“The idea of national identity through the prism of “national history” largely hinders the integration process in many respects,” Yerkin Baidarov (Kazakhstan) notes in an article specifically for CABAR.asia.
The issue of forming the regional identity of Central Asia regained its relevance at the end of December 2022 on the sidelines of the Central Asian Media Forum in Astana, when the need to “feel not only part of your country, but also the common region of Central Asia” was simultaneously spoken by the official representatives of Kyrgyzstan (Suyunbek Kasmambetov, Secretary of State of the Kyrgyz Republic) and Uzbekistan (Eldor Aripov, Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of Uzbekistan), once again showing the relevance of such discussions both in the academic and in the socio-political sphere of the countries of the region.
“Barriers” and “bridges” on the way to regional identity
In the context of geopolitical turbulence in the sphere of international relations, political and socio-cultural bifurcation, which as well has affected the region of Central Asia, which in turn leads to the entropy of its social systems, research interest in the identity of the Central Asian communities is again taking on a new urgency (actualized).
Speaking of “identity”, it is important to choose an adequate definition of this term, since it has different interpretations in various branches of socio-humanitarian knowledge. In this connection, according to the interdisciplinary encyclopedic dictionary “Globalistics”, identity is a certain stability of individual, cultural or civilizational parameters, their self-identity, where the initial levels of identity are associated with traditional (national) culture[1]. However, the increasing level of understanding of the role of identity in the life of a person and society leads us to the conclusion that such basic institutions of the Central Asian states as politics and economics cannot function without relying on regional identity.
Without questioning the importance of national identity, in the context of deglobalization, in our opinion, formation of the regional identity of the countries of Central Asia is important. Back in the 1930s, Mustafa Shokai (1890-1941), referring to the youth of ” Central Asia and Kazakhstan”, noted that the historical roots of the peoples of the region are one, the culture, traditions and customs are the same, therefore, they should have a single socio-political ideal – a single and indivisible region (Turkestan, Turan, Transoxiana – Y.B.) with common material and spiritual values [2]. This is precisely the task facing the political and intellectual elites of the countries of Central Asia today In favor of raising such a question, shows the process of returning the subjectivity of the Central Asian region in the system of international relations as evidenced by both the intensification of intra-regional relations, as well as attention to the region by both world and regional powers, whose role “at the junction of Russia, China, South Asia, the Middle East, and the South Caucasus” (K.K. Tokayev) is rapidly growing in the new geopolitical realities.
Given this, the tendency towards rapprochement of the states of the region in many positions in recent years has become obvious. At the same time, the variety of approaches to the forms of establishing partnerships with each other is not an obstacle to the realization by the countries of Central Asia of the importance of strengthening relationships. Today this can be seen in the example of various bilateral, multilateral agreements on joint actions in the political, economic, cultural, and other spheres, although the real impact from them has not yet been truly felt.
However, in the dilemma between the economy and geopolitics of the countries of the region, the first seeks to integrate national economic strategies, and the second begins to deform integration processes.
This raises from the depths of memory certain claims (ethno-national, territorial, and others) that do not fit into a stable and progressive historical and economic process, leading to the depletion of political resources and the emergence of a number of conflict zones. At the same time, the weakening and destruction of old forms of collective, ethnic, territorial, and social identity in society lays the foundation for the formation of new structural heterogeneity and social differentiation. It means, there is a demand not only for the geopolitical and geo-economic but also for its cultural and civilizational dimensions.The existing barriers are partly related to the complex processes of cultural and civilizational self-determination of the states of the region. Such a contrast between the socio-creative advantages of nomadic and sedentary cultures, to a certain extent, feeds a feeling of hostility, which leads to an increase in the trend of mutual alienation and prevents priority from being given to the dialogue nature of the interaction of the cultures of the peoples inhabiting it. In this regard, the formation of the regional identity of the countries of Central Asia is becoming one of the urgent problems of the modern political and socio-cultural life of the peoples of Central Asia.
Formation of the regional identity of the Central Asian countries includes the solution of the following tasks: the study of historical roots and the study of economic, political and cultural factors of Central Asian identity; analysis of the Hanafi madhhab and Maturidism as the doctrinal foundations of the faith of the Muslim Ummah of the region as one of the identifying signs of Central Asian identity; study of the linguistic component of regional identity based on the Turkic, Farsi and Arabic languages as an ethno-cultural and ethno-confessional basics of the regional identity; study of ethnic identity and ethnic nationalism, cultural identity and cultural nationalism (origins and current state) of Central Asian communities; analysis of the role of economic and political integration in the formation of regional identity, identification of disintegration factors; study of socio-cultural integration and the impact of modern challenges on the process of regionalization of Central Asia; proposals for the formation of regional symbols (social institutions, customs, traditions, historical figures, cultural brands, etc.) representing the civilizational matrix of Central Asia, etc.
Reinterpretation of history as barrier on the way to regional identity
The countries of Central Asia, together representing a kind of “vagina gentium” (“cradle of peoples”), at the present stage of their development, in addition to creating and strengthening their national institutions, are more engaged in the formation of their national identity, which has acquired the path of reinterpretation of history.
Today, there is a pronounced tendency to mythologize the ancient and medieval history of the ethnic communities of the region, when authentic sources and scientific research methods are ignored, and a pseudo-history is created, which is used as a “political resource“. It is becoming more and more common, but far from normal, that the authors of some modern publications unrestrainedly exalt the distant past of their people and, on the contrary, purposefully downplay the importance of the history of other peoples of the region, openly denying any contribution from their side to the development of civilization. Particularly distinctive are national distractions around the historical positions of the period preceding modernity: representatives of different nations are holding fierce scientific and political disputes about the “national” affiliation of a particular historical figure (for example, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Yusuf Balasaguni, Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Alisher Navoi etc.), which is a favorite subject of discussion of nationalists.
Appeal to the “great ancestors” is, as a rule, one of the resources of ethnic mobilization in the struggle for national statehood. All this makes an articulated attitude to history (the key links in ethnopolitical history) an essential part of ethnic identification. It is in this perspective that the ideologeme “national history” exists and functions within the framework of nationally oriented pictures of the world and structures of mentality.
Moreover, if we paraphrase the modern Tajik philosopher, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan Akbar Turson, then the “politically immature and morally unripe” Central Asian nationalism began to clearly degrade “into the ideology of self-eating sub-ethnism, which has acquired a locally pathological form ”, where “the provincial minds of national apologists, and even insecure regional boasters, are most interested in the past, than the present and future of the region ” [3].
Thus, the idea of national identity “sitting” in the minds of the Central Asian society (primarily its political elite) through the prism of “national history” largely hinders the integration process. The process of formation of national symbols is in full swing, around which a universal ideology is built, where the “first violin” is played by the heads of the Central Asian states, who, due to certain circumstances, are not aware of the detrimental nature of such “deconstructions” for the future development of the region.
Modern “trends” of national history in the countries of Central Asia
Such “battles for history”, aimed at raising national self-consciousness, certainly have the right to exist. However, in order to transform Central Asia into a modern regional civilization with an integral cultural and civilizational ideology, it is necessary to strengthen the axiological approach in interpreting and rationalizing the peoples of the region of their place in history. For this, it is extremely necessary to rely on the recognized and verified idea of historicism, which excludes the struggle for the title of “the most ancient ”, “the most cultural” in the traditional civilizational project standardized according to the Western model. In our opinion, the formation of “exclusivist national identities” in the Central Asian region may have a negative impact on both the further development and the security of the states of the region, making it weak in front of world and other regional powers that have their own geopolitical interests in the region.
In this context, Samuel Huntington is right in many respects, noting that question: “Who are we?”, includes linguistic, national, religious, civilizational affiliations and territorial identity represented, including by a single region [4], acting today as one of the important elements of the existence of modern communities.
If earlier belonging to other civilizations was recognized as a matter of difference, then at present this belonging is becoming the central link in the worldview. At the same time, “civilizational foundations now turn out to be the true foundations of being, i.e., grouping is not against country X, not for country Y, not around Z, but around the facts of its history and geography, in the niche of its cultural, historical, civilizational community.[5] There are plenty of such cultural and civilizational phenomena that determine the specificity, essence, unity, and stability of the Central Asian civilization. Therefore, the urgent task of the cultural and civilizational development of the countries of the region at the present stage is to preserve the system of values that their ancestors developed over the centuries, to clearly answer the question about the future of their countries, to return the basic cultural and civilizational guidelines, to give citizens confidence in the future, where a common regional identity, its own cultural and civilizational community and history can be a platform for unification.
In this aspect, I would especially like to highlight the opinion of the great Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov, who in one of his last interviews noted that “historical commonality, linguistic similarity, the presence of common traditions, customs give us innumerable opportunities to be together and build together a new world, a single civilizational community ” [6].
Of course, a regional identity cannot be formed just because someone wants it to be so. It will be possible only if there is the will of the peoples inhabiting it. And it is not always predetermined by political or economic models. However, the trend towards regional rapprochement that has developed in Central Asia is a historically conditioned reality and meets the fundamental interests of all the peoples of Central Asia. A certain hope in the ongoing processes is inspired by the signed in 2022 by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan on the sidelines of the IV Consultative Meeting of the Heads of States of Central Asia in Cholpon-Ata – the “Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation for the Development of Central Asia in the 21st Century”, to which Tajikistan and Turkmenistan can join in the future.
The importance of forming a regional identity is also due to the fact that the citizens of the region know little about each other and at the same time are actively ready for cooperation within the region. This, for example, is evidenced by the results of the research project “United Central Asia. Obstacles, Opportunities, Perspectives” of the 2021 Central Asia Barometer[7] in cooperation with the Rosa Luxembourg Foundation.
Conclusion
Despite political borders, the countries and peoples of the Central Asian region live in the same cultural and civilizational space, and it is impossible to separate the historical, cultural, and civilizational heritage of the region. This property belongs equally to the entire population of the Central Asian cultural and civilizational space. The formation of a regional identity is a path not only to new ideas regarding regional integration, but also to expanding our understanding of its possibilities, since the existing cultural and civilizational foundations for its implementation in Central Asia are more than sufficient. The time has come to “beat swords into plowshares” and build a new Central Asia, where every resident involved in the region will sincerely rejoice in its successes and sincerely suffer its misfortune…
[1] Fedotova N.N. Identity /// Global Studies: International Interdisciplinary Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. ed. and comp.: I.I. Mazur, A.N. Chumakov. Published: M.-SPb. – New York: Elima, Peter, 2006. – S. 343.
[2]See: Shokay M. 1936 zhyly Berlin kalasynda Turkistan zhastarynyn aldynda soylegen sozi // M. Shokay. Turkistan kyly tagdyry. – Almaty: Zhalyn, 1992. – S. 64-65.
[3] Turson A. Historical destiny of oriental studies. Methodological prelude // Iran-Name. – 2009. – No. 11. – S. 99.
[4] Huntington S. Who We Are: Challenges to American National Identity / Per. from English. A. Bashkirova. – M.: LLC “Publishing House AST”, 2004. – S. 35, 39.
[5] Utkin A.I. Atlantic and other worlds: civilizational barriers // USA and Europe: prospects for relationships at the turn of the century / Ed. ed. A.I. Utkin. – M.: Nauka, 2000. – S. 21.
[6] Abbasov T. Great Thresholds of Eternal Peace: An Interview with Chingiz Aitmatov // Kaspiyz Magazine. – 2008. – No. 1 (9). – Aug. Sept. – S. 33.
[7] https://ca-barometer.org/assets/files/froala/e777d1f1fdb380fb89f74c8fdcded08b6659c1d2.pdf