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Turkology

Turkic language map-present range

Turkology (or Turcology or Turkic studies) is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative context. This includes ethnic groups from the Sakha in East Siberia to the Turks in the Balkans and the Gagauz in Moldova.

History

Ethnological information on Turkic tribes for the first time was systemized by the 11th-century Turkic philologist Mahmud al-Kashgari in the Dīwān ul-Lughat it-Turk (Dictionary of Turkic language). Multi-lingual dictionaries were compiled from the late 13th century for the practical application of participants in international trade and political life. One notable such dictionary is the Codex Cumanicus, which contains information for Cuman, Persian, Latin, and German. There are also bilingual dictionaries for Kipchak and Armenian as well as Kipchak and Russian[citation needed]. In the Middle Ages, Turkology was centred around Byzantine/Greek historians, ambassadors and travelers, and geographers[citation needed]. In the 15th–17th centuries the main subject of Turkology was the study of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish language, and the Turkic languages of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. In 1533 a first hand-written primer appeared, and by 1612 a printed grammar by Jerome Megizer was published, followed by F. Mesgnien-Meninski's four-volume Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalium published in 1680.

P. S. Pallas initiated a more scientific approach to Turkology with his Comparative dictionaries of all languages and dialects (1787) which included lexical materials from Tatar, Mishar, Nogai, Bashkir, and other Turkic languages. In the 19th century, Turkology was further developed by M. A. Kazembek's Grammar of the Turkish-Tatar language (1839), O. N. Betlingk Grammar of the Yakut language (1851). A major achievement was the deciphering at the end of the 19th century of the Early Middle Age Orkhon inscriptions by V. Thomsen and W. W. Radloff (1895). By the end of the 19th century, Turkology developed into a complex discipline that included linguistics, history, ethnology, archeology, arts and literature. In the 20th century the Turkology complex included physical anthropology, numismatics, genetics, ancient Turkic alphabetic scripts, typology, genesis, and etymology, onomastics and toponymy. The appearance of Türkische Bibliothek (1905–1927) inaugurated specialised periodicals, followed by Mitteilungen zur Osmanischen Geschichte (1921–1926). Scientific developments allowed calibrated dating, dendrochronology, metallurgy, chemistry, textile, and other specialized disciplines which contributed to the development of the Turkological studies. Deeper study of the ancient sources allowed better understanding of economical, social, mythological and cultural forces of the sedentary and nomadic societies. Linguistic studies uncovered pre-literate symbioses and mutual influences between different peoples.

Persecution in Soviet Russia

On 9 August 1944 the Central Committee VKP(b), the ruling party of the USSR, published an edict prohibiting "ancientization" of Turkic history. The edict was followed by a consecutive wave of mass arrests, imprisoning and killing of the Turkology intelligentsia, massive creation of replacement scientists, and re-writing of history pages on an industrial scale.

Many Turkology scholars in Russia were persecuted or imprisoned by Stalin's political oppression movement, the Great Purge, occurring during the 1930s–1940s, on the basis of disputed Islamic writings and publications.[1] Other cultural Scholars, such as Egyptologists and Japanologists were also subject to the political repression, in Stalin's movement to cleanse Communist Russia of ethnic minorities that posed opposition to Communism.[2]

Most Oriental and other cultural scholars that had been repressed in the 1930s and 1940s (as well as their respective scientific works) were, however, officially rehabilitated in or after 1956.

On the other hand, this edict brought unintended benefits to Turkology. One was the nearly immediate linguistic development of an alternate lexicon which replaced the nouns and adjectives containing the word Türk by a wealth of euphemisms: "nomads, Siberians, Paleosiberians, Middle Asians, Scythians, Altaians, Tuvians", etc. that filled scientific publications. The other was "writing into a drawer", when results of the years of fruitful work were written down for future publication. When the bonds relaxed, the publications exploded. Another was a flight of scientists from European Russia into remote areas, which brought first class scientists to many intellectually starved outlying areas of Middle Asia. Another one was connected with the statewide efforts to re-invent the history, when a wealth of Turkological facts were found in the process of search for "correct" history. And another one was a built-up of the public interest for the forbidden subjects, that resulted that no print size could satisfy the demand. L.N.Gumilev and O.Suleimenov inflamed a surge in the new generation of Turkology scholars.

With the physical culling of the scholars from the society, an organized a total extermination of all their published and unpublished works took place concurrently. Their books were removed from the libraries and destroyed from private collections by an intimidated population, articles and publications were culled, published photographs were retouched, private photographs were destroyed, published scientific references were erased, or publications with undesired references were destroyed. Very few of the early 20th century expedition diaries, ethnographical notes, reports and drafts for publications were ever recovered.

Turkology scholars persecuted in 20th-century Soviet Russia

Pseudoscientific theories

The linguistic field of Turkology has been noted as particularly influenced by 'pseudo-turkologists', whose theories do not follow due diligence to properly prove Turkish origins in non-related languages.[9] Some extreme pseudo-turkologists contend that Turkic history stretches back hundreds of thousands of years, that every major civilization in history is of Turkic origin, and that major historical figures such as Jesus Christ and Genghis Khan were of Turkic origin.[10][11] Ethnic Russian scholars have put forth similar theories with an added Turco-Slavic synthesis, in an attempt to put "the Russian world at its proper place at the center of world civilization".[12] Many conflicting theories among Turkic peoples of Central and North Asia seek to connect their peoples to a larger legacy and place in history. According to historians Konstantin Sheiko and Stephen Brown, these theories are influenced by "the Turkic rejection of Russian imperialism" driven by a post-soviet need for nation-building. [11]

As journalist Luka Ivan Jukić concludes in his examination of extreme pseudo-turkology:[10]

"Turkic countries have suffered greatly over the last century and a half. After the brutality of World War I, Turkey was set to be wiped off the map by the diktat of Western powers, a fate already shared by every other Turkic people. During Soviet rule, the traditional nomadic lifestyle of Turkic Steppe peoples was derided by official Soviet historiography as backward, uncivilized and feudal — something to be ashamed of, not proud of. On the margins of the development of global capitalism, or in the furnace of communist social and economic engineering, Turkic peoples have borne the brunt of modernity’s failures and experienced few of its successes. Ancient history, invented or otherwise, offers a refuge. Pseudo-Turkology, which places Turks at the very heart of the history of all human civilization, provides a source of unlimited pride."

List of Turkologists

See also

References

  1. ^ Kemper, Michael; Conermann, Stephan (February 2011). The Heritage of Soviet Oriental Studies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-83854-5.
  2. ^ "Great Purge". HISTORY. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  3. ^ VLIB.iue.it
  4. ^ Ivanov, Anatol. "FASMER, RICHARD RICHARDOVICH or VASMER (1858–1938), eminent Russian numismatist.". Encyclopædia Iranica on line. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  5. ^ Krymsky, Ahatanhel. Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine
  6. ^ Ahatanhel Krymsky: 10 interesting facts of his life (Агатангел Крымский: 10 интересных фактов из жизни). Avdet. 24 June 2015
  7. ^ pdf IHST.ru
  8. ^ IHST.ru (in Russian)
  9. ^ Frankle, Elanor (1948). Word formation in the Turkic languages. Columbia University Press. p. 2.
  10. ^ a b "'Jesus Was Turkish': The Bizarre Resurgence of Pseudo-Turkology". 22 July 2021.
  11. ^ a b Sheiko, Konstantin; Brown, Stephen (2014). History as Therapy: Alternative History and Nationalist Imaginings in Russia. ibidem Press. pp. 58–62. ISBN 978-3838265650. The influence of Eurasianism and the Turkic rejection of Russian imperialism need to be considered if we are to make sense of Russia's post- Communist imperial imagination. Eurasianism has attracted notoriety in the West...In the 1990s, each Turkic nationality has produced its own 'pen and ink' warriors. Nationalistic historians emerging from among the Chuvash, Tatars and Bashkirs have tried to connect the history of their peoples to ancient ancestors such as the Sumerians, Scythians, Egyptians, and Etruscans.
  12. ^ "'Jesus Was Turkish': The Bizarre Resurgence of Pseudo-Turkology". 22 July 2021. "Anatoly Fomenko, a renowned mathematician and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, alleges in a series of conspiratorial books that Russian historiography is a falsification; the result of a Western conspiracy to conceal the existence of a great Turko-Slavic empire, Great Tartary. In this alternate world, Christopher Columbus, Jesus Christ, Moses and many more were all Russian, and millennia of history were faked by the Normans and Polish Jesuit priests... In the words of historians Stephen Brown and Konstantin Sheiko, far from simply occupying space on the “lunatic fringe of pseudo-academia,” Fomenko’s works have moved to a “central position in Russia’s mainstream political debates.” For example, Sergey Glazyev, a former top adviser to President Vladimir Putin and commissioner of the Eurasian Economic Union, endorsed Fomenko’s theories in 2020. Unlike Western historical myths that “belittle the role of the Russian people in the history of mankind,” Fomenko “puts the Russian world at its proper place at the center of world civilization,” Glazyev said."
  13. ^ KRSU.edu.kg(in Russian)
  14. ^ Professor G. Akhatov(in Russian)
  15. ^ Krymsky, Ahatanhel [1] (in English)
  16. ^ Sundermann, Werner. "ASMUSSEN, Jes Peter scholar of Iranian studies (1928–2002).". Encyclopædia Iranica online. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  17. ^ Elbrusoid.org (in Russian)
  18. ^ Zieme, P. "BANG KAUP, JOHANN WILHELM MAX JULIUS (known as Willy), German orientalist (1869–1934). From 1893 onward Bang Kaup also devoted time to research in the promising area of the Old Turkish stone inscriptions.". Encyclopædia Iranica online. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  19. ^ BU.edu
  20. ^ MPG.de
  21. ^ Elbrusoid.org (in Russian)
  22. ^ "Prof. Dr. Saadet Çağatay Hayatı ve Eserleri - EDEBİYAT / Öykü Tiyatro Deneme Yazarlarımız | Edebiyat ve Sanat Akademisi".
  23. ^ sabanciuniv.edu
  24. ^ FFZG.hr (in Croatian)
  25. ^ NSC.ru (in Russian)
  26. ^ Eurasianhistory.com
  27. ^ Umass.edu
  28. ^ Saray-al-mahrusa.ru (in Russian)
  29. ^ Zieme, Peter Zieme. "GABAIN, ANNEMARIE VON (1901–1993), German scholar who worked in the field of Central Asian (primarily Turkic) studies, first as a linguist but later as an art historian.". Encyclopædia Iranica. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  30. ^ NYtimes.com
  31. ^ RIN.ru
  32. ^ Archive.org
  33. ^ Sektam.net
  34. ^ Liveinternet.ru (in Russian)
  35. ^ Tibet.com
  36. ^ Northwestern.edu
  37. ^ Bosworth, C. E. "MINORSKY, Vladimir Fed'orovich (1877–1966), outstanding Russian scholar of Persian history, historical geography, literature and culture.". Encyclopædia Iranica on line. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
  38. ^ Getcited.org
  39. ^ "Russia's Altai should be marked as center of Turkic world on Erdogan's map — Kremlin". Tass. 21 November 2021.
  40. ^ Kunstkamera.ru (in Russian)
  41. ^ Rulex.ru (in Russian)
  42. ^ Blogspot.com
  43. ^ Vostlit.info (in Russian)
  44. ^ elte.academia.edu

External links