‘No Diplomatic Negotiations or Insistence before the Ottoman Porte to Have Any Favorable Result...’: The Caucasus in Russian-Turkish Relations, Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Introduction. Being a key point on the Russian-Turkish agenda during the period in question, the Caucasus was influenced not only by the traditional logic of geopolitical rivalry between the two powers but also by somewhat tectonic shifts in the system of international relations. The world was anticipating a global war, and this did affect regional policies of the powers too. Moreover, the Caucasus was (and still is) particularly sensitive to geopolitical issues in general. So, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries witnessed an evolution in the foreign policy dimension across the Caucasus, since the more or less obvious confrontation was then replaced by complicated interactions between the powers, the latter never to exclude rivalry but would involve elements of constructive relationship as well. Materials and methods. The study is essentially interdisciplinary, which makes it possible to organically combine methods of historical research and some approaches to the study of international relations. The key sources are documents from the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, Archive of Russian State Military History, and State Archive of the Russian Federation. Results. One of the aspects of Russian-Turkish interaction was the migration of Muslims from both the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia: for a number of indigenous peoples religious commonness was reinforced by their Turkic roots. Historical sources confirm Turkey’s emissaries would launch active campaigns among local populations, while a group of Caucasians were actually residing in the two empires. So, the Caucasian borderland became a haven for ethnic Armenians seeking salvation from systematic violence in the Ottoman Empire. The compact Armenian-inhabited areas on both sides of the Russia-Turkey border made the problem of reforming Turkey’s Armenian wilayahs particularly urgent for Russian officials in St Petersburg and especially in the Caucasus. Conclusions. The work resumes on the eve of the war the Caucasus — despite being part of the Russian state — became a Russia-Turkey contact zone, which still implied hidden geopolitical rivalry.

1. Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire.

2. State Archive of the Russian Federation.

3. Russian State Archive of Military History.

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6. Kinyapina N. S. (ed.) The Oriental Question in Russia’s External Policies, Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries. Moscow: Nauka, 1978. 435 p. (In Russ.)

7. Vorontsov-Dashkov I. I. Most Faithful Report on the Eight Years in Charge of the Caucasus Viceroyalty by General Adjutant Graf Vorontsov-Dashkov. St. Petersburg: Imperial Printing House, 1913. 86 p. (In Russ.)

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13. Kuliev F. Religious factor in geopolitics of Russia and Turkey in the North Caucasus. The Caucasus & Globalization. 2013. Vol. 7. No. 1–2. Pp. 127–136. (In Russ.)

14. Kurat A. N. Collected Writings. Vol. 4: Turkey-Russia Relations, 1798–1919. L. Shakhin (ed.). Kazan: Märcani Institute of History (Tatarstan Academy of Science), 2016. 852 p. (In Russ.)

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16. Russian Ambassador in Turkey — to the Foreign Affairs Minister. Constantinople, 11 March 1913. In: Collected Diplomatic Documents. Reforms in Armenia, 26 November 1912 – 10 May 1914. Petrograd: Imperial Printing House, 1915. Pp. 25–26. (In Russ.)

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21. Internal note by Chief of Police Department dated 15 August 1908. Krasnyi arkhiv. 1929. No. 4 (35). P. 146. (In Russ.)

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23. Bozkurt U. Emigration of Caucasian Moslems to the Ottoman Empire and their role in the creation of the Turkish Republic. Russia and the Moslem World. 2023. No. 1 ( 327). Pp. 72–88. DOI: 10.31249/rimm/2023.0L06

24. Kinyapina N. S. (ed.) The Oriental Question in Russia’s External Policies, Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries. Moscow: Nauka, 1978. 435 p. (In Russ.)

25. Vorontsov-Dashkov I. I. Most Faithful Report on the Eight Years in Charge of the Caucasus Viceroyalty by General Adjutant Graf Vorontsov-Dashkov. St. Petersburg: Imperial Printing House, 1913. 86 p. (In Russ.)

26. Grankin Yu. Yu. The Russian Empire in search of optimal management model of the North-Caucasus borderlands (On the founding of vicegerency). Humanities and Law Research. 2018. No. 4. Pp. 37–47. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.37494/2409-1030-2018-4-37-42

27. Degoev V. V. The Caucasus Question in International Relations, 1830s – 1860s. Vladikavkaz: North Ossetian State University, 1992. 311 p. (In Russ.)

28. Degoev V. V. The Great Game in the Caucasus: Past and Present. Moscow: Russkaya Panorama, 2003. 344 p. (In Russ.)

29. Kinyapina N. S., Bliev M. M., Degoev V. V. The Caucasus and Central Asia in Russia’s External Policies, 1750s – 1880s. Moscow: Moscow State University, 1984. 328 p. (In Russ.)

30. Korobeynikova D. Yu. Colonizing and resettlement deformation of the North Caucasus region in the process of its adaptation to the imperial microsociety. Humanities and Law Research. 2018. No.3. Pp. 98–103. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.37494/2409-1030-2018-3-98-103

31. Kuliev F. Religious factor in geopolitics of Russia and Turkey in the North Caucasus. The Caucasus & Globalization. 2013. Vol. 7. No. 1–2. Pp. 127–136. (In Russ.)

32. Kurat A. N. Collected Writings. Vol. 4: Turkey-Russia Relations, 1798–1919. L. Shakhin (ed.). Kazan: Märcani Institute of History (Tatarstan Academy of Science), 2016. 852 p. (In Russ.)

33. About Pan-Islamism in the Caucasus: Analyzing materials submitted by Counterintelligence Department of the Caucasus Viceroy’s Office. In: Arapov D. Yu. (comp., ed.) Imperial Russia and Muslim World, Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries. Collected materials. Moscow: Natalis, 2006. Pp. 422–429. (In Russ.)

34. Russian Ambassador in Turkey — to the Foreign Affairs Minister. Constantinople, 11 March 1913. In: Collected Diplomatic Documents. Reforms in Armenia, 26 November 1912 – 10 May 1914. Petrograd: Imperial Printing House, 1915. Pp. 25–26. (In Russ.)

35. Ramazanova Z. B. Oil fields in the life support system of the peoples of Russia in the 2nd half of the XIX – beginning of the XX centuries (On the materials of the Republic of Dagestan). ACTA HISTORICA. 2021. Vol. 4. No. 1. Pp. 46–51. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.24412/2658-3836-2021-41008

36. Kozmenko I. V. (comp.) Collected Treaties between Russia and Other Countries, 1856–1917. E. Adamov (ed.). Moscow: Gospolitizdat, 1952. 470 p. (In Russ.)

37. Senyutkina O. N. Muslims of Dagestan and Pan-Islamism at the turn of the twentieth century: Analyzing materials of Russian secret services. In: Islam and Islamic Studies in Contemporary Russia. Forum proceedings ( Makhachkala, 27–28 September 2019). Makhachkala: Alef, 2019. Pp. 45–51. (In Russ.)

38. Senyutkina O. N., Guseva Yu. N. Pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism as understood by Russian officials (Early 20th century). The New Historical Bulletin. 2019. No. 2 (60). Pp. 21–36. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.24411/2072-9286-2019-00010

39. Internal note by Chief of Police Department dated 15 August 1908. Krasnyi arkhiv. 1929. No. 4 (35). P. 146. (In Russ.)

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