Why didn't Turkey join the axis in the early WW2 (1939-42) and try to retake their losses? Surely hitting the Allies oil resources in the middle east would have dramatically shifted the war.

by monkeykiller14
Georgy_K_Zhukov
Kobbett

The bulk of the Allied (or rather, mostly British owned) oil resources were in the south of the Persian Gulf at the time. The Turks would have had to fight through maybe 2000 km of British controlled territory to be able to capture the oilfields, and at the same time being hugely dependent on whatever modern weapons (and oil!) Germany could supply them with. That's not a very viable strategy.