Russia – Turkey relations in the XIXth – first half of the XXth century. Peacefulness of conservatism and conflictogenity of liberalism

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the Russia-Turkey relations from the first half of the XIXth to the first half of XXth century (including Russian Empire, RSFSR, USSR and Ottoman Empire, Turkish Republic). During this time the countries faced periods of confrontation, peace and striving for peace. These periods are considered on the basis of the theory of modernization. It helps author to discover the remarkable consistent pattern. Periods of conservative modernization were peaceful or at least had peaceful initiatives, while conflicts generally took place during the periods of liberalization and westernization both in Russia and in Turkey. Author also notice that liberalization coincided with domination of such ideologies as Pan-Slavism in Russia and Pan-Turkism in Turkey, both of them held the potential to conflicts. Author explains this fact through the correlation between liberal views and nationalistic ideas that was discovered by Russian philosopher K.N. Leontiev. Moreover, during the periods of conservatism Russia and Turkey faced the confrontation of Western countries (mostly Great Britain and France) that spur two “Eurasian Empires” to rapprochement.