In Soviet historiography USSR-Türkiye relations 1945-1982

This research paper studies the ties between Türkiye and the USSR from 1945 to 1982 from the viewpoint of the Soviet Turcologists and refers to Russian archival documents. The study analyzes factors that affected the relations between the USSR and Türkiye, who were in the position of two enemies during those years. Soviet historiography covers topics such as Soviet demands for military bases and territorial concessions from Turkey, Turkey's NATO membership, Turkism, right-wing and left-wing movements in Turkey, formation of military alliances, the Middle East crisis, the Cyprus crisis, the Cuban missile crisis, and so on. The approaches of Soviet historians, the political technologies they applied and their analytical working methods for Turkey's domestic policy issues as well as the developments between Moscow and Ankara are discussed in detail. The research applies a comparative analysis of the expressions and terms used by Soviet Turcologists for each stage, compared to previous stages, to identify the changing conditions at the international and regional level. The information obtained from the Russian archives reveals that Soviet Turcologists, who examined the USSR-Turkey relations, wrote history based on Marxist-Leninist principles and in accordance with the order of the Politburo, the highest organ of the Communist Party, and put psychological pressure on Turkey with the methods they applied. The study reveals that during the period when the three USSR presidents were in power, there were developments in the political, economic, scientific and cultural relations between the two countries under the influence of internal and external factors, and cooperation emerged in this context. The findings of this research emphasize that although Soviet Turcologists wrote about Soviet-Turkey relations based on Marxist-Leninist principles, they contributed to the sphere of Turcology by addressing important issues. The study concludes that the image of Turkey created in the USSR during the Cold War was based on international and regional factors.