Trakya Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the agenda items and outcomes of the London Monetary and Economic Conference of 1933, convened by the League of Nations with the aim of finding common international solutions to the 1929 World Economic Crisis, in terms of the economic policies pursued in Turkey in the early years of the Republic. During the years of the Great Depression, states were pursuing independent economic policies while struggling against the crisis. However, this not only did not solve the problems, but also deepened the economic crisis. At this point, the conference was expected to end the disagreements between the big powers such as the US, Great Britain and France over monetary policies and customs walls and to take common measures against the global economic crisis. However, the conference failed to reach a consensus on monetary policies and the Customs Truce signed at the conference lasted only a few months. On the other hand, Turkey, one of the participating countries of the conference, kept its customs walls high and adopted an anti-devaluation policy in its monetary policies. In essence, this policy was part of the process that had been operating worldwide after the First World War, to the detriment of the industrialized states in the "center". One of the conclusions of the paper is that the divergence of views at the London Conference gave an advantage to "periphery" countries like Turkey, which wanted to pursue independent economic policies in the international conjuncture. Another conclusion reached in the article is that the process of change in the global economy, which started with the First World War and accelerated with the 1929 Crisis, came to light at the London Conference in 1933.