The Map is Just the Tip of the Iceberg: It is Deadly for Russia

The leader of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahçeli, has gifted a map of the Turkic world to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which encompasses a significant part of Russian territory. This was reported by Svobodnaya Pressa.

The media outlet spoke with experts who noted that Russia should take the emergence of such a map very seriously. It reflects the ideology of Pan-Turkism, which is increasingly solidifying its positions in Turkey.

If today Ankara operates with soft power to restore the “Turkic world,” it could later employ other tools that may lead to geopolitical clashes with Russia.

“Turkey has significant financial and material resources with which it can increase its influence in the post-Soviet space and Russia. They want to strengthen their influence in this area, create a Pan-Turkist world and, based on that, bolster their positions in Europe, the Middle East, and globally,” said Boris Shmelyov, head of the Center for International Economic and Political Research at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Victor Nadein-Raevsky, a researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences, also addressed the issue's power aspect, stating that the Turks have already gained initial experience of active actions in the post-Soviet space. Thanks to Turkish governance throughout this operation, they achieved evident successes and defeated Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. I can say this because the Armenian army did not cross the borders of Karabakh.

Thus, the map is just the tip of the iceberg. This is a very dangerous phenomenon, and this project has largely already been implemented. However, in our Turkic republics, as well as in the newly independent states, we have left everything in a state of disarray instead of strengthening the positions of Russia and the Russian language. The Turks effectively capitalized on this.

Is this dangerous for Russia? Yes, it is deadly, as the survival of the Russian state depends on it,” he concluded.

It is noteworthy that after the meeting of the “Grey Wolves” leader Bahçeli and Erdoğan, a photo of the politicians was released, where they stand holding a framed version of the map. The map indicates that almost 20 constituent subjects of the Russian Federation, from Dagestan to the Orenburg region, including a considerable part of Siberia, have been attributed to the “Turkic world.”

On the map, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are marked in red. Some countries in the Balkan Peninsula, part of Iran, Russia's southern regions, as well as a large portion of Siberia and Western Mongolia are indicated in orange, while Altai, Yakutia, and regions in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region are highlighted in yellow. The specific meanings of these colors remain unclear.