VIEWS ON TURKEY’S POLICY DURING WORLD WAR II IN THE MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES

The article provides an overview of some research works from the countries of the Near Abroad (Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan) regarding Turkey’s foreign policy during the Second World War. Based on Soviet and Turkish periodicals, as well as materials from the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (WUA RF) and newly discovered secret documents from the archives of the USA, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, academics from the Turkic republics of the former USSR set out their concept of Soviet-Turkish relations during the Second World War and Turkey’s relations with the United States and Great Britain. In general, one can note their unity with the views of Turkish historians on the policy of neutrality and political loneliness of Turkey due to the unreliable partnership with Western members of the anti-Hitler coalition. At the same time, considering the policy of Turkey during the war years as pursuing an independent course, researchers de facto come to the opposite results, showing that in defining its foreign policy discourse, Turkey depended on the actions of the USSR. A similar situation is observed in Turkish publications, where is noted the predominant influence of the Soviet factor on Turkey’s foreign policy during the war and in the post-war period. At the same time, researchers from the Turkic-speaking countries of the Near Abroad tend not to portray Turkey’s policy exclusively in white colors. There is another aspect as well. But while in Turkish historiography the German attack on the USSR is viewed as a positive factor, representatives of the former Soviet republics maintain a negative view towards it.