Imperial Revival: Rivalry and Cooperation Between Russia and Turkey in the Black Sea Region (Political and Historical Analysis)
摘要
Modern Russia and Turkey are dynamically developing geopolitical centers actively participating in the formation of a new model of international relations. The purpose of the research is to determine how historical models and patterns of interaction of the two states have influenced current cooperation and their possible clash in the near future and compare their main resource opportunities for obtaining the status of a power in the new world order. The study is carried out within the framework of the paradigms of classical geopolitics using systematic, geopolitical, civilizational and historical approaches. The authors consider the historical experience of Russian-Turkish relations in the form of the interaction of imperial systems, recognizing that retrospective analysis as a method of scientific research will become the basis for predicting future models of bilateral relations, taking into account the comparison of the logic of political and historical geography. It has been revealed that the imperial essence of Russia and Turkey is based on Eurasian spatial projects, which influences their modern foreign policy. Despite the 12 Russian–Turkish wars, the powers have never posed an existential threat to each other and have had unprecedented periods of political rapprochement, while at the same time they have faced the existential challenges from the united West. It has been established that Russia and Turkey are currently clashing geopolitically in three key regions: the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa, the Black Sea region, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. The central issue of interaction is the problem of the functioning of the Black Sea straits. The issue was updated after the start of the Special Military Operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, when Ankara, on the basis of the Montreux Convention, blocked the straits for all warships that benefits Russia. The sovereign revival of Russia and Turkey is a reason for an extremely unstable climate of bilateral relations, within which a positive agenda is currently being formed due to the personal factor of the two presidents: painful issues to be postponed for future. This state of affairs requires a qualitative scientific examination of the historical and political experience of the interaction of the two powers and modeling of future bilateral relations.