Soviet-Turkish Relations in 1921-1923: A Few Nuances from the Bulgarian Archives

Abstract

The article aims at presenting information from unpublished and unexplored until now Bulgarian archival documents about Soviet-Turkish relations. It follows their development in the period 1921-1923, based on the reports of the Bulgarian diplomats, residing in Istanbul - Todor K. Pavlov, Todor Markov and Ivan Altanov. Among the topics concerned were the status of the Soviet-Turkish relations; the Soviet military and financial support for Ankara Government; Soviet-Turkish rivalry for the influence over Muslim peoples in the Near East and Asia; international conferences; internal politics and developments within the Grand National Assembly; important Turkish personages that influenced directly or indirectly the Soviet-Turkish relations etc. The presented documents reveal not only some important nuances of already known facts and events, but open new unexplored topics in the historiography, related to the Soviet-Turkish relations during the period under consideration.

Keywords

• Bulgarian archives,Bulgarian diplomats’ reports,Soviet-Turkish relations,Soviet support,Ankara government,Turkish politicians and leaders

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