Central Asia’s Increasing Commitment to Ankara’s Turkic World Alarms Moscow

(Paul Globe – The Jamestown Foundation) Moscow has long been nervous about the growing identification of Central Asians and their governments with the Turkic world. New steps both Türkiye and Central Asian countries have been taking are sparking alarm in the Russian capital. The Kremlin fears that such moves will threaten Moscow’s efforts to retain influence in that region and its broader ideological and organizational efforts to prevent the further disintegration of Russian influence in the former Soviet space. Moscow has forced some Central Asian countries to declare that they have no intention of becoming part of a Türkiye-led security community, but it is losing its positions in Central Asia and will be unlikely to regain them even when its war against Ukraine ends. – Central Asia’s Increasing Commitment to Ankara’s Turkic World Alarms Moscow – Jamestown