A ‘Turkic Elder Brother’ Could Threaten Survival of Turkic Peoples within Russian Borders More than a Russian One has, Vakhitov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Nov. 6 – The decision of the Organization of Turkic States to adopt a common script and a common language that will inevitably arise from it is gaining support among many Turkic nations in Russia, including the Tatars and Bashkirs of the Middle Volga, according to Rustem Vakhitov, a Eurasianist scholar who teaches at the Bashkir State University.

            If the Turkic states go ahead with plans for a common alphabet, he argues, there is little doubt that in time that will lead to the elevation of Turkish as the common language and the reduction of national languages to the level of dialects fated to disappear (milliard.tatar/news/est-i-takoe-mnenie-evraziec-ob-oborotnoi-storone-obshhetyurkskogo-alfavita-2292).

            For Turkic peoples within the borders of the Russian Federation, Vakhitov says, going along with that process would create “a Turkic elder brother” who would be a far greater threat to their survival than even the Russian one has been and remains because the religious and cultural divides between them and Turks of Turkey would not serve as their defense.

            And Turkey has shown itself very aggressive in promoting the assimilation of Kurds and Circassians, restricting their ability to maintain their languages and their cultures in Turkey itself. Few among the Tatars, Bashkirs or other Turkic peoples in the Russian Federation could possibly want that fate for themselves.

            There are many in Turkey itself, from Mustafa Kemal in the past to Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk now who understand that danger and oppose such Turkish assimilationist drives, the Ufa scholar says. The Turks of Russia should be working with them rather than accepting the idea that the only way to develop cooperation with Turkey is to accept assimilation as their fate.