Asian Steppe Fundamentalism

[wagnerr]

Hmmm, this was a question me and my professor were thinking about the other day. We both see a resurging trend developing in central asia. The steppe Turks there are becoming more and more conseverative in opposition to their brother Muslims of the Near East.
They're cranking out lots of new Koran religiosity, almost Muslim propaganda.

So my question is, where did it all come from? I tried explaining this to one class i subbed for last semestre, but i didn't have any adequate explanations for it.

[shytothebone]

Could you be a little more specific? Who are the Steppe Turks?

[wagnerr]

shytothebone said:

Could you be a little more specific? Who are the Steppe Turks?

Hmm, okay. Simply put, the Steppe Turks are the nations of Turkish blood ethnically, and inhabit the regions south of the Ural Mountains and north of Persia.

Though they are Muslim, they are not Arabs. They resemble the Turks of Asia Minor very strongly, and are largely responsible for causing the Soviet Government a lot of grief and frustration.

They are also EXTREMELY conservative socially, and are reactive to any kind of social change pushed on them, either by the West, the Chinese, or the Russians.

We're all aware of the rise of Arabic fundamentalism and subsequent terrorist movements. But frankly, it all seems to be coming from the north, from the Steppes.

Why all of a sudden? Why are they pushing their zeal now, or all times?

Anyway i was just trying to bring up another topic for discussion, something besides local politics for a change. We're all different politically and i think that's a good thing. I think it's one of our strengths, not weaknesses. It's a mark of a successful democratic system when people can disagree about governmental matters.

But i just wanted to talk about something different, that's all.

[shytothebone]

I guess I'm going to have to read up on this and get back to you. Know of anywhere I can do this? Sounds very interesting.

[wagnerr]

shytothebone said:

I guess I'm going to have to read up on this and get back to you. Know of anywhere I can do this? Sounds very interesting.

Well, it's not so very popular a topic, as we know. Most attention on Muslims is paid towards the Arabs, not the Turks or Indonesians, for example. But after reading online news about this, and talking to the faculty at my school, a lot of the Muslim fundamentalism is coming from the Steppe Turks, and it started in the mid-90's, not so recently. This leads me to believe that their new zeal is not fueled by actions in the Mid East by the west, but maybe by the Russians or Chinese' actions in Asia.

So that further adds to my puzzlement.

Anyway, the Turkish nations ceded from Russia in the early 90's, following the dissimination of the Soviet Union. A lot of people think the Soviet Union collapsed and fell into capitalist dissaray, but this is incorrect.

So the Turkish nations got their independence, but are still cranking out fundamentalist doctrine, particularly in the mountanious regions. I'm not sure why they are doing this, but their actions have been building up for some time and impinging on the Arabs to the south.

[shytothebone]

are Chechen rebels connected to this? Are these fundamentalist in the countries surrounding Afghanistan?

[shytothebone]

I think maybe that Al Quiada might have infiltrated the steppe turks tribal traditions and religious beliefs and have been doing so before the mid 90's back during the war with Russia in Afghanistan. As you may know they have also infiltrated the Philippines as well and have a very good foothold on that country. Does this sound reasonable?

[wagnerr]

shytothebone said:

are Chechen rebels connected to this? Are these fundamentalist in the countries surrounding Afghanistan?

Yes they are. In fact, the Chechen rebels are fighting the Russian minority that lives in the Caucus region, along with just about every other Christian group there too.

And, yes Afghanistan is part of this. To what extent, i'm not sure. But every former "stan" of the Sovite Union has a strong vocal Russian minority in it. Thing is, i thought the Russian minorities were working with the new democratic govts in those countries, for example. Like in Kazahkstan and Uzbekistan, both countries with substantial Christian minorities in them, not all of which are white.

I'm just confused about the whole of the puzzle here. Why exactly are they getting together in arms now of all times?

[Tal]

I know very little about this region, but here's some pages I found.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkic_peoples
www.danielpipes.org/article/242


A lot of these former soviet colonies probably retain a fair amount of their historic religious/cultural connections to the middle east (whom they are also getting cultural influence from since becoming independent).

I don't know much about any fundamentalism in the region though. Is it that widespread?

[shytothebone]

fundamentalism is spread all over the mid east and into Asia, south-east Asia and the Philippines.

[Tal]

Well I know fundamentalism is found all over the world, including in Europe and the US, but what I meant is, does it play a major role in the steppe region (Afghanistan is perhaps a good example of where it has/does play a big role). Does it control political life, or is it just restricted to rural areas, such as the mountains Russ mentions.

[wagnerr]

shytothebone said:

fundamentalism is spread all over the mid east and into Asia, south-east Asia and the Philippines.

It seems like it's more of a defensive mechanism more than anything. When socialism became the dominant political force in Asia in the 1950's, i think it scared the shit out of a lot of conservative factions, making them become more reactive and defensive.

The atheism prevelent in socialism particularly must have really scared the religious authorities of these regions, particularly the Muslim countries.

[wagnerr]

talisman said:

Well I know fundamentalism is found all over the world, including in Europe and the US, but what I meant is, does it play a major role in the steppe region (Afghanistan is perhaps a good example of where it has/does play a big role). Does it control political life, or is it just restricted to rural areas, such as the mountains Russ mentions.

Political life is controlled by the religious authorities to an extent, yes. Like in Arabic countries, the Queran is seen as a central civil authority as well as religious.

Think of them sort of like Biblical fundamentalists, Tal. They want to be pure and live life as uncorrupted as possible, so they try to kick out all foreign influence.

The Steppe Turks, however, are not Arabic and have no cultural ties to the Arabs at all, at least historically they don't. Religion, however, is a commonality among these two areas, so they share a common theme there.