Russian Espionage Activities in Eastern Turkiye During the Cold War Years: The Case of Erzurum

In the 1950's, when the Cold War struggle gained momentum, Turkiye was one of the countries in which Soviet Russia, which carried out espionage actions in many countries, tried to be effective. The Russians engaged in intense espionage action in the eastern provinces as well as in Istanbul and Ankara. Many spy scandals, the arrest and trial of captured spies marked this period. Turkiye, feeling itself under the direct threat of Soviet Russia, determined upper-limit penalties for captured Russian spies. Moreover, in fact that both of the two espionage cases given the death penalty between 1950-1960 were applied to those who spied on behalf of Russia, is important in terms of showing Turkiye's sensitivity to Russian espionage actions. The espionage incident in Erzurum, which was the subject of one of these two cases, was the eastern reflection of Russia's expansionist policy, which coincided with is ongoing ambitions. In this study, the nature of the espionage activities, carried out by Soviet Russia in the east of Turkiye was discussed on the basis of Russian espionage case, took place in Erzurum in 1953.