Crashing into the hard truth while trying to turn history on its head

Yalçın Küçük is a singular political and intellectual figure in Turkey, distinguished not only by his prolific output but also by a near-pathological egocentrism and an eccentric Stalinist stance. From Theses on Turkey 2 [Türkiye Üzerine Tezler 2] (first published in 1979) [*] onwards, Küçük has persistently advanced the following claim: “In 1945, the Soviet Union demanded neither territory from Turkey nor a base in the Straits.”

According to Küçük, the claim that the Soviet Union made such a demand is a “Cold War fable” concocted during Turkey’s incorporation into the imperialist camp. This “fable,” he argues, was constructed through a distortion of the Selim Sarper-Molotov meeting held in Moscow in 1945. In Küçük’s view, the Soviet Union merely sought to update the 1925 Treaty of Friendship, which had become outdated in light of changing circumstances; accordingly, neither Kars nor Ardahan, nor the regime of the Straits, was placed on the agenda in the hostile manner that has since been alleged.

Twelve years after Küçük first advanced this claim-one he presented as “turning Turkish history upside down”-and as the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union was breathing its last in 1991, a book-length interview based on 140 conversations between the Soviet writer and journalist Feliks Chuyev and Vyacheslav Molotov was published in Russian under the title Sto Sorok Besed s Molotovym. Its English translation appeared in 1993 as Molotov Remembers. [**]

The Turkish translation of the book was published in 2007 by Yordam Kitap under the title Molotov Anlatıyor (the Turkish subtitle reads: Stalin’in sağkolu ile yapılan 140 görüşme). In these conversations, Vyacheslav Molotov-who had served for many years as Joseph Stalin’s foreign minister-states, in essence and with striking clarity: “We demanded a joint base in the Straits and Kars-Ardahan… We went too far in these demands. The timing was wrong, and we pushed Turkey into the arms of the West.” (Feliks Chuyev, Molotov Anlatıyor: Stalin’in Sağkolu ile Yapılan 140 Görüşme, trans. Suna Kabasakal, Yordam Kitap, 1st edn, Istanbul, 2007, pp. 104-106)

In March 2010, Yordam Kitap published an expanded second edition of Molotov Anlatıyor. [***] In a brief statement added to this edition under the heading “Publisher’s Note”, the publisher stressed that Yalçın Küçük had openly denied Molotov’s unequivocal statements and that this constituted an unjustified affront to both the publisher and the book’s translators:

In this brief note, it is also necessary-albeit reluctantly-to address a baseless claim made by Yalçın Küçük concerning the translation. In an interview, when reminded that Molotov Anlatıyor explicitly refers to the Soviet Union’s demand for territory from Turkey and for control over the Straits, Küçük responded: “There is no such thing in that book. Molotov never said anything of the sort …”

(…) Interested readers may consult pages 116-118 of this edition. (pp. 11-12) [****]

In the same note, a more detailed account of what Yalçın Küçük said in that interview is provided in a footnote:

KVK: Yordam Yayınları has published a book entitled Molotov Anlatıyor. With regard to Turkey, Molotov states: “We had claims on Kars, Erzurum, and also on the Straits.” In Theses on Turkey, you wrote that this was a fabrication. May we ask for your views on that book?

YK: Had you come a week earlier, the Russian original of the book was here; I sent it to Barış in Istanbul. No, there is no such thing in that book.

KVK: Is there an error in the Turkish translation?

YK: I cannot say. There is no such thing in that book. Molotov never said anything of the sort … We are also discussing this matter with Barış Zeren; he follows these issues more closely. In the note he sent me yesterday, he wrote: “It appears in the memoirs of Feridun Cemal Erkin; it must have entered from there - but it is not actually there.” Look, quite plainly, Mehmet Perinçek says the same - he wrote about this in Moscow. At one point he says, “What we wanted from here was …”, but then he adds, “No, we did not ask for anything of the sort.” It is as if Stalin may have said something along those lines at some point, but then he says, “No, in no way is there anything like that in Molotov’s recollections.” There is nothing clear on this matter. It is a book every leftist ought to read. Molotov is a socialist. Molotov there … It is nowhere … Look, in Molotov’s recollections, regarding the Soviets - the Soviets are marvellous, the archives are marvellous, everything is marvellous - but in Molotov’s recollections … In fact, now I remember: that translation is not Molotov’s memoirs; it consists of interviews conducted with Molotov. Not Molotov’s memoirs. (p. 12)

As this passage makes clear, Yalçın Küçük has a command of Russian. It is equally evident that he had not read the Turkish translation; however, he himself states that he has read the book in its Russian original. (We do not know whether Küçük has read the English translation.)

Yalçın Küçük

The passages in the book relating to this issue are not ambiguous, nor are they statements made by implication. On the contrary, they are clear, direct, and repeatedly articulated statements made in Molotov’s own words. Nevertheless, Yalçın Küçük categorically denies the existence of these statements, doing so without the slightest hesitation and in uncompising language.

It should also be noted that Yordam Kitap adopts a measured tone in responding to Yalçın Küçük’s remarks, which effectively place the publisher itself under suspicion. The issue at hand, however, is neither a “translation error” nor an erroneous “editorial choice”. If Küçük’s statements were to be accepted as true, one would be forced to conclude that Yordam Kitap attributed to Vyacheslav Molotov words he never uttered-in other words, that the book had been falsified. Given that Küçük has a command of both English and Russian, the possibility of a simple misreading cannot seriously be entertained.

While denying the existence of the relevant passages in the book, Yalçın Küçük places particular emphasis on the claim that “Vyacheslav Molotov is a socialist”, thereby inviting the reader to treat as decisive not what the “socialist” Molotov actually said, but what he ought to have said. One might be tempted to ask, “Can anything so absurd be possible?” Yet here it is. For Küçük appears to believe that only in this way can he prevent what he regards as one of his “major” contributions to Turkish history from being so thoroughly dismantled.

This is where Yalçın Küçük’s egocentrism ultimately leads him. It is not a mere intellectual error, but a pathological condition.

[*] Yalçın Küçük, Türkiye Üzerine Tezler 2, Tekin Yayınları, 1st edn, Istanbul, 1979.

[**] Felix Chuev, Molotov Remembers: Inside Kremlin Politics, ed. Albert Resis, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, 1993.

[***] Feliks Çuyev, Molotov Anlatıyor: Stalin’in sağkolu ile yapılan 140 görüşme, trans. Ayşe Hacıhasanoğlu and Suna Kabasakal, Yordam Kitap, revised and expanded 2nd edn, Istanbul, March 2010.

[****] The passages in which Molotov explicitly states that the Soviet Union demanded a base in the Straits, as well as Kars and Ardahan, appear on pp. 104-106 of the first edition published by Yordam Kitap, and on pp. 116-118 of the expanded second edition.