Summary
Russia’s assimilation policies applied in Turkestan in the 19th and 20th centuries are a comprehensive process damaging the region’s cultural and ethnic structure. Russia; in the Tsarist and Soviet periods, conducted a systematic assimilation activity, primarily in language, religion, education, and culture, and targeted the national identities of Turks in Turkestan. It appears that the Russian Federation also continues to maintain these activities in a covert manner. The conscience of the Turkish nation is a sort of early warning system; therefore, the assimilation in Turkestan must be fought against with a strong consciousness. This study has been prepared in the name of forming this consciousness and creating awareness.
Introduction
Assimilation means “destroying minorities or ethnic groups coming from different origins, their cultural accumulations, and identities by melting them within the dominant texture and structure.” The first step of the struggle against assimilation is possible with the use of the concept of “Turkestan” instead of the expression “Central Asia” in daily life and academic researches. It is important to know where Turkestan is. Turkestan is divided into 3 main regions:
- 1st Region: East Turkestan. In this region located under Chinese occupation, approximately 20 million Turks, the majority of whom are constituted by Uyghur Turks, live.
- 2nd Region: South Turkestan. In this region located in the north of Afghanistan, Uzbek and Turkmen Turks live. Iran’s borders with Turkmenistan are also included in this region.
- 3rd Region: West Turkestan. The Republics of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan are located here.
In the context of “Land and Sea Dominance Theories,” the Turkestan geography has been an important strategic region throughout history for all actors aiming to be global powers. In this geography, where Turkish and Mongol states such as the Great Hun Empire, Göktürk State, and Genghis Khan Empire dominated, China and especially Russia began to be effective starting from the 19th century.
Tsarist Russia Period
One of the most important names laying the foundations of Tsarist Russia’s assimilation policies is Nikolay Ivanovich Ilminsky. After the second half of the 19th century, as a result of Ilminsky’s analyses, things that could be done for assimilation were determined. Within the framework of the divide-fragment-rule understanding, the education curriculum and religious education were targeted first. Muslims in Turkestan learning and adopting Christianity through their own languages would facilitate their convergence with Tsarist Russia. As the first step, the application of the Russian alphabet to Turkic dialects in Turkestan was necessary. It was evaluated that the most rational way for this was to develop Turkic dialects as separate languages and to disrupt linguistic unity. Tsarist Russia began to occupy Turkish khanates starting from the early 1800s. When the 1900s were reached, Tsarist Russia, encircling the Urals and Turkestan, spread to the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, and Eastern Anatolia regions.
Soviet Russia Period
Soviet Russia, inheriting Tsarist Russia’s expansionist policies, continued to carry and apply the same ambitions over Turkestan. Soviet Russia, led by Lenin, carried the claim that it did not adopt Tsarist Russia’s practices. Although language and cultural autonomy were included among the articles of law with the 1924 Constitution, it was not possible to see this in practice. A process completely opposite to the perception management operation applied was experienced in Turkestan.
One of the first targets of Soviet Russia’s assimilation activities was Azerbaijan. While Russian was made mandatory in education, severing the Turkish nation’s ties to history and culture was among the priorities. For this purpose, many intellectuals were silenced or killed. Upon Lenin’s death on January 21, 1924, the administration of Soviet Russia passed to Stalin. Also in the Stalin period, Turkish intellectuals, primarily writers, poets, scientists, and politicians in Turkestan, were accused of “treason to the motherland” and sent to death in Siberia or sentenced to execution on the spot. Just in Azerbaijan, approximately 75,000 intellectuals, and in Kyrgyzstan, 40,000 intellectuals were massacred between the years 1937-1938. These intellectuals resisting assimilation were called “repressiya qurbanları” (victims of repression) in Azerbaijan; this expression means that loving one’s homeland is rewarded with death.
In Turkestan, which entered under Soviet Russia domination, attitudes and approaches towards Muslims progressed with violence increasing by the years. These attitudes and approaches can be briefly expressed on a period basis as follows:
- Between 1917-1926, a policy of benefiting from the Islamic religion was followed.
- After 1929, the policy of benefiting left its place to an aggressive attitude.
- When 1941 was reached, Socialism practices intensified, and pressure against religion and Muslims peaked.
- In 1955, a relative decrease was experienced in pressure policies applied against religion and Muslims; the religion motivation factor was tried to be used.
- When the year 1962 was reached, religion was accepted as a social phenomenon, and a controlled freedom became mentionable.
- Between the years 1948-1975, the number of publications printed in the languages of Turks and Muslims containing communism and atheism propaganda reached 923.
In the 10th Congress of the Communist Party held in 1936, nationalism was accepted as the greatest threat by Stalin, and Turkestan was viewed as the source of this threat. As a result of this, it was divided into federal administrations as the first target of assimilation.
Also in the Khrushchev period, steps were taken within the scope of assimilation activities directed at non-Russian nations. Turks in Turkestan were forced to switch to the Cyrillic alphabet, and even suffixes like Russian “ov-ova, ev-eva” were brought to their surnames. As a result of these impositions made in every social field, the rate of those knowing Russian at a native language level in the Turkestan geography reached 40%. For example, in Kazakhstan, even when the year 1989 was reached, the rate of Russians knowing the Kazakh dialect of Turkish remained limited to only 1%. The most important reason for this situation is the use of Russian in government offices and commercial life.
The Russification policy, usurpation of property rights, kolkhozes, intellectual massacres, and propaganda enlarged the red terror in Turkestan under Soviet Russia occupation. The decision to use the Cyrillic alphabet in Turkestan, taken by Tsar Nicholas in 1906, was applied to a large extent by Soviet Russia in 1940. Turkish place names were Russified, micro-nationalism was supported, and Turkish unity was disrupted.
Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, Russia declared the lands occupied by the Soviets as “vital interest area” in 1993. Underground and aboveground resources found in Turkestan have always been important for an expansionist Russia.
In the Turkic Republics, the effects of post-Soviet Russia assimilation activities have unfortunately continued to be seen. For example, in 2011, due to authoritarian secularism policies applied in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, the entry of individuals under 18 years of age into places of worship was banned.
- Kazakhstan: The country’s second language is Russian. It is the Turkic Republic with the highest Russian population ratio. While the Kazakh population was 39% in 1990, the Russian population was 38%. As a result of policies applied until 2009, a population ratio of 67% was achieved with Kazakhs returning to their motherland. In 1990, the official correspondence and education language was accepted as the Kazakh dialect of Turkish. It was also made mandatory for the head of state to know the Kazakh dialect.
- Kyrgyzstan: In 1996, the Kyrgyz dialect of Turkish gained mandatory course status in the country, it became mandatory for the head of state to know the Kyrgyz dialect, place names were Turkified, and the official correspondence language became the Kyrgyz dialect. Russian was accepted as the second official language.
- Turkmenistan: Despite remaining dependent on Russia for a long time, primarily in energy, an embargo was applied against Russians in Turkmenistan. Dual citizenship was abolished, Russian schools were closed, and the Turkmen dialect was used in education.
The transition process to the “New Turkish Alphabet” starting in 1920 in Soviet Russia continued with the acceptance of the transition to the Latin alphabet as the “Unified New Turkish Alphabet.” As a matter of fact, Türkiye’s transition to Latin letters in 1928 dissuaded Soviet Russia from this practice. The imposition of the Cyrillic alphabet continued.
Conclusion
In February 1992, Azerbaijan, and in September 1993, Uzbekistan decided to switch to the Latin alphabet again. Kazakhstan aims to complete the transition works to the Latin alphabet, which it started in 2017, in 2025. It is possible to say that the decisions taken did not reach the desired result in the implementation phase. Despite the “state language law” that entered into force in 1995 in Uzbekistan, the Cyrillic alphabet and Russian continued to be used widely. On the other hand, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s effort to popularize the Uzbek dialect of Turkish on Telegram, Facebook, and other social media platforms primarily can be evaluated as promising but insufficient. Minority groups wanting Russian to be accepted as the official language still exist in the country. Against this, fines have started to be given to those not using the Uzbek dialect in official correspondence.
In Kyrgyzstan, on December 15, 2022, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dinara Kutmanova speaking Russian in the parliament caused reactions. With changes made in the constitution in 2000, Russian was recognized as an official language. On January 18, 2023, by accepting the bill “on the state language of the Kyrgyz Republic” in Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz dialect was made mandatory in state correspondence. In Kazakhstan, an initiative to use the Kazakh dialect in public life started by a group of youths was tried to be suppressed by some state administrators in the name of preserving balances. It is observed that the number of Russian schools has also increased in the last 30 years compared to other Turkic republics. Most universities provide education in Russian. Even if Turkish youths in the Turkestan geography say they are nationalists, they unfortunately speak Russian in their daily lives. If it is recalled that 80% of Turkestan spoke Russian in the census conducted in Soviet Russia in 1989, it is obvious that the struggle against assimilation remains insufficient. As of today, there are approximately 739 Russian schools in Uzbekistan. Programs on TV channels broadcast in Russian, and the language of trade appears as Russian. In Kazakhstan, too, Russian has an official status as in Kyrgyzstan. It is widely used in daily life and public affairs.
Final Word
In the struggle against assimilation, uniting around the principle of “unity in language, thought, and work” of Ismail Gaspirali, one of the most important intellectuals raised by the Turkish World, appears quite important.
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Photographs: Turkishnews.com
