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---Chapter I: Against All Sides---
The Land of the Turks
Excerpts from 'The Russian Civil War' by Jim Reeves; Quill Books, Montreal
[Turkestan] was born with the war of its independence during the Russian Civil War. An alliance
of Turkic lords rose up and defeated both the Whites and the Reds. However, the allied lords did not
achieve a decisive battle that will get rid of the Russians once and for all, due to their increasing
division on who will lead the still unborn country. As it was before the Russian advance into Central
Asia, there was no independent unified Turkestan.
The entrance of [Enver Pasha] into the rebellion changed the political equilibrium of both the alliance
and that of the war against the Russians. The runaway pasha, with his entourage of loyal Ottoman
retinues and mercenaries, place himself into a superior position where he can side with a Turkic lord
and gain leverage. [Enver] chose Alim Khan of the Manghit dynasty. […] With Alim Khan as
the overlord of Turkestan, he assigned [Enver Pasha] as the overall commander of the Turkestani forces.
Turkestani forces defeated the last White army in Turkestan with the victory over Tashkent.
Securing themselves in their new country. Turkestan became a reality.
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Excerpts from 'Understanding how history is published': a learning material from University of Ottawa
One way to understand the mindset of a nation, its elite, and its people can be achieved
by consulting its history books. The Turkestanis of the Bukharite Empire (a term to differentiate them
from the Turkish of Anatolia) prefer to start their historical narrative with the migration of the Turkic
tribes from the Altai region, driving away the Iranian people in Transoxiana. It is a popular consensus
among Turkestani, Turkish, Mongolian, Korean, and Manchurian historians that all Turanian peoples
have originated in the Altai region. The narrative also appeal to many Japanese, Hungarian,
and Finnish historians, but it is declining in popularity due to the changing political landscape.
Altai Mountains
The migrating tribes such as the Hephtalites established their kingdoms in modern day Turkestan.
The ancient Turkic tribes weren't that well-detailed on either Turkestani or foreign books,
just as many countries have scant information on their peoples during the Age of Antiquity.
What is interesting is what follows: the noticeably reduced information regarding the Persian
Empires. Despite the ancient superpower dominating the modern-day Turkestani lands for more
than a millennia, the Persians were squeezed into a (metaphorically!) single chapter that combines
the Achaemenids, the Parthians, and the Sassanids. This bias is obvious once you take account
of the frozen relationship between Turkestan and Persia. The atrocities and the Turkestani
occupation is still a tense subject in Persian discussion.
The tense border between Persia and Turkestan
This bias is again noticeable in Turkestani books when they tackle the Macedonian-Persian War –
the war that immortalised Alexander the Great. As the saying goes: “the enemy of my enemy
is my friend” rings true when Alexander is painted as a foreign hero that liberated Turkestani vassals
fromthe oppressive Persians, and brought Greek knowledge and open trade routes in Central Asia
to many parts of his empire.
Alexander the Great
Some hardcore Turanist even claims that Alexander was a Turkic.
Such claims even received ridicule from the mainstream Turanist scholars.
With the arrival of Islam, the Persian segments were glossed out once again with the emphasis on
identifying states as “Muslim states” rather than “Persian”. The focus was on the other Turkic tribes
such as the Hunnic Empire, Cuman-Kipchak Confederation, and the Khazar Kingdom.
However, history gets meatier with the Seljuk Empire and the Mongolian expansion. The impressive
feat of the Seljuks and the Mongols are very celebrated: The Battle of Manzikert, Siege of Kaifeng,
Battle of Mohi and Legnica; and the invasions of Anatolia, Persia, Russia, and China.
Seljuk Empire
Mongol Empire
The history continues with the separation of the Mongol states and the rise of Timur and his empire,
the Mughal Empire, and then the Ottoman Empire. The history did touched on the Russian expansion
and colonisation on the Caucasus, Siberia, and Central Asia – territories that Pan-Turanist claims
to be Turkic sacred soil. As expected, the attitude was explicitly anti-Russian.
Russian capture of Samarkand
Returning back to the Ottomans, an interesting thing in the coverage regarding that section is that
they put emphasis on the earlier parts of its history. Of course, they will not stay long on the eras
where the Ottoman was defeated in the Battle of Vienna and its following decline, nor will they give
the same attention when it became the “sick man of Europe”. Then, the empire receives a sudden
upturn with the Weltkrieg, followed by its wars and the Treaty of Bursa. The controversial part
comes when there is almost little to no focus in the recent periods, for obvious reasons.
The Ottoman Empire has a pride of place in the pages of Turkestani history,
even if the empire has never touched the lands of Turkestan.
The content on Turkestan's recent history is still filled with Pan-Turanism and the romantic desire to
revive its declining empire.
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Here's the first update that should have been posted days ago
I'm still trying to get the hang of this AAR writing business again.
