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Article Citation - WoS: 6A Light Bulb in Every House the Istanbul General Electric Factory and American Technology Transfer To Turkey(Johns Hopkins Univ Press, 2022) Tunc, Tanfer Emin; Tunc, GokhanIn 1946, Turkish entrepreneur Vehbi Koc signed an agreement with the U.S. firm General Electric to build and operate its first light bulb factory in the Near/Middle East, in Istanbul. This private joint venture introduced new manufacturing techniques, business practices, and consumer habits to Turkey, opening channels of postwar technological exchange. Closer examination of the GE-Koc partnership reveals that during the early Cold War, the transfer and embedding of American technologies in Turkey was a politically complicated process of innovation that required constant adaptation. Fraught with unforeseeable obstacles, it also required cautious negotiation with multiple transnational actors. The story of the GE-Koc partnership thus adds a new dimension to historical understandings of the Turkish Cold War experience and the Americanization of the region. It illustrates how transferring a nonmilitary, soft-power, domestic technologythe light bulb-played a significant role in Turkish-American relations and therefore contributes to studies of U.S. Cold War diplomacy through transnational investment in innovation.Article Citation - WoS: 2Wonderland Eurasia: Theme Parks and Neo-Ottoman Identity Politics in Ankara, Turkey(Univ Newcastle, 2020) Tunc, Tanfer Emin; Tunc, GokhanWith an area of 1.3 km(2) or 320 acres, Wonderland Eurasia, which is located in Ankara, Turkey, has been advertised as the largest theme park in Europe and Asia. Almost a decade in the making, it was completed in 2019 at a cost of approximately $250 to $350 million USD (1.5 to 2 billion Turkish Lira) and is seen by supporters as having the potential to boost the sagging tourism industry. This study, which is based on a July 2019 site visit to the theme park, will illustrate, however, that Wonderland Eurasia is much more complicated than appearances suggest. The authors argue that by deploying the imperial glory of the Ottoman Empire, the park constructs an artificial narrative of continuity that connects the past (through Seljuk and even prehistoric themes), to the present, and future (through robotic themes). This is not only meant to symbolically reinforce Turkey's position as a regional 'wonderland'-a social, economic, and cultural powerhouse with grand foreign policy aspirations-but in the process, is also designed to promote a neoliberal Neo-Ottomanism that involves an identity politics of historical elision and selective erasure. Tanfer Emin Tunc is a Professor in the Department of American Culture and Literature at Hacettepe University in Ankara. Gokhan Tunc is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. Of Civil Engineering at the Atilim University in Ankara.Article Citation - WoS: 8Citation - Scopus: 6Constructing Containment: Thompson-Starrett, the Cesme Beach Houses, and the Geopolitics of American Engineering in Cold War Turkey(Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2020) Tunc, Tanfer Emin; Tunc, GokhanFor the first half of the twentieth century, Thompson-Starrett and Co., a New York-based American engineering, construction, and contracting firm, dominated the building scene. In operation between 1899 and 1968, it was a leader in skyscraper construction and large-scale projects, and literally built the New York skyline. It designed and constructed the tallest skyscraper of the era, the Woolworth Building, as well as other iconic Manhattan structures such as the Equitable Building, the American Stock Exchange, the New York Municipal Building, and the Claridge, Algonquin, Roosevelt, St. Regis, and Waldorf-Astoria Hotels. A formidable pioneering force in structural engineering a hundred years ago, Thompson-Starrett is, by and large, forgotten today, especially its post-World War II ventures in Turkey, such as the Sariyar Dam and the cesme Beach Houses, a luxury beachfront cooperative located in Ilica, Izmir. However, what would prompt the engineering firm responsible for the Woolworth Building to take on the road and utility construction and project management of a Turkish summer resort? The answer lies in Cold War geopolitics and booming private enterprise, both of which, in the 1950s, converged in Turkey, relied on American engineering, and involved a complex process of Americanization.Article Citation - WoS: 5Citation - Scopus: 4Engineering the Public-Use Reinforced Concrete Buildings of Ankara During the Early Republic of Turkey, 1923-1938(Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, 2022) Tunc, Gokhan; Tunc, Tanfer EminToday, reinforced concrete (RC) is the most commonly used construction material in Turkey. It first emerged in Europe in the 1850s and was adopted in a number of Late Ottoman period structures, mostly in Istanbul, during the first two decades of the twentieth century. During the Early Turkish Republic (1923-1938), RC appeared in public-use buildings in Ankara, such as the Ethnographic Museum, which was the first in the new capital to feature RC elements, leading the way for many more structures to come. Despite the fact that Turkish and foreign civil engineers faced a series of economic, social, cultural, political, educational and technical challenges during the transition from masonry and timber construction to RC, its adoption was facilitated by the fact that as a European building technology, it became symbolically important to the new republic. Equated with modernity, RC would allow its capital, Ankara, to construct an identity that would contrast with Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. This transition would also be catalyzed by the rise of a professional class of Turkish civil engineers who deployed RC to reinforce their authority as trained specialists and agents of modernization.Article Citation - WoS: 3Citation - Scopus: 6Experimental Analysis of the Behavior of Composite Column-Reinforced Concrete Beam Joints(Springer Heidelberg, 2021) Tunc, Gokhan; Dakhil, Abdulrrahman; Mertol, Halit CenanThis study assesses the seismic performance of steel-reinforced concrete (SRC) composite columns connected to reinforced concrete (RC) beam joints, and their ability to dissipate seismic energy through inelastic deformations. In this article, experimental aspects regarding the seismic performance of high-ductility and low-ductility steel-concrete composite frame were investigated. The principle design parameter in this study was ductility, which is considered a conceptual framework in Efficiency-Based Seismic Engineering. Thus, attention was focused on assuring various ductility ranges of joints obtained through a detailed study of the Turkish Earthquake Code (TEC 18) [Ministry of Public Works and Housing.: Turkiye Bina Deprem Yonetmeligi (Turkey's Earthquake Code for Buildings). Official Gazette (2018) (in Turkish).]. After identifying deficiencies and the energy dissipation capacity in the newly proposed joints, two half-scaled frames with specific ductility-related designs were constructed, instrumented, tested, and analyzed. The specimens were tested under displacement-controlled lateral cyclic loading that incorporated constant axial loading to create cyclic tension and compression facets across the joint areas. The test results proved that the SRC column-RC beam frames employing an extra column reinforcement ratio exhibit slightly better seismic performance. Due to the presence of structural steel, the shear failure of the joint was effectively prevented, even after the formation of the plastic hinge on the interface of the beam. During the testing, the column rebars, to some extent, made a minor contribution to the joint strength of the specimen compared to the structural steel that absorbed almost all of the load applied to the frame.Article Citation - WoS: 1Citation - Scopus: 1Cold War Aviation: American Technology Transfer and the Construction of Turkey's First International Civilian Airport in Yeşilköy, Istanbul, 1944-1953(Cambridge Univ Press, 2024) Tunc, Tanfer Emin; Tunc, GokhanWith the economic and political support of the United States, in July 1947, Turkey signed contracts withthe Westinghouse Electric International Company and J.G. White Engineering Corporation to constructits first international civilian airport, Istanbul'sYe & scedil;ilk & ouml;y Airport. As this article will argue, the buildingof Ye & scedil;ilk & ouml;y (1949-53), through a partnership with two American engineering firms, is essentially anearly Cold War narrative of transnational exchange involving the multidirectional flow of technicalknowledge, expertise and resources between the United States and Turkey; the circulation of geopol-itically significant (and frequently competing) military, civilian and government actors; and thelocal and global implications of these transmissions. Yet the Ye & scedil;ilk & ouml;y construction narrative also illus-trates how post-war technology transfer was a highly political process of constant adaptation, modifi-cation and negotiation. Fraught with unforeseen friction and thorny challenges, Ye & scedil;ilk & ouml;y exemplifiesthe complicated American Cold War strategy of creating and maintaining alliances through engineeringknowledge, personnel and practices, often with unintended consequences. Moreover, as a case study,Ye & scedil;ilk & ouml;y opens a new window into the cautious science diplomacy that occurred along the IronCurtain, while filling a notable historiographic gap with respect to aviation in early Cold War Turkey.Article Citation - WoS: 15Citation - Scopus: 16Damage Observation of Reinforced Concrete Buildings After 2020 Sivrice (elazig) Earthquake, Turkey(Asce-amer Soc Civil Engineers, 2021) Cenan Mertol, Halit; Tunc, Gokhan; Akis, TolgaAn earthquake with a magnitude of M-w = 6.8 and a depth of approximately 8.06 km occurred on January 24, 2020, with the epicenter near the town of Sivrice in Elazig province, Turkey. The earthquake resulted in numerous collapses and severe structural damage to the buildings located in the downtowns and villages of Elazig and Malatya provinces. A technical team investigated the earthquake-affected areas, and this study presents their observations and findings with respect to reinforced concrete buildings. It was concluded that almost all of the collapsed or severely-damaged reinforced concrete buildings were constructed between 1975 and 1998. The design and construction of these buildings did not comply with the specifications of the Turkish earthquake codes valid at that time. The failures and severe damage of the buildings are associated with poor material quality, inadequate reinforcement configuration, and framing problems related to their lateral load-carrying systems. Therefore, it is recommended that buildings constructed between 1975 and 1998 in the region be structurally re-evaluated to avoid additional loss of life and property in future earthquakes. (C) 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
