THE ROLE OF ETHNIC TURKMENS IN THE FORMATION OF A SAFE BUFFER ZONE BETWEEN TURKMENISTAN AND AFGHANISTAN

Abstract

In the 19th century, the “Game on the Roof of the World”, in which the three great empires of Russia, Great Britain and China fought for dominance in Central Asia, led to the fact that it was customary to draw borders in accordance with the sphere of influence of one of the empires, and not with the actual location of individual nations, peoples or tribes. Thus, the Turkmens found themselves in large numbers living not only in the territory of Turkmenistan and the former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), but also in neighboring Iran and Afghanistan. The success of the October Revolution and the Civil War in the USSR led to the growth of the Turkmen population in the border countries at the expense of refugees and ideological schismatics. In the middle of the 19th century, this territory, in addition to having no access to the sea (even to the Caspian Sea), was considered relatively unsuitable for human settlement and the development of a civilized society, and therefore was left exclusively by Pashtun Persians and Turkic-speaking inhabitants of the north [1.167-172]. Thus, it was a natural barrier for various political forces. Border lines were drawn between the warring parties, and at that time no one was particularly interested in where this or that ethnic group would end up.