Ey Turk! Watch Out: The Final Destination of the Russians Is Turkey, Not Ukraine (2)

Link to the initial essay:

https://strasam.org/tarih/siyasi-tarih/ey-turk-dikkatli-ol-ruslarin-nihai-hedefi-ukrayna-degil-turkiyedir-1-620

Admission of Turkey to NATO Membership:

NATO, which is not a military alliance in the narrow sense, has also been seen as an organization that functions as the antithesis of the Communism ideology represented by the Soviets, with its structure aiming to maintain and defend the capitalist social order. The North Atlantic world, which protected the lands of NATO member countries against Soviet expansionism with 'aids', delegations, 'experts', bases and facilities, inevitably disturbed the Soviets. Even before Turkey was officially included in the Alliance, the number of officers in the American military delegation in Turkey reached 1,250 as of October 15, 1951. The head of the American delegation, General Arnold, focused on establishing the American presence in Turkey and completing the base structure. Dorr, the implementer of the Marshall Plan, also began to pioneer the creation of an economic structure in Turkey in line with American interests and expectations. The increasing American presence and base structure in Turkey, and the modernization of the Turkish army with American aid, naturally drew the reaction of the Soviets. Turkey, which eventually became a member of NATO, was subjected to heavy criticism from its close neighbor, the USSR.

Soviet Response to NATO Membership:

Indeed, the USSR; He strongly opposed Turkey's pro-US policy and NATO membership, and expressed his reaction clearly with the note he gave:

“The actions of the Atlantic states, such as establishing a united army and adding West German troops to it, embarking on an arms race, consenting to the establishment of American military bases in foreign lands, show that they are instruments of the attack policy of the imperialists, especially America. Air and naval bases are established on Turkish soil with the administration and assistance of the American military command and American experts, and airfields are built close to the Soviet borders. Therefore, Turkey's invitation to the Pact is based on the desire to use its territory to establish military bases for aggressive purposes. The Soviet Union is Turkey's neighbor, and it cannot remain indifferent to such events. For this reason, it is waiting for an explanation from Turkey about the problems in contact. Turkey becomes a member of the aggressive Atlantic community. It allows for the establishment and exploitation of foreign bases on its territory. We draw the attention of the Turkish government to its responsibility.”

Despite the Soviet note, Turkey continued its NATO membership process. The relations between Turkey and Russia, which became members of NATO on February 18, 1952, remained tense during the Stalin era.

Post-Stalin Detente:

After the death of Stalin on March 5, 1953, it tended to improve during the Khrushchev era. On May 30, 1953, Foreign Minister Molotov stated that Russia had no demands for the Straits and the Eastern region, “…The Soviet Government declares that the Soviet Union has no territorial claims against Turkey.” and thus, the Russian pressure was removed.

Negative Effects of Distrust of Russians on Relationships:

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union, during the Khrushchev era, began to make efforts to regain Turkey and distance it from the Western world. However, the continuous Russian demands since 1939; He directed Turkey to follow a foreign policy in line with the USA and kept it away from getting closer to the Soviets. The territorial demands of the Soviets based on their historical ambitions caused Turkish politicians to distrust Soviet Russia, and it was not possible to re-establish mutual trust between the two countries in the short term.

The rising Soviet threat after the war caused Turkey to turn to a pro-Western foreign policy in search of its own security. This policy, which developed with the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan along with the USA, began to increase in the number of evaluations made in Turkey regarding the integration with the West, with the acceptance of NATO membership.

At this point, the policies of NATO and therefore the USA, targeting Soviet Russia, also shaped the foreign policy of the Menderes Government. Although the Soviets abandoned their demands, it was not possible to develop Turkish-Russian relations on an independent basis from the Western Bloc in those years, since the two countries are now in different camps. For this reason, many problems between the two countries continued to exist for a while (Çelik, 2018, p.5201).

Western Bloc and Turkey:

When we look at it from a historical perspective, the region today called the "West" and dominated by the Atlantic Basin countries has been a "special" world where the Russians have always been left out. Although the Russians are a Christian nation like other European countries, they were never considered a natural part of Europe. An exclusionary Western policy, similar to the fact that the Ottomans were kept out of the European order even when they had almost 1/3 of Europe, was partially valid for the Russian nation as well.

However, the geopolitical situation of the Soviets has always been seen as a "threat" for the Western world, in relation to the balance of power, in that they hold the region that Mackinder calls the geographical axis of history or the heartland, which he attaches great importance to, and which he sees as the key to world domination. In this perception, the USSR, which became the focus of policies contrary to the economic and political interests of the West, acted with the aim of spreading communism to the whole world, had discourses that shook the value judgments of the Western society, and an understanding that embraced socialism, especially in Western European countries, began to be accepted. He directed the Western world to take precautions against the Soviets.

The Importance of Turkey in the Policy of Containment of the Soviets:

The years between 1945 and 1947 were considered as the preparation period for the 'Cold War' and the Policy of Containment of the Soviets was declared in 1947. The Eastern Bloc was surrounded by the establishment of military blocks and bases predominantly in 1947-1952. Turkey has also been a part of this containment. Since intercontinental missiles were not yet developed in these years, the bases that the United States acquired in Turkey and other overseas regions were of great importance. Thus, Stalin's Russia was virtually 'imprisoned' in its huge territory by NATO and other allied states of the USA.

Stuck in Soviet Geography:

The western border of the Soviets was only able to reach as far as the Elbe river during the Warsaw Pact period. Russian military power could not go beyond this line in the west. Slavism has found a partly spread area in these regions. Since the entire northern and eastern coast of Russian Asia, from the White Sea, with the Arkhangels port in the north, to the southern coast of Sakhalin island in the Far East, is covered with ice for most of the year, Soviet expansionism has come to an end in the north (new sea routes that climate change may reveal in the Arctic are hidden. .). Viladivostok on the east coast is also a port that opens only to the Sea of ​​Japan. The arc of South Korea and the Japanese islands is an obstacle for the Russians in this region to easily open up to the Pacific. The presence of great Chinese power in the southeast has kept the Russians confined to their borders in the east. The port of Murmanks, which opens to the Norwegian Sea in the northwest, is blocked by NATO and American military bases and navies. Although its presence in Kaliningrad gave the Russians a great strategic advantage in the Baltic region, it was not possible for the Baltic sea to even serve as an inland sea for the Soviets. It is out of the question for the Russians to reach the open seas from here. Because the narrow outlets of this sea in the direction of the North Sea are under the control of NATO members Norway, Denmark and Germany, and now the Baltic states. Britain, one of the leading members of NATO, blocked further Atlantic exits.

The only exit that can change the terrestrial identity of the Great Russian geography, the only place that can bring the Russians together with the warm seas, is the Black Sea. The connection of the Black Sea, which is the exit point of the geographies irrigated by Southern Russia, Central Asia, the Danube Basin, the Dnieper and the Dniester rivers, to the warm seas is possible through the Turkish Straits. The biggest opening that can change the fate of the big land bloc under Russian political and military control, which is isolated and besieged from the rest of the world, can be realized through the Straits.

The Importance of the Straits for the Soviets:

French Professor Pierre Renouven's assessment of the Straits is appropriate: “Exiting to the Mediterranean and warm seas is not and cannot be a temporary goal for a Russian government. It is the geographical conditions that present this fundamental problem to him at every moment. A Russia that cannot own the straits does not have the keys to its house”.

Raymond Lacoste, on the other hand, revealed how important the issue is for the Russians and other states, with the expression "The Straits appear as the main issue in all aspects of the Eastern issue (ie the sharing of the Ottoman Empire's lands by the great states or the division into spheres of influence)...".

Turkey in the Western alliance; By holding the Straits and Thrace, it is preventing all initiatives of Russia in the southwestern military operation area, and with its presence in Eastern Anatolia, it can prevent the Russian power from extending to the Gulf and the rich oil region, even to Suez, through Iran and Iraq. Representing a key link in the Containment Policy in the 1950s, Turkey became an important counterbalance and obstacle to NATO's expansionism of the Soviets.

Today, Russian bases in Syria provide an opportunity for Russian air platforms and navy to expand in the Eastern Mediterranean. However, this initiative, which has been developed, exposes the Russians to a situation that depends largely on the continuity of the right of free passage through the Turkish Straits. While the dependence of the Soviet Black Sea navy on the Turkish Straits grants Turkey a geopolitical power as an unchanging dimension of the geography, the fact that the key to unleash Russian ambitions is in the hands of the Turks, continues to be seen as a frightening reality for the Russians.

Difficult Neighborhood of Russians and Turks:

The neighborhood of Turkey and today's Russia, which wants to overcome this, brings with it serious risks and troubles. It should not be forgotten that Turkey's participation in the NATO alliance stemmed from the need to feel safe against the Russian threat in the past, if not today, rather than the idea of ​​hostility towards the Russians.

Turkey has to be strong against the Russians, inside or outside the Alliance. The main character of the Russian efforts towards these issues can be defined as taking advantage of every new development in order to watch the Turks' weakest moments and reach their final goals. When the deterrents of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey were strong, Moscow always prevented the attempts to raise the Russian demands for the Straits, with a diplomatic skill, but knew how to wait for the right time and be patient. However, at every opportunity, including the First World War, when the Turks began to lose power in the Anatolian geography, Russian ambitions did not stay away from "fighting" to overcome these lands.

Conclusion:

As long as the Turkish Straits continue to be the biggest obstacle to the Russians becoming a global state, Russian efforts to overcome this historical and geopolitical reality will naturally never come to an end.

In addition, Atatürk's cooperation with Lenin in the War of Independence, the withdrawal of Russian strategic investments to Anatolian lands within the scope of multilateral and multilateral policy after 1964, access to critical technologies in the field of nuclear power plants in the recent period, mutual trade with the Russians at the expense of energy dependence, and agriculture. and continuing efforts to keep it at the highest level, including tourism areas, etc. When bilateral relations are taken into account, pragmatic contacts with a win-win dimension in which rational mind is active reflect the required dimension of the Turkish-Russian neighborly relationship. Even though it is a NATO ally, the United States has a distance with Russia in order to build hegemony and limit power policies towards Turkey and its surroundings. Maintaining contact is Turkey's main insurance against the Western world.

On the other hand, it is important and beneficial for Turkey to maintain controlled and mutually beneficial relations with the Russians as long as the basic principle of keeping a distance from the Russians is followed, especially in the security dimension and in domestic politics.

However, the Soviets, which made great strategic investments in Afghanistan in 1955 and made great efforts to develop this country by spending great resources, occupied the same country in 1979 with their collaborators from the outside and caused a destruction that cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Afghans during their 10 years of stay in this country. It should never escape the attention of Turkish politicians.

The Turkish Miletus, who holds the key to the "Great Russian Geography" leading to the warm seas; It is the most important duty and responsibility that history has imposed on him that he always has a 'vigilant' attitude and awareness towards the Russians.

Additional Regerences:

Ataov T. (2006). America, NATO and Turkey, Advanced Publications, 2nd Edition, Istanbul.

Kurat N.A. (1990). Turkey and Russia. Ministry of Culture Publications. 1194. Cultural Artifacts. Sevinc Press. Ankara.

Taşkıran C. (1996). The Past and Present of the Dodecanese. General Staff Printing Office. Ankara.