RUSSIA AS A VANGUARD OF EUROPE

Ambassador Rogozin

Reply to Dmitri Rogozin's Article on  Russia and Europe

Ответ на статью Дмитрия Рогозина об отношениях между Россией и Европой 
Risposta all' articolo di Dmitri Rogozin sui rapporti fra Russia ed Europa
Réponse à l'article  de Dmitri Rogozin sur les rapports entre la Russie et l'Europe
Antwort zu Dmitri Rogozins Artikel ueber Russland und Europa

The article of His Excellence Dmitry Rogozin "Repeating the abduction of Europe (in http://natomission.ru/en/society/article/society/artnews/42/) touches some themes which are at the center of my blog http://www.europestwolongs.blogspot.com, with a freedom of judgment which is appreciable in a diplomat.

Although we completely subscribe to the central thesis of Mr. Rogozin, i.e., that “juxtaposing Europe and Russia” amounts to “a profound delusion and misinterpreting the whole is blind to history”, we have some precisions to add as to certain aspects of the mutual relationships of these two areas, which are dealt with in details in our blog.

1.Europe, the West and the South

I remark preliminary that the Straights of Bering and even Vladivostok are much more “eastern” than Indonesia proper and the island of Moro in the Philippines, the more Eastern countries of Islamic Faith, and that Senegal and Morocco, the most Western parts of Islam, are more “Western” than Iceland and Portugal.

In practice, the “West” is in reality just the North of the Planet, and both Europe and Russia, but also the United States and Canada, belong to it. At its turn, the Islamic town of Kazan is on the same parallel of Moscow, Edinburgh and Belfast, i. es., more “Northern” than Berlin, Paris, London and Brussels. So, one has to be cautions in utilizing geographic metaphors for designating cultural identities.

The latter may be traced, and even with difficulty, thanks to historical, philosophical and political concepts, more than to geographic ones.

Personally, I find that “Western Civilizations” are characterized first of all by their common descent from the Old Testament; hence, they include both Islam and Western Secularism, but all of them differ from the “Eastern” traditions of San Jião and from the “Southern” traditions of animism and pantheism.

Within this broad “Western Cultural Area” there is a “tighter” “circle”of “European” culture, which is characterized by the acceptance of the continuity of the Roman tradition, through the “Translatio Imperî” via the “Three Romes”; hence, Western Europe, Russia and Turkey, whilst the USA, the Shiite Islamic countries and Israel do not want to pertain to this “core Europe”, because they reject a legitimization through the theory of the “Three Romes”, seeking their own, messianic, forms of historical legitimation.

2.Russia in Europe

The whole of my blog is devoted to void the prejudice, which His Excellence very appropriately calls “Repeating the abduction of Europe”, according to which Europe and Russia are “completely distinct civilizations with manifestly dissimilar values”.

My blog tries to demonstrate this point of view by dealing with a lot of specific historical and cultural phases, where the role of Russia and of Europe is absolutely interchangeable (migrations of the peoples, Eastern and Græco-Roman influences, Absolutism, Enlightenment, European Federalism, Romanticism, Nationalism, Marxism, a s.o.).I hope that my objective has been achieved, since statistics show that a growing number of readers oall over Europe are following attentively my posts.

3.West and South

According to my point of view, the “South” of the World should not encompass Islam, which is so similar to Europe that many if the characteristics of Europe came even from it. When young, the present Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan used to say that, should all Europeans convert to Islam, nobody would even perceive a difference.

Let’s mention the objective of the unification of the World which was anticipated in Dante’s idea of the Christian Empire, but whose model was the Caliphate; the main features of Catholic and Evangelic theologies (aristotelism, averroism, thomism); the national characters of Spain, Southern Italy and the Balcanic States (besides the ones of many Republics of the Russian Federation) which are deeply impressed by mysticism, Islamic architecture and Arabic or Turkish linguistics.

It is true that Islam participates, today, to an external pressure exerted on “the West” by other parts of the World, for changing the  present cultural and political balance of the same. However, this pressure does not come, primarily, from Islam, which is partially “internal” to the West, and is also politically weak, but, rather, from the Far East. The changes which will likely derive from these pressures are an open question, that needs to be addressed attentively by public opinions, intellectuals and authorities. However, some form of change is needed in Europe’s best interest, because the present balance of the West is too much unbalanced Westwards, so that many “typically European” values, like spirituality, culture, excellence, are sacrificed to performance, economy, technology, profit, and this leads to that overall cultural crisis of Western Europe that the Ambassador correctly denounces.

Such balance shift would not not mean, according to us, a demise of the European Identity, but, on the contrary, the re-discovery of its most deep-rooted origins, which include the ancient Middle East, the Peoples of the Steppes, the Arab Philosophy as well as the heritage of the German, Russian, Austrian and Ottoman Empires.

According to us, a Europe which would become more “Eastern and Southern” will be much nearer to Russia than the Europe of today. At the end of the day, the Polovcy of the Slovo o Polku Igoreva, the Khazars,the Shagané, Hadji Murad, Chakovskij and Diagilev are  an integral  part of  Russian Culture, in the same way as Averroes, Suleiman the Magnificent and Orhan Pamuk are full-fledged Europeans.

4.The Role of Russia

We agree that, so as his Excellence affirms,  Russia is exercising already now a role as a guardian of European culture. That role was expressed very appropriately, in his times, by Tjutchev, by his expression “the Russian Arch”, which has been utilized again by Sokurov, for his film bearing the same name. This expression means that Russia has absorbed so much the culture of Europe, that it is in a condition to preserve such culture inside itself even in these times, when it risks to be overwhelmed by globalization.

However, it is globalization, not “the South”, that endangers Europe’s culture and future.

As outlined in our blog, we recognise a certain  well-groundedness in the idea that Europe is culturally in decadence, and Russia is in the side of the future. This idea has not been invented either by Russian nationalists, nor by the newly born Russian Federation, but, on the contrary, has been a constant theme for a large part of European intelligencija, from Križanić to Kühlmann, from Leibniz to Herder, from Von Baader to Krüdener, from De Maistre to Nietzsche.

In the present days’ turmoil of the European Union, Russia is indeed the sole country with a clear cut vision for the future of the whole Continent, and having the means for implementing it.

However, this extraordinary opportunity, that Russia presently has, could be jeopardized easily, as it happened after the Congress of Vienna, when Russia did not succeed to have its proposals about the nature of the Holy Alliance endorsed  by Austria and England, and this brought about a continuous conflict between Great Powers and nationalities.

Joseph De Maistre, author of “Les Soirees de St. Petersburg”, whilst leaving his long-term assignment as the Ambassador in Russia of the Kingdom of Sardinia, affirmed: “Russia could have done so much for Europe but has done nothing”.

For being able to exploit the present opportunities, both Russia and Europe should focus much more on the study of their cultural traditions and on the ways in which they could foster cooperation alongside such traditions.

5.From the Atlantic to Urals

It is also true that today De Gaulle’s slogan is outdated. First of all, De Gaulle left the power more than 40 years ago, and the world has changed dramatically, emphasizing large distances and brood spaces.

Secondly, he was, unfortunately, no more successful, in implementing his vision, than Tsar Aleksandr 1^st in implementing his one.

It goes without saying that Russia is not limited to Urals, but includes also Siberia, Donji Vostok and a lot of Asiatic Republics.

A project for a really united Europe should have a consideration also for the future of such territories.

It is also true that Russia is doing very much in Siberia, and the visit of Nr. Barroso and Mr. Solana in Khabarovsk should have been very instructive for them under this point of view.

It is true, finally, that economic cooperation with West Europeans for Siberia will be the best way for assuring the European character of that area. Very good examples exist, such as the collaboration with the Italian Alenia and Pininfarina, for the production, in Komsomolsk na Amure, of the “Sukhoi Superjet 100”. However, long term problems for Siberia exist, and they should become an item of Euro-Russian discussions.

6.Operational suggestions

We hope that the article of Mr. Rogozin will be useful for persuading diplomatic, political and cultural circles, that a further reflection on the theme of the cultural interrelationships between Russia and Europe is urgent, for being able to lay the grounds of a necessary cooperation between the two areas in many and many fields.

Our blog cited above is a first tentative to find a ground where, by the utilization of modern technologies, Europeans of the East  and of the West may discuss about their common problems.

We would be happy to have also the Ambassador Rogozin and other Russian diplomats on our pages.

EAST EUROPEAN NATIONALITIES AND EUROPE

Nationalities in Russia: an Excellent Example of a European  Problem.

Народность в России: необыкной Премьерn всеевропейского вопрос

Les nationalités en Russie: un exemple excellent d'un problème européen. 

Nationalitaeten in Russland ein ausgezeichnetes Beispiel einer europaeischen Probleme.

1.     Nationalities in the Empire

Hostile propaganda, starting from XIX Century, described Russia (not differently, from this point of view from Austria and Turkey) as a “Prison for the Peoples”. This negative stereotype was never been abandoned, either during the Sovietic Period, nor even today, albeit both the Bolsheviks and Elcin’s Russia had made, in fact, remarkable efforts for solving the “National Question”, in a way which cannot be described as prejudicially inconvenient for minority peoples, both the ones of Eastern Europe and of Northern Asia. On the contrary, one could even object that the choice of both the USSR and of the Elcin period was the one to foster and emphasize the role of “Republics”, from one side consolidating “Nationalities” which were, originally, just at their beginning, and, from another, privileging the “secession right” to the geopolitic interest for unity. Many people, not just in Russia, but all over the world, have found that this overwhelming role given to smaller nationalities has fostered disputes, and even wars, like the ones in Caucasus. 

Present-days Russia’s Constitution has included multiculturalism into its foundations. Russia's constitution is one of the few constitutions in the world expressly mentioning multiculturalism. Multiculturality has been a standing characteristic of Russia since the first phase of its history, the “Kievskaya Rus’”. Already at the times of the largest extension of the latter, the States of the Velikij Knjaz included Variags, Slavs, Finns, Turks (Qipqaq, Khazars, Cumans, Pechenegs).Even the "Slovo o Polku Igorevo", Russia's national epic, is filled with references to the Turkic Polovesian People.

Starting from the conquest of the Kazan Khanate in 1522, Russia had always had the problem to arrange the government of minority peoples annexed to the Empire, starting from the Tatars, which were the first ones to be subdued. Already the policy of the Tsar towards such minority nationalities was characterized by a large amount of ambiguity. Certain moments of decentralization, such as, for instance, the ones at the creation of the Tatar Khanate of the Kerimov, or of the autonomy of the Zaporozhie Cossaks and the Khanate of Crimea, and, finally, the policy of Catherine II at the occasion of the Legislative Commission, coupled with excesses of centralization, like the case of the Oprichnina, of the forcced conversion of Tatars, of the russification campaigns in Ukraine, Poland and Georgia.The recent disputes with Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Chechnia, find all their far away roots in ancient events, such as the Rebellions of Razin, Mazepa and Pugachev, or the wars of Chamil.

Apart from Poland, which fought during the whole XIX Century for its independence, it is with the 1905 Revolution that the national movements of the different ethnic minority really started to enter into contact with the idea of the auto-determination of nationalities, as preached by the Austro-Marxists of Bruno Bauer, and which had been the basis of the decentralization of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

During World War I, the conquests of the German Armies, an, later on, of the White Armies and of the Allied Forces, permitted to nationalist governments to be set up in Finland, in the Baltic States, in Bielorussia, Ukraine, Caucasus, Urals and Central Asia.

In reality, the problematics of historical Russian “Nationality Policy” does not differ very much from the one of the others historical  empires (such as the Sacred Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire), which collided with the new idea of independent “national” States based essentially on a common popular language.

So, also there we experience the emergence of new, ethnic and religious nationalisms, such as the ones of Bohemia, of the Netherlands, of Italy, Hungary, Croatia, of Greece, of Serbia, of Romania, of Bulgaria, of Albania, of Arabia,of Tibet, of Xin Jiang and of Mongolia. Also here, we can see the progressive emergence of a “core nationality”, which does not include just the former “core folk”, but was the result of a beginning of “Melting pot”. From another point of view, the dialectics between the “core” melting pot and its peripheries is vivid in several European “Nation-States”, what show a degree of ethnical differentiation, not dissimilar from the one of some “empires” (as, for instance, in Spain, Great Britain, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Baltic States  and Georgia, where "minorities" amount to very high percentages of the poplulation, even surpassing 50%).

2.     The Sovietic Nationalities Policy

The Sovietic Nationalities Policy was influenced by Austro-Marxism and by Panturkism, and in its turn, influenced Yugoslav federalism (Alexandre Marc, Jovan Djordjevich), and even the “autonomies movents” in Western Europe (such as, e.g., the “Carta di Chivasso” and the concept of the “Autonomous Regions” and “autonomous Provinces” in the Italian Constitution, and, hence, the one of "Comunidades Autònomas" in the Spanish one. The Baku Congress, of 1^st September 1920, marked a turning point in the Sovietic politics of nationalities, because it persuaded the Bolsheviks that national minorities were an essential and necessary part of the Leninist Project of “Socialism in a Sole Country”. Moreover, thanks to the “Nationalities Policy”, Soviet Russia hoped to reverse, in its own favor, the traditional risk of destabilization of minorities by foreign powers. In fact, Russia presented itself, at the Baku Congress, as the defender of the oppressed nationalities worldwide, and, especially, in Asia.

During that period, Russia entertained a friendly relationship with the Chinese nationalist party GuoMingDang, forcing the Chinese Communist Party to merge, for a certain period, with that party, and, in any case, to maintain a sort of alliance with it up to the end of World War II.

The nationalities policy, whose supreme expert in the Communist Party was Josef Stalin himself, maintained the same degree of ambiguity which had reigned during the Tsarist period.From one side, the Soviets, for persuading break-off Republics, like Ukraine, Belarus and Caucasus, to join the new Sovietic Union,  went on fostering a policy of autonomy of such Republics, encouraging, i.a., the establishment of specific national ruling classes, of national government bodies and of a national language (which often did not exist  beforeas such and was created expressly); from another side, they went on utilizing Russian (or Russian speaking) political personnel, including, into each republic, important foreign minorities (including ethnic national minorities) and fostering large scale migrations among the different republics.

So, in practice, the life of the Republics remained always “split” between local, fledging, national identities, and a strong presence of the Soviet Communist Party, of the Soviet Centralized State, of many and many minority citizens and “Soviet citizens”, which in “intra-community lives” spoke Russian.

So, a certain degree of conflictuality between Republic and the center never ceased to exist, and it was only the totalitarian rule from the center which guaranteed that Republics could hold together, developing along a consistent political and economic path

BETWEEN RUSSIA AND EUROPE

Center-Eastern Europe at the Time of the Livonia War

Poland, Sweden,Belarus,Baltic States, Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey, had tight contacts among them in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
По́льша,Шведска,Беларус,Приба́лтика,Украи́на,Молдова,Турция  были тесно связанные в XVII и XVIII веке
Nel XVII e XVIII Secolo, Polonia, Svezia, Bielorussia, Paesi Baltici, Ucraina, Moldova e Turchia erano strettamente interconnesse
Aux Siècles XVII et XVIII, la Pologne,  la Suède,la Biélorussie, les Pays Baltes, l'Ucraine, la Moldavie et la Turquie étaient étroitement enchevetrées
In den XVIIen und XVIII Jahrhundert, waren Polen,Schweden,Belarus,Baltikum, Ukraine, Moldova und die Tuerkei, dicht miteinander gebunden. 
 

During and after the Mongolian domination, different parts of the Russian territory were subjected to the determinant influences of other, European and Asiatic, Kingdoms, and, in particular,Tataria,  Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden and Turkey, so further increasing the cosmopolitan character of Russia.

1.     German Knights

Simultaneously with the Mongolian attack, also the German Knights of the Holy Cross tried to subdue the Novgorod Republic. However, Alexander Nevsky succeeded to defeat and to expel them by the battle of the Peipüs Lake.

The contacts with Germany continued nevertheless, thanks to the membership of Novgorod and other Northern Towns in the Hansa, thanks also to the family connection between the Russian princes and German aristocracy, thanks to the presence of a German heritage in the Baltic States, and, finally, thanks to the important immigration into Russia of German settlers, especially under the kingdom of Catherine II.

2.     Lithuania

During the Mongolian invasions, towns in the Western part of Kievskaja Rus, such as Novohradec, Brest, Mogilev, Minsk, were exposed to the influence of the Lithuanian princes. The latter, being still heathen, were exposed to several pressures to convert. As a consequence, there is, in Lithuanian history, a long-lasting trend toward Christian influences. The latter found their expression, in a first step, in the adoption of Greek Orthodox Faith and of Church Slavonic; later on, in the adoption of Catholicism and of Latin.

In the same time, the South-Western territory of the Kingdom of Halić fell under the influence of the King of Poland.

During the XV and XVI Centuries, the whole territory of present-days Belarus and Ukraine became part of a “Lithuanian Great-Duchy”, which, with its Orthodox Faith and its Slavonic language, could be considered as a sort of replica of the previous Kievan Rus’(and in fact, was still denominated also al “Zemlia Russka”).

3.     Poland

However, the personal union (Polish-Lithiuanian Rzeczpospolita) which, in the form of Unia Lubelska, transformed itself into a Polish hegemony, substracted force to Lithuania, and, hence, also to its previous Orthodox character. Ukraine became a part of the Polish Crown; Catholicism, Latin and Polish gained momentum.

During the period of the “Riots” (“Smutnoe Vreme”, Poles tried even to subdue Russia, arriving at conquering the Moscow Kremlin.

During that period, the Orthodox part of the former Great-Ducky of Lithuania, presently part of the Polish Crown, fell under the control of the Cossacks (the Hetmanate). In a first stage, the Cossack Hetmans governed this region (which stretched between Ukraine and Belarus) on behalf of the Polish King. However, at a certain moment, Hetman Chmel’nicky pretended to get a full autonomy from Poland, and, therefore, was attacked by the same. Chmel’nicky tried to resist Poland with the support of the Tatar Crimea Khanate and of the Ottoman Empire, but the Khan allied with Poles, so that Chmel’nicky was obliged to address himself to Russia.

As a consequence of the lack of success of the Polish tentative, the Muscovite Prince gained further influence also in Ukraine, and, during the XVII Century, with the Jaslav Convention and the Andrusovo Treaty, Kiev became a part of the Muscovite State. This situation gave rise to a growing Ukrainian influence in Muscovy, thanks also to the high level of theological development reached in Kiev’s Seminary.

4.     Sweden

Once the Polish influence finished, another threat was felt by the fledging Russian State: the power of the Kingdom of Sweden.

Following to the Reform and the Religious Wars, Sweden, during the Thirty Years War, had become able to reunite around it all Scandinavian States, more the Baltic States and the North of Germany, becoming a European great power.

Within this framework, the Swedes tried also to extend their power, from the Baltic territories, to Ukraine, across the previous lands of the Lithuanian State, thanks to the alliance with Hetman Mazepa, who tried to become independent from Poland, Russia and Turkey.

Also this tentative was unsuccessful. On the contrary, Paul the Great succeeded in defeating  the Swedes in Poltava and even to conquer all the stretch of Swedish territories on the Baltic, presently corresponding to the St. Petersburgkaja Oblast, to Estonia and Latvia. However, the Swedish influence on Russia did not cease with the Nordic Wars, but, on the contrary, went on also in the following centuries. In fact, in the Baltic States, besides the previous German aristocracy, originating from the German Knights of the Holy Cross, also a Swedish upper class had been created, which influenced the cultural life of the country and of Russia in general. For instance, the Admiral Vrangel’, one of the leaders of the White Russian Army during civil war, was of recent Swedish origins. Later on, in 1809, one of the reasons for the secession of Finland from Sweden, and the accession of the same to Russia, had been that Count Bernadotte, which, under French influence, had been appointed, by Napoleon,  as the King of Sweden, did not guarantee to maintain, to Finnish aristocracy (which was, in fact, nationally Swedish), the privileged guaranteed, under the previous dynasty, as the outcome of the “Constitution” of the “Borga Estates”.

So, Swedish-Finnish legal régime was “transferred” into Russia together with the Grand-Duchy of Finland, so constituting a basis for the reforms prompted later on, for the whole Empire, by Prince  Czartoryski.

This historical period had been also of paramount importance for the formation of the Finnish culture. At the moment of the passage of Finland from Sweden to Russia, and of the creation of the “Grand Duchy of Finland”, the need was felt to create a Finnish culture, instead of relying uniquely on the culture of Sweden, which had been, for the past, the almost sole culture of Finland. In fact, the ancient Ugro-Finnic population had been subjected to the Christian Swedes since the XIV Century, and did not have either a literary language, or a literary tradition.

At that moment in time, Lonnröth, going on the same path as Herder with Latvian ancient poetry, traveled intensively across Carelia, a Russian province inhabited by Finns, where he collected, from the voices of peasants, ancients legends, that he unified into the “Kalevala”, the national epos of the Finns. In so doing, he followed the same path of Macpherson, who, for his “Ossian”, collected Irish popular songs, unifying them into only one poem, and, then, pretending they were “Scottish”.

On the other side, the work of Lonnröth arouse an interest also on the other part of Botnia, in Estonia, where the Kalevi Poeg was composed, an epical cycle connected with the Kalevala.

5.     The Ottoman Empire

Whilst all these transformations were under way in the northern parts of Russia, in the South-Eastern part of it, and also in Ukraine, the influence of the Mongol and Tatar “Great Khans” had left place to the one of Turkey.

Both the Khanate of Crimea and the Nogai Horde had become vassals of the Ottoman Empire. This Turkish/Islamic influence is perceivable already now in those territories. In fact, all the Cis-Caucasian area was inhabited, together with Cossacks, by various smaller peoples, many of them, like the Daghestani and the Chechnyans, of Islamic faith. This area, formerly occupied by Tatars and by Mongols, Islam was often of recent date (like, for instance, in Ingushetia). For this reason, the cultural language was even Arabic, and the connections with Arabia were frequent.

These Islamic populations contributed heavily to revolts, including, i.a. to the one of Pugačiov, who, on the other side, had even an Arabic secretariate for drawing appeals and legislative instruments in that language.

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.

THE GREAT MOTHER

The Mother Goddess

Russia as the common Mother of all Europeans 
Россия как общая Мать всех европейцев 
La Russie, Mère commune de tous les Européens.
La Russia:madre comune degli Europei
Russland, gemeinsame Mutter aller Europaeer. 

 We will try to show that the first, and fundamental, link existing between Russia and the whole of Europe is the fact that almost all of Europe’s present-days inhabitants (probably with the sole excepition of the Basques), have an origin stemming from “the Kurgans” (hence, from present days Russia).

This does not imply just an historical or  linguistic  heritage, but also several traditional commonalities (such as archaic Indo-European institutions, referred to by Benveniste and Dumézil,  as well as traditional connections between peoples and territories, such as the ones of Greeks with Odessa, of Poles with the Back see, of Swedes with the Baltic Coasts, of Eastern Jews with the “Pale of Settlement”, a.s.o.).

The image which is most commonly associated to Russia is the one of a “Mat’” (“Mother”): “Mat’ Rossija” (“Mother Russia”), “Mat’ Rodina” (“Motherland”).

“Mat’ Rodina” is shown in the highest monument in the World, called “Rodina Mat’ zovet” (“Motherland Calls ”). It represents a gigantic Mother Goddess raising a long sword over the battlefield of Volgograd (Stalingrad). It is the plastic transfiguration of a famous political poster of the Red Army, containing the same phrase: “Rodina Mat’ zovet”. Such poster was diffused in Soviet Russia in 1941 during the German invasion, for prompting volunteering into the Red Army and urging partisans to resist occupation. The statue itself was created for celebrating the Soviet victory over the German invaders, in the precise point where the decisive battle took place. This statue is deliberately similar to the Statue of Liberty of New York, but much higher. The sculpture at the moment of creation became the highest in the world.

The reference to Russia as to a “Mother” is not casual. Russia is a huge territory, stretching from Europe to America, and including one half of Asia, where the legendary original fatherlands of most peoples of the world are located: Aryans, but also Turks, Ugro-Finns, Cartvelians, but, probably, also North American Indians and Chinese. Especially, the territory of Russia is the most likely cradle of most of the peoples of Europe, both Aryans and not.

From another point of view, the cult of the Mother Goddess is one of the oldest in the world, and many elements hint at the fact that also ancient Slavs were worshippers of the Goddess. The cult devoted to the Mother Goddess by the most ancient peoples of Eastern Europe has been thoroughly studied by the Lithuanian scholar Marija Gimbutas. The Moscow Linguistic School has studied the unbelievable melting pot subsisting in the territories of Russia and, still more, of the former Soviet Union, during prehistoric times, when the most ancient languages materialized.

In particular, the studies of Illich Svitych have shown that most of the languages presently existing in the world derive from a very ancient, common language, called Nostratic, from which Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Turk, Hugro-Finnic, Kartvelian and (probably) Dravidic derive.

Russia, the largest country of the World (“Strana ogramnaya”) and as “Euro-Asiatic Space” (“Evraziatijskoe Prostranstvo”) constitutes, so to say, the “Mother Land” of all Europeans.