What Turkestan is not
Because the word “Turkestan” contains the term “Turk” it is necessary to identify the ideological currents that resemble this cause.
Ideological movements unrelated to the Turkestan cause:
- Turancists: Those who include non-Muslim groups like Hungarians and Gagauz in their cause.
- Nationalists Without Wudhu (ablution): Those who seek their origins in non-Islamic traditions.
- Fascists: A narrow group of Hitler/Mussolini admirers, racists, and self-proclaimed Turkish nationalists.
- The reformist group that emerged in the late Ottoman era: Idealists [sometimes Westernizers] who believed the solution to the nation’s survival and progress lay in reforming religion. (For example, see Yusuf Akçura’s Three Types of Policy.)
- The “ulusalcı” view: Advocated by groups shaped by the nation-building processes stemming from the Treaty of Westphalia, the French Revolution, and the collapse of empires. Their cause is limited to the borders of nation-states. Because the term Turkestan carries religious-cultural meaning, they are repelled by it.
- The socialist/communist group from Turkestan: Those who appeared nationalist only to gain public support during the Red Army invasions. They flared up briefly like straw and quickly disappeared. (See Zeki Velidi Togan’s memoirs.)
- Those who renamed the city of Yesi as “Turkestan”: People who attempt to reduce the grand Turkestan cause to a single small town. Some nation-state enthusiasts enthusiastically support this decision. Turkestan is not an issue that can be confined to the signboard of a single city; it is a civilizational identity.
So, what is Turkestan?
The great Turkestan cause cannot be confined between the Great Wall of China and the Adriatic Sea. The Turkestan cause is not limited by the borders of any modern state on today’s political map. Wherever the admirers of Seyyid Muhammad Bahauddin Bukhari reside, wherever the letters of Imam Rabbani were sent, that is Turkestan.
Turkestan embraces all international organizations, states, civil society groups, and individuals who walk in the direction of its “cause.” It makes no distinction.
The path of Turkestan is not violence, but love.
Those who think Bukhara is in Africa cannot understand Turkestan…
Throughout history, people whose minds were numbed by ideologies imported from the West tried to force their narrow and shallow views onto Turkestan, dressing it in garments cut to the size of their limited understanding.
Did the scholars, sufis and darwishes who traveled to distant lands centuries ago with their masters’ blessings carry any state’s passport? Who issued Mevlânâ Jalaluddin Rumi a visa? Who demanded a notarized invitation letter from Emir Sultan?
Where is Kasr-ı Arifan, my friends?
Have you examined the birth and death places of the authors of the Kutub al-Sitta?
__
Read more about Turkestan
