Polar science diplomacy of Türkiye: the Second International Polar Year case

This article examines Türkiye’s participation in the Second International Polar Year (IPY-II, 1932–1933) as a historically grounded and underexplored case of early science diplomacy. IPY-II coordinated interdisciplinary polar research across forty-four countries, and Türkiye’s involvement during the early Republican period offers fresh insight into interwar scientific cooperation. The article documents Türkiye’s scientific and institutional contributions and analyses them through the reciprocal framework of science impacting diplomacy and diplomacy impacting science. Drawing on archival documents, official correspondence, parliamentary records, and contemporary newspapers, supplemented by expert interviews, it assesses the case against an explicit definition of science diplomacy. Türkiye’s meteorological data, later incorporated into the synoptic weather maps of the Northern Hemisphere, were scientifically significant, institutionally coordinated, and internationally recognised, yet shaped by asymmetrical hierarchies. The case enriches the historical understanding of science diplomacy by non-hegemonic states.