Ankara Araştırmaları Dergisi (Dec 2022)
A Friendship Formed in Ankara: The Founding of the Swiss Turkish Friendship Association (1928-1945)
Abstract
The Swiss anthropologist, Prof. Dr. Eugène Pittard was well-known and respected by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the President of the Republic of Turkey. In addition to being Afet İnan's doctoral teacher from the University of Geneva, Prof. Dr. Pittard was also an honorary member of the Turkish Historical Society, the honorary president of the Second Turkish History Congress, and, in 1938, a faculty member at the Ankara Faculty of Languages, History and Geography. While Pittard was not able to visit Turkey again after this date and was thus unable to attend the Third Turkish History Congress in 1943, Prof. Dr. Pittard's interest in Turkey continued after he had returned to Switzerland. In 1945, as a direct result of initiatives by himself and his wife, Hélène Pittard, the Swiss Turkish Friendship Association was established with the aim of helping to develop cultural and economic relations between Turkey and Switzerland. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, Şükrü Saraçoğlu, was appointed as the Association's honorary president. The Pittard couple participated in congresses, presented conferences on various subjects, and published works that introduced the Republic of Turkey to a wider audience during their visits to Turkey in 1928, 1937 and 1938. In 1973, which was also the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, the Swiss-Turkey Friendship Association was founded with the aim of helping to readdress the cultural relations between the two countries. It is notable that this new Association had a similar name to the one founded in 1945. This study tells and discusses the story of the friendship which was born in Ankara, and which forms the basis and foundations of current relations between Turkey and Switzerland.
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