Who are the Turanians ?
WELCOME to the realm of the Turanians. The Turanians are a family of related ethno-linguistic groups: the Hungarians, the peoples of the Caucasus, the Uralic group (Finnic and West Siberian peoples), and the Altaic group (Turkic, Mongolian, Tungus-Manchu, Korean and Japanese peoples). The Turanians are the indigenous inhabitants of vast territories in Eurasia and have a rich and ancient cultural heritage.
In this thread , I present cultural, historical, and other background information concerning the Turanian peoples and their lands, focusing on some of the most important issues facing them: the preservation of their cultural identity and natural environment, and their struggle for self-determination.
Throughout history, the Turanian lands have been invaded by foreigners: Semites, Persians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, Slavs, and Germanic peoples. In many cases, the indigenous Turanian peoples have been and are still subjected to genocide, colonization, deportation, or assimilation. Foreign rule has not only caused great losses in demographic and cultural terms, but also economically and environmentally as severe damages have been inflicted by the exploitation and pollution of the Turanian lands by states such as Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) and China. Faced with all these hardships, the Turanian peoples are struggling to preserve their distinct cultural identity and to reassert their rights.
Among the main challenges facing the Turanian nations today are the severe environmental, political, economic, ethnic, demographic, social, and cultural problems created by the communist regimes of the former Soviet Bloc and China. In many cases, the communist elites of the former Soviet Bloc have managed to remain in control of the state apparatus with the help of the financial resources illegally gained from the privatization of the state assets. These corrupt "post-communist" regimes in east-central Europe and the former Soviet Union, as well as the remaining communist regimes in Asia, are an obstacle to democracy, and to the political, economic and cultural self-determination of the peoples of the region.
TURANIAN ORIGINS
The historical geographical name of Turan refers to the area East of the Caspian sea. Archeological research has shown that this area saw the development of a highly evolved civilization of Sumerian (Mesopotamian) origin (S.P. Tolstov: Ancient Chorasmia). The Sumerians were the creators of the first known civilization, the inventors of agriculture, metallurgy, the wheel, writing, and astronomy, among others (S.N. Kramer: History begins at Sumer).
The 19th century researchers who discovered and studied the ancient Mesopotamian Sumerian language determined that it was related to the Turanian languages (M. Érdy: The Sumerian Ural-Altaic Magyar Relationship). Comparative linguistic analysis indicates that of all known ethno-linguistic groups, the Hungarian, Turkic, Caucasian and Finnic languages are by far the closest to Sumerian (K. Gosztony: Dictionnaire d'étymologie sumérienne et grammaire comparée). This is confirmed by archeological and anthropological evidence which shows that thousands of years ago, the Sumerians and other related Near Eastern peoples settled in the vast region of Central Eurasia from the Carpathian basin to the Altai mountains, from the Urals and Siberia to Iran and India (L. Götz: Keleten Kel a Nap (The Sun Rises in the East)).
The descendants of these Sumerian-related peoples were known as the Scythians, Sarmatians, Medes, Parthians, Chorasmians, Kushans, Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Khazars and Magyars, among others, and gave rise to the Finnic and Turkic-Mongolian ethnic groups. These Turanian peoples created flourishing cultures and states which exerted a determining influence on the peripheral Eurasian cultures of Europe, the Middle East, Persia, India, and China, as well as on the formation of the various Eurasian ethno-linguistic groups.
See Historical Chronology
continued. . .
Last edited by Turkic Brat; 07-15-2008 at 09:23 AM.
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