“Pan-Islamism from the very emergence in the Caucasus carried the coloring of pan-Turkism”: the ideas of Turkic and Islamic unity in the assessments of the Russian authorities in the early XX century

Scientific article

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-1-33-49

For citation

Senyutkina, Olga N. (2025). “Pan-Islamism from the very emergence in the Caucasus carried the coloring of pan-Turkism”: the ideas of Turkic and Islamic unity in the assessments of the Russian authorities in the early XX century, Herald of an Archivist, № 1, pp. 33-49, doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2025-1-33-49

Senyutkina, Olga N., N. A. Dobrolyubov Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

“Pan-Islamism from the very emergence in the Caucasus carried the coloring of pan-Turkism”: the ideas of Turkic and Islamic unity in the assessments of the Russian authorities in the early XX century

Abstract

The author aimed to study the influence of pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism of the Young Turks on the Caucasian society in the optics of the Russian authorities on the eve of the First World War (1908-1914). The closely related ideologies of pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism existed in the political discourse of the ruling elite of the Russian Empire during the final period of its history. The imperial authorities often exaggerated their danger, considering these ideologies a threat to the state and an expressed basis for political separatism. The same line was later inherited by the Soviet regime and partially shared by contemporaries, considering Pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism in its ideas and individual real manifestations as an enemy force. The definitions of “pan-Islamism” and “pan-Turkism” are still used in the political vocabulary of a number of states and societies - therefore, the relevance of the topic of the article has not passed into the past and represents the issue of strengthening the security of the Russian Federation. The structure of the article is largely determined by the logic of the presentation of the analyzed archival sources of the special repository of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF), dedicated to the activities of the so-called pan-Islamist and pan-Turkist movements and groups in the Caucasus in the pre-war period. The novelty of the article lies in the use of archival unpublished material, in the emphasis on the policy of the Young Turk regime towards the neighboring Caucasus, as well as in the disclosure of the topic through the eyes of officials and observers of the Russian state. Method of research: comparison of the analyzed documents of the GARF special repository with other published and unpublished documents, some of which are not part of the historiography of the Young Turks' influence on the Caucasus. It is concluded that the Young Turks continued the line of pan-Islamism used during the reign of Abdul-Hamid II, but significantly adjusted it, coloring it in the “pan-Turkist color”. Ottomanization took a new form.

Keywords

Pan-Islamism, pan-Turkism, Young Turks, Caucasus, Russia, Turkey, Abdul-Hamid II's rule, pre-World War I, Russian special services, military agents, pan-Islamist committees in Baku, Tiflis, Derbent.

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About authors

Senyutkina Olga N., Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, N. A. Dobrolyubov Nizhny Novgorod State Linguistic University, Department of History and World Politics, Professor, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, 8-905-661-47-47, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Grant information

This article was prepared with the financial support of the RNF grant, project “Pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism: History, Modernity and Prognostic Discourse in Persons and Events”, No. 24-28-00188, https://rscf.ru/project/24-28-00188/

The article was received in the editorial offic e on 04.09.2024, recommended for publication on 20.12.2024