Russian influence on Turkic nations in Central Asia

Whenever my path takes me to the Central Asian region, the most dominant scene I feel in my very bones is the "Russian influence" visible in every sphere of life. From architecture to art, from the alphabet to the streets, from the goods sold in the bazaars to demographic balances… This situation of course has a long, painful history full of tragedy behind it:

The Russians began to appear in the Central Asian steppes from the early 1700s. But the transformation of the first explorations and expeditions into a systematic invasion came in the second half of the 1800s. The loose first-period invasion established with the occupation of ancient cities like Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, Tashkent, Kokand and Merv was followed after 1917 by the savage, ruthless and comprehensive occupation the Soviet Union imposed on the entire region. While the Soviet administration settled Russian and Ukrainian peasants on Kazakhstan's vast pastures, it subjected the nomadic Kazakh and Turkmen tribes to forced settlement. The native people, who for hundreds of years had moved as they wished in their own homeland, found themselves facing enormous pressure.

Soviet Russia, which eliminated local administrations by force and thus removed the means of resistance, sharpened the physical, cultural and historical nuances among the Central Asian nations in order to prevent Turkishness and Islam from becoming a common denominator among the peoples of the region. The separatist and divisive identity politics it pursued would lay the ground for today's Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries to emerge as separate entities.

The Soviet Communist administration, which placed Islam under heavy pressure, thus shattered and scattered the main roof that had kept the peoples of Central Asia in the same spiritual and mental atmosphere for centuries. At the same time, the Russian culture and social life pumped into the region influenced the Muslim population from top to bottom over decades, from family structure to educational institutions. Especially with the mass deportation movements put into practice during the era of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, hundreds of thousands of people bearing different ethnic and religious identities were moved from many parts of the vast Soviet geography to the Central Asian republics, Uzbekistan foremost among them, and the demographic balances of the region were overturned.

Soviet Russia, which plundered Uzbekistan's cotton, Turkmenistan's oil and Kazakhstan's minerals, imposed long-term agreements on all these countries that would continue after independence as well, opening the way for the underground and aboveground resources to be exploited by Russian companies. When the Soviet Union dissolved, former Communist politburo chiefs and officials were installed at the head of every republic that gained independence, in an effort to guarantee the period that followed.

In today's modern world, Central Asia is of course not outside change and transformation either. China displays itself in the region's countries in economic terms with all its grandeur, power and even its harshness. The US and Western countries too are chasing a share of the pie. But Russia is still the real dominant power behind the stage. Russia is still the main security guarantor of the countries of the region. Russian is still the "lingua franca" among the peoples of the region. The main pillars of the education system and culture still stand in the form the Russians established.

Last week, when Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the Organization of Turkic States meeting held in Ankara, "Our Organization is very important. In order to raise its prestige even further, Russia should join us as an observer," I was in Samarkand. Since I was observing the "Russian influence" I mentioned at the outset in every respect and in every sphere of life, I was not surprised by Tokayev's statement, frankly. Moreover, the language of the light show projected that same evening onto the outer facades of the three madrasas forming Registan Square, at the heart of Samarkand, was also Russian. I said to myself that "it would have looked so much better at least in Uzbek," but I was not surprised by that either.

Turkic unity, Turan unity, the alliance of Turkic states, solidarity of the Turkic world… Yes, these are fine-sounding words. But there is a good distance to be covered and countless obstacles to be overcome for the dream we have built to come true on the ground and for what we aim for to reach the point we want.