PanTuranism

Pan-Turanism is a political and cultural ideology that envisions a broad union of Turanian peoples across Eurasia, based on perceived linguistic and cultural affinities. The concept extends beyond the core Turkic-speaking world in some versions, incorporating other groups labeled Turanian by certain ethnographic theories.

Its intellectual roots lie in Turanism within Turkish nationalist thought. Among Turkish thinkers, Ziya Gökalp is associated with Turanic ideas that framed a wider civilizational community beyond Turkey’s borders, and the notion drew on earlier Persian literary depictions of Turan as well as 19th-century ethnographic classifications that grouped various Eurasian peoples under a Turan label.

Variations existed in practice. Some advocates emphasized cultural and educational cooperation, scientific exchange, and soft political ties, while others pressed for explicit political unions or federations among Turkic and other Turanian peoples across Central Asia, the Caucasus, and parts of Europe. The inclusion of non-Turkic groups varied and was controversial; critics argued that the framework rested on racialized or essentialist assumptions rather than solid political or historical foundations.

Pan-Turanism remained a minority current and never produced a durable multinational bloc. It influenced nationalist rhetoric in the late Ottoman era, and found resonance in some Azerbaijani and Central Asian intellectual circles. In contemporary scholarship, Pan-Turanism is generally treated as an historical example of early 20th-century ethnonationalist thought rather than a lasting political program.