Who are Turks? In dictionary definition, Turk is the citizen of Republic of Türkiye right now. If you were a subject of the Ottoman Empire, regardless of being Greek or Armenian; you could be called a Turk. From European perspective Muslims were Turks. In medieval times Turks were a different type of people; not todays men in western suits or Ottoman men in kaftan and entari two centuries ago. They were semi-nomadic people on horses. Turk meant “nomad” literally. It also meant “soldier” in most of the cases. If you had a Turkish name beside your original name, you belonged to the warrior class. Names have dynamic significations, unlike our fantasies.
Much has happened until now, “Turk” had numerous definitions. Nowadays, it means citizen of Türkiye, though is it the same within Turkey? Not exactly. The word “Turk” has a mythical self asserted identity. Just like the Turkich speaking Babur, and his state being named as Mughals, claiming descent from Genghis Khan. The name is a political choice, to instill fear among the rivals. Turk was also a feared name due to Turks being warriors in the manner of Mongols.
Mughals were comprised of Indo-Persian state and Indian populace. The ruling elite were nomadic Turkic warriors, though they’re dissolved in the Indian culture over time. Ottoman forebearers of Türkiye were also nomadic Turkic warriors, again they were dissolved over time to be an Anatolian mix which has no resemblance to their mythical identity. In fact, both of these states have undermined the nomads.
The modern states of Pakistan and Türkiye claim to be successor states of Mughals and Ottomans, which have inaccurate identities. Pakistan and Türkiye are close allies and similar in their sense of identity. They’re also similar in the downfall and struggle against the modern world. Two countries show us there is a problem with their identity. Nor they’re their ancestors, neither their ancestors were what they thought to be. Mythical figues of ancient central Asia worked for a while, yet it doesn’t bear fruits right now.
At any effort, one should stand on concrete grounds, not physically but in terms of knowledge. Without the facts, the knowledge building won’t stand, downfall seems inevitable. The beginning of problem solving is identification. Identify, diagnose properly, than we may continue to work. Otherwise, you’d lose an empire and strive to be the servant of factual identities.
The solution starts with identifying properly. We cannot build the floors withoung standing on the ground. We should leave the myths and start to realize that our fantasies are not reality. The building foundation of these states are on the sky, we need them on the ground. These are Anatolian and Indian countries. First thing to do is to acknowledge true self and than continue to build better identities than ever.