The Turkish Ministry of National Education has announced changes to the history curriculum — the term “Central Asia” will be replaced with “Turkestan”. This was reported by the official website of Turkey’s TRT television and radio company.
The report cites Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who emphasized the importance of the unity of the Turkic world: “We will work shoulder to shoulder to make the coming period the era of the Turks, spreading our vision of the ‘Turkish Century’ to the Organization of Turkic States.”
Professor Ahmet Taşagıl explained the historical significance of the term Turkestan to TRT Haber. “The word Turkestan, meaning ‘homeland of the Turks’, has been used since the earliest periods of history. In the second half of the 19th century, as a result of the Russian invasion, the concept of Central Asia was introduced and spread instead of the name Turkestan,” he said.
Experts believe that this change is part of a broader strategy to strengthen ties in the Turkic world, including by creating a common history, literature, maps, and alphabet.
At a meeting in Baku (Azerbaijan) in September, the Turkic World Common Alphabet Commission finalized its two-year development of a Latin-based Common Turkic Alphabet consisting of 34 letters.
The Turkic Academy stated at the time that the development of the Common Turkic Alphabet, first proposed by scientists in 1991, promotes mutual understanding and cooperation among the Turkic peoples while preserving their linguistic heritage.
The Organization of Turkic States currently comprising Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, with Hungary and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as observers, was founded in 2009 to foster comprehensive cooperation among Turkic-speaking nations.