Pan-Turkism and the 21st Century Great Game

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-319926-ihh-warns-of-possible-massacre-in-xinjiang.html

Central Asia is a key region in the post Cold War geopolitical game. Even during the Cold War American Intelligence services supported Pan-Turkism as a means to destabilize the USSR’s southern frontier…today’s ‘Stan’ countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Tajikistan is Iranic and an exception with cultural links to Afghanistan.

The other Turkic zone is what used to be called East Turkestan but today is the Chinese region of Xinjiang. The Uighurs are a Turkic people and like the Tibetans resent the massive settlement of Han Chinese in their region. The Uighurs speak a different language and have a different culture which has ties to Central Asia and Islam…quite different from Chinese Confucian cultural norms.

I realize many in the United States continue to refer to China as Communist and though the party has retained the nomenclature the country ceased to be Communistic in the late 1970’s. In some ways China is more capitalist than the United States. In this era of reversion to historical roles, the larger Confucian framework is more important to understand both China and even North Korea…another totalitarian state that is mislabeled as communistic. Communist nations don’t have ruling dynasties. The Kim’s are terror-emperors not General Secretaries of a politburo which implements a dictatorship of the proletariat.

Central Asia is key for both resource acquisition and geo-strategic planning. I wrote about this in a piece a couple of years ago:

http://proto-protestantism.blogspot.com/2010/08/beasts-at-play.html

The United States wants access and control of Central Asia. At present keeping China or Russia from gaining hegemony and access is sufficient. There are many tools to effect this control. The Afghan project has largely failed and the United States is now working through regional allies such as Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to accomplish its goals. Uzbekistan has to some degree slipped away from the Americans and Kyrgyzstan even more so.

An Afghan coalition might allow the United States to continue to work in Afghanistan but even if one branch of the Taliban signs on, it is unlikely that all the Taliban groups and the Al Qaeda influenced and even independent minded Pashtun tribes will all go along with it. If the country is unstable it will be unsuitable for large scale investment.

The United States is increasingly looking to India as a regional proxy but this is a complicated relationship as it also tries to maintain some kind of relationship with, and access to, Pakistan. Isolating Pakistan will lead to another Pakistan-India war which very well could turn nuclear. India is a growing regional power and also has historic disputes with China.

During the Cold War India tried to remain unaligned. This was best symbolized by the policies of Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi who was generally hated by American administrations. But China always looms over the horizon (literally) and India will always want to keep the United States close. Even small gestures like harbouring the Dalai Lama help in this regard.

China also wants to be a regional player. Thirsty for resources, China is trying to force its way into the region as an alternative to the Russian-US choice the regional powers seemed to be faced with.

Of course the regional leaders are trying to keep up with the complicated steps of this dance, play everyone off against everyone else and come out ahead.

The United States has always supported Pan-Turkism which as a movement seeks to unite Turkic people and celebrate their common culture and interests. The Turkic people range from Central Asia through Russia (the Tatars and others) to the Caucasus (the Azeri people) to the modern state of Turkey. Neo-Ottomanism going back to Enver Pasha has been interested in this Turkic vision of unification and rather than exercise influence in the old Byzantine realms and the Levant, there are some who wish to turn Turkey’s projection of power into Central Asia and beyond.

This is to the horror of Russia and China. Such a unification would undermine their regional goals.

The United States doesn’t care about the Turkic people, but this movement is useful in destabilizing the region and since Turkey is the beacon of the Pan-Turkic vision, at least up until the Erdogan government, the United States was a natural partner.

The AKP in Turkey only makes the dance steps a bit more complicated.

To what degree this movement has affected the Uyghurs in Xinjiang I’m not sure. I’ve read things to suggest this and others disputing it. It is certainly present in the Uyghur Diaspora but I’m not sure to what extent it has penetrated the region.

China is not going to let the region slip away. It’s much like Russia with Chechnya. Xinjiang has too many resources and the vast and harsh region serves as a geo-political buffer…and a beachhead for China into Central Asia. Were they to lose it, it would serve as a staging ground for China’s enemies.

The occupied and subjugated Uyghurs have not proved compliant. They resent Chinese domination and the tensions continue to grow. China is rising to be sure, but many analysts have pointed out China has deep internal problems they haven’t dealt with and it won’t take much to rip apart the fabric of their society. The fringe zones of Tibet and Xinjiang are near the boiling point. While Tibet seems to have almost given up, with the exception of self-immolating monks in Qinghai, the Uighurs in Xinjiang are growing more violent. China is trying to suppress the news from getting out but like all governments they can’t quite stop all the data from flowing into cyberspace.

Are American proxies at work in Xinjiang? Obviously it’s not something we’re going to read about in the news. But it is a possibility. A destabilized Xinjiang would be in America’s interests. If that instability spread regionally and spurred an uptick in Pan-Turkism…again it would be for the most part to America’s advantage and to the detriment of Russia.

For Russia the Islamic element comes into play and that stokes the Chechen fire at its back door. Pan-Turkism has ‘adopted’ the Chechens even though they’re not Turkic. It’s an alliance of convenience that can find a convergence in the commonality of Islam.

My purpose here was not to write another piece attacking the American Empire. I saw this story and it struck me how big events, movements, even tragedies are taking place and yet I don’t think very many Americans are aware of it or have any understanding of the region. It’s worth following and understanding that yes, Russia and China are evil empires. So is the United States.

But there are other evil players. There are nationalists, religious extremists and other scheming nations serving as agents of bigger players and yet also thirsting for their own power. There are corrupt politicians and businessmen all around and from every pertinent nation. There are multi-national corporations at work, some with Christians happily and proudly working for them.

All the while it is the people who will suffer. The regimes rest on resource wealth not popular consent or democratic approval. They don’t need the people’s approval, or even a compliant fruitful tax base. The nations are funded by checks flowing in from the multi-national energy companies. The governments don’t represent the people. They are comprised of a ruling elite that are becoming fabulously wealthy while exploiting their lands and peoples. Remember many energy companies act as proxies for diplomatic interests and not a few energy executives and lawyers are contract agents with intelligence services.

The people of Central Asia are for the most part a humble and generous people. In the past they were culturally advanced and cosmopolitan. The Silk Road was the marketplace of goods and ideas and a world of wonder that has long fascinated me and haunted my dreams.

If these nations had legitimate governments who actually served the interests of the people these lands have the potential to be vibrant, independent and advanced. They have suffered. In truth these regions never quite recovered from the Mongol invasion and then the decline of the Silk Road that was fueled by European oceanic exploration. The sea route meant the Europeans could acquire the goods without crossing Asia, but sailing around it and elsewhere as well.

Christianity once flourished in these lands. While Europe was languishing under Viking invasions, Avars, Magyars, and the whip of Charlemagne, the Nestorians had established churches throughout Central Asia and had trickled down the Hexi/Gansu corridor into China and beyond. And they had also crossed the Khyber and in some cases traveled by sea and established churches in India.

Perhaps someday Korean and Chinese missionaries can revisit this lands and if America ever abandons its empire, Americans and other westerners might venture into these lands of spiritual darkness once again and deliver the Gospel of truth and peace.