Pan Turanianism
Takes Aim at Azerbaijan
A Geopolitical Agenda
Dr. Kaveh Farrokh
Manuvera@aol.com
1st Edition: June 6, 2005
2nd Edition: June 26, 2016
Dr. Kaveh Farrokh, Historian and Author
Pan Turanianism United Turkistan Pan Turkic Flag
Pan Turanianism in China!
East Turkistan Chinese Separatist Protest
Pan Turanianism Gray Wolves Sign of Pan Turkism
Part
One
Index
Introduction
Chapter
One: A Short Introduction to Pan Turanianism
Part One
Index
Introduction
Chapter
One: A Short Introduction to Pan Turanianism
1. A Brief Note on the Origins of Pan-Turanianism.
2. Some of the Beliefs of Pan-Turanianism.
(a) The Inventors of culture, language and civilization were Turks.
(b) The Myth of the Grey Wolf
(c) Ancient Sumeria was Turkish.
(d) The culture of the ancient Greece and Anatolia is Turkish
in origin.
(e) The Etruscans of pre-Roman Italy were Turks.
(f) Armenians are Turks.
(g) The indigenous Indian peoples of North America are Turks.
(h) Kurds and their Mede ancestors are Turks.
(i) Tajiks are Turks.
(j) Turks are the World's Main Producers of World Class Persian
Literature.
(k) Judeo-Christianity and Islam have Turkish origins.
(l) The Northern Iranians were all Turks.
(m) The Parthian language was Turkish.
(n) Bosnians, Macedonians, Albanians, and Ukrainians are Turks.
Part
Two
Chapter Two: Pan Turanian Claims to Azerbaijan
1. Greater Azerbaijan was divided between
Russia and Persia.
(a) Arran and the Historical Azerbaijan.
(b) The Musavats and the early Pan-Turanianists.
(c) The Soviet Russians and Joseph Stalin.
(d) Mr. Amin Rasulzadeh.
(e) The role of Soviet Russia in 1941-1946.
2. Azerbaijanis have spoken Turkish since
the advent of History.
(a) Archival Information.
(b) The Turkic arrivals and Manzikert.
(c) Linguistic Turkification.
(d) Resistance against Ottoman Turks.
(e) World War One.
3. Turks have been in the Caucasus for
over 5000 Years.
(a) Armenia, Georgia, Albania/Arran
4. The Safavid Empire was Turkish.
5. Sattar Khan was a pan-Turanian separatist.
(a) Mr. Mahmudali Chereganli.
(b) Sattar Khan and the Constitutional Movement of Persia.
(c) European Intervention.
(d) SANAM and the Fabrication of History.
6. Babak Khorramdin was a Turk who fought
against Persia.
7. Azerbaijanis and all who speak Turkish are Turkish by race.
(a) Ziya Gokalp
(b) The Richards et al. Genetic Studies
(c) The Analyses of Colin Renfrew
(d) The Cavalli-Sforza et al. Genetic Studies
(e) Transcending the Concept of "Race"
8. Iranian complacency.
(a) Difficulty balancing Aryan Persia with Islam
(b) Toleration of Anti-Persian cultural expressions
(c) Iran's Neglect of Persian culture
(d) A Bitter Tsarist Legacy
Part
Three
Chapter Three: The Gray Wolves
1. Who are the Grey Wolves?
2. Supporting Mr. Chehreganli
3. Operations in Foreign Countries
4. Grey Wolf Miscalculation: Greece
Chapter
Four: The Promotion of Discord
1. Translating Nazi Literature to Turkish
2. Anti-Armenian Literature.
(a) Similarity to Nazi Propaganda.
(b) Mr. Talaat Pasha and the 1915 Armenian Tragedy.
(c) Forgotten Gallant Turks who Saved Lives.
(d) Political Influence and Re-Writing History.
(e) The Role of Mr. Chehreganli and SANAM.
3. Anti-Iranian Literature.
4. The Status of non-Turkic speaking Azerbaijanis.
5. Racialism and Fanaticism: Cancer at an International Scale
Chapter
Five: Grey Wolves and Failure in Azerbaijan
1. Grey Wolf Public Relations Failures.
2. Hostility to Grey Wolf Activism among Iranian Azerbaijanis.
3. Tepid Reception in the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Part
Four
Chapter Six: Geopolitical Interests and
Petroleum Diplomacy
1. The Bernard Lewis Project.
2. Geopolitics and Petroleum Diplomacy.
(a) The Role of British Petroleum and Oil Companies
(b) Dismantling Geopolitical Obstacles: Dismembering Yugoslavia
3. Is Oil Running Out?
4. Manipulating Scholarship in the West:
(a) The ATC.
(b) CSIS.
(c) Dr. Brenda Shaffer.
(d) A Personal Experience.
5. Geopolitics and Re-inventing History:
The Macedonia Example.
(a) Changing Skopje to the Republic of Macedonia.
(b) Retroactive De-Hellenization and Petroleum Diplomacy.
(c) South Slav Macedonian Nationalism.
6. Geopolitics and Psychological warfare.
(a) Manufacturing Victims.
(b) False Flag Incidents.
7. Manipulation of Western Media.
8. Iranians as Negative Propaganda Targets.
9. Turkey and The Republic of Azerbaijan: Victims of Geopolitical
Manipulation.
10. The Iranian Experience with Geopolitics and Petroleum Diplomacy.
(a) The Same Old Story?
(b) The Partitioning Agenda Continues
(c) Supporting Racism to further The Bernard Lewis Plan
11. A Final Note.
References
Website References
Chapter Six References: Diminishing Petrolium Resources
Further Notes: The Futility of Racialism
Footnotes
Back
to top
* * *
Introduction
Pan-Turanianism
is a racialist movement that not only threatens Iran, but Greece,
Armenia, Russia, Ukraine and even (to a more limited extent) China.
If unchecked, Pan-Turanianism may become as dangerous to international
peace and stability as Islamic fundamentalism has became today.
Pan Turanianism Asian Domination Pan Turkic Map
Geopolitics
and petroleum diplomacy is using pan-Turanianism to promote a
nefarious and self-serving economic agenda (Part VI, items 1-4).
Pan-Turanian activists, supported by politically motivated western
academic outlets (See Part VI, items 4), are literally re-narrating
world history (Parts I & II), and in this quest, have tragically
misled many well-intentioned but naïve individuals (Parts
III & IV). Many believe in a series of facts, events and a
past history that never was. Veracity is falling victim to racialism,
especially in the inherent anti-Persian agenda propelled by geopolitical
Petroleum diplomacy.
Pan Turanianism Turan Pan Turkism Map
Before we
undertake this long discussion of pan-Turanianism, we must clearly
distinguish between the people, culture and history of the Turkish
people in Turkey from pan-Turanian philosophy. Anyone who has
traveled to Turkey can attest to the warmth and hospitality of
the Turks. The Turks are an ingenious people; one only needs to
look at the breathtaking palace of Dulmebahce, built by the distinguished
Boyrum family, well steeped in Venetian/Italian, Greek, and Persian
architectural styles. Turkish cuisine and culinary arts are legendary
and speak for themselves. Turkish martial abilities and military
achievements are a fact of history, and their ability, under Mustafa
Kemal Attaturk, to reconstitute the dismembered Ottoman Empire
into the modern Turkish Republic in the aftermath of the First
World War is a noteworthy achievement. The Turkish Republic has
been a vibrant democracy since its inception in the 1920s.
Pan Turanianism Pan Turkic Flag
On a personal
level, I have enjoyed deep and rewarding friendships with Turks,
whom I have seen to be steadfastly loyal, dependable, straightforward,
honest, and caring (many of my friends, as well my sister in law,
Suzen, are Turkish). My multilingual grandparents also spoke Turkish,
with my grandfather being able to translate Persian books to Turkish
and vice versa. Like many Iranians, much of our roots can be traced
to the north and west of Iran as well as the Caucasus (see photo
of my father Fereydoun/Feridun in Georgian national costume in
the late 1920s):
Fereydoun Farrokh
As one of
the great peoples of history, the Turks have many mighty achievements
to their credit. It is for this reason that, as a great people,
Turks have no need to appropriate the achievements of others.
At the popular level, a large but unspecified number of Turks
(both highly educated and laypeople) have a high regard for Iran
as well as Greece, and have no desire for any type of confrontation.
Many Turks also wish to heal the historical wounds that have occurred
between them and the Armenians - there are many calls for dialogue.
It must be made clear once again that the majority of the people
of Turkey do not support pan-Turanianism. Pan-Turanianism represents
a minority opinion at best. The majority of Turks are disinterested
in chauvinistic violence and expansionism.
Nevertheless,
it is an alarming fact that pan-Turanian activists have made significant
inroads among many of Turkey's highly educated scholars, politicians
(e.g. the late Turgut Ozal), businessmen, students and laypeople
(see Part III).
This article
is also aimed at the Azerbaijanis of Iran (and other Turkic speaking
Iranians such as the Qashqai) as well as the citizens of the Republic
of Azerbaijan. There are serious attempts at inciting anti-Iranian
sentiments among these peoples. A number of misleading terms and
false historical narratives are being circulated among Azerbaijanis
(e.g. "North" and "South" Azerbaijan; Azeris
are a Turkic race) with the aim of inciting racialist fervour.
Many of those who appear to passionately advocate the separatism
of Iranian Turcophones are themselves motivated by non-altruistic
motives (geopolitical gains, oil, political power, etc) (Parts
II-IV, VI).
The issue
is pan-Turanianism, not Turks as a people, culture or society.
What is being critically examined here is the philosophy of pan-Turanianism
and its offspring, the racially chauvinistic Grey Wolf movement.
It must be made clear that we are equally critical of the futility
of other chauvinistic movements such as Nordicist/Neo-Nazi movements,
Persian chauvinism, Pan-Arab chauvinism and religious Fundamentalism
(Part IV, item 4).
Back
to top
* * *
Chapter
One: A Short Introduction to Pan Turanianism
What is pan-Turanianism? Simply put, pan-Turanianism is an ideology
that aims at creating a Turkic super state stretching from the
Balkans in Europe, eastwards across Turkey, Iran (Persia), the
Caucasus, Central Asia up to and including northwest China (see
map below):
Turan Map
The logic
behind this is that all people who speak Turkish must be incorporated
into this Turkic super state (see also Atabaki, 2001, Landau,
1995, Zenkovsky 1960 and Lewis, 1962 in References).
Hungarian
pan-Turanianist activists go even further. They have proposed
that the entire Eurasian landmass between Hungary and Norway in
Europe to Japan and Korea was once an empire known as "Turania".
Apart from non-scholastic websites, no linguistic, anthropological
and archeological evidence for such an empire exists. Pan-Turanian
racialists and historians would beg to differ. They are impervious
to logical explanations even in the face of hard evidence. Such
is the case of all who are infected with the virulent virus of
racialism (see C. Richards, 1997 and J. Searle-White, 2001 in
References).
Pan-Turanianism,
like Nazi "racial sciences", or Stalinist "History",
has failed to convince the majority of western scholarship to
its cause, and has been as equally unsuccessful in Eastern Europe,
with the exception of Hungary and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Much of pan-Turanian
ideology is similar to pan-Germanic racism and Nazism; philosophies
from which the Grey Wolves and pan-Turanian ideologues have drawn
much of their inspiration (see Parts III & IV). Like the Nazis
in the 1930s and 1940s, the pan Turanian Turks envision their
Turan super-state (like the Nazi "Germania"), in terms
of "lebensraum" (German for "living space")
for all Turkic speaking peoples. The late president of the Republic
of Azerbaijan, Abulfazl Elchibey (1938-2000), a Grey Wolf sympathizer
himself (see Part II, item 4), is reputed to have stated that
"
the road to Turkistan runs through Tabriz". Tabriz
has been an integral part of Persia for thousands of years.
(1)
A Brief Note on the Origins of Pan-Turanianism.
Pan-Turanianism
is perhaps one of the last racialist movements that first began
in the 19th century. 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 Gokalp (see Part II, item 7a) is fully established
historically.
What is far
less known (or acknowledged) is the role of foreign (non-Turkish)
interests in the manipulation of the Turks to service wider geopolitical
interests. It is truly an irony that the idea of a Turanian empire
never originated amongst the Ottoman Turks, but by a man of European
descent. His name was Arminius (Hermann) Vambery (1832-1913),
a Hungarian Professor, philologist and traveler who worked an
as advisor to the Ottoman Sultan between 1857-1863 (see Vambery
in Ottoman dress at left - European attire at right):
L. Vambery A
R. Vambery B
Vambery was
in the employ of Lord Palmerston of the British Foreign office.
It was during his tenure at the Sultan's court when Vambery first
made mention of the fiction of a pan-Turanian superstate to his
Turkish hosts in Istanbul:
"
they
(the Turks) could form a political entity stretching from the
Altai Mountains in Eastern Asia to the Bosphorus
"
[Paksoy, H.B., 'Basmachi': TurkestanNational Liberation Movement
1916-1930s. In
Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union,
Florida: Academic International Press, 1991, Vol. 4].
Vambery's
thesis was based on the observation that as much of Central Asia
used Turkic languages as their main vernacular (except Persian
speaking Tajikestan), this then necessitated the formation of
"Turan". It has been speculated that Vambery's mission
was to create an anti-Slavic racialist movement among the Turks
that would divert the Russians from the "Great Game"
which they were playing against Britain in Persia and Central
Asia (see also S. A. Zenkovsky in References).
Vambery retired
as a professor of eastern languages at the University of Budapest
between 1865-1905. He wrote many books on his travels to Turkey,
Armenia, Persia and Central Asia. His expertise on languages and
ethnology served the British Foreign Office very well indeed:
a racialist idea was formed that would allow for the European
manipulation of the Turks for a very long time to come.
Equally as
interesting is the role played by Wilfred Blunt, known by some
as the "great-grandfather" of pan-Arabism (of the later
Cairo Office of British Intelligence), who was also one of the
first to advocate a "Young Turk" movement. The Blunts
are reputed to have been the founders of the Bank of England.
Arnold J. Toynbee's report to British intelligence regarding the
Young Turk movement is also revealing (see Toynbee in References).
Just as pan-Turanianism
was invented, British intelligence was plotting to disintegrate
the Ottoman Empire by encouraging break away movements among its
many nationalities. Although not generally reported, the British
Empire had wanted to appropriate Turkish oil assets in Mesopotamia
for at least a decade before the First World War (see William
Engdahl in References).
The Ottoman
Empire was one of the major geopolitical obstacles to the intended
projection of British military, political and economic primacy
into the Persian Gulf. The other "obstacle" was (and
potentially is) Persia, present-day Iran.
The Achilles
heel of the Ottoman Empire was its multi-ethnic composition. This
was adroitly exploited to achieve its destruction from within.
The role of TE Lawrence (of Arabia) in this endeavor is popular
knowledge, however less known is the role played by British intelligence
in the fomenting of earlier Albanian nationalism (Lady Dunham)
and Bulgarian nationalism (Noel Buxton). The Kurds were also mobilized
and by 1905, a "map of Kurdistan" soon appeared in London.
Even today, Turkish officials suspect British complicity behind
Kurdish separatism (see Part VI, item 9).
Interestingly,
the Armenians and Assyrians were also promised statehood and independence.
Their historical claims however, overlapped with those of the
Ottoman Kurds, a fact which contributed to much subsequent bloodshed
and tragedy, both during the war and after (Part IV, item 2b).
Even less
known is the role played by an Italian national, Emmanuel Carasso
(possibly a pseudonym). Carasso was involved in the setting up
of the Young Turk Society in Thessaloniki (which was then under
Turkish rule - now in Greece) with Turkish nationalists (see Arai
in References). Strangely, Carasso was also involved in another
project called "Macedonia Resurrected" (see also Part
VI, item 5). Although many details remain classified, some believe
that the headquarters of the Young Turk Movement and the Macedonia
Resurrected movement were identical, and that British intelligence
was implicated in both of these projects. Although circumstantial
information for this exists, no solid proof of this particular
allegation has appeared at this time. What is certain is the European
role in the setting up of the Young Turks and the Macedonia Resurrected
project (an anti-Greek movement since its inception). There are
striking parallels between the "Macedonia Resurrected"
and the subsequent "Greater Azerbaijan" movements (see
Part VI, item 5).
It must be
noted that Carasso was no mere lowly official. His post in the
Young Turk movement was crucial (see photo below of a Young Turk
parliament session in 1908 Istanbul). It was Carasso who informed
Sultan Abdul Hamid (1842-1918) (see photo below) that he had been
overthrown, and took the initiative in placing him under house
arrest. Even when the Young Turks themselves were overthrown very
shortly thereafter, Carasso retained his position of importance:
he was in charge of food distribution networks in the Ottoman
Empire during the First World War. Carasso is also reputed to
have helped run the Ottoman intelligence services in the Balkans.
Young Turks
Sultan Abdul Hamid
Vladimir Jacobsky became the editor of the Young Turk Newspaper
(the owner of the paper was of course Turkish). Jacobsky had been
educated in Italy, and despite much hype and speculation, his
links with foreign intelligence organizations remain unclear.
The editorial content of the Young Turk Newspaper was also overseen
by a Dutchman by the name of Jacob Kann. Kann was intimately connected
to the Dutch government; he conducted the personal banking of
the king and queen of Holland. The economics editor of another
Young Turk newspaper, The Turkish Homeland, was overseen by Alexander
Helphand Parvus (1869-1924), reputed to have been a double agent
(Russian and British) (see photo). There has been speculation
of Parvus being involved in arms smuggling for the Turkish army
during the Balkan wars (before World War One). See Zeman &
Scharlau in references for further details.
A.H. Parvus
Much of the
history of these men has been confined to a select group of historians;
not much is known in wider academia, popular knowledge, and especially
among the Turks in general. Nevertheless, a British intelligence
officer of World War One, John Buchan, has written a novel (see
references) in which a number of these characters appear. The
head of the whole operation is identified by Buchan as having
been a certain "Aubrey Herbert". Aubrey Herbert (1880-1923)
(see photo below) was in fact one of the key intelligence officers
operating in the Middle East during World War One, fought in the
doomed Gallipoli invasion of Turkey in 1915, and was fluent in
both Turkish and Arabic. TE Lawrence, the key foreign instigator
of the anti-Turkish Arab revolt, is reputed to have noted of Herbert's
complicity in helping the rise of the short-lived Young Turk movement
in Istanbul.
Aubrey Herbet
(2)
Some of the Beliefs of Pan-Turanianism.
As with every
racialist movement, pan-Turanianism has invented its own version
of historical narcissism[i]. However, in this particular case,
one may say that pan-Turanianism has produced a "history"
that is not only incredible, but dare I say, entertaining. Pan-Turanian
scholars have not only re-narrated a whole new version of world
history, but have set new frontiers in the disciplines of linguistics,
archaeology, anthropology and logic, one on par with the "Aryan
Physics" of the Nazi regime of Germany (1920s-1940s).
Below are
descriptions of a mere handful of these beliefs. As you read the
list below, you will undoubtedly ask: how are these conclusions
arrived at, and what kinds of minds manufacture such thoughts?
(a) The
Inventors of culture, language and civilization were Turks.
Pan-Turanian
ideologues have placed a very high priority on re-inventing past
history. Much of this is based on the founder of the Turkish Republic,
Mustafa Kemal Attaturk (1881-1938) (see photo below), who stated
that: "Writing history is as important as making history"[ii]
(see also H. Poulton and P. Robins in references).
Mustafa Kemal Attaturk
The re-interpretation
and invention of past history began with full vigor during the
first decades of the newly independent Turkish republic[iii].
This educational objective led to the First History Congress in
Ankara in 1932. The majority of the leading "historians"
who attended the congress hailed from political backgrounds with
little or no formal academic graduate training as historians,
anthropologists, archaeologists or linguists[iv]. It is noteworthy
that The Turkish History Research Society (The Turkish Historical
Society) was in fact a branch of the CHF (Republican People's
Party)[v].
At present,
the government of Turkey has established a number of well funded
associations that focus on language and history[vi] (see T. Timur
in References). The mission of these institutions is to produce
historical narratives and linguistic validation for pan-Turanian
ideologies, (e.g. Mustafa Kemal Attaturk's "Sun Language
Theory"). These efforts are propelled by the aforementioned
Turkish Historical Society, which has spawned a "Turkish
History Thesis and Sun Language Theory" (originally proposed
in the 1932 congress)[vii].
The "Thesis"
has been founded on three basic ideological principles:
(a1) Nation-building along European parameters - Turkey was to become
a west European state.
(a2) Rejecting Islam as the basis of ethnic and national identity.
This was part of becoming more "European". This may
have been an attempt at offsetting European "Orientalism"
(see Edward Said in References) - the need to confront Nordicist
notions of Near Eastern "Orientals" (Turks, Persians,
Arabs, etc.) being racially and culturally inferior to the Europeans.
(a3) Turks are to be presented as the heirs of nearly all civilizations.
The final objective is to conclusively "prove" that
virtually all great civilizations of the past [viii] such as Sumeria
(see c), the Hittites, Egypt, Persia (see h-j, l-m) are either
Turkish in origin or have been founded by the Turks. Note map
below that shows the prime centrality of Turks to every major
civilization in India, China, Polynesia, Persia, all of Europe,
the Near East, China, the Far East, and Africa:
Turan Map B
Note the arrow
showing the migration towards the Bering Strait of Alaska - this
is meant to show that the Turks are the ancestors of the American
Indians as well (see g below).
This is virtually
identical to Nordicism which states that all of the great "Aryan"
empires of Persia, Greece, India and Rome were founded by members
of the Nordic "race" of contemporary northwestern Europe.
As will be seen repeatedly in this commentary, Nordicism (along
with its Fascist and Nazi successors) and Pan-Turanianism bear
certain ideological resemblances. Persian chauvinism and many
neo-Nazi movements have also drawn inspiration from Nazi-style
fascism (Part IV, item 5).
The standard
textbook for Turcocentric historical revisionism is Professor
Silahi Diker's 864 page "And the Whole World Was One Language
- Ten Thousand Years of the Turks" (see Silahi Diker's book
in references and website in web references) (Professor Silahi's
photo below). The professor's response to challenges to his theories
and "evidence" is that:
"
all
past (non-Turkish) research pertaining to the above has been "prejudicial",
"biased" and "anti-Turkish".
Professor Silahi Deker
sdiker@ixir.com
According
to the distinguished Professor's logic, research and history that
fails to support pan-Turanianism is by definition "anti-Turkish".
Professor Diker is only one step away from the Nazi fascists of
the 1930s who viewed any historical research contradicting their
ideologies as "anti-German". The Professor himself denies
that he is motivated by any form of nationalism. He is a vivid
reminder of a new generation of neo-Orientalist scholars who state
that "I am not a racist but
" You may wish to refer
to Professor Diker's website (see Web references) for an insight
into his beliefs.
One quote
from Professor Diker's website is revealing:
"Indeed,
I have proven that the culture of 6300 B.C. Anatolia as discovered
at Çatal Hüyük by archaeologist James Mellaart
is Turkish, and since this almost 8300 years old culture was not
created in a day, we can easily talk of a 'Ten Thousand Years
of the Turks' ..."
With a single
stroke of his pen (or keyboard), the Professor has traced the
entire civilization of humanity to the Turks and eliminated the
Greek, Hittite, Armenian, Phrygian, and Iranian (Mede, Persian,
etc.) legacies in Anatolia. As you read through the Professor's
book and his "dictionaries", his cognition and especially
his logical processes become somewhat clearer. But what Dr. Diker
and other pan-Turanian activists are doing is nothing new; Soviet
"historians" had engaged in this type of "academia"
since the 1920s.
Pan-Turanian
activists have learned a great deal from Soviet scholarship (see
Part II, items 1c and 1e). If history fails to support your ideology,
then all you need to do is to re-write that history to fit your
beliefs. Logic and objectivity are never the hallmarks of any
racist movement seeking to differentiate and divide nations and
peoples along ethnic, linguistic, or religious lines.
Pan-Turanian
activists however have failed (and continue to fail) in the face
of northwest European, Greek, Italian, Indian, Iranian, Chinese,
and Arabian historical archives, linguistics, archaeology, anthropology,
not to mention genetic studies. Not a shred of "proof"
actually exists for the truly fantastic narratives stated by pan-Turanian
writers such as Silahi Diker.
There is a
tremendous effort in place to push these ideas into mainstream
western academia and media outlets (see Part VI, items 4 &
7). Grey Wolf activists (see item below and Part III) have been
introducing these false ideas into the Republic of Azerbaijan
and are trying to affect Iran's Turcophone (e.g. Azerbaijani)
populations as well (see Parts II-IV).
(b) The
Myth of the Grey Wolf
Pan-Turanian
activists have developed a fascinating mythology with respect
to the origins of the Turks. This is the legend of a certain "Boz
Kurt" (Grey Wolf) who roared out to the ancestors of the
Turks and the Huns to migrate west from their homelands in Siberia
and Central Asia. The Grey Wolf then allegedly pointed the way
west and south: presumably against Persia, Anatolia, the Caucasus,
the Near East, Russia, Ukraine, the Balkans, Greece and Western
Europe.
According to the legend, it was this Grey Wolf that awakened the
Turks to their legacy of conquest and civilization building (see
propaganda poster below):
Turk Wolf
Grey Wolf
activists (Part III: The Grey Wolves) use the hand to mimic the
head of that mythical Grey Wolf (see photo below):
Hand Wolf
This symbol
is often evoked in Turkish political rallies and popular venues
(i.e. Soccer games) (see Part II-IV). Grey Wolf activists are
attempting to export this mythology to foreign countries; especially
Northern Iran and the Caucasus (see Part III).
Archival research,
anthropology, archaeology, linguistics and academia in general
have failed to provide historical veracity for the Grey Wolf myth.
There are two general problems as well.
The first
problem is that of logic. No major human population movement has
ever been led by an animal such as a Grey Wolf, for the simple
reason that beasts are not able to reason as humans do and do
not understand notions such as nation-building or conquest.
The second
problem is that of chronology. When did this Grey Wolf roar take
place? If true, this must have happened thousands of years ago,
virtually at the dawn of human history, as the Turks now claim
that the Sumerians (c), Greece-Anatolia (d), Etruscans (e), etc.
have Turkish origins. The Turks however, are virtual newcomers
in the historical sense: By the time they had arrived in the Near
East and Anatolia in the 11th century AD, all of the civilizations
they claim to have founded had long since vanished. Turkish expansions
began in the 6th Century AD - important pockets such as the Huns,
Avars and Khazars had already penetrated Europe a few hundred
years earlier. Professor Mallory has provided a sketch of the
Turkish expansions (see References, p. 147):
Turkish Expansions Map
Turkic languages
(esp. Oghuzz West Turkic) spread very rapidly across Central Asia,
the Caucasus, northern Persia and Anatolia. This was done through
the process of Elite Dominance; the spread of a language by way
of a small minority of warriors upon alien populations (see Part
II, item 7).
Grey Wolf
activists and pan-Turanian ideologues in general, habitually confuse
the following:
[a] Race and Language. This is fully discussed in Part II, item 7
(Azerbaijanis are Turkic by race).
[b] Geography,
Language & Race. Turkish racialists fail to make any distinction
between facts on the ground today with past history. Simply put,
this is the logic that if Turkish speakers reside in a particular
area "X" today, then the history of that region must
have been "Turkish" for time immemorial. This means
that any race that has ever lived in Central Asia, Anatolia and
Northern Iran for thousands of years before the historical Turkish
arrivals have always been "Turks". There is no acknowledgement
of the fact that the Turks arrived as invaders who displaced or
linguistically assimilated already resident populations.
Examples of
this thinking are discussed in item l (claims that Northern Iranians
were all Turks), Part II, items 2 (claiming Azerbaijanis have
been Turkish since time began) and 3 (Claims that the Caucasus
has been Turkish for over 5000 years).
(c) Ancient
Sumeria was Turkish.
Humanity owes
a great debt to the ancient Sumerians (present-day south Iraq/Kuwait)
as they were the inventors of the wheel (see photo of Sumerian
wheel below), and may have had a profound influence on Hebrew
religious tradition and theology. They had an advanced system
of city states with coded laws, advanced agriculture, standing
armies, architecture, as well as sophisticated arts and crafts.
Wheel Sumeria
Pan-Turanian
writers now claim to have "proof" that the Sumerians
were ancient Turks. According to Professor Diker:
"
literary
history goes back to 5000 years with the discovery of writing
by the Sumerians who, as we will see spoke definitely a Turkish
dialect..."
[See References and Web References]
This means
that it was the Turks who invented writing as well as the wheel.
The main source of "proof" is an invented dictionary
that purports to "prove" that Sumerian and Turkish share
the same roots. You may wish to see the English-Sumerian-Turkish
on-line dictionaries, written by Polat Kaya in the Website references.
Similar methodologies
have been used to "prove" the "Turkish origins"
of widely varied historical peoples such as the Elamites of ancient
(Pre-Aryan) southwest Iran. It would appear that writers such
as Polat Kaya and Professor Diker are not cognizant of the basic
rules of linguistics. This writer had already suggested to the
distinguished Professor Diker to refer to Professor Ruhlen's standard
text on the origin of human language, a text which provides an
introduction to the basic rules of linguistics as well as clearly
delineating the distinction between Turkic languages from non-Turkic
languages such as Elamite, Indo-European, etc. (see References).
(d) The
culture of the ancient Greece and Anatolia is Turkish in origin.
Very little
can be said except that pan-Turanian writers insist that they
have found "evidence" for this rather fantastic "discovery".
This would mean that the original founders of western civilization
were Turks, as ancient Greece has been "proven" to have
been of Turkish origin.
According to pan-Turanian activists, the very Hellenic origin
of the breathtaking works of Greek architecture (see Parthenon
below), art, literature, scientific inquiry and philosophy are
now being questioned by pan-Turanian activists.
Greek Parthenon
Unimpressed
by Professor Diker, Greek scholars have long complained of attempts
by the Turks (and their supporters in English speaking media and
academia) to de-Hellenecize the Greek legacy in Anatolia in particular
(see Part VI, item 4a). Pan-Turanian writers now propose that
the Greek term "Anatolia" ("the East" in Greek)
has always been "Anadol" or "the land of many mothers"
in proto-Turkish. Note Professor Diker's observation on Anatolia
and the foundations of Greco-Roman culture:
"
Turkish-speaking peoples of an advanced culture lived
in Asia Minor nearly ten thousand years ago, we do not have any
similar archaeological evidence in greater Asia at corresponding
time. Thus we can claim that Anatolia was the first home of the
Turks. The Mediterranean culture was not created solely by the
Greeks and Romans but more so by these ancient Turkish-speaking
peoples
"
This suggests
Turkish primacy in Anatolia, the Aegean and possibly the Eastern
Mediterranean before the rise of the Greeks. Even the pre-Roman
foundations of Rome have now been retroactively Turcified (see
below).
(e) The
Etruscans of pre-Roman Italy were Turks.
According
to pan-Turanian ideologues, the ancient Etruscans of Italy (see
sample Etruscan art below) are said to have "spoken a Turkish
dialect" according to Professor Diker.
Etruscan Art
Kindly note
the following quotes from Professor Diker's aforementioned website
(taken from his text):
"
lost
languages themselves
such as Sumerian, Elamite, Etruscan,
Urartian, and Hurrian, branded vaguely Asian
had to be related
to the Ural-Altaic group of which Turkish is the only major language
spoken today in Eurasia
proof that these lost languages
were akin to Turkish
Through my deciphering process, a global
distribution
of the Turkish languages during the last 5000
years of man's history has been established
"
Dr. Diker
also cites a genetic study that purports to show that the Etruscans
were in fact a Turkish race (see Web References). The flaws of
Dr. Diker's interpretation will be re-examined in Part II, item
7. To summarize, pan-Turanian activists propose that the Etruscan
foundation of ancient Rome is of Turkish origin. The implications
of this are enormous: Rome, which has Etruscan and Calabrian roots,
is now traced to the Turks. Few in Italy or mainstream Europe
appear to have been impressed by Professor Diker. The main sources
of western support for pan-Turanianism appear to be in the English-speaking
world (see Part VI, items 4 & 7).
(f) Armenians
are Turks.
The main impetus
for this fantastic claim is linked to the statement made by the
late president of the Republic of Azerbaijan Heidar Aliev (1923-2003)
who stated that Armenia has no historical basis (Part II, item
3a). There are pan-Turanian activists who truly believe that Armenia
is a historical invention; and have even cited "proof"
of their assertions. International scholarship has yet to respond
to the notion of a Turkic Central Asian origin for the Armenians.
The Armenians
are claimed by a number of pan-Turanian ideologues to be simply
a "lost" Turkish tribe. No mention is made of the Balkan
origins of the Armenians or the fact that they have so many historical
links to Achaemenid, Parthian and Sassanian Persia, as well as
the Greco-Roman Byzantine Empire (see Part II, item 3a).
The Armenian
language is in fact totally unique, despite its many shared features
with Iranian languages (see Part II, item 3). Like Greek it is
an independent branch of the Indo-European family. Armenian script
is also unique (see below left), based most likely on the Proto-Canaanite
script. It was Saint Mesrop Mashtots (362-440 AD) (see his statue
below right in Oshakan, Armenia) who introduced the Armenian script
as we know it today. The only outside influence in Armenian script
may be Greek (note the order of the Armenian alphabet and writing
from left-to-right)
L. Armenian Script
R. Mashtots
Armenian folklore
and legend is replete with references to not only its Indo-European
roots but its Aryan legacy - the result of centuries of confluence
with Iranian peoples and cultures (Achaemenid, Parthian, Sassanian,
etc.). Note the following ancient Armenian legend:
"Long
time ago there was a powerful warrior king named Arya
Arya
had two sons
Armen and Iren
he sent each of his sons
to conquer different lands
these became Armenia and Iran
"
(g) The
indigenous Indian peoples of North America are Turks.
This is the
idea that the North American Indians are Turks simply because
many of the Amerindian migrations originated from East Asia over
ten thousand years ago. The writer of this commentary was lectured
personally by a Hungarian pan-Turanian gentleman who insisted
that as the Indians fought from horseback, this was sufficient
proof of their Turkish heritage. A pro pan-Turanian website makes
the following claim:
"The
Turanian people, genetically, are the most closely related people
to the Native Americans (Amerindians). The appearance, if one
wishes to know what is meant here, is also similar: take a look
at moving pictures (not drawings or touched up photos) of Stalin
or Lenin for an idea, or Alexander Lebed..."
[In "Red-Comrades-Turania" - see Web References ]
There are
no scientifically valid studies that verify these claims. Note
the depiction of a "Turkish-Indian" warrior below and
the accompanying legendary Grey Wolf:
Turkish Indian
The reader
may find the website by Polat Kalya "Turkish Language and
the Native Americans" of interest (see Web References)
Pan-Turanian
writers now claim "Genetic, Linguistic, and Historic Evidence"
of the "Turkish Roots" of the Melungeons, by Mehmet
Cakir, in a paper submitted to an English class in the University
of Colorado (see Melungeons in Web References).
The Melungeons are in fact descendants of Portuguese and Spanish
settlers abandoned earlier in North America. The Melungians have
had racial admixture with the native Indians, Anglo-Saxons, and
Blacks of North America.
(h) Kurds
and their Mede ancestors are Turks.
This is based
on the following statement:
"The
fact that Kurds are members of the Turkish race is a reality that
is as clear and undeniable as 2x2=4"
(Krizl'lu M. Fahrettin, Her Bakimdan Turk Alan Turkler. Ankara,
1964).
Kurds are
claimed as Turks simply because the ancient Medes, an ancient
Iranian people who settled in large parts of what is now Kurdistan
and Iranian Azerbaijan, are also considered as Turks by the pan-Turanian
ideologues. The general term for Kurds has been "Mountain
Turks". Apart from academic circles in Turkey, the Republic
of Azerbaijan and Hungary, very few scholars in the international
arena have taken these claims seriously.
It is somewhat
unclear as to how pan-Turanian activists accommodate the fact
that international scholarship unanimously attests to the Iranian
character of Kurdish (For samples see Arberry, Mackenzie, Nebez,
in References). With the exception of the late Ziya Gokalp (Part
II, item 7), no Kurdish academics have subscribed to pan-Turanian
ideology.
(i) Tajiks
are Turks.
Tajikestan
is now considered to be a Turkish republic, meaning that its people,
culture, history and language are now viewed as Turkish. Kindly
see the Turkish government website, "Oz Turkler" in
the Website References.
This particular
claim is a very strange departure from reality. Tajiks take great
pride in their Iranian heritage. They have preserved their Persian
language and Iranian lineage in the face of waves of Turkic, Hun
and Mongol invasions over the centuries. Seventy years of Soviet
attempts to weaken the Persian language and legacy of Tajikestan
also failed in the face of popular cultural resistance.
Perhaps the greatest symbol of Iranian identity, not just in Iran,
but wherever Iranian peoples (e.g. Kurds) and heritage (e.g. Caucasus)
endure, is the "Nowruz" (lit. New Day/Year) festival,
celebrated for thousands of years. The festival is commemorated
in nearly religious terms by the Tajiks. Below is a photo of a
girl representing the ancient Iranian goddess of fertility, Anahita
in one of the Tajik traditions of Nowruz:
Girl representing the ancient Iranian
goddess of fertility, Anahait
The tray she
carries is "Sabzeh" (Persian for "Green/fertile
wheat"), a very ancient Iranian custom derived from the ancient
Zoroastrian tradition of the Iranian peoples. Below left is another
ancient Iranian custom (now forgotten by many Kurds and Persians)
in which the Nowruz is announced by a symbolic "revellie
call" accompanied by the very ancient Iranian "daf"
(hand percussion instrument) in Dushanbe (Persian-Kurdish for
"Monday"). The reveille call first appears among the
Achaemenid dynasty of Persia (559-333 BC), where the Nowruz became
a wider Iranian celebration (see photo of Achaemenid reveille
officer below - see Sekunda in references).
Reveille Call
Reveille
There are
now attempts to redefine the Nowruz itself, undoubtedly via the
Professor Dilker School of retroactive Turkification. Pan-Turanian
activists now claim that the festival is derived from "an
ancient Turkish custom". "Nowruz" has also been
Turkified to "Nevruz". Few outside the pan-Turanian
circle have taken this latest claim seriously.
(j) Turks
are the World's Main Producers of World Class Persian Literature.
Most of these
claims are made with respect to Persian literature by literary
giants such as Shams Tabrizi, Shabestari, Ganjei, Rumi and Shahryar.
Jaleledin
Rumi (1207-1273 AD) was in fact born in eastern Persia, in the
city of Balkh, now in western Afghanistan. Rumi's family was obliged
to migrate west, eventually ending up in Anatolia, due to the
threats of Mongol attacks at the time. He eventually settled in
Konya, where he died in 1273. Rumi is claimed as Turkish simply
because he is buried in Turkish soil today in Konya. The assumption
is that the inhabitants of Anatolia were all Turkic, when in fact
this was not the case (see Part II, item 7). Even if they were,
how does this transform Rumi into a Central Asian Turk? He was
born in a Persian speaking area to begin with. But perhaps more
interesting is that when it comes to re-defining Runi's background,
the Turks now have competition: the Afghans claim that Rumi was
neither Persian nor Turkish, but Afghani! This is also intriguing
in that (a) Afghanistan did not exist as a state during Rumi's
time[ix] and (b) Rumi never referred to himself as an Afghan or
Turk. In fact, he views himself as a sort of "citizen of
the world". Rumi's proper name was Muhammad; this was followed
by the titles "Jalal al-Din" and "Khudawandagar"
(roughly "lord" in Persian). In his poetry he used the
pen-name "Khamush" ("silent" in Persian) and
from the 15th century Rumi came to be known as Mawlawi, the term
deriving from his earlier title of Mulla-yi rum, "the learned
master of Anatolia". Turks refer to Mawlawi as "Mevlana".
Shahryar (1906-1988),
is one of the greatest poets of contemporary Iran. He too is claimed
as an "ethnic Turk" simply because he composed poems
in Turkish as well as in Persian. But Shaharyar was a citizen
of Iran and never disassociated himself from his homeland. The
vast majority of Iranians are bilingual (or multilingual) and
commonly compose songs and poetry in both their regional vernaculars
(Kurdish, Turkish, Luri, etc.) and in Persian. Bilingualism is
being used by pan-Turanian activists to re-define nationality.
The logic is that since Shahryar did compose poems in Turkish
then he must be an ethnic Turk. This is the classic case of mistaking
language with race and identity (see Part II, item 7).
All other
Persian poets (e.g. Shams Tabrizi, Shabestari, Ganjei) have been
similarly Turkified. In the case of Tabrizi and Ganjei, the fact
that they hailed from the Caucasus is sufficient reason for their
retroactive Turkification.
It is also
very interesting that pan-Turanian activists claim that Persian
was never popular among the language of the ordinary folk, but
only a "literary language" used as a medium of expression
by otherwise "Turkish" literary and poetry artists.
This is consistent with the narrative that all of Anatolia, the
Caucasus, northern and northwestern Persia have been Turkish since
the beginning of recorded civilization (see Part II, item 2).
But perhaps
even more mystifying are attempts since the 1990s, to re-define
the Shahnama as Turkish. The Shahnama (Persian for "Book
of Kings") is an epic literature that provides a glimpse
into Persia's pre-Islamic heritage and was compiled by the Persian
poet Hakim Abu al-Qasim Mansur Firdowsi (935-1026). It is justly
known as the "Iliad of Persia".
A number of
pan-Turanian activists have been referring to the Shahname as
the "Seyhname" and Firdowsi as "Ferdevsi",
suggesting a Turanian membership for both. There are four major
flaws with this assumption:
[a] The Shahnama was written in Persian.
[b] Firdowsi identified himself as a citizen of Persia
(Eire-An or Iran)
[c] The Shahnama refers to itself as the epic of "Eire-An"
(Iran) close to 700 times.
[d] The Shahname refers to "Turan" and the "Turanians"
as the enemies of Persia, and recalls many of the battles fought
between them and the Persian world.
Referring
to the Shahname as a source of Turkish literature is as comical
as a German taking pride in the legends of Alexander Nevsky (1220-63)
- the Russian hero who defeated the Germanic Teutonic Knights
in 1242.
Interestingly,
the false premise of the "Turkish" origin of the Shahnama
and miniatures relating to the Shahnama, was first formally proposed
in a pavilion organized by the Saudi Arabian government on August
1, 1989 in Washington D.C.[x]. The pavilion exhibited a miniature
depicting five astronomers with a Persian inscription of the Iranian
Shahnama epic by Firdowsi as "Turkish Miniature" [see
Jalal, Matini, 1989a, p.399 in References]:
Ferdowsi
Visitors to
the pavilion erroneously concluded that the miniature, characters
and inscriptions are all Turkish. The same type of impression
may have recently been provided by Turkish Professor Günseli
Renda in a London Turkish Arts exhibition (see next item).
With the exception
of geopolitical lobbies (see Part VI)), the retroactive Turkification
of Persian literature has found no meaningful support in Western
Europe, India (where Persian was widely spoken during the Moghul
era), and the Persian speaking countries of Afghanistan, Tajikestan
and Iran.
(k) Judeo-Christianity
and Islam have Turkish origins.
This has apparently
been based on Hungarian born British novelist Arthur Koestler's
"The Thirteenth Tribe" (see References). The Holy Prophet
Noah is also claimed to have been Turkish, therefore Judaism is
to be regarded as having been of Turkish origin. This is at least
partly based on a book entitled "Ruhnama" (Book/letter
of the spirit) written by the President of Turkemenstan, Separmurat
Niyazov "TurkmenBashi" (see Photo below - see also References
and Web References):
Niyazov
Pan-Turanian
activists in Turkmenistan have also organized a cult of personality
around Turkmenbashi. The Moscow News reports that:
Turkmenbashi,
or the Leader of All Turkmens, has been proclaimed God's prophet
on Earth
he has given his name to one of the months (and
his mother's to another)
the interior minister said that
Turkmenbashi is "a great personality with a gift of prophecy"
One official explained
"God grants such powers, such
greatness, such a fate only to the chosen, to those whom He sincerely
loves and considers to be His inspired spokesmen."
[Moscow News, No.33, Friday, 02.09.05]
What is most
interesting are the western geopolitical and petroleum lobbies
(see Part VI, items 2) who actively court individuals such as
the distinguished president, overlooking not only their unorthodox
views, but also their incessant violations of human rights. Many
of these individuals are portrayed by Western (mainly English-speaking)
media outlets as "standing for democracy", "progressive"
and as having a "western outlook".
The logic
of pan-Turkism can be extended to claim that Jesus Christ was
Turkish - after all, Jesus was a Jew, therefore he must be have
been Turkish. So far as I am aware, the pan-Turkists have not
gone to that extent
yet. However, given the state of affairs,
this author proposes that the day in which Jesus' Turkish roots
are "discovered", may not be too far behind.
Professor Günseli Renda (see photo below) has made the following
claim on an exhibition held in London on Turkish arts on April
12th, 2005:
"
similarities
between the portraits of the Ottoman sultans in Firdevsi's 'Seyhname,'
which for the first time provided a basis for the argument that
the Ottoman sultans were descendants of Adam."
[See following Web References]
Professor Gunseli Renda
Again, views
such as these (despite their fantastic nature) are being actively
promoted by many western media and academic outlets (Part VI,
items 2 & 4).
The history
of Islam has also been re-interpreted. There is now a very recent
"revelation" by certain pan-Turanian writers that "proof"
exists of the Holy Prophet Mohammad's Turkish origins. According
to this narrative, the Prophet was not an Arab of the Qureish
tribe, but a Turk by the name of Memad-Oghlu. This is not surprising
as even god is not beyond the reach of pan-Turanian ideologues.
The first chapter of President Turkemenbashi's book begins with:
"In the name of Allah, the most exalted Turkemen".
It is worth noting that Islamist movements in Turkey have incorporated
the notion of Turkish racial superiority into their otherwise
religious ideology. As noted by Robins, Islamists in Turkey aim
for an Islamic super state with Turkey in the leadership role[xi].
This is related to the view that the Ottoman Empire was a Turkish
Empire which dominated the Islamic world (expect Safavid/Afsharid/Zand/Qajar
Persia and Moghul India) in the political and spiritual domains[xii].
(l) The
Northern Iranians were all Turks.
Pan-Turanian
activists simply state that all peoples who have ever existed
in Central Asia, and the Steppes of Russia and the Ukraine have
always been Turkish. With this simple and blanket statement, all
ancient non-Turkic steppe peoples such as the ancient Cimmerians,
Scythians/Saka, Sarmatians and Alans have been retroactively Turkified.
The Scythians/Saka are now taught as having been among the "early
Turks" and that Queen Tomeris (Georgian "Tamar";
European "Tamara") was a "Turkish warrior queen".
These theories also form part of the overall claim to many parts
of Russia and Ukraine as being part of the greater "Turan".
Russian, Ukrainian,
Polish and western scholars have overwhelmingly rejected these
theories: modern scholarship overwhelmingly attests to the Iranian
origin of the aforementioned peoples. The fact that Northern Iranian
peoples spoke Iranian languages is as evident as the ancient Athenians
having spoken Greek. The descendants of the North Iranian peoples,
the Ossetians (see National Geographic photos below), speak an
old North Iranian language (Ir-On and Digor) related to Persian
and Kurdish. Turkish has no linguistic connection to modern Ossetian.
L. Alans A
R. Alans B
Ossetian is
a term of Russian and Georgian origin. The Ossetians refer to
themselves as "Ir-On" a variation of the term "Ir-An"
(land of Aryans). "Ir" and/or "Eire" are the
old Iranic, Indic and Celtic designations of "Aryan"
(Noble, Lord). Ossetian historians, who acknowledge their Iranian
heritage, explain their migration to Northern Georgia as a tactic
of survival in the face of multitudes of Turkish, Hun and Mongol
conquests that rummaged across Eurasia over the centuries.
Many of these
Northern Iranians escaped and/or migrated to Persia and Europe
to avoid annihilation or extermination at the hands of Turkic,
Hun and Mongol invaders over the centuries. Their descendants
live in Iranian Kurdistan (known formerly as Ard-Alan), Luristan
(Sak-Vand) and Seistan (Saka-istan). None speak any Turkic languages
or bear any affinities to Asiatic Turkic peoples. The aforementioned
Persian Shahnama epic of Firdowsi recalls the Northern Iranian
legends, and the desperate battles fought against the Turkic-Hun-Mongol
invaders.
The original
Turkic invaders were Asiatic, very similar to the Uralo-Altaic
inhabitants of modern Korea, Northern China, and Japan (see Barnes
in references and Part II, item 7). In contrast to the ancient
Turks, The Northern Iranians (see reconstruction by Angus McBride
Below - see Newark in references) are described by western scholars
as follows:
"
Scythians and Sarmatians were of Iranian origin"
[John Channon & Robert Hudson, Penguin Historical Atlas of
Russia, 1995, p.18 - see references]
"
Indo-European
in appearance and spoke an Iranian tongue which bought them more
closely to the Medes and Persians"
[Tim Newark, Barbarians, 1998, p.6 - see references]
"The
Sarmatians
spoke an Iranian language similar to that of the
Scythians and closely related to Persian"
[Richard Mariusz & Richard Mielczarek, The Sarmatians: 600
BC-450 AD, 2002, p.3 -see References]
Saka
Western scholars
examining the anthropology, archaeology and linguistics of the
Scythians/Saka, Sarmatians and Alans have long since determined
their membership as being firmly within the Iranian family (see
Abaev, Bachrach, Brzezinski, & Mielczarek, Melyukova, Sulimirski
in References). The late professor of Sarmatian and Alan studies,
Tadeusz Sulimirski (1898-1983) stated that the Northern Iranians
were:
"
of
Indo-European stock belonging to
the Iranian group, often
called the Scythian group of peoples
they were akin to the
ancient Medes, Parthians and Persians. Their language was related
to that of the Avesta
"
[Tadesuz Sulimirski, The Sarmatians, London: Thames & Hudson,
1970, p.22]
The Avesta
is used in Zoroastrian prayers, and is the ancestor of modern
Ossetian. The river names, "Don", "Donets",
"Dnieper" and "Dniester" are all of Iranian
origin (see P.J. Mallory in References - Mallory's map on p. 78
shown below):
Don/Danu
= Water, River
Dnieper [Dana Apara] = the upper (old North Iranic = Apara) River
Dniester [Danu Nazdaya] = the near (old North Iranic = Nazdaya
- Persian Nazdeek) River
The closest
relative to the Iranic Don/Danu is the Celtic "Danuvius",
whose modern name is known as the "Danube" in Western
Europe. Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius also settled Sarmatian warriors
in Britain (e.g. modern Chester), where their Iranian mythology
and culture appears to have influenced much of the local Celtic
folklore (see Littleton & Malcor and Rankin in References).
Alan Map
Many Iranian
words can be found in Slavic languages; either because they are
both of the Satem branch of Indo-European languages or because
of a long period of Iranic ascendancy on the steppes (see Gamkrelidze
& Ivanov in References). Persian style words persist in many
Slavic languages; examples include Mokry (wet) and Bogh (God).
Much of the Slavic counting system is similar to modern Persian:
Slavic |
Iranian |
English |
Dva |
Do |
Two |
Chetyeri |
Chahar |
Four |
Pianja |
Panj |
Five |
Shest |
Shesh |
Six |
Sot/Sotka |
Sat/Sadh |
Hundred |
Perhaps
of greatest importance is the role of the Northern Iranians as
one of the three Aryan founding peoples of the Achaemenid Persian
Empire. Scythians are the only peoples, besides the Medes and
the Persians who were allowed to carry ceremonial daggers at Persepolis
- note the photo of a Saka Tighrakhauda (pointed-hat Scythian)
with a Mede (see Pyankov and Vogelsang in References - photo in
Farrokh, p.4, see references):
Saka Mede
Of equal importance
is the Northern Iranian role in transmitting much of the arts,
culture and architecture of Persia to both Europe, and the Far
East, particularly to the Chinese and the Uralo-Altaic ancestors
of the Turks and Koreans (Hsiang-Nou, Tueh-Chi, etc.). The oldest
Persian carpet has been found in Pazyryk (see photo below) - the
woman most likely represents an early representation of the Iranian
goddess of fertility (Anahita or Tabid-Vesta):
Pazyric
Persian arts
continue to have a powerful legacy in Central Asia, even after
the demise of the Iranian populations there (see Azarpay, Griaznov,
Knauer, and Hayashi in References).
The Aryan culture of Sassanian Persia is echoed among the Sarmatians
of the Kerch peninsula in the Ukraine. The Persian concept of
the lance duel is evident in Iran's Naghsh-e-Rustam site near
Shiraz (below left Photo by Chamanara, Kouchesfehani, Kial, Maddadi
- see p. 31 Farrokh in references) - only the Sarmatians wielded
similar tactics, weapons and culture (below right photo in Sulimiirski
- see References):
L. Savaran
R. Kerch
To this day
Ukrainian Cossacks recall the Iranic past of their nation - their
traditional Cossack trousers are called "Shelevare",
just like the Iranian "Shalvar" (trousers).
The Huns and
Turks adopted these tactics after their encounter with Iranian
peoples who were still resident in Central Asia. Turkic invaders
began their full scale penetrations of Central Asia from the 6th
century AD, although military activities against Iranic peoples
in Central Asia may have begun as early as the 1st century BC.
From their homelands in eastern Mongolia, Turkic warriors virtually
expelled the entire Indo-European presence in Central Asia (Tocharian
and Iranian) and from there spread to Eastern Europe, Persia and
Anatolia. The entire history of the Turkish expansions in Central
Asia has been expostulated in Frye (see Frye, 1996 in references).
The corroboration
and confluence from multiple domains of scholars hailing from
different nationalities, is to say the least, overwhelmingly conclusive.
Interested readers may wish to consult the recently published
book on European cavalry entitled "Vsadniki Vojny. Kavalerija
Jevropy" (see References) that was just published. That study
provides further corroboration for what has been known in reputable
scholarly circles: that the Persians, Medes, Scythians/Saka and
Sarmatians share a common Iranic origin. As the proverbial expression
goes, "the case is closed".
Pan-Turanian
activists simply reject and re-interpret all of this information.
The mainstay of the Pan-Turanian position on the subject is aptly
summarized eloquently by Professor Diker:
"My logic and reason did not accept
many alien kingdoms
of Central Asia
to be all Indo-Iranian or even Indo-European
the
Huns did not replace the Scythians; they had to be the Scythians
themselves".
[See References and Web References]
Let us see
if this makes sense: if the evidence does not support the notion
that Northern Iranians were Turkic, then they simply must have
been Turkic.
Further insight
into the Professor's cognitive processes is found by an e-mail
he sent to an individual who had questioned Dr. Silahi Diker's
conclusions regarding the Sumerians (item 2c):
Dear sir,
I have been investigating the subject for 50 years. Be sure that
I am not a nationalist as you would think. You are reading the
same histories that are written for the last 150 years; and they
repeat the same traditional nonsence. I have read them all.
I have very
strong proofs on the matter. It sounds fantastic, but true. I
am recently preparing a book on the Sumerians which prove without
a single doubt that they are Proto-Turks. Now I also have proof
that the Persians existed alongside the Turks (Sumerians) 5000
years ago. Because I find many Persian words in the Sumerian language.
SD
It is worth
noting that while Professor Diker dismisses hundreds of scholars
and thousands of publications as "the same traditional nonsense",
he himself is not a historian by training. His educational background
is in Geophysical Engineering (in which he has a Doctorate). As
far as is known, Professor Diker lacks academic training and expertise
in linguistics, anthropology, genetics, history-archival research
and archaeological methodology.
As the gentle
reader, I simply ask that you briefly contemplate the Professor's
statements. What the Professor calls "strong proofs on the
matter" is in fact an expression of a psychological phenomenon
known as Cognitive Dissonance: a state of conflict between two
thoughts, beliefs, etc. People can accommodate cognitive Dissonance
in one of two ways:
a] the contradicting information leads one to invent new thoughts
or information in order to maintain the integrity of your own
information.
b] modifying one's beliefs to accommodate the new information.
The Professor
and pan-Turanian ideologues in general, have unfortunately chosen
[a].
No amount
of creative retroactive Turkification, semantics, word play and
passionate racialism can substitute for reputable scholarship,
archaeology, anthropology or linguistics.
A great deal
of funding and effort is currently being expended as alter the
history of the Iranian legacy in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
Western (mainly English speaking) universities are being courted
to have them promote the academically fraudulent pan-Turanian
narrative that all ancient North Iranian peoples of the Eastern
European steppes and Central Asia were Turks and spoke Turkish
(see professor Khidirbekughli's comments in Part VI, items 4a).
Tragically,
a small number of naive Iranian Azerbaijanis, courted by geopolitically
funded separatist organizations (see Brenda Shaffer in Part VI,
item 4b-c) have naively accepted Dr. Diker's statements at face
value and have been misled. This has been partly made possible
by the foolishly complacent or outright indifferent attitude of
the Iranians themselves (See Part II, Item 6). Fortunately, when
exposed to reputable international scholarship, the majority of
these misled individuals have turned away from pan-Turanian falsifications
(see Part V).
Not to be
outdone, Professor Diker is also reputed to be producing a Scythian/Saka-Turkish
dictionary. Once this dictionary is published, the Professor will
undoubtedly claim that he has "proven" the Turkish origins
of the ancient North Iranian peoples. With this "proof",
Zoroastrianism will also be "proven" as Turkish! In
fact this is already being claimed by a number of pan-Turanian
writers (see Part III, item 2).
(m) The
Parthian language was Turkish.
The Parthians
are the dynasty that arose in Persia after the demise of Greek
Seleucid rule in Persia. They inflicted crushing defeats on the
Imperial Roman forces of Marcus Lucinius Crassus and Marc Antony.
Pan-Turanianism now claims the Parthians to have been Turks. It
is also rumoured that Cyrus II of the Achaemenid dynasty has been
retroactively Turkified. Given the state of affairs, it may be
a matter of time before the Sassanian dynasty too will be retroactively
Turkified.
The argument
of Parthian being Turkish is very curious, because Parthian (a
distant ancestor to Avestan) is the precursor to Pahlavi, which
in turn is ancestral to Kurdish, Luri, Persian and many other
West Iranian languages (see Skaervo, Mackenzie in References).
These languages are unintelligible to the Turks. Kindly refer
to Professor G.R.F. Assar's article "Parthian Language of
the Ancient Turkish culture?" (in Web References) and Kaveh
Farrokh's "Parthian is not Turkish" (also in Web References).
Nevertheless, it is highly possible that "proof" of
Persian's Turkish origins will soon surface, as pan-Turanian scholars
claim to have already "proven" that Armenians (item
2f) and Kurds (item 2h) are Turkish.
It is a mystery
as to why western lobbies are selectively silent with respect
to the virtual torrent of historical falsifications flooding from
pan-Turanian publishing houses. The Republic of Azerbaijan is
openly receiving this information. Interestingly, there is a sophisticated
system in place to spread this literature to Iran's Azerbaijani
population (see Part IV, Items 3-4). Pan-Turanianism has very
influential friends in the west (see Part VI, items 1-2, 4 &
7), and as the proverbial expression goes, "the chickens
have come home to roost", especially in Iranian Azerbaijan.
(n) Bosnians,
Macedonians, Albanians, and Ukrainians are Turks.
This belief
is partly derived from item 2l discussed above. European Muslims
of Macedonia, Bosnia and Albania and many Orthodox Christian South
Slavs are now being entertained as "Balkan Turks". Russia
and the Ukraine are not beyond the reach of the Pan-Turanian dream,
as claims are made against these states as well (e.g. Ukrainians
are considered to be Turkish as the name "Cossack" is
said to be derived from "Kazakh"). Next
page
Dr. Kaveh Farrokh
Footnotes
[i] Robbins
notes that the interpretation of history in Turkey is characterized
by rigidity, partly a result of the traumatic period between 1918-1923.
The success of the new republic which arose from the ashes of
the Ottoman Empire and the constant eulogizing of Attaturk and
those who fought for Turkish independence. See Philip Robins,
Suits and Uniforms: Turkish Foreign Policy Since the Cold War,
Hurst & Company, London, p.104.
[ii] This quote follows the preface of Mustafa Kemal Attaturk, The
Speech, translated and abridged by Onder Renkliyildirim (Istanbul:
Metro Publishers), p.4. Also cited in Robins, Philip, 2003, Suits
and Uniforms, p.93.
[iii] Poulton, H. Top Hat, Grey Wolf and Crescent, 1997, P.110-114.
Robins, Philip, 2003, Suits and Uniforms, p.93-95.
[iv] The phenomenon of politicians acting as historians first occurred
during the Young Turk movement(). Notable are figures such as
Ahmed Agaoglu, Yusuf Akcura, Ziya Gokalp, Fuad Korpulu.
[v] Key political figures Agaoglu, Gokalp, and Akcura both believed
in the need for close cooperation between the government and historical
societies. For an insight into the activities of Akcura in this
regard see F. Georgeon, Aux Origines du Nationalisme Turc: Yusuf
Akcura (1876-1935) (Paris: Institut d'Etudes Anatoliennes, 1980),
p.234-236. Agaoglu's activities can be examined in Frank Tachau,
"The Search for National Identity Among the Turks', Die Welt
Des Islams, vol.8, no.3, 1963, p.174.
[vi] Taner
Timur, "The Ottoman heritage" in Irvin C. Schick and
Ertugrul Ahmet Tonak (eds.), Turkey in Transition (Oxford University
Press, 1987), p.6.
[vii] Elements of this "Thesis" had already been incorporated
into various school textbooks since 1929. See also Poulton, H.
Top Hat, Grey Wolf and Crescent, 1997, P.101.
[viii] Robins, Philip, 2003, Suits and Uniforms, p.93.
[ix] Afghanistan was not recognized as such according to historical
archives until the year 1747 at the earliest.
[x] This was held in the Washington Convention Centre. The display
was entitled "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yesterday and Today:
A Cultural experience". See Jalal Matini, "Persian artistic
and literary pieces in the Saudi Arabian exhibition", Iranshenasi:
A Journal of Iranian Studies, 1989b, p.390-404.
[xi] Philip Robins, Suits and Uniforms: Turkish Foreign Policy Since
the Cold War, Hurst & Company, London, p.96.
[xii] Ibid. Next
page
Part
Two
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