Turkic Peoples and the "Eurasian Movement"
by Sabirzyan Badretdin

If someone would ask me to name a person who poses the greatest danger to
the Turkic peoples, I would say Alexander Dugin. Alexander Dugin is one of
the most prominent Russian nationalists and the leading proponent of
"Eurasianism" - a geopolitical doctrine that seeks to preserve and expand
the Russian Empire under the guise of creating a new "Eurasian"
supranational political entity. The goal of the Eurasianists is to create a
Russia-dominated bloc stretching from Eastern Europe to the Pacific.

According to Dugin, the history of humanity is defined by the struggle
between the two mega-civilizations: continental and oceanic. He considers
Eurasia to be the base of the continental civilization and America, which is
surrounded by oceans on both sides, to be the base of the oceanic
civilization. Historic examples of previous competing civilizations are
Carthage and Rome, Sparta and Athens, and England and Germany.

One of the key components of the Eurasian movement is the goal of promoting
multi-polarity. The current unipolar American dominance of the world is
viewed by Eurasianists as a threat to the uniqueness of Russian culture. Mr.
Dugin deems it necessary to replace U.S.-dominated unipolar world with a
multi-polar world. The main purpose of this (although he never actually says
it) is to create conditions for Russia's eventual global dominance. To
promote multi-polarity, Dugin advocates a series of strategic alliances to
shift the balance of power away from the United States.

Digin is now associated with the Eurasian movement in Russia, which
transformed itself from a few groups of followers and admirers of Dugin's
ideology into an officially recognized political organization: OPOD Eurasia
(abbreviation in Russian of the phrase Social Political Movement Eurasia).
Sometimes Dugin's form of Eurasianism is called neo-Eurasianism, to
distinguish it from the traditional 19th-century Eurasianism, which is much
closer to the pan-Slavic nationalism, Slavophile movement and Christian
Orthodoxy. Dugin's ideology, in contrast, is much more of a geopolitical
doctrine.

Considering Russia's current state of development, Eurasianism seems
increasingly likely to be the form of nationalism that will prevail in
Russia and become Russia's new national strategy. Eurasianism could replace
Communism as an ideology to counter what is being perceived in Russia as
American dominance in the world. The post-Soviet Russia has lacked a
coherent national idea to unify Russians and give them something to believe
in other than personal survival. At present, the Eurasian movement seems to
be the most likely nationalist movement to gain power in Russia. Dugin
already serves as an international affairs adviser to several senior Duma
leaders. Neo-Eurasianists have access to President Vladimir Putin and
support him as long as he continues to move in a direction they feel is in
Russia's long-term interests.

Through his contacts in the Russian government, Dugin acquired access to
some foreign politicians and dignitaries. He is especially interested in
courting the leaders of the Turkic nations. According to Dugin's ideology,
Eurasia's core consists of Slavic and Turkic elements and combines Christian
Orthodoxy with Islam. In order to promote his vision of Eurasianism, Dugin
needs help from leaders and peoples of countries such as Turkey, Azerbaijan,
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The public and the leaders of
these countries are not very familiar with the views of Alexander Dugin and
sometimes tend to overlook his hidden agenda, naively believing that Dugin
promotes nothing but friendship, cooperation and inter-cultural integration.
Instead of viewing him as an enemy of the Turkic peoples, they see him as a
friendly ambassador of good will from Russia.

For example, Dugin, not so long ago, met with the Turkish ambassador and
held negotiations with Turkish parliamentarians on the creation of a
Eurasian-oriented "assembly" consisting of members of the parliaments of
both countries. Outside Russia, Dugin's ideas seem to be most influential in
Central Asia, namely, in Kazakhstan. This republic has a wide network of
Eurasian-oriented groups and organizations. Dugin, in his book devoted to
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, praises him for cooperating
with Russian Eurasianists. Dugin's web site, www.evrazia.org, contains links
to numerous foreign (including three Turkish) organizations that share his
ideology or cooperate with his movement.

All these contacts and interactions seem innocent enough until we find out
what the real goals of Mr. Dugin are. It needs to be noted that during
Perestroika and in the early 1990's Dugin was involved with the extreme
right-wing nationalist movement Pamyat (Memory). Members of Pamyat were
notorious for organizing anti-Semitic and xenophobic demonstrations and
meetings in Moscow and other cities that often ended up in violence. After
the fall of the Soviet Union, Dugin helped write the platform of the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Later he abandoned the Communist
Party and started espousing a mixture of Russian nationalist and
quasi-Fascist ideas that finally evolved into Eurasianism. While Dugin's
Eurasian movement cannot be immediately identified as a form of neo- or
post-Fascism, its ideology certainly includes some elements of the Russian
variety of Fascism, such as idealization of the Russian people, selective
xenophobia, hostility to Western-style democracy and glorification of the
Russian Orthodox Church. The Eurasian movement advocates a mixed economy
with small-scale capitalism and strategic vital sectors under control of the
state.

It is illuminating to read what Mr. Dugin suggests Moscow's policy should be
with regards to Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, two autonomous regions within
Russia populated by Turkic peoples. According to his writings these ethnic
republics ought to be discouraged from establishing closer ties with each
other and instead should be urged to seek closer integration with the
neighboring Russian regions in order to prevent the emergence of a powerful
Turkic bloc in the Volga-Urals area capable of challenging Kremlin's
authority.

Nevertheless, despite Dugin's overt hostility to Tatars and Bashkirs, he
managed to convince some prominent Tatars, such as Mufti Talgat Tajutdin, to
join his movement (Talgat Tajutdin is, in fact, a member of the ruling
committee of the above-mentioned OPOD Eurasia.) During the recent
celebration of Kazan's 1000-year anniversary, both Putin and Tatarstan's
President Shaimiyev spoke enthusiastically about Tatarstan's role in
strengthening Eurasian integration.

The Eurasian ideology presents a grave danger for Turkic peoples because it
can deceive Tatars, Bashkirs, and other ethnic minorities of Russia, as well
as leaders of independent Turkic nations into believing that Moscow is not
trying to re-create its empire but rather to establish a geopolitical bloc
in which all the ethnic groups would have equal influence and power. Turkey,
Azerbaijan, and Central Asian states ought to be very cautious and
suspicious of Dugin's "Eurasian movement." Despite superficial appearance
of being a Turkic-friendly ideology, Dugin's doctrine seeks to promote
expansion of Russia's sphere of influence with the ultimate goal of creating
a global Russian empire dominating the entire world. If this goal ever
becomes a reality, Turkic peoples would once again find themselves colonized
and oppressed by Russia.