By Jacob M. Landau, Jerusalem
"Panturkism" usually refers to the movement, cultural or political, which aims to bring together all people of Turkic origins. While the role of Panturkism has been
examined to some extent in studies on Ottoman or Turkish foreign policy, much
less is known of its impact on domestic politics — perhaps because this impact be¬
came evident only during the last fifteen years. Indeed, only in 1965 did Pantur¬
kism become the official ideology of a full-fledged political party, Cumhuriyet<;i
Köylü ve Millet Partisi (renamed Milliyet(;i Hareket Partisi in 1969). However, Pan¬
turkism's long tradition of relevance in internal policy dates from the later years of
Abdul Hamid II's reign and became even more pronounced during the Young Turk
era. It was then that a number of people of Turkic stock, either living in or having
emigrated from Czarist Russia, strove to popularize Panturkist ideas. A number of
public and literary figures in the Ottoman Empire identified with this ideology
during those and subsequent years.
The period following the end of the First World War saw the decline of Pantur¬
kism not only in the Soviet Union, where the authorities restricted its activities, but
also in Turkey itself The foundation of the Republic and the establishment of
Kemalism as the state ideology visibly curtailed the public influence of Panturkist circles in Turkish pohtics. The Türk Ocagi (or "Turkish Hearths"), a Panturk
organization first set up in Istanbul in March 1912 and then spreading to other
urban centers, was closed down in 1931, giving way to the Kemalist-inspired //a/Ä
Evi ("People's Homes"). Some of Panturkism's apostles, like Ziya Gok-Alp, had
died. Others, such as Halide Edib, whose 1910 novel, Yeni Turan ("The New
Turan"), had inspired the Panturkists, changed their minds in this matter. At the end of the First World War, Hahde Edib castigated Panturkists in an article entitled
„Let Us Set Our Own House in Order!" Her main argument was that only adven¬
turers would seek to assist in the fighting stiU going on in the Caucasus and Tur¬
kestan.
However, it would be wrong to assume that Panturkism has disappeared entirely
in the Republic of Turkey. Had this been the case, one would be hard put to ex¬
plain its place in Turkish domestic politics since 1965. Moreover, there is tangible
proof that organized groups continued the cultural study of Panturkism in the Re¬
public of Turkey, both durmg and after the Kemalist era. Since the 1930's and
early 1940's, more particularly since Atatürk's death, there was a resurgence of Pan¬
turkist sentunent, largely expressed in several short-lived periodicals. Best known among these were Bozkurt ("Grey Wolf, one of the symbols of the ancient Turks),
^inaralti ("Under the Plane Tree") and Tanridai(a name for the Tien-Shan moun¬
tain-range, legendary ancestral home of the Turks in Central Asia). These journals,
as well as less known periodicals, such as the monthly Atsiz in 1931-1932, the
334 J. M. Landau
montlily Orhun in 1934, then Kopuz, Ergenekon, Gok Boru, Tiirk Sazi,Kiir^d, and
others, had to be circumspect in what they published in the 1930's and, even more
so. during the Second World War. They generally propagated their views with due
caution, by merely adding a Panturkist dimension to their own interpretation of
nationalist ideology in the Republic of Turkey. The most tangible indications were
in references to the "Outside Turks", those people of Turkic stock living outside the political borders of Turkey. Tliis reflected, at least in part, the efforts of Nazi
propaganda to interest the Turks of Turkey in the future of the Turkic groups in
the Soviet Union. The government of Turkey resisted these inducements, but the
Panturkist organs took them up; the issue became their central theme in subsequent years.
The pohtical watershed, as the Panturkists in Turkey see it, occurred on May 3,
1944 when, after due propaganda in their organs, a pubhc demonstration occurred
in Istanbul, defying Martial Law. Tliis expressed support of Turkic groups in the
Soviet Union, such as the Tatars, which were being harshly dealt with, at the time.
Participating were such weh-known Panturkists as Nihal Atsiz and Nejdet Sancar,
as well as lesser figures, at the time, such as Alparslan Türke^, about whom we shall have more to say later. For the first tune, Panturkism organized politically and took
to the streets. President Inönü and his Government, anxious to preserve Turkey's
neutrality in the War, reacted swiftly and energetically. Tlie ensuing arrests and
trials helped popularize Panturkism more than the Government intended.
Following the end of the Second World War, more particularly since the 1950
change in state leadership, Panturkist circles intensified their activhy in Turkey. On
the whole, they prudently maintained it on the cultural level; very probably, the
arrests of 1944 and the subsequent trials induced them to do so. Semmars were
organized and such journals as Büyük Dogu ("Great East") were published in the 1950's. Notwithstanding the emphasis on the cultural character of these acfivities,
the political dimension was increasingly in evidence. The worldwide realignment
resulting from the Second World War soon made it apparent that nearly all Outside
Turks lived as minorities in states whose pohtical reghnes were anathema to Pantur¬
kist circles in Turkey, viz., the Soviet Union and some of its Communist ahies in
Europe, the People's Repubhc of China, Greece and Cyprus. Thus, during the 1940
and 1950's, Panturkist circles in Turkey assumed an increasingly anti-Communist
and anti-Greek stand. Their outlook became concomhantly oriented towards the
glorious Turkish past and Turkic race. These two approaches combined in a pro¬
nounced irredentism, frequently proclauned in the phrase "A Great Turkey of 100
mUlion people, stretching from the Mediterranean to the Pacific!"
Panturkist ideology became more open and increasingly militant after the mih¬
tary intervention of 1960—1961 and the ensuing liberalization in pohtical activity
and relaxation of censorship. As various leftist groups, some of them openly radical,
also took advantage of this hberalization, Panturkist groups reacted by claiming to
be the only tme patriots, defending Turkey, both extemaUy and intemally, against
communism. Stressing such arguments, Panturkism reached the peak of its politici-
zation, bidding to become a more meaningftil force in the domestic pohtics of Tur¬
key. In 1966, a new monthly, Türk Birligi ("Union of Turks"), boldly proclauning that it was striving for uniting all Turks, started publication in Ankara. It was much
more openly PanUirkist in its demands, more vehement in its slogans, and more agressive in its tone. A year earlier, in 1965, a number of pohticians, led by several
retired military officers, of whom the most prominent was Alparslan Tiirkes,
already mentioned for his part in the 1944 demonstration, took over a political
party for this same purpose. A medium-sized conservative party, cahed Cumhuri-
yetgi Köylü ve Millet Partisi ("The Party of the Republican Peasants and of the
Nation"), was renamed, in 1969, Milliyetci Hareket Partisi (variously translated as
"Nationalist Action Party" or "Nationalist Movement Party") by its new leaders.
The party, as led by Tiirkes, has derived a substantial part of its support from Pan¬
turkist circles, among other groups, improving its electoral fortunes in the 1977
National Assembly elections fivefold, by winning 16 seats (out of 450). Futther-
more, conditions for the formation of Coalition Cabinets in Turkey during the
1970's have been such that from early 1975 to late 1977, the Nationalist Action
Party served in the Government, with Tiirkes himself as Vice-Premier.
Three years in the Goverrunent — especiahy within the framework of a Coalition
Cabinet is too sliort a time for carrying out a political program. Nonetheless, the
party succeeded in making some impact on education, by arranging for the writing
and introduction into the schools of history textbooks emphasizing nationalist and
Panturkist ideas. More generally, it invested considerable efforts in familiarizing the
Turkish public with its tenets and objectives — of which Panturkism was a major
component — in speeches, journals and other publications. The party's organs,
which very frequently discussed its own brand of nationalism, largely colored by
Panturkism, are: its weekly (later monthly) Devlet ("State"), its monthlies Milli Hareket ("National Action"), Bozkurt ("Grey Wolf, a name adopted from a de¬
funct Panturkist journal, mentioned above), and the more recent monthly Töre
(not easily translatable - roughly, "[Turkish] Customs"). In the last few years, several dailies, more particularly Her Gün ("Every Day") have been commhted to supporting the party.
No less significantly, Tiirkes's pronouncements often refer to the Outside Turks
and their role in the formation of a Great, Powerful and Populous Turkey. Perhaps
because he was originally a Cypriot Turk, Tiirkes's message in this context sounds
both poignant and sincere. Wxs Dokuz i^ik ("Nine Ligltts"), the party's vade mecum
and other works return to this point tune and again. Not surprisingly, his most
detailed discussion of Panturkism may be found in a 36-page booklet, Di^ politika- miz ve Kibris ("Our Foreign Policy and Cyprus"), first published in Istanbul in
1966, and reprinted since. This is a passionate argument for the right of Cypriot
Turks - and, indeed, of all Outside Turks — to be joined to Turkey and an appeal
to Turkish authorities to support their hopes.
Paradoxically, the three years that the Nationalist Action Party served in the
Government somewhat dampened its Panturkist ardor. The reason is quite obvious
the need to avoid affording an opportunity for its rivals on the left to brand it as a party likely to embroil Turkey in a foreign adventure against the Soviet Union for the sake of the Outside Turks. However, this has been only a tactical retreat for the
party, whose leaders continue all along to support the cause of Panturkism in less
official publications. Furthermore, such large associations like the Ülkü Gencligi
("Youth of Ideals" or "Idealist Youth"), unofficiahy - but very really - affiliated
336 J. M. Landau
to the Party, support the cause of the Outside Turks on every possible occasion,
both in the frequent seminars they organize, in the organs they put out, and in the
booklets they sponsor. This is true, also, of the \anous Milliyetple Demegi ("Asso¬
ciations of Nationalists"), formerly called Türk<^üler Dermgi ("Associations of Turkists"), which have been in existence, in one way or another, since the 1940's, if not earlier. These groups have always been small and elitist in character, and ap¬
pealed chiefly to a restricted number of mteUectuals. Their relationship with the
party has been tenuous at best; however, along with the much larger Ülkü Gen<^ligi, they have assisted it to recruit some public support on a basis of common interest in Panturkism.
Concluding these prelhninary considerations, one may say that Panturkism has
been absorbed, in recent years, into the doctrine of the irredentist brand of nationa¬
lism adopted, sponsored and preached by Tiirkes and the party he has been leading.
It has come out of its political wilderness in the Turkish Republic, at last, becoming
a legitimate partner in inter-party competition. Although Panturkism has never
been a cmcial factor in Turkey's domestic pohtics, it has rece .tly gained some im¬
portance. Its ideas, although stih advocated only by a small ehte, are being increa¬
singly debated in certain pohtical circles in Turkey. Nevertheless, the constant
failure of Panturkism to mobilize mass support, either in Turkey or abroad, has
continuously hindered it from becoming politically significant in any decisive way.
ALTAISCHER VÖLKER
Von Karl H. Menges, Wien
Nach einer allgemeinen Darstellung des Samanismus und seiner Verbreitung auf
der Erde wurden die specifischen Charakteristika des sibirischen Samanismus be¬
sprochen, der als erster von den Ethnologen erforscht wurde und daher für viele
Forscher als der Ausgangspunkt zu weiteren Untersuchungen diente. Die Geschichte
der Erforschung des sibhischen Samanismus wurde in knappen Zügen von Dord2i
Banzarov (1846) und Xangalov und Agapitov (1883) an bis auf die heutige Zeit dar¬
gestellt, wobei die nunmehr schon ein halbes Jahrhundert anhaltende Stagnation
der Forschung in der USSR, auf deren Territorium sich der Samanismus befmdet,
als besonderes Hemmnis für die Weiterentwicklung der Samanismusforschung cha¬
rakterisiert werden mußte. Diese Stagnation ist durch die specifisch sovjetischen
wehanschauhchen Principien des „wissenschaftlichen Atheismus" bedingt, da diese
Principien den Kampf gegen jede Art von Religion bis zur „Liquidation" beinhalten.
Das bedeutete praktisch das Ende jeder Forschung in situ und die Unmöghchkeit,
Materialien und Arbeken über den Samanismus, auch schon vorhandene, zu ver¬
öffentlichen, sodaß eine beträchtliche Menge von noch unveröffentlichten Materia¬
lien, dabei auch äußerst reichhaltige Textsammlungen wie z. B. die zum jakutischen
Samanismus von A. A. Popov, der sie mir im Sommer 1934 in Leningrad gezeigt
und mit mir hat veröffenthchen wohen, vohkommen unbearbeitet und sogar un¬
beachtet dahegen. Das gleiche güt von den Sammlungen desselben Autors über die
Nanasan undDolganen wie auch B. 0. Dolgixs dolganische Aufzeichnungen, u. v. a. m.
Zu solchen in den Archiven aufgestapelten Materiahen gehört auch ein Teil der Be¬
obachtungen 1. M. Suslovs zum Samanismus der Ewenki-Tungusen aus den frühen
20er Jahren und das gesamte Textmaterial, das Ryckov bei den Ewenki des Jenisej-
Gebiets in dem ersten Jahrzehnt dieses Jahrhunderts gesammelt hat, das einen Ab¬
schnitt von 66 pp. äamanistischer Texte aus der Tundra von llimpija enthält. Diese
beiden Sammlungen habe ich in Leningrad im Sommer/Herbst 1975 und Frühjahr/
Sommer 1976 bearbeitet, da sie ethnologisch wie auch linguistisch von großem Wert
sind und, wie zu hoffen ist, in Bälde veröffentheht werden können. Meine Erfah¬
rungen der 70er Jahre in der USSR haben mir gezeigt, daß sogar bei einer Lockerung
der oben genannten starren Principien eine unverzügliche Wiederaufnahme der Sa¬
manismusforschung nicht möghch ist, da das Fach zu lange Zeit brachhegen mußte
und in dieser Zeit die Zahl der Samanen sich immer mehr dem NuUpunkt nähert,
während die junge und jüngere Gelehrtengeneration nicht im Stand ist, äamani-
stische Texte zu verstehen und aufzuzeichnen.
Der S. entsteht in anunistischen Rehgionen und trägt daher auch totemistische
Züge. Er ist keine Rehgion (gegen Findeisen), und kann dadurch innerhalb von und
neben Rehgionen existieren, wenn auch selten toleriert. Der S. ist ein Komplex, ein
