Cold War Turkey through Soviet Bloc's eyes

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Wesolowska, Ksenia (2025) Cold War Turkey through Soviet Bloc's eyes. Cold War History. ISSN 1468-2745 (In Press) (https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2025.2597736)

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Abstract

This article explores the role of Warsaw Pact intelligence operations, focusing on Polish People’s Republic resident spies (rezidenturas) in Turkey in the 1970s and 1980s. It highlights the impact of Turkey’s civil unrest and military coup on Eastern Bloc espionage, arguing that the Soviet Bloc’s dependence on ‘legal’ resident spies during political turmoil exposed flaws in KGB’s tradecraft. Despite intensified Soviet activities in Turkey post-1975, these efforts were marred by understaffing, limited progress, and bureaucratic hurdles. Concurrently, Turkey’s volatile political climate diverted counterintelligence focus away from the Soviet Bloc espionage, allowing Polish and Bulgarian intelligence officers to penetrate the Turkish Intelligence Organization. The article also examines tensions between Greece and Turkey within the southeastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), viewing these as opportunities to exploit divisions within the alliance.

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