ABSTRACT
Most Western military strategists are aware of the significance Turkey’s proximity to the Caucasus gave it in the Cold War, when it was assigned the role of slowing down anticipated mass Soviet armor movements southward. Fewer strategists have studied the earlier struggles of the Ottoman and Russian empires over influence in the Caucasus, both southern and northern. Czarist Russia considered the Caucasus its “near abroad,” a concept that continued under the Bolsheviks and the Soviets and can indeed be seen even in President Vladimir V. Putin’s foreign policy. 1 At the same time, the Republic of Turkey has, since its founding in 1923, continued the Ottoman concept of the Caucasus as Turkey’s backyard.
