Paul Goble
Staunton, July 21 – The Altai State University hosted a forum on the Slavic-Turkic World on the Space of Greater Altai July 18-20. Its participants stressed that “Russia is a Slavic-Turkic state” and urged that Moscow declare the Turks “a state-forming” people along with the Russians to strengthen ties at home and links to the broader Turkic world.
The Turkic peoples now form eight percent of the population of the Russian Federation, the participants observed, and their numbers and share are rapidly increasing because they have higher birthrates than the Slavs and more Turks from abroad are taking Russian citizenship (ritmeurasia.ru/news--2024-07-23--bolshoj-altaj-i-evrazijskoe-edinstvo-74615).
Consequently, as Russia turns to the east, it should recognize the Turkic peoples collectively as a state-forming group, something that will help Russia at home and abroad and make it clear to all that the Altai in Russia is the true homeland and proper focus of Turks around the world.
Three things about this are noteworthy: First, it is a rare example of talking about groups broader than nations as playing a state-forming role. Second, it re-enforces the Eurasianist idea that Russia is not just Russian but Turkic as well. And third, it signals that at least some in Russia want to challenge Turkey for the right to be considered the center of the Turkic world.
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