Turkey and Pan-Turkism in the post-Soviet space
The sharp deterioration of relations between Russia and Turkey after the attack on the Russian plane and the killing of the Russian pilot occurred naturally. Surprisingly, for so long a time, Russia endured numerous less demonstrative, but equally painful, “backstabs” from its Turkish “partners.”
The geopolitical confrontation of Russia and Turkey in the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Middle East lasts for centuries. Perhaps, with no country in the world, Russia did not have so many wars as with the Ottoman Empire. True, in the twentieth century, after the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Soviet Union did not enter into open confrontation with Turkey. But, despite the fact that it was Soviet Russia that gave Kemal Atatürk, the father of modern Turkish statehood, the most effective assistance and all-round support, rather quickly the nationalist regime of Turkey became one of the main strategic opponents of the USSR in Front Asia. Already before the beginning of the Second World War, Turkey was considered as one of the potential allies of Hitler's Germany. Although Turkey did not enter the war on Hitler’s side, the very danger of her actions against the USSR forced the Soviet leadership to keep well-armed army units in the Transcaucasus that could be thrown against Germany and hasten the victory over the Nazi invaders. With the advent of the aggressive NATO bloc, Turkey has become a major US strategic ally, threatening the southern borders of the Soviet state. Turkey’s role in fueling radical and separatist sentiments in the Turkic and Muslim regions of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia is great. Moreover, through Turkey, as a rule, more powerful overseas opponents of the Soviet state, and later - of a strong Russia, acted. The revitalization of Pan-Turkists and religious fundamentalists, supported by Turkey, occurred precisely after the collapse of the USSR. Back in the late 1980's. emissaries of Turkish nationalist organizations began to strengthen and legalize their activities in the republics of Central Asia, the Transcaucasus, the North Caucasus, the Volga region, and even in distant Siberia - in Yakutia.
Origin and spread of Pan-Turkism
In the early post-Soviet years, in the wake of the “democratic” euphoria, the Russian authorities, both central and regional, treated the activities of foreign, particularly Turkish, organizations in the republics and regions of the Russian Federation with a significant percentage of the Turkic and Muslim populations. Meanwhile, Turkey, which previously could not conceive of propaganda activities in the territory of the Soviet republics, after the collapse of the USSR, turned into an important ideological and political player in the post-Soviet space. And the pan-Turkic ideology played an extremely important role in this process. By the way, the ideology of Pan-Turkism was formed at the end of the XIX century just among the Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire. This process was associated with the penetration into traditional Islamic societies of the Volga region, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia of European philosophical and political ideas that formed an orientation among the local intelligentsia not toward religious or ethnic, but toward national identity.
In 1883, the first printed edition appeared in the Russian Empire, published both in Russian and in Turkic languages - “Terjuman” - “Translator”. He was released by Ismail Bey Gaspraly (1851-1914), better known as Ismail Gasprinsky, a Crimean Tatar public figure, the son of Russian officer Mustafa Ali oglu Gasprinsky. Ismail Gasprinsky was puzzled by the question of creating a single Turkic language, but he did not succeed in achieving this overwhelming goal - too big differences were observed between the languages of the Turkic peoples, long isolated from each other. Politically, Ismail Gasprinsky was more pro-Russian oriented - he believed that Russia should be a Christian-Islamic state, and Muslim Turks are much more likely to develop within Russia than individually and under European influence. That is, the views of Gasprinsky represented a kind of prototype of Eurasianism. Gasprinsky called on Russia and Turkey for mutual friendship, emphasizing that the wars between the two states go to them only to the detriment of, and contribute to strengthening the position of the Western powers - Britain, France, Austria-Hungary. However, the followers of Gasprinsky, especially in Turkey, began to speak from anti-Russian positions. Gradually, a significant part of the Pan-Turkists occupied the flank of the opponents of Russia, which was quite natural - focusing on the creation of the Turkic power, the Pan-Turkists sought to separate the regions inhabited by the Turkic peoples from the Russian Empire, then from the USSR and, at present, from Russia, as well as some other States of the former Soviet Union.
In Ottoman Turkey, the ideas of Pan-Turkism became widespread in the last decade of its existence, which was associated with the formation of Turkish national identity and the spread of nationalist ideas among the Turkic intelligentsia and officers. The fundamental principles of the pan-Turkic ideology were formulated by Zia Gokalp (1876-1924) - a Turkish sociologist, a Turkish by origin. A supporter of Turkish nationalism, Gyokalp criticized the Ottoman Empire and Islamism. He considered it necessary to separate secular and spiritual power, Turkic national minorities of the country and the formation of the Turkic state according to the principle “one country - one people”. The ideas of Turkic nationalism Gokalp spread to the Turkic peoples of the Crimea, the Caucasus, Central Asia. Later, after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk came to power, the ideas of Zia Gokalp formed the basis of the Kemalist ideology, which included the creation and strengthening of a mono-ethnic Turkic national state. However, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was in no hurry to integrate the Turkic peoples outside of Turkey proper, since all his attention was focused on the modernization of Turkish society. Moreover, the Soviet Union strongly supported Kemal Atatürk, so he treated the ideas of spreading Pan-Turkism very negatively and replaced it with purely Turkish nationalism, although he used many ideas of Pan-Turkists of the early 20th century.
The situation began to change gradually after the death of the founding father of modern Turkey. An important role in the revival of Pan-Turkism was played by the Western powers, who intended to weaken the Soviet Union by activating nationalist sentiments in the Soviet republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Therefore, in the USSR, the attitude towards Pan-Turkism was purely negative. However, Turkey itself openly did not dare to support the activities of the Turkic nationalist groups and circles in the territory of the Soviet Union and did not even support the Crimean Tatars. Even in 1989-1990, when the USSR was practically “living out” its age, Turkey did not dare to openly declare its Pan-Turkic aspirations. Only the final collapse of the Soviet state allowed Turkey to intensify its influence - after all, five new Turkic-speaking states appeared in the post-Soviet space - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In addition, the “parade of sovereignties” in the autonomous republics that are part of the Russian Federation also made it possible to activate pro-Turkish activities in them. Turkey began to show interest in the issues of “ethnic renaissance” in the Turkic-speaking republics of Russia, and not only in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, but also in Yakutia, the Altai Republic, Khakassia, Tyva and Chuvashia, whose titular peoples are quite distant culturally from Muslim Turks. The interests of Turkey included the non-Turkic Islamic republics of the North Caucasus - Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, Ingushetia, Adygea, and also sovereign Tajikistan. Finally, Turkish public organizations and foundations were very active in the Crimea, which in 1991-2014. It was part of Ukraine - among the Crimean Tatar population, and in Moldova - among the Gagauz population.
Pan-Turkism is gaining momentum
In the last years of the existence of the USSR, representatives of non-state political organizations of Turkey were the first to establish contacts with the nationalist-oriented circles of the republics. At their invitation, guests from the republics of the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Volga region, Siberia began to arrive in Turkey. The collapse of the USSR contributed to the transition to contacts already at the government level - the Turkic republics of the former USSR were visited first by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then by the Prime Minister of Turkey. The key areas of Turkish influence in the Turkic-speaking republics in the post-Soviet space were: 1) economic cooperation, which consists not only in trade, but also in financial and economic assistance to Turkey to the Turkic-speaking and Muslim republics; 2) cultural and propaganda activities, consisting in the opening of Turkish educational institutions, inviting students to study in Turkey, broadcasting Turkish television and radio; 3) introduction of ideas on the romanization of the alphabet of the Turkic languages of the former USSR, which, according to the opinion of interested circles in Turkey, should contribute to the further strengthening of Turkish influence in the culture of the Turkic-speaking peoples. By the way, the introduction of the Latin alphabet is a special question. For many Turkic languages of the former USSR, the modern Turkish alphabet is practically inapplicable. However, this does not prevent Turkey from publishing literature focused on the republics of Central Asia, the Caucasus or the Volga region. The fact is that Pan-Turkist circles expect to move from a single alphabet to a single language, then to a single national community and the creation of a single state in which Turkey will play a dominant role. A separate item is the assistance of an illegal nature, most clearly manifested during the years of the Chechen campaigns. But, despite the fact that Turkey actively helped the North Caucasian militants, supplying volunteers, medical services, a refuge for those hiding, the Russian Federation preferred not to spoil relations with Ankara. Moreover, Turkey was positioned as one of the most important economic partners of Russia. Indeed, for 1990-e - 2000-e. The economies of the two countries turned out to be closely related, but the question is logical - was it worth the lives and health of Russian citizens who suffered during the armed conflicts in the North Caucasus?
Naturally, that Pan-Turkism, which has been implanting Turkey in the post-Soviet space since 1991, has an anti-Russian character in the end. To do this, it is enough to get acquainted with the literature published by the Pan-Turkic organizations, with their pages in social networks. At the same time, the original promises of Pan-Turkism, formulated by its founder Ismail Gasprinsky, which just adhered to the pro-Russian orientation, turned out to be forgotten. The approval of pro-Turkish pan-Turkism became possible due to the total ideological vacuum in the Turkic republics of the former USSR, both sovereign and constituent of the Russian Federation as autonomous rights. The fact is that the destruction of Soviet identity did not lead to the formation of a new all-Russian identity. As a result, the identification processes in the national republics assumed the character of a “renaissance of ethnic identity”, when special attention was paid to issues of ethnic stories, the revival of traditional values, lifestyle. Since in the 1990s, the Russian government was unable to form a positive model of a nationwide identity, especially for national regions, the latter intensified separatist and centrifugal tendencies.
This situation with obvious benefit for itself was used by Turkey, which sharply increased its cultural and ideological presence in the Turkic-speaking republics, supported by significant financial investments. As a result, a very dangerous situation has developed in the Russian Federation - numerous public organizations, funded and controlled by the Turkish side, operating under the leadership of Turkish citizens have appeared in the country. By the way, among the teachers, cultural and religious figures who come to Russia from the beginning of the 1990s, there are also representatives of Turkish nationalist organizations, and agents of the Turkish special services. For comparison, Russia does not have the ability to directly control any public organizations in Turkey. But Turkey has the ability to control the Pan-Turkic groups in Russia and, moreover, has a rather high support from a part of the population of the Turkic-speaking republics, especially among young people. It is enough to turn to the analysis of relevant sites and communities in social networks in order to analyze the true moods of a significant part of young citizens of the Russian Federation who are under the ideological influence of Turkey. For two decades of the post-Soviet history of the Russian state, while the federal authorities did not pay enough attention to ideological aspects, and in the regions they let the situation take their course, a whole generation of young people focused on Turkey and more identifying themselves with the Turkic world than with Russia grew up. Many of these young people pass or have been trained in Turkish educational institutions both in Russia and in Turkey itself, consider Turkey as the most optimal country for life. Naturally, in this environment separatist and pan-Turkic sentiments are widespread, manifested in a negative perception of the role of the Russian state in the life of the Turkic peoples of the Eurasian space. At the same time, the work on the approval of pro-Russian values is practically not conducted, or it looks extremely unconvincing against the background of the activities of Turkish public organizations in the Turkic-speaking regions of the country.
The institutionalization of Pan-Turkists in the post-Soviet states began almost immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Back in 1991, the Assembly of Turkic peoples was created, which officially proclaimed as its goal the re-creation, development and propaganda of the “Turkic path” of social development. Initially, the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan — became the main object of propaganda of the Assembly. In the republics were opened schools with in-depth study of the Turkish language, culture and history of Turkey. Under exchange programs, many Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Turkmen students went to study in Turkey. Tajikistan also found itself in the orbit of influence of Turkey - despite the fact that the Tajiks do not belong to the Turkic peoples, but speak the Tajik language, which refers to the Iranian languages. But Turkey began to strengthen its influence in Tajikistan on the basis of religious affinity - the Tajiks are Sunni Muslims, as are the Turks, while the Persians who are close to them in ethno-linguistic terms are Shia Muslims. This feature of Tajikistan is also sought by the Turkish side, opening Turkish lyceums in the country. Thus, in May 2009, in the large cities of Tajikistan, the network of Shalola and Izmir high schools was opened, and over a thousand Tajik citizens in 2009-2014. received education in higher education institutions in Turkey. The Tajik-Turkish Lyceum in Dushanbe enrolls 500 students, mostly children of the highest social strata of Tajik society. Of course, education in this lyceum is focused on the propaganda of pan-Turkic values. Naturally, graduates of Turkish lyceums are becoming agents of Turkish cultural and political influence in Tajikistan. It is noteworthy that in recent years, Turkish influence in Tajikistan has been even more pronounced than in other Turkic republics of Central Asia. Therefore, we have briefly stopped on Tajikistan, that this republic is an example of the influence of Pan-Turkism on the originally non-Turkic cultural environment.
Nurcular’s activity and cultural influence of Turkey
On the territory of Russia since the beginning of the 1990-ies. the branches of the Turkish religious-political organization Nurcular have intensified their activities. This movement was formed during the heyday of Pan-Turkic sentiments in Turkey after the First World War. The ideology of "Nurcular" was laid down by the views of Sheikh Said Nursi (1876-1960), who advocated moderate observance of the Shari'a and against the establishment of a secular atheistic system in Turkey. After moderate Islamists led by Recep Erdogan came to power in Turkey, the influence of the Nurcular organization in the country began to grow. 26 November 2014. The Turkish government officially declared Said Nursi's work as national treasure and took them under state protection.
In 1970-s. the Nursi movement was modernized by his follower Fethullah Gülen. Fethullah Gülen was born in 1941 in the village of Korudzhuk, near the city of Erzurum, in the family of an imam. After being educated in two madrasas, Gülen retired from his post as imam in 1981 and engaged in public activities. He currently resides in the United States because criminal proceedings were initiated against him in Turkey in 2014. Gulen himself has repeatedly spoken out against terrorism, criticizing the activities of the Islamic State organization banned in the Russian Federation. However, despite the declared peacefulness and the desire for interethnic and intercultural dialogue, the Russian special services are very sensitive to the activities of “Nurcular” in the Russian Federation, although many religious experts consider Said Nursi to be a very tolerant thinker and do not associate “Nurcular” with extremist activities. Nevertheless, the organization is accused of collecting information about the political, economic and national situations in the country, especially in the regions densely populated by Turkic-speaking people.
According to the intelligence services, the organization contributes to the promotion of its supporters to the authorities - both in Turkey and in other countries where a large Turkic population lives. The total number of followers of "Nurdzhular" is estimated by the Turkish special services in 4 million people. One of the main tasks of this organization is the propaganda of pan-Turkic and Islamic values in all countries of the world, especially in those with a significant number of Turkic population. Since the beginning of the 1990's. Nurcular opened more than 500 educational institutions outside Turkey, which are formally considered secular, but in fact are under the complete control of this structure. In addition to the Turkic-speaking states, Nurdzhular is active in the countries of South and Southeast Asia - in India, Pakistan, and Malaysia. In 1990-s. Nurcular has established over thirty schools, three language courses, and a university department in the Russian Federation. Then these educational institutions were redeveloped or closed in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, since the training in them did not correspond to the general orientation of the Russian education system. Only in 2002-2004. Twenty Turkish citizens were deported from the territory of the Russian Federation who, according to the intelligence services, were representatives of Nurcular. Before the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, Nurdzhular was very active in the Crimean settlements - among the Crimean Tatar youth. The organization also enjoyed considerable influence in a number of North Caucasian republics. In 1992-2000 Near 100, Nurdzhular opened educational institutions in the republics of Central Asia, including a university and thirty lyceums in Kazakhstan, ten lyceums and a university in Kyrgyzstan, a lyceum and a university in Turkmenistan, and ten schools in Tajikistan. Only in Uzbekistan there are no educational institutions controlled by the organization Nurdzhular.
In the Russian Federation, the first measures against the spread of this organization were taken in 2007, when translations of fourteen books by Said Nursi Koptevsky Court of Moscow were recognized as extremist literature. In 2008, Nurcular’s activity was banned on the territory of the Russian Federation by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. However, this decision did not entail a real cessation of the organization’s activities in the territory of the Russian Federation. 21 of May 2014 of the Year The Koptevsky District Court of the CAO of Moscow made a decision on the recognition of Said Nursi’s literature, published by the Nuru Badi Foundation in Moscow, extremist. In this regard, the distribution of this literature on the territory of the Russian Federation was officially banned. Also, the literature of this organization is banned in Uzbekistan. However, in fact, in Russia, the “Nurdzhular” cells continue to operate in the Turkic-speaking regions, though under different names. In Ukraine, the activities of an illegal religious school that recruited Ukrainian youth for shipment to Syria were disclosed. In Azerbaijan, the followers of “Nurdzhular” were once suspected of preparing for the attempt on the life of the then leader of the country, Heydar Aliyev. In Uzbekistan, members of the organization were suspected of plotting an assassination attempt on the country's president, Islam Karimov. However, in 2015, the city of Erdogan appealed to the governments of a number of countries to close schools and lyceums, which were previously opened by the Hizmet organization, since the latter is conducting anti-government activities in Turkey. Educational institutions were closed in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Gabon, Senegal and a number of other states.
In the post-Soviet space, Turkey’s influence has strengthened not only due to the spread of the ideology of Pan-Turkism as an alternative to pro-Russian sentiments, but also due to the destruction of the Soviet identity and the education system created during the Soviet period. Famous events 1990-x. forced a significant part of the Russian and Russian-speaking inhabitants of Central Asia to move to the Russian Federation. The most young and socially active citizens left, primarily intellectuals. Then they began to emigrate to Russia and representatives of the titular peoples of the republics. The system of school and higher education began to collapse, which allowed Turkish educational institutions to easily fill a vacant niche, primarily in the prestigious education segment. At the same time, special emphasis was placed specifically on children of the upper and middle classes of Central Asian societies, of which the new elite would later be recruited - probably as a result of training in these educational institutions, adhering to pro-Turkish sentiments. The growth in the number and influence of Turkish educational institutions is taking place against the background of a rather rapid reduction of Russian-language schools and a weakening of the Russian-speaking cultural environment.
Thus, there is a cultural rejection of the Central Asian republics from the world of Russian culture, into which they have been integrated for centuries - after becoming part of the Russian Empire, and then the Soviet state. On the other hand, the titular languages of the Turkic-speaking republics of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Volga region still have much less cultural richness than Turkish, which creates prospects for the transformation of the Turkish language into the “lingua franca” of the Turkic and Muslim republics - at least against the background of a decrease in the range distribution of the Russian language. But in this case it will be already completely “Turkic world”, focused on Turkey.
Pan-Turkism, Kazakhstan and China
An alarming factor for Russia is the increase in the integration processes of Turkey and Kazakhstan. For more than twenty years of the post-Soviet history, Kazakhstan occupied a special place among the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Suffice it to say that it is in Kazakhstan that the most numerous and socially active Russian population is preserved. The degree of influence of the Russian language and Russian culture on the Kazakh people is also not comparable with other republics of Central Asia, at least, except for Kyrgyzstan. A significant part of the “urban Kazakhs” is generally Russian-speaking. However, in Kazakhstan from the beginning of the 1990-ies. The activity of Turkish public organizations has intensified. The integration processes grew during the 1990-2000-s, but now even the head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev has increasingly talked about Turkic unity and Turkic identity. Back in October, 2009, the city of Nursultan Nazarbayev, proposed the creation of a Cooperation Council of Turkic States (the Turkic Council). The goal of this association, according to Nazarbayev, was to be the unity of the Turkic-speaking states. To improve the integration processes in the Turkic environment, it was proposed to create a Center for the Study of the Turkic World, the Turkic Academy, the Center for Turkic History and Culture, the Center for the Study of the Turkic Language, the Turkic Library, the Turkic Museum. In September, 2010 in Istanbul hosted a summit of heads of Turkic-speaking states. On it, the proposals of Nursultan Nazarbayev were further developed and were put into practice. A Cooperation Council of Turkic States, a Council of Heads of State, a Council of Foreign Ministers, a Council of Elders and a Committee of Senior Officials were established. A Turkic Business Council was also formed, whose leadership was decided to be located in Istanbul - that is, in Turkey, which again testified to the important role of the Turkish state in the integration processes of the Turkic-speaking world.
The development of integration processes in the Turkic-speaking world indicates, according to some experts, that Turkey is implementing its own geopolitical project in the post-Soviet space, aimed at creating, under the auspices of Ankara, an community of states alternative to the Eurasian Economic Union. The inclusion of Kazakhstan in this project puts Russia in a very ambiguous position, especially in light of the latest conflict with Turkey. Whose side will Kazakhstan take in the event of further aggravation of relations with Turkey? For now, Nursultan Nazarbayev calls on Russia and Turkey to reconcile and normalize their relations. “No matter how difficult it is, I think it is necessary to jointly create this commission, quickly finish it, identify the guilty, punish and admit mistakes, and restore the relationship. I urge our friends to do this both in Russia and in Turkey, ”said Nursultan Nazarbayev in his speech (quoted on: http://lenta.ru/news/2015/11/30/nazarbayev/). At the same time, the President of Kazakhstan said that the Russian aircraft was performing tasks on bombarding the positions of terrorists and did not threaten the national security of Turkey. Of course, the Kazakh leadership cannot welcome Turkey’s policy of supporting radical fundamentalists in Syria. And the reason for this is not so much allied relations with Russia, as concerns the degree of spread of radical Islam in Central Asia, and in Kazakhstan itself in particular. It is known that the post-Soviet regimes of Central Asia consider religious radicals as their main and most dangerous opponents. The most rigid policy towards religious fundamentalists is pursued by the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. The activity of religious-political organizations, including pro-Turkish, is prohibited in Uzbekistan. As for Kazakhstan, the political regime in this country is the most stable and democratic in the whole of Central Asia, but in the event of a destabilization of the situation in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan or Turkmenistan, the country will face a whole range of problems - from the flow of refugees to the need to conduct military operations on the southern borders and conduct anti-terrorist operations on its own territory.
However, in Central Asia, Pan-Turkism risks facing a very serious adversary. It is about China, for which the former Soviet republics of the region are also a sphere of strategic interests. The problem of Pan-Turkism is not alien to Beijing either, since the People's Republic of China includes the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region — historical East Turkestan, where numerous Turkic-speaking Uygurs, Sunni Muslims, and a number of other Turkic-speaking peoples live. It is known that the Uyghur national movement in XUAR is actively supported by Turkey. Numerous Uygur diasporas live in Turkey, and armed detachments of Uygur militants participate in the fighting in Syria on the side of the Islamic State and other radical groups. When mass riots occurred in 2009 in the capital of Xinjiang, Urumqi, Turkey made it clear that it sympathized with the Uighurs - and this despite the fact that economic ties between Turkey and China are growing and developing. Moreover, Recep Erdogan then even called the situation in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region "genocide" of the Uyghur population. Naturally, the Chinese leadership is reacting negatively to such statements by Turkish politicians, but it’s far from fully controlling the situation in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The fact is that the Uighurs are an ancient people with a developed national identity, which is also strengthened by strong religiosity. The differences between the Uigurs and the Chinese are too great for many Turks - residents of Eastern Turkestan to accept their position in the PRC. Therefore, China can only suppress Uighur demonstrations by force. At the same time, the PRC exerts strong pressure on the Central Asian republics, in which, thanks to Beijing’s position, the activities of many Uygur national organizations are banned. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan are forced to reckon with China and sacrifice for the sake of good-neighborly relations the ideas of Turkic unity. However, the excessive religiosity of the Uygur nationalists is also a matter of concern for the Central Asian elite. After all, many Uygur nationalists have experience of fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and now Syria.
For the Russian state in the current situation, cooperation with China in terms of organizing countering the spread of radical views can be extremely useful. At the same time, in no case should Russia form an image of an adversary of the “Turkic world” to itself. It is difficult not to agree with the philosopher Alexander Dugin, who, speaking about the need to integrate the Eurasian space, emphasizes: “starting from the north, it is about the connection of the whole of Kazakhstan with the Russian South Urals and Western Siberia. This link should serve as the supporting structure of the entire Central Asian range. The basis of the entire continental policy lies in the consistent and well-thought-out integration of Kazakhstan into a common continental bloc with Russia. At the same time, the most important point from the very beginning is the task of rigidly interrupting any influence of Turkey on this region, preventing any projects of “Turanian” integration emanating from Atlantic Turkey ”(Quoted from: http://camonitor.com/archives/6691).
Millions of people live on the territory of the Russian Federation, for whom the Turkic languages are native, and Russia is a native country. Therefore, Russia must integrate the ideas of the Turkic association into a single strategy for building a new Russian and, more broadly, Eurasian identity. For this, first of all, appropriate conditions should be created for the development of languages, culture and education of the peoples of Russia. At the same time, it is necessary to free oneself from ethnocracies in the national republics, where there are certain problems among the Russian-speaking population, and from deliberately “isolating” from the Turkic peoples of Russia. Russian Turks should realize that within the framework of a united and strong Russian state they will receive disproportionately large incentives for the development and improvement of the economic and cultural situation than in the case of a pro-Turkish orientation. As for building relations with independent Turkic-speaking states, here Russia should be guided, first of all, by considerations of its geopolitical and economic benefits, including, among other things, the expansion of cultural influence. The role of the leader of the Eurasian space of Russia must be preserved, otherwise the vacant seat will inevitably be taken.
The geopolitical confrontation of Russia and Turkey in the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Balkans and the Middle East lasts for centuries. Perhaps, with no country in the world, Russia did not have so many wars as with the Ottoman Empire. True, in the twentieth century, after the end of the First World War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Soviet Union did not enter into open confrontation with Turkey. But, despite the fact that it was Soviet Russia that gave Kemal Atatürk, the father of modern Turkish statehood, the most effective assistance and all-round support, rather quickly the nationalist regime of Turkey became one of the main strategic opponents of the USSR in Front Asia. Already before the beginning of the Second World War, Turkey was considered as one of the potential allies of Hitler's Germany. Although Turkey did not enter the war on Hitler’s side, the very danger of her actions against the USSR forced the Soviet leadership to keep well-armed army units in the Transcaucasus that could be thrown against Germany and hasten the victory over the Nazi invaders. With the advent of the aggressive NATO bloc, Turkey has become a major US strategic ally, threatening the southern borders of the Soviet state. Turkey’s role in fueling radical and separatist sentiments in the Turkic and Muslim regions of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia is great. Moreover, through Turkey, as a rule, more powerful overseas opponents of the Soviet state, and later - of a strong Russia, acted. The revitalization of Pan-Turkists and religious fundamentalists, supported by Turkey, occurred precisely after the collapse of the USSR. Back in the late 1980's. emissaries of Turkish nationalist organizations began to strengthen and legalize their activities in the republics of Central Asia, the Transcaucasus, the North Caucasus, the Volga region, and even in distant Siberia - in Yakutia.
Origin and spread of Pan-Turkism
In the early post-Soviet years, in the wake of the “democratic” euphoria, the Russian authorities, both central and regional, treated the activities of foreign, particularly Turkish, organizations in the republics and regions of the Russian Federation with a significant percentage of the Turkic and Muslim populations. Meanwhile, Turkey, which previously could not conceive of propaganda activities in the territory of the Soviet republics, after the collapse of the USSR, turned into an important ideological and political player in the post-Soviet space. And the pan-Turkic ideology played an extremely important role in this process. By the way, the ideology of Pan-Turkism was formed at the end of the XIX century just among the Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire. This process was associated with the penetration into traditional Islamic societies of the Volga region, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia of European philosophical and political ideas that formed an orientation among the local intelligentsia not toward religious or ethnic, but toward national identity.
In 1883, the first printed edition appeared in the Russian Empire, published both in Russian and in Turkic languages - “Terjuman” - “Translator”. He was released by Ismail Bey Gaspraly (1851-1914), better known as Ismail Gasprinsky, a Crimean Tatar public figure, the son of Russian officer Mustafa Ali oglu Gasprinsky. Ismail Gasprinsky was puzzled by the question of creating a single Turkic language, but he did not succeed in achieving this overwhelming goal - too big differences were observed between the languages of the Turkic peoples, long isolated from each other. Politically, Ismail Gasprinsky was more pro-Russian oriented - he believed that Russia should be a Christian-Islamic state, and Muslim Turks are much more likely to develop within Russia than individually and under European influence. That is, the views of Gasprinsky represented a kind of prototype of Eurasianism. Gasprinsky called on Russia and Turkey for mutual friendship, emphasizing that the wars between the two states go to them only to the detriment of, and contribute to strengthening the position of the Western powers - Britain, France, Austria-Hungary. However, the followers of Gasprinsky, especially in Turkey, began to speak from anti-Russian positions. Gradually, a significant part of the Pan-Turkists occupied the flank of the opponents of Russia, which was quite natural - focusing on the creation of the Turkic power, the Pan-Turkists sought to separate the regions inhabited by the Turkic peoples from the Russian Empire, then from the USSR and, at present, from Russia, as well as some other States of the former Soviet Union. In Ottoman Turkey, the ideas of Pan-Turkism became widespread in the last decade of its existence, which was associated with the formation of Turkish national identity and the spread of nationalist ideas among the Turkic intelligentsia and officers. The fundamental principles of the pan-Turkic ideology were formulated by Zia Gokalp (1876-1924) - a Turkish sociologist, a Turkish by origin. A supporter of Turkish nationalism, Gyokalp criticized the Ottoman Empire and Islamism. He considered it necessary to separate secular and spiritual power, Turkic national minorities of the country and the formation of the Turkic state according to the principle “one country - one people”. The ideas of Turkic nationalism Gokalp spread to the Turkic peoples of the Crimea, the Caucasus, Central Asia. Later, after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk came to power, the ideas of Zia Gokalp formed the basis of the Kemalist ideology, which included the creation and strengthening of a mono-ethnic Turkic national state. However, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was in no hurry to integrate the Turkic peoples outside of Turkey proper, since all his attention was focused on the modernization of Turkish society. Moreover, the Soviet Union strongly supported Kemal Atatürk, so he treated the ideas of spreading Pan-Turkism very negatively and replaced it with purely Turkish nationalism, although he used many ideas of Pan-Turkists of the early 20th century.
The situation began to change gradually after the death of the founding father of modern Turkey. An important role in the revival of Pan-Turkism was played by the Western powers, who intended to weaken the Soviet Union by activating nationalist sentiments in the Soviet republics of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Therefore, in the USSR, the attitude towards Pan-Turkism was purely negative. However, Turkey itself openly did not dare to support the activities of the Turkic nationalist groups and circles in the territory of the Soviet Union and did not even support the Crimean Tatars. Even in 1989-1990, when the USSR was practically “living out” its age, Turkey did not dare to openly declare its Pan-Turkic aspirations. Only the final collapse of the Soviet state allowed Turkey to intensify its influence - after all, five new Turkic-speaking states appeared in the post-Soviet space - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In addition, the “parade of sovereignties” in the autonomous republics that are part of the Russian Federation also made it possible to activate pro-Turkish activities in them. Turkey began to show interest in the issues of “ethnic renaissance” in the Turkic-speaking republics of Russia, and not only in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, but also in Yakutia, the Altai Republic, Khakassia, Tyva and Chuvashia, whose titular peoples are quite distant culturally from Muslim Turks. The interests of Turkey included the non-Turkic Islamic republics of the North Caucasus - Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, Ingushetia, Adygea, and also sovereign Tajikistan. Finally, Turkish public organizations and foundations were very active in the Crimea, which in 1991-2014. It was part of Ukraine - among the Crimean Tatar population, and in Moldova - among the Gagauz population.
Pan-Turkism is gaining momentum
In the last years of the existence of the USSR, representatives of non-state political organizations of Turkey were the first to establish contacts with the nationalist-oriented circles of the republics. At their invitation, guests from the republics of the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Volga region, Siberia began to arrive in Turkey. The collapse of the USSR contributed to the transition to contacts already at the government level - the Turkic republics of the former USSR were visited first by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then by the Prime Minister of Turkey. The key areas of Turkish influence in the Turkic-speaking republics in the post-Soviet space were: 1) economic cooperation, which consists not only in trade, but also in financial and economic assistance to Turkey to the Turkic-speaking and Muslim republics; 2) cultural and propaganda activities, consisting in the opening of Turkish educational institutions, inviting students to study in Turkey, broadcasting Turkish television and radio; 3) introduction of ideas on the romanization of the alphabet of the Turkic languages of the former USSR, which, according to the opinion of interested circles in Turkey, should contribute to the further strengthening of Turkish influence in the culture of the Turkic-speaking peoples. By the way, the introduction of the Latin alphabet is a special question. For many Turkic languages of the former USSR, the modern Turkish alphabet is practically inapplicable. However, this does not prevent Turkey from publishing literature focused on the republics of Central Asia, the Caucasus or the Volga region. The fact is that Pan-Turkist circles expect to move from a single alphabet to a single language, then to a single national community and the creation of a single state in which Turkey will play a dominant role. A separate item is the assistance of an illegal nature, most clearly manifested during the years of the Chechen campaigns. But, despite the fact that Turkey actively helped the North Caucasian militants, supplying volunteers, medical services, a refuge for those hiding, the Russian Federation preferred not to spoil relations with Ankara. Moreover, Turkey was positioned as one of the most important economic partners of Russia. Indeed, for 1990-e - 2000-e. The economies of the two countries turned out to be closely related, but the question is logical - was it worth the lives and health of Russian citizens who suffered during the armed conflicts in the North Caucasus?
Naturally, that Pan-Turkism, which has been implanting Turkey in the post-Soviet space since 1991, has an anti-Russian character in the end. To do this, it is enough to get acquainted with the literature published by the Pan-Turkic organizations, with their pages in social networks. At the same time, the original promises of Pan-Turkism, formulated by its founder Ismail Gasprinsky, which just adhered to the pro-Russian orientation, turned out to be forgotten. The approval of pro-Turkish pan-Turkism became possible due to the total ideological vacuum in the Turkic republics of the former USSR, both sovereign and constituent of the Russian Federation as autonomous rights. The fact is that the destruction of Soviet identity did not lead to the formation of a new all-Russian identity. As a result, the identification processes in the national republics assumed the character of a “renaissance of ethnic identity”, when special attention was paid to issues of ethnic stories, the revival of traditional values, lifestyle. Since in the 1990s, the Russian government was unable to form a positive model of a nationwide identity, especially for national regions, the latter intensified separatist and centrifugal tendencies.
This situation with obvious benefit for itself was used by Turkey, which sharply increased its cultural and ideological presence in the Turkic-speaking republics, supported by significant financial investments. As a result, a very dangerous situation has developed in the Russian Federation - numerous public organizations, funded and controlled by the Turkish side, operating under the leadership of Turkish citizens have appeared in the country. By the way, among the teachers, cultural and religious figures who come to Russia from the beginning of the 1990s, there are also representatives of Turkish nationalist organizations, and agents of the Turkish special services. For comparison, Russia does not have the ability to directly control any public organizations in Turkey. But Turkey has the ability to control the Pan-Turkic groups in Russia and, moreover, has a rather high support from a part of the population of the Turkic-speaking republics, especially among young people. It is enough to turn to the analysis of relevant sites and communities in social networks in order to analyze the true moods of a significant part of young citizens of the Russian Federation who are under the ideological influence of Turkey. For two decades of the post-Soviet history of the Russian state, while the federal authorities did not pay enough attention to ideological aspects, and in the regions they let the situation take their course, a whole generation of young people focused on Turkey and more identifying themselves with the Turkic world than with Russia grew up. Many of these young people pass or have been trained in Turkish educational institutions both in Russia and in Turkey itself, consider Turkey as the most optimal country for life. Naturally, in this environment separatist and pan-Turkic sentiments are widespread, manifested in a negative perception of the role of the Russian state in the life of the Turkic peoples of the Eurasian space. At the same time, the work on the approval of pro-Russian values is practically not conducted, or it looks extremely unconvincing against the background of the activities of Turkish public organizations in the Turkic-speaking regions of the country.
The institutionalization of Pan-Turkists in the post-Soviet states began almost immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Back in 1991, the Assembly of Turkic peoples was created, which officially proclaimed as its goal the re-creation, development and propaganda of the “Turkic path” of social development. Initially, the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan — became the main object of propaganda of the Assembly. In the republics were opened schools with in-depth study of the Turkish language, culture and history of Turkey. Under exchange programs, many Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Turkmen students went to study in Turkey. Tajikistan also found itself in the orbit of influence of Turkey - despite the fact that the Tajiks do not belong to the Turkic peoples, but speak the Tajik language, which refers to the Iranian languages. But Turkey began to strengthen its influence in Tajikistan on the basis of religious affinity - the Tajiks are Sunni Muslims, as are the Turks, while the Persians who are close to them in ethno-linguistic terms are Shia Muslims. This feature of Tajikistan is also sought by the Turkish side, opening Turkish lyceums in the country. Thus, in May 2009, in the large cities of Tajikistan, the network of Shalola and Izmir high schools was opened, and over a thousand Tajik citizens in 2009-2014. received education in higher education institutions in Turkey. The Tajik-Turkish Lyceum in Dushanbe enrolls 500 students, mostly children of the highest social strata of Tajik society. Of course, education in this lyceum is focused on the propaganda of pan-Turkic values. Naturally, graduates of Turkish lyceums are becoming agents of Turkish cultural and political influence in Tajikistan. It is noteworthy that in recent years, Turkish influence in Tajikistan has been even more pronounced than in other Turkic republics of Central Asia. Therefore, we have briefly stopped on Tajikistan, that this republic is an example of the influence of Pan-Turkism on the originally non-Turkic cultural environment.
Nurcular’s activity and cultural influence of Turkey
On the territory of Russia since the beginning of the 1990-ies. the branches of the Turkish religious-political organization Nurcular have intensified their activities. This movement was formed during the heyday of Pan-Turkic sentiments in Turkey after the First World War. The ideology of "Nurcular" was laid down by the views of Sheikh Said Nursi (1876-1960), who advocated moderate observance of the Shari'a and against the establishment of a secular atheistic system in Turkey. After moderate Islamists led by Recep Erdogan came to power in Turkey, the influence of the Nurcular organization in the country began to grow. 26 November 2014. The Turkish government officially declared Said Nursi's work as national treasure and took them under state protection.
In 1970-s. the Nursi movement was modernized by his follower Fethullah Gülen. Fethullah Gülen was born in 1941 in the village of Korudzhuk, near the city of Erzurum, in the family of an imam. After being educated in two madrasas, Gülen retired from his post as imam in 1981 and engaged in public activities. He currently resides in the United States because criminal proceedings were initiated against him in Turkey in 2014. Gulen himself has repeatedly spoken out against terrorism, criticizing the activities of the Islamic State organization banned in the Russian Federation. However, despite the declared peacefulness and the desire for interethnic and intercultural dialogue, the Russian special services are very sensitive to the activities of “Nurcular” in the Russian Federation, although many religious experts consider Said Nursi to be a very tolerant thinker and do not associate “Nurcular” with extremist activities. Nevertheless, the organization is accused of collecting information about the political, economic and national situations in the country, especially in the regions densely populated by Turkic-speaking people. According to the intelligence services, the organization contributes to the promotion of its supporters to the authorities - both in Turkey and in other countries where a large Turkic population lives. The total number of followers of "Nurdzhular" is estimated by the Turkish special services in 4 million people. One of the main tasks of this organization is the propaganda of pan-Turkic and Islamic values in all countries of the world, especially in those with a significant number of Turkic population. Since the beginning of the 1990's. Nurcular opened more than 500 educational institutions outside Turkey, which are formally considered secular, but in fact are under the complete control of this structure. In addition to the Turkic-speaking states, Nurdzhular is active in the countries of South and Southeast Asia - in India, Pakistan, and Malaysia. In 1990-s. Nurcular has established over thirty schools, three language courses, and a university department in the Russian Federation. Then these educational institutions were redeveloped or closed in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, since the training in them did not correspond to the general orientation of the Russian education system. Only in 2002-2004. Twenty Turkish citizens were deported from the territory of the Russian Federation who, according to the intelligence services, were representatives of Nurcular. Before the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, Nurdzhular was very active in the Crimean settlements - among the Crimean Tatar youth. The organization also enjoyed considerable influence in a number of North Caucasian republics. In 1992-2000 Near 100, Nurdzhular opened educational institutions in the republics of Central Asia, including a university and thirty lyceums in Kazakhstan, ten lyceums and a university in Kyrgyzstan, a lyceum and a university in Turkmenistan, and ten schools in Tajikistan. Only in Uzbekistan there are no educational institutions controlled by the organization Nurdzhular.
In the Russian Federation, the first measures against the spread of this organization were taken in 2007, when translations of fourteen books by Said Nursi Koptevsky Court of Moscow were recognized as extremist literature. In 2008, Nurcular’s activity was banned on the territory of the Russian Federation by a decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. However, this decision did not entail a real cessation of the organization’s activities in the territory of the Russian Federation. 21 of May 2014 of the Year The Koptevsky District Court of the CAO of Moscow made a decision on the recognition of Said Nursi’s literature, published by the Nuru Badi Foundation in Moscow, extremist. In this regard, the distribution of this literature on the territory of the Russian Federation was officially banned. Also, the literature of this organization is banned in Uzbekistan. However, in fact, in Russia, the “Nurdzhular” cells continue to operate in the Turkic-speaking regions, though under different names. In Ukraine, the activities of an illegal religious school that recruited Ukrainian youth for shipment to Syria were disclosed. In Azerbaijan, the followers of “Nurdzhular” were once suspected of preparing for the attempt on the life of the then leader of the country, Heydar Aliyev. In Uzbekistan, members of the organization were suspected of plotting an assassination attempt on the country's president, Islam Karimov. However, in 2015, the city of Erdogan appealed to the governments of a number of countries to close schools and lyceums, which were previously opened by the Hizmet organization, since the latter is conducting anti-government activities in Turkey. Educational institutions were closed in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Gabon, Senegal and a number of other states.
In the post-Soviet space, Turkey’s influence has strengthened not only due to the spread of the ideology of Pan-Turkism as an alternative to pro-Russian sentiments, but also due to the destruction of the Soviet identity and the education system created during the Soviet period. Famous events 1990-x. forced a significant part of the Russian and Russian-speaking inhabitants of Central Asia to move to the Russian Federation. The most young and socially active citizens left, primarily intellectuals. Then they began to emigrate to Russia and representatives of the titular peoples of the republics. The system of school and higher education began to collapse, which allowed Turkish educational institutions to easily fill a vacant niche, primarily in the prestigious education segment. At the same time, special emphasis was placed specifically on children of the upper and middle classes of Central Asian societies, of which the new elite would later be recruited - probably as a result of training in these educational institutions, adhering to pro-Turkish sentiments. The growth in the number and influence of Turkish educational institutions is taking place against the background of a rather rapid reduction of Russian-language schools and a weakening of the Russian-speaking cultural environment.
Thus, there is a cultural rejection of the Central Asian republics from the world of Russian culture, into which they have been integrated for centuries - after becoming part of the Russian Empire, and then the Soviet state. On the other hand, the titular languages of the Turkic-speaking republics of Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Volga region still have much less cultural richness than Turkish, which creates prospects for the transformation of the Turkish language into the “lingua franca” of the Turkic and Muslim republics - at least against the background of a decrease in the range distribution of the Russian language. But in this case it will be already completely “Turkic world”, focused on Turkey.
Pan-Turkism, Kazakhstan and China
An alarming factor for Russia is the increase in the integration processes of Turkey and Kazakhstan. For more than twenty years of the post-Soviet history, Kazakhstan occupied a special place among the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Suffice it to say that it is in Kazakhstan that the most numerous and socially active Russian population is preserved. The degree of influence of the Russian language and Russian culture on the Kazakh people is also not comparable with other republics of Central Asia, at least, except for Kyrgyzstan. A significant part of the “urban Kazakhs” is generally Russian-speaking. However, in Kazakhstan from the beginning of the 1990-ies. The activity of Turkish public organizations has intensified. The integration processes grew during the 1990-2000-s, but now even the head of state Nursultan Nazarbayev has increasingly talked about Turkic unity and Turkic identity. Back in October, 2009, the city of Nursultan Nazarbayev, proposed the creation of a Cooperation Council of Turkic States (the Turkic Council). The goal of this association, according to Nazarbayev, was to be the unity of the Turkic-speaking states. To improve the integration processes in the Turkic environment, it was proposed to create a Center for the Study of the Turkic World, the Turkic Academy, the Center for Turkic History and Culture, the Center for the Study of the Turkic Language, the Turkic Library, the Turkic Museum. In September, 2010 in Istanbul hosted a summit of heads of Turkic-speaking states. On it, the proposals of Nursultan Nazarbayev were further developed and were put into practice. A Cooperation Council of Turkic States, a Council of Heads of State, a Council of Foreign Ministers, a Council of Elders and a Committee of Senior Officials were established. A Turkic Business Council was also formed, whose leadership was decided to be located in Istanbul - that is, in Turkey, which again testified to the important role of the Turkish state in the integration processes of the Turkic-speaking world. The development of integration processes in the Turkic-speaking world indicates, according to some experts, that Turkey is implementing its own geopolitical project in the post-Soviet space, aimed at creating, under the auspices of Ankara, an community of states alternative to the Eurasian Economic Union. The inclusion of Kazakhstan in this project puts Russia in a very ambiguous position, especially in light of the latest conflict with Turkey. Whose side will Kazakhstan take in the event of further aggravation of relations with Turkey? For now, Nursultan Nazarbayev calls on Russia and Turkey to reconcile and normalize their relations. “No matter how difficult it is, I think it is necessary to jointly create this commission, quickly finish it, identify the guilty, punish and admit mistakes, and restore the relationship. I urge our friends to do this both in Russia and in Turkey, ”said Nursultan Nazarbayev in his speech (quoted on: http://lenta.ru/news/2015/11/30/nazarbayev/). At the same time, the President of Kazakhstan said that the Russian aircraft was performing tasks on bombarding the positions of terrorists and did not threaten the national security of Turkey. Of course, the Kazakh leadership cannot welcome Turkey’s policy of supporting radical fundamentalists in Syria. And the reason for this is not so much allied relations with Russia, as concerns the degree of spread of radical Islam in Central Asia, and in Kazakhstan itself in particular. It is known that the post-Soviet regimes of Central Asia consider religious radicals as their main and most dangerous opponents. The most rigid policy towards religious fundamentalists is pursued by the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. The activity of religious-political organizations, including pro-Turkish, is prohibited in Uzbekistan. As for Kazakhstan, the political regime in this country is the most stable and democratic in the whole of Central Asia, but in the event of a destabilization of the situation in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan or Turkmenistan, the country will face a whole range of problems - from the flow of refugees to the need to conduct military operations on the southern borders and conduct anti-terrorist operations on its own territory.
However, in Central Asia, Pan-Turkism risks facing a very serious adversary. It is about China, for which the former Soviet republics of the region are also a sphere of strategic interests. The problem of Pan-Turkism is not alien to Beijing either, since the People's Republic of China includes the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region — historical East Turkestan, where numerous Turkic-speaking Uygurs, Sunni Muslims, and a number of other Turkic-speaking peoples live. It is known that the Uyghur national movement in XUAR is actively supported by Turkey. Numerous Uygur diasporas live in Turkey, and armed detachments of Uygur militants participate in the fighting in Syria on the side of the Islamic State and other radical groups. When mass riots occurred in 2009 in the capital of Xinjiang, Urumqi, Turkey made it clear that it sympathized with the Uighurs - and this despite the fact that economic ties between Turkey and China are growing and developing. Moreover, Recep Erdogan then even called the situation in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region "genocide" of the Uyghur population. Naturally, the Chinese leadership is reacting negatively to such statements by Turkish politicians, but it’s far from fully controlling the situation in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The fact is that the Uighurs are an ancient people with a developed national identity, which is also strengthened by strong religiosity. The differences between the Uigurs and the Chinese are too great for many Turks - residents of Eastern Turkestan to accept their position in the PRC. Therefore, China can only suppress Uighur demonstrations by force. At the same time, the PRC exerts strong pressure on the Central Asian republics, in which, thanks to Beijing’s position, the activities of many Uygur national organizations are banned. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan are forced to reckon with China and sacrifice for the sake of good-neighborly relations the ideas of Turkic unity. However, the excessive religiosity of the Uygur nationalists is also a matter of concern for the Central Asian elite. After all, many Uygur nationalists have experience of fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and now Syria.
For the Russian state in the current situation, cooperation with China in terms of organizing countering the spread of radical views can be extremely useful. At the same time, in no case should Russia form an image of an adversary of the “Turkic world” to itself. It is difficult not to agree with the philosopher Alexander Dugin, who, speaking about the need to integrate the Eurasian space, emphasizes: “starting from the north, it is about the connection of the whole of Kazakhstan with the Russian South Urals and Western Siberia. This link should serve as the supporting structure of the entire Central Asian range. The basis of the entire continental policy lies in the consistent and well-thought-out integration of Kazakhstan into a common continental bloc with Russia. At the same time, the most important point from the very beginning is the task of rigidly interrupting any influence of Turkey on this region, preventing any projects of “Turanian” integration emanating from Atlantic Turkey ”(Quoted from: http://camonitor.com/archives/6691).
Millions of people live on the territory of the Russian Federation, for whom the Turkic languages are native, and Russia is a native country. Therefore, Russia must integrate the ideas of the Turkic association into a single strategy for building a new Russian and, more broadly, Eurasian identity. For this, first of all, appropriate conditions should be created for the development of languages, culture and education of the peoples of Russia. At the same time, it is necessary to free oneself from ethnocracies in the national republics, where there are certain problems among the Russian-speaking population, and from deliberately “isolating” from the Turkic peoples of Russia. Russian Turks should realize that within the framework of a united and strong Russian state they will receive disproportionately large incentives for the development and improvement of the economic and cultural situation than in the case of a pro-Turkish orientation. As for building relations with independent Turkic-speaking states, here Russia should be guided, first of all, by considerations of its geopolitical and economic benefits, including, among other things, the expansion of cultural influence. The role of the leader of the Eurasian space of Russia must be preserved, otherwise the vacant seat will inevitably be taken.
- P P 'SЊSЏ RџRѕR "RѕRЅSЃRєRёR№
- http://sputnikipogrom.com/, http://www.cisnews.org/
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