| Revision as of 06:15, 5 February 2014 editBG19bot (talk | contribs)1,005,055 editsm WP:CHECKWIKI error fix for #61. Punctuation goes before References. Do general fixes if a problem exists. - using AWB (9916)← Previous edit | Revision as of 13:43, 20 February 2014 edit undoMaghasito (talk | contribs)294 edits Turanism, or the belief that Magyars are descendants of Mongol-Turc people played an important role in the culture of Magyarország for a millenia. Narrowing it into a fascist ideology is stupidity, and non-scientific at the same time.Next edit → | ||
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| '''Hungarian Turanism''' ({{lang-hu|Turanizmus}}) is a ] ] political ideology which stresses the alleged origins of the Hungarian people in the steppes of ] ("]") and the affinity and origin of the Hungarians with Asian peoples such as the ], ] etc. | '''Hungarian Turanism''' ({{lang-hu|Turanizmus}}) is a ] scientific notion, and a ] political ideology which stresses the alleged origins of the Hungarian people in the steppes of ] ("]") and the affinity and shared origin of the Hungarians with Asian peoples such as the ], ] etc. Turanism is rooted in a thousand year old, and still living tradition about the origins of Magyars. It was recorded in written form in Kézai Simon's Gesta Hungarorum, and in Anonymus' Gesta Hungarorum, both from the XIIIth century. Kőrösi Csoma Sándor (the writer of the first Tibetan-English dictionary) traveled to Asia in the strong belif that he could find the kindred of Magyars in Turkestan, amongst the Uighurs. | ||
| The ] were (semi-)nomads<ref>Györffy, György (1983) ''István király és műve''. Gondolat Könyvkiadó, Budapest, p. 252.</ref> before ] and their culture was similar to other steppe peoples. However, their Central Asian origin is not supported by academic researches, and the term "Turanian" quickly became an archaism.<ref>Masuza, T. (2005) ''The Invention of World Religions, Or, How European Universalism was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism''. The University of Chicago Press, p.229.</ref> |
The ] were (semi-)nomads<ref>Györffy, György (1983) ''István király és műve''. Gondolat Könyvkiadó, Budapest, p. 252.</ref> before ] and their culture was similar to other steppe peoples. However, their Central Asian origin is not supported by academic researches, and the term "Turanian" quickly became an archaism.<ref>Masuza, T. (2005) ''The Invention of World Religions, Or, How European Universalism was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism''. The University of Chicago Press, p.229.</ref> Many scholars prefer a Uralic homeland of ancient Hungarian conquerors (mainly on linguistic grounds and recent genetic researches of ancient fossils) rather than a Central Asian. The ancient relations of the Hungarians and their interactions with other equestrian nomadic peoples are still debated issues. Despite the ] having always rejected the Turanic origin theory, it gained wide currency among the Hungarian political ] in ] and became an element in Hungarian ]. | ||
| Some extremist turanists have even emphasized “ties of ancestry” with the Tibetan, Japanese, and Korean peoples or the ancient Sumerians.<ref>]: Turanism: the ‘new’ ideology of the far right.| http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/02/05/turanism-the-new-ideology-of-the-far-right/</ref> The idea of the necessity for "Turanian brotherhood and collaboration" was borrowed from the "Slavic brotherhood and collaboration" idea of ] |
Some extremist turanists have even emphasized “ties of ancestry” with the Tibetan, Japanese, and Korean peoples or the ancient Sumerians.<ref>]: Turanism: the ‘new’ ideology of the far right.| http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/02/05/turanism-the-new-ideology-of-the-far-right/</ref> The idea of the necessity for "Turanian brotherhood and collaboration" was borrowed from the "Slavic brotherhood and collaboration" idea of ],<ref>http://www.britannica.com/bps/search?query=turanism</ref> and from pangermanism. | ||
| ==Origins== | ==Origins== | ||
| The term ''Turanian'', now |
The term ''Turanian'', now seldom used, was formerly used by European (especially ], ] and ]) ], ] and ] to designate populations speaking non-], non-] and non-] languages<ref>Abel Hovelacque, ''The Science of Language: Linguistics, Philology, Etymology'', pg 144, </ref> and specially speakers of ], ], ], ], ] and other languages.<ref>Elisabeth Chevallier,François Lenormant, "A Manual of the Ancient History of the East", J. B. Lippincott & co., 1871. pg 68. </ref> | ||
| The idea of a Turanic family of languages and Turanic people was put forward and promoted by the German linguist ]. In his lectures on the “Science of Language”, he applied the name Turanian to the "nomadic races of Asia as opposed to the agricultural or Aryan races".<ref>Müller, M. (1862) ''Lectures on The Science of Language. Delivered At The Royal Institution of Great Britain in April, May, and June, 1861''. Second London Edition, Revised. New York: Charles Scribner, (p.241). .</ref> Max Müller went to Budapest to popularize his new books in 1874. The enemies of the ] language theory gathered around him, and Müller had resounding success amongst them. The career of the Turanic theory began in Hungary. Some years later, Max Müller the "inventor" revoked his Turanic theory about Hungarians.<ref>http://www.nyest.hu/renhirek/max-muller-es-a-turani-atok</ref> | The idea of a Turanic family of languages and Turanic people was put forward and promoted by the German linguist ]. In his lectures on the “Science of Language”, he applied the name Turanian to the "nomadic races of Asia as opposed to the agricultural or Aryan races".<ref>Müller, M. (1862) ''Lectures on The Science of Language. Delivered At The Royal Institution of Great Britain in April, May, and June, 1861''. Second London Edition, Revised. New York: Charles Scribner, (p.241). .</ref> Max Müller went to Budapest to popularize his new books in 1874. The enemies of the ] language theory gathered around him, and Müller had resounding success amongst them. The career of the Turanic theory began in Hungary. Some years later, Max Müller the "inventor" revoked his Turanic theory about Hungarians.<ref>http://www.nyest.hu/renhirek/max-muller-es-a-turani-atok</ref> | ||
| Line 14: | Line 14: | ||
| ==Turning into a racist ideology== | ==Turning into a racist ideology== | ||
| At the beginning of Hungarian Turanism, the most notable promoters and researchers of turanism like ], Vilmos Hevesy,<ref>http://mtda.hu/books/zajti_ferenc_magyar_evezredek.pdf</ref><ref>http://mek.oszk.hu/09300/09396/html/01.htm</ref> and ]<ref>Paul Hanebrink: Islam, Anti-Communism, and Christian Civilization: The Ottoman Menace in Interwar Hungary, Cambridge Journals</ref><ref>Steven Totosy de Zepetnek, Louise O. Vasvari: Comparative Hungarian Cultural Studies (page:48)</ref> were of Jewish origin. For example, It was Ármin Vámbéry who invited Max Müller to Budapest in 1874. However, after ], |
At the beginning of Hungarian Turanism, many of the most notable promoters and researchers of turanism like ], Vilmos Hevesy,<ref>http://mtda.hu/books/zajti_ferenc_magyar_evezredek.pdf</ref><ref>http://mek.oszk.hu/09300/09396/html/01.htm</ref> and ]<ref>Paul Hanebrink: Islam, Anti-Communism, and Christian Civilization: The Ottoman Menace in Interwar Hungary, Cambridge Journals</ref><ref>Steven Totosy de Zepetnek, Louise O. Vasvari: Comparative Hungarian Cultural Studies (page:48)</ref> were of Jewish origin. For example, It was Ármin Vámbéry who invited Max Müller to Budapest in 1874. However, after ], xenophobic influence within Turanism grew.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} | ||
| The movement received impetus after Hungary's defeat in World War I. Outrage at the ], which saw Hungary lose two-thirds of its |
The movement received impetus after Hungary's defeat in World War I. Outrage at the ], which saw Hungary lose two-thirds of its territory, led many to reject the West and turn towards the East in search of new allies,and support for a bid to revise the terms of the treaty and restore the dignity Hungary. The more radical Turanists stressed the superiority of Eastern culture and race to those of the West, and emphasized the racial aspects of the ideology.<ref>Stephen Uhalley ''China and Christianity: Burdened Past, Hopeful Future'', M.E. Sharpe, 2001, p.218 ff.</ref> In ], "Turanist ethnographers and folklorists privileged the peasants' cultural 'uniqueness', locating a cultural essence of ]ness in everything from fishing hooks and methods of animal husbandry to ritual folk songs, archaic, 'individualistic' dances, spicy dishes and superstitions."<ref>László Kürti ''The Remote Borderland: Transylvania in the Hungarian Imagination'', SUNY Press, 2001, p.97</ref> The political elite of the interwar period wanted to build and strengthen the image of a warrior nation.{{citation needed|date=February 2013}} The claims of certain linguistic researchers regarding the Finno-Ugric relationship were therefore strongly rejected, because many found the idea that their nation was related to a peaceful farming people (the Finns) as insulting.<ref name="See Ungváry">See Ungváry</ref>{{Request quotation|date=February 2013}} | ||
| ==Turanism and Hungarian fascism== | ==Turanism and Hungarian fascism== | ||
| Line 29: | Line 29: | ||
| === Christian Turanists === | === Christian Turanists === | ||
| Many ] Hungarian Turanists held the view that Jesus Christ was not a Jew but a proto-Hungarian or a “noble of ]”.<ref name="See Ungváry"/> The theory of “Jesus, the Parthian prince” are such, or the revivification of real or supposed elements of priest-magicians of ancient “magic” Middle-Eastern world, shamanism, and pagan ancient Hungarian religion. Also some ] Turkish Turanists held the view that ] was not an Arab but a ]ian, and Sumerians are Turanid according to Turanist theses. It is an opportunity for the Christian Turanists to link Jesus Christ to the ancient middle-eastern mystery and the ancient pagan Hungarian beliefs. Both Catholic and Protestant religious leaders of Hungary acted against this theory and beliefs.<ref name="hetivalasz_shamans-in-the-pantry">http://hetivalasz.hu/english_periscope/shamans-in-the-pantry-25940</ref> | Many ] Hungarian Turanists held the view that Jesus Christ was not a Jew but a proto-Hungarian or a “noble of ]”.<ref name="See Ungváry"/> The theory of “Jesus, the Parthian prince” are such, or the revivification of real or supposed elements of priest-magicians of ancient “magic” Middle-Eastern world, shamanism, and pagan ancient Hungarian religion. Also some ] Turkish Turanists held the view that ] was not an Arab but a ]ian, and Sumerians are Turanid according to Turanist theses. It is an opportunity for the Christian Turanists to link Jesus Christ to the ancient middle-eastern mystery and the ancient pagan Hungarian beliefs. Both Catholic and Protestant religious leaders of Hungary acted against this theory and beliefs,seen as heresy.<ref name="hetivalasz_shamans-in-the-pantry">http://hetivalasz.hu/english_periscope/shamans-in-the-pantry-25940</ref> | ||
| ===Kurultáj=== | ===Kurultáj=== | ||
| {{See also|Kurultai}} | {{See also|Kurultai}} | ||
| The Kurultáj is a ] ] based on the "common roots" of some ] people. It is also a popular tourist attraction in Hungary (from late 2000s) and Central Asia. The first Kurultáj was in ] in 2007 and the last one was organized in 2012 at ], ].<ref></ref><ref>http://www.politics.hu/20120810/deputy-house-speaker-greets-asian-ethnic-groups-in-parliament/</ref> According to Hungarian researchers the modern Hungarian Turanism became a kind of business called "Szittya biznisz" (Scythian business) and it has not got much to do with ancient Hungarian traditions.<ref name='HetiValasz'>{{cite web | The Kurultáj is a ] ] based on the "common roots" of some ] people. It is also a popular tourist attraction in Hungary (from late 2000s) and Central Asia. The first Kurultáj was in ] in 2007 and the last one was organized in 2012 at ], ].<ref></ref><ref>http://www.politics.hu/20120810/deputy-house-speaker-greets-asian-ethnic-groups-in-parliament/</ref> According to some Hungarian researchers the modern Hungarian Turanism became a kind of business called "Szittya biznisz" (Scythian business) and it has not got much to do with ancient Hungarian traditions.<ref name='HetiValasz'>{{cite web | ||
| |author= Barna Borbas | |author= Barna Borbas | ||
| |title= Élet a szittya bizniszen túl – utak a magyar hagyományőrzésben | |title= Élet a szittya bizniszen túl – utak a magyar hagyományőrzésben | ||
Revision as of 13:43, 20 February 2014
Hungarian Turanism (Template:Lang-hu) is a Hungarian scientific notion, and a nationalist political ideology which stresses the alleged origins of the Hungarian people in the steppes of Central Asia ("Turan") and the affinity and shared origin of the Hungarians with Asian peoples such as the Turkic peoples, Huns etc. Turanism is rooted in a thousand year old, and still living tradition about the origins of Magyars. It was recorded in written form in Kézai Simon's Gesta Hungarorum, and in Anonymus' Gesta Hungarorum, both from the XIIIth century. Kőrösi Csoma Sándor (the writer of the first Tibetan-English dictionary) traveled to Asia in the strong belif that he could find the kindred of Magyars in Turkestan, amongst the Uighurs.
The Hungarians were (semi-)nomads before the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin and their culture was similar to other steppe peoples. However, their Central Asian origin is not supported by academic researches, and the term "Turanian" quickly became an archaism. Many scholars prefer a Uralic homeland of ancient Hungarian conquerors (mainly on linguistic grounds and recent genetic researches of ancient fossils) rather than a Central Asian. The ancient relations of the Hungarians and their interactions with other equestrian nomadic peoples are still debated issues. Despite the Hungarian Academy of Sciences having always rejected the Turanic origin theory, it gained wide currency among the Hungarian political far-right in the years between the two world wars and became an element in Hungarian fascist ideology.
Some extremist turanists have even emphasized “ties of ancestry” with the Tibetan, Japanese, and Korean peoples or the ancient Sumerians. The idea of the necessity for "Turanian brotherhood and collaboration" was borrowed from the "Slavic brotherhood and collaboration" idea of Panslavism, and from pangermanism.
Origins
The term Turanian, now seldom used, was formerly used by European (especially German, Hungarian and Slovak) ethnologists, linguists and Romantics to designate populations speaking non-Indo-European, non-Semitic and non-Hamitic languages and specially speakers of Altaic, Dravidian, Uralic, Japanese, Korean and other languages.
The idea of a Turanic family of languages and Turanic people was put forward and promoted by the German linguist Max Müller. In his lectures on the “Science of Language”, he applied the name Turanian to the "nomadic races of Asia as opposed to the agricultural or Aryan races". Max Müller went to Budapest to popularize his new books in 1874. The enemies of the Finno-Ugric language theory gathered around him, and Müller had resounding success amongst them. The career of the Turanic theory began in Hungary. Some years later, Max Müller the "inventor" revoked his Turanic theory about Hungarians.
The Hungarian Turan Society was founded in 1910 and included many leading scholars of the day. Initially, the Turan society concentrated on Turan as geographic location where some of the hypothetical ancestors of Hungarians lived. The scholars of the Turan society denied the ethnic and linguistic kinship and relations between Hungarians and the so-called Turanic and Turkic people. However the more popular and radical Turanists soon identified "Turan" with the whole of Asia and even proclaimed kinship between the Hungarians and the Tibetan people, Japanese and Koreans. Hungarian Turanism failed to receive support in the Hungarian and European scientific communities, therefore it tried to build up political connections.
Turning into a racist ideology
At the beginning of Hungarian Turanism, many of the most notable promoters and researchers of turanism like Ármin Vámbéry, Vilmos Hevesy, and Ignác Goldziher were of Jewish origin. For example, It was Ármin Vámbéry who invited Max Müller to Budapest in 1874. However, after World War I, xenophobic influence within Turanism grew.
The movement received impetus after Hungary's defeat in World War I. Outrage at the Treaty of Trianon, which saw Hungary lose two-thirds of its territory, led many to reject the West and turn towards the East in search of new allies,and support for a bid to revise the terms of the treaty and restore the dignity Hungary. The more radical Turanists stressed the superiority of Eastern culture and race to those of the West, and emphasized the racial aspects of the ideology. In Transylvania, "Turanist ethnographers and folklorists privileged the peasants' cultural 'uniqueness', locating a cultural essence of Magyarness in everything from fishing hooks and methods of animal husbandry to ritual folk songs, archaic, 'individualistic' dances, spicy dishes and superstitions." The political elite of the interwar period wanted to build and strengthen the image of a warrior nation. The claims of certain linguistic researchers regarding the Finno-Ugric relationship were therefore strongly rejected, because many found the idea that their nation was related to a peaceful farming people (the Finns) as insulting.
Turanism and Hungarian fascism
The leader of the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross Party, Ferenc Szálasi, believed in the existence of a "Turanian-Hungarian" race (which included Jesus Christ). The idea was a key part of his ideology of "Hungarism".
In Hungary some fascists (and non-fascists) tried to link the ancestors of the Hungarians to Timur, the Ottomans and Japan, which some Hungarians of the 1930s described as the 'other sword of Turan' (the first sword being Hungary).
While some Hungarian Turanists went as far as to argue they were racially healthier than and superior to other Europeans (including Germans, who were already corrupted by Judaism), others felt more modestly, that as Turanians living in Europe, they might provide an important bridge between East and West and thus play a role in world politics out of proportion of their numbers or the size of their country. This geopolitical argument was taken to absurd extremes by Ferenc Szálasi, head of the Arrow Cross-Hungarist movement, who believed that, owing to their unique historical and geographical position, Hungarians might play a role equal to, or even more important than, Germany in building the new European order, while Szálasi's own charisma might eventually help him supersede Hitler as leader of the international movement.
The right-wing Jobbik party and its president Gábor Vona are uncompromising supporters of Turanism and Pan-Turkism (The ideology of Jobbik considers Hungarians as a Turkic nation.)
Turanist belief-systems after 1989
Christian Turanists
Many Christian Hungarian Turanists held the view that Jesus Christ was not a Jew but a proto-Hungarian or a “noble of Parthia”. The theory of “Jesus, the Parthian prince” are such, or the revivification of real or supposed elements of priest-magicians of ancient “magic” Middle-Eastern world, shamanism, and pagan ancient Hungarian religion. Also some muslim Turkish Turanists held the view that Muhammad was not an Arab but a Sumerian, and Sumerians are Turanid according to Turanist theses. It is an opportunity for the Christian Turanists to link Jesus Christ to the ancient middle-eastern mystery and the ancient pagan Hungarian beliefs. Both Catholic and Protestant religious leaders of Hungary acted against this theory and beliefs,seen as heresy.
Kurultáj
See also: KurultaiThe Kurultáj is a Turanian tribal meeting based on the "common roots" of some Central Asian people. It is also a popular tourist attraction in Hungary (from late 2000s) and Central Asia. The first Kurultáj was in Kazakhstan in 2007 and the last one was organized in 2012 at Bugac, Hungary. According to some Hungarian researchers the modern Hungarian Turanism became a kind of business called "Szittya biznisz" (Scythian business) and it has not got much to do with ancient Hungarian traditions.
See also
- Curse of Turan
- Pál Teleki
- Turanism (similar Turkic ideology)
- Ármin Vámbéry
- Ignác Goldziher
References
- Györffy, György (1983) István király és műve. Gondolat Könyvkiadó, Budapest, p. 252.
- Masuza, T. (2005) The Invention of World Religions, Or, How European Universalism was Preserved in the Language of Pluralism. The University of Chicago Press, p.229.
- Krisztián Ungváry: Turanism: the ‘new’ ideology of the far right.| http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/02/05/turanism-the-new-ideology-of-the-far-right/
- http://www.britannica.com/bps/search?query=turanism
- Abel Hovelacque, The Science of Language: Linguistics, Philology, Etymology, pg 144,
- Elisabeth Chevallier,François Lenormant, "A Manual of the Ancient History of the East", J. B. Lippincott & co., 1871. pg 68.
- Müller, M. (1862) Lectures on The Science of Language. Delivered At The Royal Institution of Great Britain in April, May, and June, 1861. Second London Edition, Revised. New York: Charles Scribner, (p.241). Project Gutenberg eBook.
- http://www.nyest.hu/renhirek/max-muller-es-a-turani-atok
- See: Krisztián Ungváry
- Emel Akcah and Umut Korkut: Geographical Metanarratives in East-Central Europe: Neo-Turanism in Hungary,(2012 Central European University)
- http://mtda.hu/books/zajti_ferenc_magyar_evezredek.pdf
- http://mek.oszk.hu/09300/09396/html/01.htm
- Paul Hanebrink: Islam, Anti-Communism, and Christian Civilization: The Ottoman Menace in Interwar Hungary, Cambridge Journals
- Steven Totosy de Zepetnek, Louise O. Vasvari: Comparative Hungarian Cultural Studies (page:48)
- Stephen Uhalley China and Christianity: Burdened Past, Hopeful Future, M.E. Sharpe, 2001, p.218 ff.
- László Kürti The Remote Borderland: Transylvania in the Hungarian Imagination, SUNY Press, 2001, p.97
- ^ See Ungváry
- Stanley Payne A History of Fascism, 1914-1945 (University of Wisconsin Press, 1995) pp.272-274
- Andrew C. Janos East Central Europe in the Modern World Stanford University Press, 2002 pp.185-186
- http://www.jobbik.com/jobbik_news/europe/3198.html
- http://hetivalasz.hu/english_periscope/shamans-in-the-pantry-25940
- Kurultaj official website
- http://www.politics.hu/20120810/deputy-house-speaker-greets-asian-ethnic-groups-in-parliament/
- Barna Borbas (05.05.13). "Élet a szittya bizniszen túl – utak a magyar hagyományőrzésben" (in Hungarian). Heti Valasz. Retrieved 10.05.13.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help)
Further reading
- Emel Akcah and Umut Korkut: Geographical Metanarratives in East-Central Europe: Neo-Turanism in Hungary,(2012 Central European University)|
- Joseph Kessler Turanism and Pan-Turanism in Hungary: 1890-1945 (University of California, Berkeley, PhD thesis, 1967)