In October, Türkiye’s Ministry of National Education made significant changes in its history curriculum by replacing the term Central Asia with Turkestan. This move is believed to have strengthened national identity and patriotism among future generations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan underscored the importance of this initiative by stating that Türkiye will work towards making the coming period the era of the Turks by extending the vision of the Turkish Century to the Organization of Turkic States.  

However, invoking the ethnic factor with the Central Asian countries is not a new phenomenon for Türkiye. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – became independent. Of these, barring Tajikistan the rest four are Turkic countries implying they have an ethnic Turkic population and their respective languages are categorized as Turkic languages. Türkiye has been pursuing these four ‘stans’ since their independence.

Further, in 2009, Türkiye, along with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan, became one of the founder members of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS). OTS is an intergovernmental organization that provides a platform to promote collaboration and solidarity among the Turkic states. In addition to the four founder states, Uzbekistan joined the OTS in 2019 taking the number of members to five. Hungary, Turkmenistan, Northern Cyprus and the Economic Cooperation Organization (a Eurasian multilateral organization) are the Observers in the OTS. Building upon the foundations of shared history, culture, identity and language, the OTS has expanded its cooperation in trade, connectivity, science, economy and defence. By introducing the term Turkestan in its history curriculum Türkiye is building upon the inroads it has already made in Central Asia. Besides, the OTS recently agreed on a common alphabet. The OTS also adopted an updated flag symbolizing unity and shared heritage at the 11^th Summit at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on November 7.

On this background, it is worthwhile to look into the Turkic factor that Türkiye has been employing as a major driver in engagements with the Central Asian countries. The Turkic factor is considered through historical connections and its contemporary relevance for Türkiye.

Historical Dimension

The term Turks may be commonly used to refer to the residents of Türkiye. However, this term has a wider meaning. These are Turkic-speaking people that have more or less common culture and traditions. Turkic people do not belong to any particular common race. What connects them is principally the Turkic clans and languages.

There are around 90 million Turkic-speaking people in the world. 60% of these people reside outside of Türkiye. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan are the countries with prominent Turkic populations. China’s Xinjiang province is a majority Turkic region.

Some proportion of the Turkic people is also sprinkled across countries like Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Mongolia, Russia and Ukraine.

The Turkic language family consists of over 30 languages. There are around 170 million people across the world who speak some Turkic language.

Ankara’s overtures towards Central Asia may have gained prominence in the last three decades. However, Türkiye’s ties with this region are centuries old. Turkic peoples are believed to have inhabited the steppes of Central Asia over 1000 years ago. Over time, they settled in the Anatolian plains of modern-day Türkiye.

The term Turkestan which Türkiye is using to describe Central Asia is historically significant. This term was prevalent at the time when the Ottoman Empire was strong and before Russia started asserting its influence in today’s Central Asia. After bringing the region under its control, Russia downplayed the Turkic character and divided the region into Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republics. Türkiye is now trying to renew the historical connections changing its educational curriculum.  

Contemporary Relevance

Apart from historical ties, Türkiye’s continuing accelerated outreach to Central Asian countries must also be seen in the context of its contemporary foreign engagements. While aggressively projecting itself as a civilizational state, Türkiye has been careful to calibrate its foreign policy in recent years to simultaneously engage and benefit from multiple, at times opposing, vectors in the current global order. Türkiye, a NATO member, has consistently made an effort to maintain cordial ties with Russia and China, which could be considered as anti-West countries.

Türkiye has leveraged its geographical location at the intersection of Asia and Europe – East and West – to its advantage. This location enables Türkiye to partner with major powers of the East as well as the West. At the same time, Türkiye also seeks to expand its influence in regions like Central Asia in a way that offers competition to Russia and China which hold sway in the region.

By playing the Turkic identity card in Central Asia, Türkiye is leveraging its influence in the region vis-à-vis China. Türkiye and China enjoy close economic relations. However, Türkiye’s projection of Turkic identity is also a cause of discomfort for China. The Uighurs of China’s Xinjiang province belong to Turkic ethnicity. While Türkiye has often sided with China over the latter’s treatment of the Uighurs, still China remains apprehensive of Türkiye as far as ethnicity and identity factors are concerned. Although Türkiye’s non-admission in the BRICS is attributed to India’s objections, China is equally wary of Türkiye’s employment of ethnicity transcending the borders. China perceives Türkiye’s aggressive ethnic projection could potentially cause instability in Xinjiang province.

Apart from competing with Russia and China, Türkiye’s ethnic card in Central Asia is also a counter to the European Union (EU). Türkiye has been attempting for years to become a member of the EU. However, the EU has not responded favourably to Türkiye’s requests. In the past few years, the EU has been taking steps to build strong ties with the Central Asian countries through the Global Gateway initiative. However, the EU and the West in general do not have a strong presence in Central Asia.

As regards Russia, as mentioned earlier, the pronounced Turkic identity on the part of Türkiye in Central Asia could be considered a response to Russia’s actions in the past century to blur the ethnic identities of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. The Ottoman Empire, in the 19^th century, had tried to consolidate Turkic identity among the Central Asian countries. However, in the backdrop of the establishment of the Soviet Union in the early 20^th century and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire around the same time, Türkiye’s courting of the Turkic people in the erstwhile Turkestan region slowed down.

Türkiye may not be able to replace Russia, China or any other power that is a partner of the Central Asian countries. Russia remains deeply entrenched in Central Asia and China has the economic heft. To circumvent these factors, Türkiye is aggressively employing the Turkic identity as a means to increase its influence in Central Asia.