Turkey's relations with the Bolsheviks : 1919-1922

Abstract

While the Russian Empire was completely destroyed by the Bolshevik Revolution of 6-7 November 1917, the Ottoman Empire gave its last breath in Mudros Armistice in 18 October 1918. There would be a new beginning without return for both nations from then on. The Bolshevik Government in Russia and Ankara Government, which was the leader of the resistance in Turkey, started to fight against the common enemy. Both of the governments aimed to prove themselves, while Bolsheviks were trying to declare and expand their regimes and movements, to the World. Right at that point, Moscow and Ankara became allies against the Imperialist European States. However, their friendship was not without a cost. While Bolsheviks were aiming to expand their regimes to Anatolia and if possible aimed to make Anatolia a Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union, Kemalists aimed to get material and spiritual support of the Bolsheviks without adopting their regimes in Anatolia. Thus, Turkish-Bolshevik relations would change everyday according to these aims. This study evaluates the relations between the Bolshevik Government in Russia and the Nationalist Movement (later Ankara Government) in Turkey during the Turkish War of Independence, and explains the dimensions and reasons of this alliance.