Turk and Russian Relations From Distant Neighbourship To Close Neighbourship

Abstract

The current diplomacy between Turks and Russians, who fought thirteen times between 1677-1918, and who had come on the brink of war many times besides these wars, is one of the most spoken subjects of today. When the history of the relationship between two countries is examined, it is observed that similarities to today's relationship between parties occurred occasionally. These convergences especially in the period after the Cold War, had increased in the period when diplomatic breakups between Turkey and the USA had come up. Historically, Turkey, in its national security calculations, had always followed-up a policy that is taking Russia to the center, and that is balancing the level of threat directed by Russia by the Western allies. Today, the convergence with Russia is being actualized as the result of a reverse functioning of a similar strategic calculation.