Turanian Society a society founded in 1839 by Tatars, aiming at uniting the various Turkic peoples

Turkic peoples

The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...

 of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

.

The name is derived from Turan

Turan

Tūrān is the Persian name for Central Asia, literally meaning "the land of the Tur". As described below, the original Turanians are an Iranian tribe of the Avestan age. As a people the "Turanian" are one of the two Iranian peoples both descending from the Persian Fereydun but with different...

, an ancient Persian name for the land to the East of Iran where many Turkic peoples live, and Turan, the goal of an all Turks uniting state.

The organisation is one of the earliest forerunners for modern Pan-Turkism

Pan-Turkism

Pan-Turkism is a nationalist movement that emerged in 1880s among the Turkic intellectuals of the Russian Empire, with the aim of cultural and political unification of all Turkic peoples.-Name:...

 and Turanism

Turanism

Turanism, or Pan-Turanism, is a political movement for the union of all Turanian peoples. It implies not merely the unity of all Turkic peoples , but also the unification of a wider Turanid "race", also known as the controversial Uralo-Altaic "race," believed to include all peoples speaking...

.

During the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century similar societies were founded in many other countries with claimed Turanian roots:

• Hungarian Turanian Society, Hungary, founded 1910, a conservative and highly secretive
  Secret society
  A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
  
   Turanianist group. It printed the Turan magazine, with frequent articles on Japan, sent a cultural mission to Japan in 1922 and supporting greater links between the Hungarian Royal Household and the Japanese Imperial Family;
• Turanian Alliance of Hungary founded 1920.
• Turanian National Alliance or Alliance of Turanian People ("Turan Minzoku Domei"), founded in Japan in 1921
• Japanese Turanian Society early 1930s; and

In 1914, in the context of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, a Yenl Turan (New Turanian Society) was formed in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 and supported by both Bolsheviks and the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

. This project had a strong Islamist agenda and aimed also at non-Turanian Muslims of Central Asia.

External links

• The Nazi Connection with Shambhala and Tibet, Alexander Berzin, May 2003, The Berzin Archives