CENTRAL ASIAN – OTTOMAN RELATIONS IN THE 19TH CENTURY IN MODERN TURKISH HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The article provides a historiographical analysis of how the relations between the Central Asian Khanates and the Ottoman Empire have been interpreted in modern Turkish historiography. It examines the scholarly approaches of Turkish researchers, their theoretical frameworks, source base, and the principal trends in the development of research on this subject.

            The study is based on the principles of historicism and objectivity and employs historiographical and source-critical methods. The research draws upon monographs, scholarly articles, doctoral dissertations published in Türkiye, as well as contemporary academic publications devoted to Turkish historiography.

            The findings demonstrate that modern Turkish historiography extensively examines the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Bukhara, Khiva, and Kokand Khanates within the context of diplomatic relations, trade networks, and cultural exchange. The study also reveals a significant increase in recent years in research based on documents preserved in the Ottoman Archives, which has contributed to the emergence of new conceptual approaches to the study of this topic.

            The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, for the first time, scholarly works in modern Turkish historiography devoted to the relations between the Central Asian Khanates and the Ottoman Empire have been systematically classified through a historiographical analysis. A comparative assessment is provided of the theoretical and methodological approaches adopted by Turkish scholars, the characteristics of their use of historical sources, and the evolution of their scholarly interpretations. The findings contribute to the evaluation of contemporary foreign historiography on the history of relations between the Central Asian Khanates and the Ottoman Empire, identify existing research gaps, and provide a scholarly foundation for further comparative and interdisciplinary studies.