Rusya’nın Ortadoğu’ya Dönüşünün Askeri Boyutu.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union succeeded in establishing an important sphere of influence in the Middle East. However, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia began to rapidly lose its influence in the 1990s in the Middle East. The process of Russia’s transformation into an important actor again in the region took place in the 2010s. Moscow’s policy toward the civil war in Syria has increased Russian influence in Syria and enabled it to be more actively involved in the developments in the Middle East. Similar to the Soviet era, Russia’s increasing influence in the Middle East in recent years, was largely achieved by military means. This study aims to analyze the recent transformation of Russia’s military presence in the region, which is the most important indicator of its influence in the Middle East. In addition, in order to evaluate the success of its return to the Middle East, Russia’s military influence in the region was compared with the influence of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. As a result of the evaluation, it was concluded that Russia managed to reestablish a sphere of influence in the Middle East. The biggest factor behind this success of Russia is the rapid development of its military relations with Syria and Egypt in the 2010s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]