TURKS FROM YAKUTIA TO KOSSOVO

The first Turkish State had its center in Altai.

Центр первой турецкой держави находился на Алтае

Il centro del primo Stato turco si trovava nell' Altai

Le centre du premier état Turc se trouvai sur l' Altai

Das Zentrum des ersten tuerkischen Reiches befand sich auf dem Altai

We can consider the Turkish and Mongolian invasions as a last phase of the “Migrations of Peoples”. Both Turks and Mongols have their origin in Greater Mongolia, which stretches from present-days Beijing to the Altai mountains in Russia, from Dunhuang, at the China-Xinjang border, up to the whole Baykal area, in Russian Siberia. The “Sacred Mountains” of both Turks and Mongols (Orhon, Ogodon, Kunlun) lie in the present-days “Buriatian Mongolia” a Republic which is member of the Russian Federation.

The Turks are a very broad group of peoples, where most of the nationalities of present-days Siberia and of the Central Asiatic Republics, more Tatarstan, Gagauzia and Azerbaidjan belong, the Turkmenes living in Iran and Iraq, more, obviously, the Turks living in Turkey and in the Balkans. It seems that some American Indians also speak Turkish languages. According to some sources (the “Continuity Theory”), Turks have never moved from these areas, where they have been present, in a form or in another, since Pre-history, creating a great number of empires (“Blue Turkish” Empire, Bulgarian Empire, Uighur Empire, Magyar Kingdom, Seldjuk Empire, Othoman Empire, Timurid Empire, Mughal Empire, Safawid Empire).

According to Slavophiles, and, especially, Eurasiatists, Turkish tradition constitutes an important part of Russian tradition.

Because of the presence of Turks in the Balkans since the XIV Century, and, especially, for having conquered Constantinople, Turks may be considered also as an integral  part of European Identity.

The history of Turkish peoples started with the “Blue Turk” Empire, in the 6^th Century after Christ, and with the graved inscription of Minister Tonyükük, where the decision of the Turks was clearly expressed to keep out of China, remaining in their northern steppes.

The presence of Turkish peoples (Bolgars, Chazars, Cumans and Pechenegs) in Russia was strong since the Middle-Ages. The “Poem of Prince Igor”, the most well-known Russian Middle Ages epos, is devoted to a battle between the Princes of Kievskaja Rus’ and the Pechenegs Polovcí. Its structure and many details hint to a tight interconnection between the worlds of Kievskaja Rus’ and the one of Pechenegs, which result to have had family ties between each other. In the Balkans, the Pechenegs (Besenjoek) were present (in present-days Romania), fought in Hungary’s Civil war in 1043, and partially settled in the Kingdom of Hungary.

Turkmenes were the first Turks to arrive belonged to the so-called “Emirates” of Western Anatolia in the 13^th Century, a civilization which constituted an exceptional introduction to the Turkish Byzantine cultural synthesis. In that period, Tamerlane destroyed the Seldjuk Empire and defeated also the Ottoman Sultan. Shortly later, the Ottoman power resurrected, and the Turks were able to make conquests in Thracia, as well as to challenge all Christians princes of the Balkans. In the famous battle of Kosovo Polje, the Turks defeated the Christian several princes. From that moment, their advance in Europe was no more containable. At a later stage, they took over the heritage of the Mongol rule in Russia and connected, to their Sultanate, Bessarabia, Ukraine, Crimea, Ciscaucasia  and Caucasus.

The Southern part of Russia, as well as Ukraine and Moldova, were deeply influenced by the presence of the Ottoman Empire, which was an active player in Ukraine’s politics from XV^th to the XVIII^th Century, both through the direct control of Southern Ukraine and Caucasus, and in its satellite Crimean Khan. I.a., the most influential Empress of the Ottoman Empire, Roxolana (Harüm Sultan, who inspired also to Süleiman the Magnificent, the nicest love poetry of Ottoman literature), was an Ukrainian, as it is hinted by her nickname, which, in Latin, indicates the inhabitants of Ukraine (from a name of an ancient Scythian tribe).

The wars of Poles, Austrians and Russians for delivering Europe from the Turkish control constitute an important part of European history, and even of the first projects of European unification. The migrations of the Cossacks between Poland and Russia may be explained to a large part as a direct consequence of the Turkish question. The links between Russia and the Balkans have a strong connection with Turkey: the Crimea War was a part of the “Ottoman Question”. Many of present-days disputes (Bosnia, Kosovo, Crimea, Caucasus) come out from this heritage.