entered local theaters, television sets, and the studios of Yeşilçam. Yet as Jülide Etem argues in her new book, Film Diplomacy, the cinematic story of Turkey-US relations begins not with entertaining Hollywood movies that circled the globe but rather educational film productions that simultaneously furthered the interests of American overseas power and Turkish domestic policy. In this episode, we explore how film became a ubiquitous technology and tool of the nation-state in Turkey through informational movies, educational material designed for the classroom, and place-based documentaries that performed the dual role of promoting tourism and cultivating knowledge of the country's different provinces among its citizens. As Etem explains, these ambivalent co-productions shaped an image of Turkey's inclusion in the international order, making film an arena in which visions of Turkey could be used to reify notions of American supremacy, as the Turkish national elite claimed their own place among the white Euro-American civilizations that became as models for values like development and progress in the modern world. More at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2026/05/etem.html Ayşehan Jülide Etem is assistant professor of media studies and director of the film studies concentration at the University of Virginia. She is the author of Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey-US Relations (Columbia University Press, 2026). Chris Gratien is Associate Professor of History at University of Virginia, where he teaches classes on global environmental history and the Middle East. His first book, The Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman Frontier, explores the social and environmental transformation of the Adana region of Southern Turkey during the 19th and 20th century. Sıla Önder is a PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Virginia. CREDITS Episode No. 587 Release Date: 4 June 2026 Recording Location: University of Virginia Sound production by Chris Gratien. Closing music by Kara Güneş. Clips featured in the podcast in order: Tokat Belgeseli, 1975 (via YouTube); Turkey: A Middle East Bridgeland (via T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı); Turkey, 1949 (via YouTube) Bibliography and images courtesy of Jülide Etem at https://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2026/05/etem.html