Russia–Turkey relations
Starting in 1549, the Ottoman Empire supported smaller Turkic and Islamic vassal states within modern Russia. This support brought the two empires into direct conflict over centuries of territory. The Black Sea remained under Ottoman control when Russians began their offensive against Turkish forces. In 1696, Peter the Great captured Azov, but many more battles lay ahead for both sides. The Russo-Turkish War from 1768 to 1774 resulted in the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca signed in 1774. This treaty granted Russia passage to the Black Sea, making it possible for Russia to gain access to the Mediterranean Sea. It also allowed the Russians the privilege to intervene in the Ottoman Empire on behalf of Eastern Orthodox Christian populations. By the 19th century, Russia aided Turkey's Slavic and Christian minorities to revolt against Ottoman rule. Russia did not always have in mind the goal of partitioning the Ottoman state. They feared this would aid the expansion plans of the Austrian Empire in the Balkan peninsula. Eventually, however, the desire for free passage through the Turkish straits pushed Russia in that direction. This led to decisive intervention during the war years of 1877 to 1878. For brief moments, a Russo-Ottoman alliance was established during the turbulent years of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The first treaty was signed on the 3rd of January 1799, including secret clauses supporting mutual defense against France. Sultan Selim III refused to ratify the renewed treaty in 1805, and by 1806 relations deteriorated. This led to renewed hostilities and the confrontation known as the Russo-Ottoman War of 1806, 1812. Another attempt at an alliance occurred in 1833, which was a defensive agreement where the Ottoman Empire sought Russian support against Egyptian expansion. During the Oriental Crisis, tensions resurfaced when Muhammad Ali of Egypt clashed with the Ottoman central authority again. By the late 1830s, France supported Ali while Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia formed a coalition to preserve Ottoman Turkey's integrity territory. Russo-Turkish relations continued until they broke down, effectively ending with both empires being on opposite sides in the Crimean War. The two empires fought each other for the last time during World War I. The Russian Caucasus campaign started on the 1st of November 1914 with the Russian invasion of Turkish Armenia. In February 1917, the Russian advance was halted following the Russian Revolution. The war ended with the regimes of both empires being overthrown.
The Soviet Union and the new Turkish governments were outsiders to the great powers after World War I. They gravitated toward each other beginning in 1920. Bitterness against the postwar international order drove Soviet-Turkish relations forward. Nationalist Turks and internationalist Bolsheviks laid to rest four centuries of rivalry between their imperial predecessors. At the heart of their cooperation was a geopolitical alignment that sought to shield the greater Black Sea region from Western intrusions. All the way up to the final hours of peace in 1939, the first principle that guided Turkish diplomacy was good neighborly relations with Moscow. Lenin's government abdicated the traditional claims of the Russian Empire to the territories of Western Armenia and the Turkish straits. The Soviet supply of gold and armaments to the Kemalists from 1920 to 1922 was a key factor in the latter's successful takeover of the Ottoman Empire. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the first state that formally recognized the Kemalist government of Turkey in March 1921. The Treaty of Moscow, signed on the 16th of March 1921 between Lenin's government and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey government, followed bilateral treaties concluded earlier that year. Under Article II of the treaty, Turkey ceded Batum and the adjacent area north of the village of Sarp to the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. Kars Oblast went to Turkey instead. Article III instituted an autonomous Nakhchivan oblast under Soviet Azerbaijan's protectorate. On the 17th of December 1925, the Turkish government withdrew its delegation, which let the League of Nations Council grant a mandate for the disputed region of Mosul to Britain without its consent. Kemal countered this diplomatic reverse by concluding a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union on the 17th of December 1935. The pact was later amended and prolonged for another ten years. The key episode was agreement on the Montreux Convention in July 1936. In this agreement, Turkey regained control over the Straits, which it was allowed to remilitarize.
Turkey officially remained neutral during World War II until the 23rd of February 1945. The Soviets viewed the Turkish continued relationship with Nazi Germany as inimical to itself. On the 19th of March 1945, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov advised Turkey's ambassador in Moscow that the Soviets were unilaterally withdrawing from the 1925 Non-Aggression Pact. The decision was explained by asserting that deep changes had occurred especially during World War II. The Turkish government was subsequently informed by Molotov that the Soviet Union also claimed a part of eastern Turkey. This referred to the districts of Kars, Artvin and Ardahan, which the Russian Empire had held between 1878 and 1921. At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin demanded a revision of the Montreux Convention. The Soviets' demand to be allowed to join in the defense of the Straits was rejected by Turkey, with the backing of the West. In March 1947, with the proclamation of the Truman Doctrine, the United States underwrote the frontiers of Turkey and Greece. Turkey sought aid from the United States and joined NATO in 1952. The Soviet Union and Turkey were in different camps during the Korean War and throughout the Cold War. Relations again turned sour at the end of WWII as the Soviet government laid territorial claims and demanded other concessions from Turkey. Turkey joined NATO in 1952 and placed itself within the Western alliance against the Warsaw Pact. During this period, relations between the two countries were at their lowest level. Relations began to improve the following year when the Soviet Union renounced its territorial claims after the death of Stalin.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia became a much smaller non-Communist nation. Relations improved significantly and on the 25th of May 1992, a visit to Moscow by Turkish Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel saw the signing of a Russian-Turkish treaty. Disagreements regarding the border dispute over the Caucasus and support of each other's historic adversaries both lingered. However, both countries are key strategic partners in the Transcaucasian region. In May 2009, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan flew to Sochi, Russia for a working visit with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. They stated that Turkey and Russia have responsibilities in the region and must take steps for peace and well-being. As for energy security, they agreed to immediately start work to prolong an agreement on gas supplies signed in 1986. In May 2010, the visit by the Russian President Medvedev to Turkey saw the signing of numerous agreements including the lifting of visa requirements. A multibillion-dollar deal was signed for the construction of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. This plant is expected to become Turkey's first fully operational nuclear power plant. According to a November 2018 INR poll, 51% of Turks view Russia favorably and 43% view it unfavorably. In 2022, the independent Levada Center found that 68% of Russians have a positive attitude towards Turkey compared to 20% who have a negative view. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, relations between Turkey and Russia improved significantly and the two countries came to rank among each other's largest trade partners. Russia became Turkey's largest provider of energy while many Turkish companies began to operate in Russia. In the 1990s, Turkey became the top foreign destination for Russian tourists.
On the 24th of November 2015, within weeks of the start of the Russian military intervention in support of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish F-16 combat aircraft shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 during an airspace dispute close to the Turkish-Syrian border. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a stab in the back by the accomplices of terrorists. He further stated that today's tragic events will have significant consequences including for relations between Russia and Turkey. In response, Russia imposed a number of economic sanctions on Turkey. These included the suspension of visa-free travel to Russia for Turkish citizens and limits on Turkish residents and companies doing business in Russia. Restrictions were placed on imports of Turkish products. Russian tour operators were discouraged from selling Turkish package holidays and asked to stop charter flights to Turkey. Russian football clubs were banned from signing Turkish players and discouraged from organizing winter training camps in Turkey. The day after the jet was shot down, a Russian lawmaker named Sergei Mironov introduced a bill to the Russian parliament. This bill would criminalize the denial of the Armenian genocide, a political move that Turkey has strongly opposed when countries like France and Greece adopted similar laws. The Pan-Orthodox Council had been originally scheduled to be held in Istanbul's Hagia Irene in 2016 but had to be shifted to Crete, Greece. The Russian Orthodox Church indicated that it did not want to go to Turkey due to the crisis following the downing of the Russian jet. Normalisation of ties began in June 2016 with Erdoğan expressing regret to Putin for the downing of the Russian warplane. Putin and Erdoğan held a telephone conversation on the 29th of June which was described as being productive by government officials. On the 31st of May 2017, Russia lifted most of the sanctions it had imposed on Turkey. This included lifting restrictions on Turkish companies operating in Russia and ending a ban on employing Turkish workers in the country.
On the 3rd of February 2022, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey volunteered to organize a Ukraine-Russia conference during a visit to Ukraine. EU leaders increased outreach to the Kremlin to calm worries of a Russian invasion. On the 24th of February, after the invasion started, Erdoğan expressed his support for Ukraine. On the 25th of February, the Republic of Turkey abstained from voting on Russia's suspension from the Council of Europe. It called for open dialogue between the parties under any circumstances. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated Turkey's readiness to host negotiations that could take place between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. On the 27th of February 2022, Cavusoglu stated that Turkey shifted its terminology to refer to Russia's assault on Ukraine as a war. He committed to enforce elements of the 1936 Montreux Convention's international pact which allows Turkey to prohibit all warships of belligerent forces from entering the Bosporus and Dardanelles. On the 28th of February, President Erdoğan publicly confirmed that the straits would be closed to prevent an escalation of the war while also pledging to maintain relations with both Ukraine and Russia. On the 10th of March, Messrs Sergei Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba met in Antalya in Turkey. This was the first high-level contact between the two sides since the beginning of skirmishes in April. The meeting took place on the sidelines of a significant diplomacy forum gathering professionals who deal with diplomacy such as political leaders and diplomats. Turkey has been actively involved in mediation efforts in the Russian invasion of Ukraine due to its important relations with both countries. Ukraine has asked both Israel and Turkey to set up talks with Russia for negotiations. Turkey has provided Ukraine with Bayraktar drones since 2019 which played a significant role in deterring Russian advances in the early stages of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, it has broken ranks with all other NATO member states by continuously refusing to impose sanctions on Russia for its aggression and occupation of Ukraine.
Common questions
When did the Ottoman Empire start supporting vassal states within modern Russia?
Starting in 1549, the Ottoman Empire supported smaller Turkic and Islamic vassal states within modern Russia. This support brought the two empires into direct conflict over centuries of territory.
What treaty granted Russia passage to the Black Sea in 1774?
The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca signed on the 2nd of May 1774 granted Russia passage to the Black Sea. It also allowed the Russians the privilege to intervene in the Ottoman Empire on behalf of Eastern Orthodox Christian populations.
Which state formally recognized the Kemalist government of Turkey first?
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the first state that formally recognized the Kemist government of Turkey in March 1921. The Treaty of Moscow signed on the 16th of March 1921 between Lenin's government and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey followed bilateral treaties concluded earlier that year.
Why did the Soviet Union withdraw from the Non-Aggression Pact with Turkey in 1945?
On the 19th of March 1945, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov advised Turkey's ambassador that the Soviets were unilaterally withdrawing from the 1925 Non-Aggression Pact due to deep changes occurring during World War II. The decision included a claim by the Soviet Union to parts of eastern Turkey including Kars, Artvin and Ardahan.
What happened when Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 aircraft in November 2015?
On the 24th of November 2015, Turkish F-16 combat aircraft shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 during an airspace dispute close to the Turkish-Syrian border. Russia imposed economic sanctions on Turkey including limits on business operations and restrictions on imports of Turkish products.
How has Turkey responded to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine regarding NATO alliances?
Turkey has broken ranks with all other NATO member states by continuously refusing to impose sanctions on Russia for its aggression and occupation of Ukraine. On the 28th of February 2022 President Erdoğan confirmed that the straits would be closed to prevent an escalation of the war while also pledging to maintain relations with both Ukraine and Russia.