Türkana Destanlar

Turkistan

INTRODUCTION

TURKISTAN, "Land of the Turks", is a Newsletter and a Discussion List intended to disseminate information (T-N) and promote discussion (T-L) about topics relating to the culture(s), history, and language(s) of the people(s) known by the name "Turk". (Please see below.)

TURKISTAN has meant different things at various times. In earlier periods the term "Turkistan" usually referred to a region in Central Asia, as used for example by the 17th century historian and ruler of Xiva (Khiva), Abulghazi Bahadur Xan (Khan). Later, in the 19th century, "Turkistan" conveyed a specific administrative-territorial division of Russian colonial rule in Central Asia. Beginning in the late 19th century, there also arose the idea of the broader shared identity of those peoples who are Turks, and it is in this broader, inclusive sense that this term is used in this Newsletter and Discussion List.

Why is there a need for such a list? TURKISTAN can now link members of many far-flung communities and the scholars who study them without regard for vast distances and political boundaries. Another important need that TURKISTAN can fulfill is as a forum for helping many people to understand what the "Turk" in TURKISTAN might mean for them personally.

TURKISTAN is not intended as a vehicle to advocate any political point of view, ideology, movement, secessionist movement, or violence of any sort, nor is TURKISTAN intended as a forum for negative, derogatory, or inflammatory comments about any ethnic or national group, political point of view, ideology, movement, religion, or state. On the other hand, one may argue dispassionately that some groups of Turks have been demonized in order to justify imperial expansion, or denigrated to justify colonial rule, or have become the "significant other" in the construction of national ideologies by other modern nations. It is important to recognize and understand that these are universal aspects of human history and the human condition, as demonstrated by social scientists. It is also important to recognize that each of the modern nations of the Turks has its own cherished national myths that only serve to obscure a better understanding of the past and the world that many groups of Turks have shared with many other peoples for over fourteen centuries. Thus, the goal of TURKISTAN is a better understanding of the world around us through a better understanding of ourselves.

posted by Altas @ 7:06 ÖS