Hey folks, I was the player for Turkey. I had an ongoing document that I was gonna post for this, but unfortunately I lost that computer during the game, so I'll do what I can here. Sorry for the late response.
Pre-Game & 1901:
I started out wanting to work with Italy, as I am unreasonably afraid of the Lepanto and had never played Turkey before, but mostly wanted to be that one person in game who is openly communicative. I wasn't at all a fan of the idea of working with Russia. Italy was out for Russia from the get go, so the black sea bounce was organised, and I was hoping to get Russia's help taking out Austria while I build up my fleets and then turn back on Russia. At least, that was my idea going in. I was hoping to move up and then make a fairly standard stalemate through the middle of the map.
I'd established tenuous contact with most of the players, KansasBoyd seemed super keen to talk, Italy seemed willing to work together and Germany was non-noncommittally open to the idea of working together. Hopes were high.
1902:
I wanted Greece and a fleet almost as much as I wanted to be good at Diplomacy, and that was a lot. By 1902 I thought I knew Russia and France were going after England, that Italy wanted to blitz Austria, and that I had the pick of the south-easterly states to get some space from Russia and move into Austria. Around this point, Russia pointed me to a previous game he'd played as Turkey with a Turkey/Russia draw that he wanted to recreate. I have to admit, the idea of a game-long partner and a beautifully tied SoW appealed to me a lot, so I decided to go for it (largely against the recommendations of my TA). I messaged Austria trying to get him off my back, as I'd heard he was trying to solicit an alliance against me. I am desperate to be liked so when he backpedaled I was pretty ready to use Austria and Russia as my meat-shields while I took to the seas to take on Italy... until Austria said he couldn't take me seriously at the start of the game and couldn't believe that Italy outright lied to him, so I decided he was probably the riskiest ally to have. I also misordered spectacularly in the autumn of this year, so instead of having a fleet in the aegean and a fleet in the eastern med by autumn 1903 I was very landlocked with Italy in a prime position to Lepanto me, very quickly. I was, to put it in past tense, Wi(e)ll I was Shook, Speared.
(please find me funny the past tense of william shakespeare is my only good joke)
1903:
I was boned, my friends. With italy and Austria about to make a deal (from what it seemed to me) and Italy looping around, it seemed I was either going to have to take a deal with italy or wait for Russia to take a deal with them. So I took the deal.
http://bit.ly/2siNDGk
I think this is also around the point KansasBoyd started going apeshit in global and on the forums - up until this point I'd been trying to be chill with him and get along nicely - he was still pretty polite to me in private chat, and I was hoping to talk him off the ledge so to speak. Pretty awkward, all things considered. I'm a commie, so i'm pretty sure if he knew I would have copped it. Alas, he didn't, and I continued to quietly cheer him on and assure him that he wasn't boned and that there was a more than 0 chance anyone would work with him.
1904:
Italy was still helping Austria and I was freaking out my pals, my beautiful plans were in tatters. I will admit, I was on the verge of begging. Except then Italy got me back into Greece, and I had a deep, deep hope that I could bounce back from this, even if I had to turn on my friend (Russia).
It's worth noting that my TA at this point, I'm almost sure, was desperately pounding his keyboard wishing I wouldn't trust anyone half so much as I did.
1905:
1905 was gonna be my year. I'd been talking to Germany, and we'd organised to effectively wipe Russia off the map by 1907. It was a grand plan. That immediately messed up, and I was almost certain Germany was fucking with me. Italy was absolutely fucking me, and I was quickly losing centers. I was hoping that France would be able to help, but I was pretty screwed as soon as Italy got the Greece/Ionian hold. At that point, I was just trying to be the most annoyingly insistently surviving country I could be.
1906:
I figured by this point I was royally screwed between italy and germany, so instead I just figured I'd do my best to make both of their lives slightly more difficult in hopes that France would get the edge on them. I went from 6SCs at the start of this year to 4 at the end, and Russia moving in on me.
Dying:
After that, i was basically shit outta luck. I tried a last minut ploy to get Russia to just piss off Italy, but that was a no-go.
In Retrospect:
Honestly, I think the main thing is I should have probably just stuck to one plan/ally. I had a lot of chopping and changing trying to work with too many people at once, and basically as soon as I turned on Russia (who, in retrospect, was the most steadfast and honest ally I had all game), most everything went down the shitter. I know I'm pretty much only in this game because I love the social aspect of it, and I love planning, but being able to work
with other people is really my jam. Also, to always use that little checkbox to make sure my moves make sense. That misorder in 1902 and subsequent fuckups meant i really never got my dreams of a fleet and a plot of land in the western med off paper.
Also, your TA is probably always more right than you are. Listen.