TURKIC ROOTS OF THE KAZAKH NATIONAL IDEA: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of modern national identities among the late 19th - early 20th century Turkic people, discussing the complex interplay between pre-modern ethnic organization and modern national identity. The study investigates the rise of nationalist ideas among Turkic Muslim populations under Ottoman and Russian rule, particularly emphasizing the Kazan Tatars, the Ottoman Turks, and Central Asian communities. The historiographic analysis highlights the role of key intellectual figures in shaping these identities through linguistic, historical, and cultural reforms. The main focus is on the foreign influences on the development of Kazakh intelligentsia; while the classic academic literature praises Russian and European thought in that development, particularly through interactions with Jadid reformers and Russian ethnographers, this paper tackles that notion by examining previously unrecognized Turkic intellectual roots of Kazakh nationalism. The paper argues that the concept of a territorial nation was not adopted exclusively from European ideas, as assumed in Western-centric scholarship, but also had inner intellectual roots. With the example of the Kazakh national movement, the discourse of nation is exposed as instrumental in developing distinct modern national identities across the Turkic world.

Key words: nation-building, national identity, national idea, historical memory