closest relationship was with the Soviet Union, although close did not necessarily mean friendly. Geographically, the Soviet Union was the nearest great power and it was necessary for Turkish government to devote most of its attention to the relationship with the Soviets. After the First World War, Ataturk envisioned Turkey as a bridge between the western democracies and the communist Soviet Union. On the other hand, Ataturk did not trust the Soviets, just as the Ottomans did not trust the Russians; he simply saw the need for balancing the power in Europe in order to preserve Turkey's independence and territorial integrity. In the 1930s, he began moving more towards a friendship with Great Britain and France in order to balance the increasing naval power of fascist Italy and build a Turkish bridge between eastern and western Europe. The hostility of the west towards the Soviets, however, turned out to be too great and so Ataturk was forced to cool the friendship with the Soviets in order the address the greater problem of Italy.
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