Caucasus Analyst : Is Turkic Unity alive?

[Tebriz-will-Rise]

The most recent soccer World Cup held in Korea and Japan turned into a month of joy and happiness for Azeris. Traffic was forced to stop in major streets of Baku for many hours on June 16 and 22 as thousands of people poured into the streets and Baku's main Azadliq square to cheer for their team and its unexpected success. The police was shocked and caught off guard and all they could do was to helplessly watch the chaos developing in the streets of the usually calm center of Baku. People were shouting slogans like Turkiye, Turkiye and Azerbaijan, Turkiye Victory carrying Azerbaijani and Turkish flags and painting their faces and body in red color - that's right, red, the color of Turkism!

Turkey's unbelievable success prompted unbelievable mass joy among Azeris. Fans staring into the TV screens of overfilled cafes from the streets and one could see Turkish and Azerbaijani flags all over the buildings. The amount of people who went out in the streets to cheer for the success of Turkish team over Japan and later Senegal and Korea was more than either the opposition parties or the government have ever been able to gather in the past 7 years. In fact, the Azadliq square, with one exception, has not been filled with people since 1994, when President Aliyev faced a coup by his now jailed Prime Minister Surat Husseinov, and therefore gathered the people to rally support for his policies. Interestingly enough, during the summer of 2001, Azeri people were again in the streets of Baku, cheering for the arrival of a squadron of Turkish air force jet fighters sent by the Turkish Chief of Staff to support Azerbaijan in its dispute with Iran. However, in both cases, the government was to a certain extent involved in the organization of the events. But in the case of Turkish soccer team, people gathered and rejoiced spontaneously, from their own will.

There are various opinions on why the success of the Turkish team was met with such a huge amount of support by ordinary Azeris. Some people claim that Azeris have simply missed major entertainment events. "The public needs bread and entertainment", said Anar Mamedli, a college student. Others claim that in the absence of major victories by the Azerbaijani soccer team, Turkish success is the closest thing for Azeri fans to cheer for. But most of people agree that Azeris, after all, feel very strongly about their Turkic identity. In this sense, the recent events should force political analysts to think twice before declaring Turk unity dead.

The idea of Turk unity recalls the times of beginning of the Ottoman Empire, when the Turkish tribes conquered most of the Eurasian space. Politically, the idea gained strength in the beginning of the twentieth century, when the dying Ottoman Empire, having lost its territories in the Balkans, tried to substitute a European empire for a Turkic empire, guided by thinkers such as Ziya Gökalp. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of newly independent states in Caucasus and Central Asia, the idea of Turkic unity was restored, since Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as several autonomous republics within Russia have a Turkic identity. Although attempts were made to institutionalize and politicize the Turkic factor, little came out of it, largely due to Turkey's inability to build a strong presence in Central Asia and to the large degree of Russification in these states. The largest blow to the idea of Turkic unity was made by the President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, who while attending the summit of Turkic states in Istanbul made a speech in the Russian language. Interestingly enough, Turkmenistan's President Saparmurad Turkmenbashi Niyazov "The Great" forbade any kind of mass rallies for the support of the Turkish soccer team after the first outpouring of joy in the streets of Ashgabat. In all likelihood, Niyazov feared that an initially non-political rally could get out of control and pose a threat to his otherwise so controlled state.

Although the idea of Turkic unity has been declared dead and impractical, the increasing role of Turkey in Afghanistan and a possible land swap between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which would connect Turkey with Azerbaijan and Central Asia, might restore the idea of Turan, the symbolic land of all Turks. President Heydar Aliyev also touched on this topic during his recent interview with Azerbaijani journalists, hinting at the fact that "certain countries" are unhappy and worried about the idea of Turan's right to exist.

Soccer fans in Azerbaijan will for a long time continue to wear the T-shirts of Hasan Sas, Recber Rushtu and Ilhan Mansiz, the heroes of Turkish soccer team, who brought so much joy and happiness to apparently bored Azeri people. And as for a group of Swedish university students that visited Azerbaijan at the time of the World Cup, they could not then - and will probably never - understand why crowds of Azeris were cheering and exclaiming "We have won!"

[Tebriz-will-Rise]

Ilay or Davlet...

whichever fool it was that said Azeris don't consider themselves Turks. i would like to hear you reply to this considering you seem to wanna make choices for my nation rather than leave us independant.

[KLange]

Originally posted by Tebriz-will-Rise
The most recent soccer World Cup held in Korea and Japan turned into a month of joy and happiness for Azeris. Traffic was forced to stop in major streets of Baku for many hours on June 16 and 22 as thousands of people poured into the streets and Baku's main Azadliq square to cheer for their team and its unexpected success. The police was shocked and caught off guard and all they could do was to helplessly watch the chaos developing in the streets of the usually calm center of Baku. People were shouting slogans like Turkiye, Turkiye and Azerbaijan, Turkiye Victory carrying Azerbaijani and Turkish flags and painting their faces and body in red color - that's right, red, the color of Turkism!

Turkey's unbelievable success prompted unbelievable mass joy among Azeris. Fans staring into the TV screens of overfilled cafes from the streets and one could see Turkish and Azerbaijani flags all over the buildings. The amount of people who went out in the streets to cheer for the success of Turkish team over Japan and later Senegal and Korea was more than either the opposition parties or the government have ever been able to gather in the past 7 years. In fact, the Azadliq square, with one exception, has not been filled with people since 1994, when President Aliyev faced a coup by his now jailed Prime Minister Surat Husseinov, and therefore gathered the people to rally support for his policies. Interestingly enough, during the summer of 2001, Azeri people were again in the streets of Baku, cheering for the arrival of a squadron of Turkish air force jet fighters sent by the Turkish Chief of Staff to support Azerbaijan in its dispute with Iran. However, in both cases, the government was to a certain extent involved in the organization of the events. But in the case of Turkish soccer team, people gathered and rejoiced spontaneously, from their own will.

There are various opinions on why the success of the Turkish team was met with such a huge amount of support by ordinary Azeris. Some people claim that Azeris have simply missed major entertainment events. "The public needs bread and entertainment", said Anar Mamedli, a college student. Others claim that in the absence of major victories by the Azerbaijani soccer team, Turkish success is the closest thing for Azeri fans to cheer for. But most of people agree that Azeris, after all, feel very strongly about their Turkic identity. In this sense, the recent events should force political analysts to think twice before declaring Turk unity dead.

The idea of Turk unity recalls the times of beginning of the Ottoman Empire, when the Turkish tribes conquered most of the Eurasian space. Politically, the idea gained strength in the beginning of the twentieth century, when the dying Ottoman Empire, having lost its territories in the Balkans, tried to substitute a European empire for a Turkic empire, guided by thinkers such as Ziya Gökalp. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of newly independent states in Caucasus and Central Asia, the idea of Turkic unity was restored, since Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as several autonomous republics within Russia have a Turkic identity. Although attempts were made to institutionalize and politicize the Turkic factor, little came out of it, largely due to Turkey's inability to build a strong presence in Central Asia and to the large degree of Russification in these states. The largest blow to the idea of Turkic unity was made by the President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev, who while attending the summit of Turkic states in Istanbul made a speech in the Russian language. Interestingly enough, Turkmenistan's President Saparmurad Turkmenbashi Niyazov "The Great" forbade any kind of mass rallies for the support of the Turkish soccer team after the first outpouring of joy in the streets of Ashgabat. In all likelihood, Niyazov feared that an initially non-political rally could get out of control and pose a threat to his otherwise so controlled state.

Although the idea of Turkic unity has been declared dead and impractical, the increasing role of Turkey in Afghanistan and a possible land swap between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which would connect Turkey with Azerbaijan and Central Asia, might restore the idea of Turan, the symbolic land of all Turks. President Heydar Aliyev also touched on this topic during his recent interview with Azerbaijani journalists, hinting at the fact that "certain countries" are unhappy and worried about the idea of Turan's right to exist.

Soccer fans in Azerbaijan will for a long time continue to wear the T-shirts of Hasan Sas, Recber Rushtu and Ilhan Mansiz, the heroes of Turkish soccer team, who brought so much joy and happiness to apparently bored Azeri people. And as for a group of Swedish university students that visited Azerbaijan at the time of the World Cup, they could not then - and will probably never - understand why crowds of Azeris were cheering and exclaiming "We have won!"

Not surprising, after all, the Azeri and Osmanli TUrkish peoples are fairly similar-both having been descended from Oguz or SOuthern Turkic tribes.