Abstract:  
 
The subject of this research is the establishment of the Ottoman control over the western areas of the Northwest Caucasus throughout the period of the late XV – early XVI centuries. After the Ottoman occupation of the Genoese Caffa (1475) and first invasion into Circassia (1479), the ethnopolitical history of the Northwest Caucasus has marked the beginning of a long era, the content of the events of which to a certain extent were determined by the character of relationships with the Ottoman Empire. In order to conquer the country of Circassians, the Ottoman government used a powerful military resource of the vassal Crimean Khanate. At the same time, the Ottomans were making efforts to prevent the spread of the Khan authority in Circassia, and encouraged the direct vassal ties of the Circassian dukes with regards to the sultan. All of the key events in the history of Ottoman- Circassia relations are examined on a broader scale of events associated with the Ottoman conquest of Crimea, Balkan Peninsula, and the Near East (Syria-Egypt Empire of the Mamluks), as well as the influence upon Circassia from the Crimean Khanate and Russian state. The author made the following conclusions: 1) clarification of the institutional character of the Ottoman dominance in the Northwest Caucasus; 2) inclusion into the scientific discourse of the problematics of the Cirkassian presence in Mamluk Egypt, which affected the vector of the Istanbul- Circassia relations; 3) influence of the Ottoman military-political presence in Crimea and Caucasus (Caffa  vicegerency)  upon the character of Crimea- Circassia connections.