Turanism
Encyclopedia
Turanism, or Pan-Turanism, is a political movement for the union of all Turan
ian peoples. It implies not merely the unity of all Turkic peoples
(as in Pan-Turkism
), but also the unification of a wider Turanid "race", also known as the controversial Uralo-Altaic "race," believed to include all peoples speaking "Turanian languages".
Turkish proponents of scientific racism
purported that this racial group embraced
The Ural–Altaic linguistic
hypothesis
, now discredited, inspired the emergence of Turkish Hungarian Japanese Korean branches of the Turanian Society
in the 1920s and 1930s.
is fully established historically.
is a Hungarian
nationalist
ideology which stresses the alleged origins of the Hungarian people in the steppes of Central Asia
("Turan
") and the affinity of the Hungarians with Asian peoples such as the Turkic
people. It gained wide currency on the Hungarian political right in the years between the two world wars
. In the half-century before World War I, some Hungarians sought to encourage Pan-Turanianism as a means of uniting Turks and Hungarians against the Slavs and Pan-Slavism. The idea of the necessity of "Turanian brotherhood/collaboration" was borrowed from the "Slavic brotherhood/collaboration" idea of Panslavism.
, Ittihad ve Teraki (the Turkish Committee of Union and Progress), espoused the notion of Turanism, a mythic glorification of Turkish
ethnic identity, and was devoted to restoring the Ottoman Empire
's shattered national pride.
Turanism forms an important aspect of the ideology
of the Turkish
Nationalist Movement Party
(MHP), whose members are informally known as Grey Wolves
. Grey Wolf (the mother wolf Asena
) was the main symbol of the ancient Turks
.
According to Kaveh Farrokh,
Turan
Tūrān is the Persian name for Central Asia, literally meaning "the land of the Tur". As described below, the original Turanians are an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age. As a people the "Turanian" are one of the two Iranian peoples both descending from the Persian Fereydun but with different...
ian peoples. It implies not merely the unity of all Turkic peoples
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
(as in Pan-Turkism
Pan-Turkism
Pan-Turkism is a nationalist movement that emerged in 1880s among the Turkic intellectuals of the Russian Empire, with the aim of cultural and political unification of all Turkic peoples.-Name:...
), but also the unification of a wider Turanid "race", also known as the controversial Uralo-Altaic "race," believed to include all peoples speaking "Turanian languages".
Turkish proponents of scientific racism
Scientific racism
Scientific racism is the use of scientific techniques and hypotheses to sanction the belief in racial superiority or racism.This is not the same as using scientific findings and the scientific method to investigate differences among the humans and argue that there are races...
purported that this racial group embraced
The Ural–Altaic linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
hypothesis
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
, now discredited, inspired the emergence of Turkish Hungarian Japanese Korean branches of the Turanian Society
Turanian Society
Turanian Society , a society founded in 1839 by Tatars, aiming at uniting the various Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire.The name is derived from Turan, an ancient Persian name for the land to the East of Iran where many Turkic peoples live, and Turan, the goal of an all Turks uniting state.The...
in the 1920s and 1930s.
Origins of Pan-Turanianism
Traditional history cites its early origins amongst Ottoman officers and intelligentsia studying and residing in 1870s Imperial Germany. The fact that many Ottoman Turkish officials were becoming aware of their sense of "Turkishness" is beyond doubt of course, and the role of subsequent nationalists, such as Ziya GökalpZiya Gökalp
Ziya Gökalp was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and political activist. In 1908, after the Young Turk revolution, he adopted the pen name Gökalp , which he retained for the rest of his life...
is fully established historically.
Hungary
Hungarian TuranismHungarian Turanism
Hungarian Turanism is a Hungarian nationalist ideology which stresses the alleged origins of the Hungarian people in the steppes of Central Asia and the affinity of the Hungarians with Asian peoples such as the Turks. The idea of the necessity of "Turanian brotherhood/collaboration" was borrowed...
is a Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
ideology which stresses the alleged origins of the Hungarian people in the steppes of Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
("Turan
Turan
Tūrān is the Persian name for Central Asia, literally meaning "the land of the Tur". As described below, the original Turanians are an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age. As a people the "Turanian" are one of the two Iranian peoples both descending from the Persian Fereydun but with different...
") and the affinity of the Hungarians with Asian peoples such as the Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
people. It gained wide currency on the Hungarian political right in the years between the two world wars
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
. In the half-century before World War I, some Hungarians sought to encourage Pan-Turanianism as a means of uniting Turks and Hungarians against the Slavs and Pan-Slavism. The idea of the necessity of "Turanian brotherhood/collaboration" was borrowed from the "Slavic brotherhood/collaboration" idea of Panslavism.
Criticism
The political party of the Young TurksYoung Turks
The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
, Ittihad ve Teraki (the Turkish Committee of Union and Progress), espoused the notion of Turanism, a mythic glorification of Turkish
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
ethnic identity, and was devoted to restoring the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
's shattered national pride.
Turanism forms an important aspect of the ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
of the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
Nationalist Movement Party
Nationalist Movement Party
The Nationalist Movement Party , is a far-right political party in Turkey.In the 2002 general elections, the party had lost its 129 seats as it had won only 8.34% of the national vote...
(MHP), whose members are informally known as Grey Wolves
Grey Wolves
The Idealist Youth , commonly known as Grey Wolves , is an ultra-nationalist neo-fascist youth organization. It is accused of terrorism. According to Turkish authorities, the organization carried out 694 murders between 1974–1980.-Name:...
. Grey Wolf (the mother wolf Asena
Asena
Asena is the name of one of the ten sons, whom mythical female wolf gave birth to, in old Turkic mythology. It is associated with a Göktürk ethnogenic myth "full of shamanic symbolism"...
) was the main symbol of the ancient Turks
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
.
According to Kaveh Farrokh,
Key personalities
- Selim ISelim ISelim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...
- Yusuf AkçuraYusuf AkçuraYusuf Akçura was a prominent Tatar activist and ideologue of Turanism in the late Ottoman Empire.-Biography:He was born in Ulyanovsk, Russia to a Tatar family and lived there until he and his mother emigrated to Turkey when he was seven...
- Tekin AlpTekin AlpMoiz Cohen , who later changed his name to Munis Tekinalp, was born to a Jewish family in Serres. He was sent for schooling in the Alliance Israelite Univeselle school in Salonica, continuing for a rabbinical ordination . He would later continue to legal studies in Salonica, completing them in...
- Sadri Maksudi ArsalSadri Maksudi ArsalSadreddin Nizamettinovich Maksudov or Sadri Maksudi Arsal was a prominent Tatar and Turkish statesman, scholar and thinker.-Biography:...
- Hüseyin Nihâl AtsızHüseyin Nihâl AtsizHüseyin Nihâl Atsız was a prominent Turkish nationalist writer, novelist, poet and philosopher. Nihâl Atsız was a fervent supporter of the pan-Turkist or Turanism ideology. He is author of over 30 books and numerous articles...
- Enver PaşaIsmail EnverEnver Pasha or Ismail Enver Pasha , title was changed with his military ranks such as Enver Efendi , Enver Bey , Enver Pasha, higher than Mirliva) was an Ottoman military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution...
- Resit Galib
- Ziya GökalpZiya GökalpZiya Gökalp was a Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and political activist. In 1908, after the Young Turk revolution, he adopted the pen name Gökalp , which he retained for the rest of his life...
- Riza NurRiza NurRiza Nur was a Turkish surgeon, politician and writer.-Early years:After graduating from the Military Medical School in 1901 Riza Nur went on to work as a surgeon at Gülhane Military Hospital before returning to the Military Medical School as an academic in 1907...
- Nejdet SançarNejdet SançarNejdet Sançar was a Turkish literature teacher who became one of the prominent personalities of the Pan-Turanism school. He was the brother of another notable Turkish nationalist, Hüseyin Nihâl Atsız.- Politics :...
- Mirsäyet SoltanğälievMirsäyet SoltangälievSultan Galiev , usually known in English as Mirza Sultan-Galiev, was a Tatar Bolshevik who rose to prominence in the Russian Communist Party in the early 1920s...
- Hikmet TanyuHikmet TanyuProf. Dr. Hikmet Tanyu , from Turkey, was a scientist and college professor of philosophy and history of religions who specialized in Jewish religious history. He studied in Israel in the 1970s and wrote a book titled Jews and Turks throughout History which examines Jewish history and relations...
- Dündar TaşerDündar TaserDündar Taşer was a Turkish soldier and politician who was a leading figure in Turkish nationalism.He was born in Gaziantep to a traditionalist family and underwent training to become an officer in the Turkish Army, eventually reaching the rank of Major...
- Fethi Tevetoğlu
- Alparslan TürkeşAlparslan TürkesAlparslan Türkeş was a Cypriot-born Turkish nationalist politician who was the founder and former president of the Nationalist Movement Party party...
- Turan Yazgan
- Niyazi Yıldırım Gençosmanoğlu
- Mehmet Metin Ören
Further reading
- Arnakis, George G.. 'Turanism: An Aspect of Turkish Nationalism'. In Balkan Studies, Vol. 1 (1960): 19-32.
- Atabaki, Touraj (2000). Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran.
- Farrokh, Kaveh (2005) Pan-Turanianism takes aim at Azerbaijan: A geopolitical agenda.
- Landau, J.M. (1995). Pan-Turkism: From Irredentism to Cooperation. London: Hurst.
- Lewis, B. (1962). The Emergence of Modern Turkey. London: Oxford University Press.
- Lewis, B. (1998). The Multiple identities of the Middle East. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
- Paksoy, H.B. (1991). ‘Basmachi’: TurkestanNational Liberation Movement 1916-1930s. In Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union (Vol 4). Florida: Academic International Press. http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/paksoy-6/
- Poulton, H. (1997). Top Hat, Grey Wolf, and Crescent: Turkish Nationalism and the Turkish Republic. London, England: Hurst.
- Richards, G. (1997). ‘Race’, Racism and Psychology: Towards a Reflexive History. Routledge.
- Richards Martin, Macaulay Vincent, Hickey Eileen, Vega Emilce, Sykes Bryan, Guida Valentina, Rengo Chiara, Sellitto Daniele, Cruciani Fulvio, Kivisild Toomas, Villerns Richard, Thomas Mark, Rychkov Serge, Rychkov Oksana, Rychkov Yuri, Golge Mukaddes, Dimitrov Dimitar, Hill Emmeline, Bradley Dan, Romano Valentino, Cail Francesco, Vona Giuseppe, Demaine Andrew, Papiha Surinder, Triantaphyllides Costas, Stefanescu Gheorghe, Hatina Jiri, Belledi Michele, Di Rienzo Anna, Novelletto Andrea, Oppenheim Ariella, Norby Soren, Al-Zaheri Nadia, Santachiara-Benerecetti Silvana, Scozzari Rosaria, Torroni Antonio, & Bandelt Hans Jurgen. (2000). Tracing European founder lineages in the Near Eastern mtDNA pool. American Journal of Human Genetics, 67, p. 1251-1276.
- Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
- Searle-White, J. (2001). The Psychology of Nationalism. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Toynbee, A.J.Arnold J. ToynbeeArnold Joseph Toynbee CH was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934–1961, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global...
(1917). Report on the Pan-Turanian Movement. London: Intelligence Bureau Department of Information, Admiralty, L/MIL/17/16/23. - Stoddard, T. Lothrop. “Pan-Turanism”. The American Political Science Review. Vol. 11, No. 1. (1917): 12-23.
- Zenkovsky, S. A. (1960). Pan-Turkism and Islam in Russia. Cambridge-Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
- Zeman, Zbynek & Scharlau, Winfried (1965), The merchant of revolution. The life of Alexander Israel Helphand (Parvus). London: Oxford University Press. See especially pages 125-144. ISBN 0192111620 ISBN 978-0192111623
See also
- Pan-TurkismPan-TurkismPan-Turkism is a nationalist movement that emerged in 1880s among the Turkic intellectuals of the Russian Empire, with the aim of cultural and political unification of all Turkic peoples.-Name:...
- Turkish nationalismTurkish nationalismTurkish nationalism is a political ideology that promotes and glorifies the Turkish people, as either a national, ethnic or linguistic group and puts the interests of the state over other influences, including religious ones.-Pan-Turkism:...
- Genetic origins of the Turkish peopleGenetic origins of the Turkish peopleIn population genetics the question has been debated whether the modern Turkish population is significantly related to other Turkic peoples, or whether they are rather derived from indigenous populations of Anatolia which were culturally assimilated during the Middle Ages...
- TurkificationTurkificationTurkification is a term used to describe a process of cultural or political change in which something or someone who is not a Turk becomes one, voluntarily or involuntarily...
- AsenaAsenaAsena is the name of one of the ten sons, whom mythical female wolf gave birth to, in old Turkic mythology. It is associated with a Göktürk ethnogenic myth "full of shamanic symbolism"...
- Hungarian TuranismHungarian TuranismHungarian Turanism is a Hungarian nationalist ideology which stresses the alleged origins of the Hungarian people in the steppes of Central Asia and the affinity of the Hungarians with Asian peoples such as the Turks. The idea of the necessity of "Turanian brotherhood/collaboration" was borrowed...
(similar Hungarian ideology) - Sun Language TheorySun Language TheoryThe Sun Language Theory was a pseudoscientific linguistic hypothesis proposing that all human languages are descendants of one Central Asian primal language. The theory further proposed that the only language remaining more or less the same as this primal language was Turkic...
External links
- Pan-Turanism - T. Lothrop Stoddard
- Pan-Turanism in 1918 Britannica
- Pan-Turanianism