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Pan-Turkism

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Geographical distribution of the Turkic peoples.

Pan-Turkism was a political movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries which had as its goal the political union of all Turkish-speaking peoples in the Ottoman Empire, Russia, China, Iran, and Afghanistan. The movement, which began among the Turks in the Crimea and on the Volga, initially sought to unite the Turks of the Ottoman and Russian empires against the growing Russian tsarist domination.

Name

While the various Turkic peoples often share historical, cultural and linguistic roots, the rising of a pan-Turkic political movement is a phenomenon only of the 19th and 20th century and can be seen in parallel with European developments like Pan-Slavism and Pan-Germanism or with Middle-Eastern Pan-Arabism.

History

Following the fall of the Ottoman Empire with its multi-cultural and multi-ethnic population, influenced by emerging racial theories and the Turkish nationalism of the Young Turks, some tried to replace the lost empire with a new Turkish commonwealth.

One of the most significant early exponents of pan-Turkism was Enver Pasha, the Ottoman Minister of War and acting Commander-in-Chief during World War I. He later became one of the leaders of the Basmachi movement in Central Asia during the Russian Civil War, trying to create a united Turkestan.

After 1920s

During the war against Greek occupation of Anatolia and after construction of Modern Turkey,Mustafa Kemal Atatürk deemphasized Pan-Turkism, instead encouraging Turkish nationalism. Pan-Turkish and Turanist movements was prohibited. Many peoples was punished during 1940s.

Origins of Turkic peoples

The political pan-Turkic movement cannot be linked with development of theories of the origin of Turkic peoples, with some linguistic theories about the Ural-Altaic languages and with some theories about ancient archeology, e.g. the origin of the Sumerians and Etruscans as being early Turks. The Kemalist movement in Turkey was emphasized the necessity of cleananing the Ottoman Turkish language from foreign (mostly Persian and Arabic) influence. At early stages of young Turkish republic, Sun Language Theory proposed by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk himself (and a few year later was drawnback), can be seen as part of this same intellectual climate to create a nation from Ottoman Ummet.

Quotations

  • "Bu yürüyüş devam ediyor. Türk orduları ata ruhlarının dolaştığı Altay ve Tanrı Dağları eteklerinde geçit resmi yapıncaya kadar devam edecektir." translated "This march is going on. It will continue until the Turkic Armies' parade on the foothills of Altai and Tien-Shan mountains where the souls of their ancestors stroll." Hüseyin Nihâl Atsız(12.01.1905-11.12.1975)

See also

Further reading

  • Jacob M. Landau: Pan-Turkism: From Irredentism to Cooperation, 1995. ISBN 1850652694

External links

References

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