Abstract:

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has always maintained its importance in Turkish foreign policy due to the historical, cultural and sociological ties with the Caucasus, especially the kinship relationship between the Azerbaijani Turks. Although its historical foundations date back much earlier, the problem has preoccupied the Turkish public a lot in the 90s, when it decayed into an open conflict between the Azerbaijani Turks and Armenia. In this study, we decipher the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in three main headings. First, in order to make the issue more understandable, we have tried to examine the Armenian problem in general and the historical factors that triggered the emergence of the problem, since the problem is related to the Armenian problem in a broader context by touching on its place in the historical process. Secondly, we discussed the systematic and planned decommissioning policy implemented by the Soviet administration from the 1930s to the end of the 1980s, which led to the fact that Nagorno-Karabakh became a problem between Armenians and Azerbaijani Turks. We tried to underline that Russia's deportation policy, which began during the tsarist period and continued during the Soviet period, was the main tool of the Caucasian policy of transferring Azerbaijani lands to Armenians. In the third and nal title, we examined the approach of the Turkish press to the problem in 1992, when the conicts in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, massacres of Armenians and Russians targeting Azerbaijani Turks increased. The attitude of the Turkish press towards the events of the period, the occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region belonging to Azerbaijan by the Armenian armed forces supported by Russia, and how the rhetoric of the power of the period was reected in the press were evaluated.