Russian Land Demands from Turkey Towards the End of the Second World War

The wars and crises that the Ottoman Empire faced due to conflicts of interest, including cross-border and continental scales, with the colonial powers became a determining factor in the foreign policy of the Republic of Turkey, which inherited this legacy. For this reason, in the first periods of the Republic, care was taken not to enter into the areas of continental struggle and to follow a foreign policy aimed at protecting the country's own existence by strengthening it within national borders.
It would not be wrong to say that there is a cyclical realist foreign policy accounting in the background of this foreign policy, which is based on Atatürk's principle of "Peace at Home, Peace in the World". While maintaining national independence, this policy, which takes care not to enter into continental-scale conflict with the British and French colonial powers, is the result of evaluating the international conjuncture of the period in a realistic framework.
Turkey considered it necessary to join the UK-France-Turkey Joint Aid Pact based on the effect of the deteriorating Turkish-Soviet relationship since the 1935s and the subjective assessments that Germany's aggressive policies in Europe might reflect on Turkey in the future. Thus, “As a result of the Turkish-British-French Alliance Agreement signed right after the start of the Second World War, Turkey abandoned its neutrality policy and joined the Western Bloc.”
Shortly after the war started, Turkey signed a mutual aid agreement with Britain and France on October 19, 1939, and took its first step towards membership in the Western alliance. There were various reasons that pushed Turkey to the agreement. The most important of these was the belief that Turkey could not overcome its economic, political and military problems alone. This belief first emerged with the emergence of the Italian threat in the Mediterranean. The expansionist policy of the Germans in the Balkans further reinforced this belief. In the same period, the desire of the Soviet Union to increase its influence on the straits brought Turkey closer to England and France. As will be seen later, as the events developed during the Second World War, the Soviet Union gradually emerged with new demands from Turkey, starting with the re-arrangement of the Montreux Treaty on the Straits. It has become Stalin's constant war policy to make his allies accept a new structuring in the Straits, in accordance with their own interests, in negotiations with the Germans, then the Americans and the British.
Despite all the pressures from both sides during the Second World War, Turkey did not compromise its neutrality policy despite this Pact agreement. The presence of the Soviets, which was in the alliance formed against the Germans together with the British and the French, had an important place in Turkey's not being included in this broad Alliance and thus remaining neutral.
Again, the German occupation of Russia's western lands helped sustain Turkey's policy of neutrality. However, the entry of Italy into the war, the invasion of France by Germany, followed by Hitler's maneuvers to occupy the British territory, meanwhile the German invasion of Greece; It started to make it difficult for Turkey to remain neutral, and the pointer tended to turn towards the Germans.
Faced with difficulties in the occupation of Greece and in the Mediterranean, Hitler; He refrained from taking an action that could bring Turkey and Germany into war. On the other hand, the signing of a commercial agreement following the signing of the Non-Aggression Pact between Turkey and Germany kept the Turkish-German relationship in balance. Considering the war in general, Turkey's neutrality policy also benefited the Germans, since it did not have to deal with an enemy in the east of the Mediterranean and open a new front, it is possible that its relative superiority will be longer in the ongoing operations in North Africa, the Mediterranean and Russia. could be. As of August 1944, Turkey will end its relationship with the German Government arising from the war conditions.
Despite Turkey's policy based on the principle of "impartiality" during the Second World War, it could not be prevented from making bargains against Turkey between its allies, the USA-England and the Soviet Union.
As it is known, the Soviet demand to amend the Montreux Convention in such a way that Soviet merchant and warships can always pass freely through the Straits was announced to the UK in October 1944 and to the USA in February 1945, and in principle it received the support of both states.
Britain, which did not want to confront its ally the Soviets, was hesitant to defend Turkey's stance. Britain needed Soviet support to break Germany's influence in the Balkans. In addition, according to the evaluations of the British General Staff, the Soviet Union was more of a danger to Greece and Iran. Ultimately, the US and England did not oppose the change of the Montreux regime. However, they wanted to have a say in the new Straits regime to be created.
In this context, let's talk very little about the Russian-Turkish relations in the first years of the Republic. The League of Nations' decision on the Mosul question brought Turkey closer to the Soviet Union and led to the signing of a Neutrality and Non-Aggression Treaty in Paris between the two states. The Turkish-Soviet Friendship and Non-Aggression Pact was the first practice of Soviet Russia, which embarked on a policy of non-aggression and neutrality with the surrounding states, out of fear of the Westerners and as a reaction against Locarno.
The treaty briefly covered the following principles: If one of the parties is attacked, the other party will maintain its neutrality. The parties will not attack each other, will not make an alliance or an agreement with other states against each other in a political structure, and will not participate in any action likely to be undertaken by other states. While the treaty provided Turkish-Soviet rapprochement, it was also effective in improving Turkey's relations with Western states.
However, as we mentioned above, the Turkish-Soviet friendship that has been going on for more than twenty years has started to deteriorate due to the changing Soviet policies. During the war, the attitude of the Soviets towards Turkey also changed, and as a requirement of their classic policy of landing in warm seas, they considered it necessary to impose the condition of rearranging the Montreux Treaty according to them.
In this context, the Soviet government gave a written note to Moscow Ambassador Selim Sarper from Molotov, the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs of the time, on March 19, 1945, right after the Yachting Conference. With this note, the Soviets stated that they did not want to renew the Turkish-Soviet Friendship and Non-Aggression Treaty of 17 December 1925, which was to expire on 7 November 1945. The Soviet Government stated that the aforementioned treaty was not suitable for the changing conditions after the war, therefore it had to be seriously corrected and they were waiting for Turkey's proposals in this regard.
Parallel to this, the Soviet Union began to exert heavy political pressure against Turkey. Soviet radio and newspapers; They made publications on the way that some Turkish provinces such as Kars and Ardahan were left to the Soviet Union. Turkey, on the one hand, announces to the world its determination to resist an armed Soviet attack, albeit alone, on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is the most powerful country of the post-war period, the United Kingdom, which it has been affiliated with since 1939, and the USA. He felt the need to search for his support.
For this reason, even before the outcome of the aforementioned attempt of England could be obtained, Turkey also applied to the American government in the face of Soviet demands that were contrary to the Yachtla Conference resolutions and wanted to get Washington's opinion on the attitude of the Soviet Union.
The demand put forward by Stalin was, first of all, for Turkey's national sovereignty and border integrity. Turkey; By addressing Russian demands in the context of 'respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity', he tried to gain time, instead of directly opposing Stalin's policy, by forming a multi-faceted foreign policy. Evaluating the issue in depth with the perception and definition of the "Soviet Threat", Turkey has determined a strategy to gain the support of the Western World and especially to improve its bilateral relations with the USA in order to ensure its sovereignty and territorial integrity against the Soviet threat.
Turkey responded to the Soviet memorandum of 19 March on 4 April 1945. Thus, the Republic of Turkey declared its desire to sign a new treaty to replace the abrogated 1925 Treaty. Meanwhile, American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945. The new President, Harry S. Truman, seemed cut out to exaggerate feelings towards the Soviet Union in the United States. On the same dates, the Russian Foreign Minister Molotov and the new President Truman, who were in San Francisco to sign the treaty that would establish the United Nations (UN), met face to face on April 22 and 23, 1945. During the meeting, Truman stated that Molotov did not take kindly to official Russian approaches on issues such as the establishment of a Polish government that was close to the Soviets, the situation in Berlin, and the sharing of Italian and German warships. The view that emerged in these talks and in the new American cabinet was that "the possibility of a complete break with Russia is very serious".
On the other hand, after the death of President Roosevelt, Stalin's Russia, which started to show a certain distrust towards Truman, tried to bring socialist and communist forces to power in their own countries in various ways in the Eastern and Central European countries liberated by the Red Army. Seeing this, Churchill wrote a letter on May 12, 1945 to warn the Truman administration. In this letter, he stated that “to move away from external influences, They put an iron curtain in front of us” and brought the Soviet threat to the American agenda with all its nakedness.
Turkey; while aiming to continue the country's development move by mobilizing its own resources; In the new global structure that emerged after the Second World War, and especially in the face of the Soviet threat, which became evident as reflected in the official declarations, it was forced to establish transcontinental connections again. Turkey has tried to keep close contact with the Americans and the British in order to evaluate this 'opposition' against the Russians in the Western society and the USA, and thus not to be wrong against the Russians.
On the other hand, Turkey, with the effect of its loneliness in the international arena in the post-war years, began to seek a suitable ground for an agreement with the Soviet Union, and refrained from displaying direct 'hostility'. In the instruction given to Sarper by Prime Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu on May 23, before his departure to Moscow, it was stated that it was not possible to amend the Montreux Convention since it is an international agreement, and that the sensitivity of the Soviets on the security of the Black Sea would be appreciated.
Afterwards, in the Turkish-Soviet talks between Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and Turkey's Moscow Ambassador Selim Sarper on June 7, 1945, Turkey was faced with some Soviet demands that would harm its independence and territorial integrity. At the end of the meeting, it was revealed that it was very difficult for Turkey to come to an agreement with the Soviet Union without losing some of its sovereignty and independence rights.
The Soviet Union continued its insistence to make Turkey accept the following demands:
1. Making corrections in favor of the Soviet Union on the Turkish-Soviet border determined by the Moscow Treaty of March 16, 1921 (Molotov claimed that the Treaty of Friendship and Brotherhood, signed on March 16, 1921, between the two states was made during a period when the Soviet Union was weak. While Molotov wanted Kars and Ardahan to be returned to the Soviet Union, the fate of the 200 million Soviet people depended on the will of the Turks, since the Soviet Union did not have a right on the Straits. expressed their dissatisfaction with it.)
2. To jointly defend the Straits by Turkey and the Soviet Union and to give the Soviet Union naval and land bases in the Straits to ensure this; Reaching an agreement in principle between Turkey and the Soviet Union on the necessary amendments to the Montreux Convention, which determines the regime of the Straits.
The Turkish Government, in its reply on the subject, stated that the Montreux Convention, which is a multilateral contract in which the modification of the Turkish-Soviet border determined by the Moscow Treaty and the Soviet Union in the Straits cannot be accepted, concerns not only Turkey and the Soviet Union, but all parties. also stated that their views should be sought.
As a result of this, the British, who had more knowledge of the Turkish realities than the Americans, took the first step. Concerned about the Soviet Union's ambitions on the Balkan countries, the British Government applied to the US government on June 18, 1945 and requested that their common stance on this Soviet behavior, which was contrary to the Yalta Conference resolutions, be determined before Potsdam.
On the other hand, the US Deputy Secretary of State told the Turkish Ambassador on July 7, 1945 that the meeting with the Soviet officials in Moscow resembled a friendly exchange of views for now, and that the Soviet Union did not pose any threat to Turkey. As a result of the reluctance of the US government to take the initiative before the Soviet government, the Potsdam Conference was expected to convene for any attempt regarding the situation in Turkey.
Thus, the outcome of the Russian demands demanding corrections in the Straits and the Turkish-Russian border in the east of Turkey (in the Georgia and Armenia part) and whether Turkey can receive support from the Western society in this sense is left to the Potsdam Conference to be held on July 17, 1945.
In another article, we will focus on the part of the Potsdam Conference that concerns Turkey and the next developments.

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