TÜRKİYE'NİN SOVYETLER BİRLİĞİ İLE ASKERİ İLİŞKİLERİ (1923-1939)

This thesis examines the military relations between Turkey and the Soviet Union between 1923-1939 which were largely overlooked and underappreciated despite forming a significant part of the relations between the two countries. Under the general guidance of Turkish political leadership, the military relations had developed with constant interaction between the two large military bureaucracies. The changing European security environment and urgency felt in Turkey to keeping up to speed with preparations to create a modern Turkish army having deterrence capabilities provided a relatively more stable form of relationship in the military fields in the period under consideration. It can be argued that the contact base was quite significant in the area of military relations compared to other areas when variety of issue areas were taken into consideration. The relations were first established on the military area in terms weapons and ammunition support, promoted by exchange of visits and appointments of senior and prominent military figures for effect and then expanded into various aspects of military areas such as engaging in specialist training programs, weapon and equipment transfers, facilitation in communication and logistics, observations at major military manoeuvres and establishment of mechanisms to address problems on the borders.