D. AMETB LOCATING TURKEY IN KAZAKHSTAN‘S EURASIAN IDENTITY EK METU METU EK DINMUKHAMMED AMETBEK JULY 2015 2015 LOCATING TURKEY IN KAZAKHSTAN‘S ERASIAN IDENTITY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY DINMUKHAMMED AMETBEK IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS JULY 2015 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha AltunıĢık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _____________________ Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı (METU, IR) ________________________ Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güner Özkan (Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi, IR) Assoc. Prof. Hasan Ali Karasar (Atılım Üniversitesi, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı (METU, PSPA) Assist. Prof. Dr. IĢık KuĢçu (METU, IR) PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Dinmukhammed Ametbek Signature : iii ABSTRACT LOCATING TURKEY IN KAZAKHSTAN‘S EURASIAN IDENTITY Ametbek, Dinmukhammed Ph.D., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı July 2015, 315 pages In this dissertation I analyzed Kazakhstan‘s perception of Turkey in the post- independence period. In my examination, I applied Constructivist as well as the image theory of International Relations. In Constructivist understanding, it is the identity of the state, which determines its perception. Based on this conception, the main argument of the study is that the basic determinant of the Kazakhstan‘s perception of Turkey is Kazakhstan‘s national identity. Due to the demographic and geopolitical conditions of the country, Nazarbayev identified Kazakhstan as a Eurasian state. Since then, Eurasianism became a state ideology of Kazakhstan‘s pluralism and multilateralism at the core of which Kazakh-Russian or Turkic-Slavic nucleus is located. This nucleus at the domestic level pulls and consolidates all ethnic and religious groups in the country. At the international level it does not gravitate towards Russia or Turkey but is a center, which pulls both Moscow and Ankara. In this way, Eurasianism became the philosophical basis for the Kazakh multi-vector foreign policy. In this equation Turkey, the leader of the Turkic world represents one side of the Eurasian nucleus of Kazakhstan. In other words, Kazakhstan‘s perception of Turkey is directly related to the Eurasian identity of Kazakhstan. In the eventual analysis I used the image theory of international relations in order to measure the iv Kazakhstan‘s perception of Turkey. According to the image theory there are four levels of analysis: decision maker, elite, general public, and international levels. Based on the analysis, I argue that Kazakhstan‘s perception of Turkey is evolving from a negative ‗alien image‘ and ‗image of other‘ to a positive ‗friend image‘ and ‗brother image‘. Keywords: Kazakhstan’s perception of Turkey, image of Turkey, Kazakhstan’s Eurasianism, Kazakh-Turkish relations v ÖZ KAZAKĠSTAN‘IN AVRASYA KĠMLĠĞĠNE TÜRKĠYE‘NĠN KONUMLANDIRILMASI Ametbek, Dinmukhammed Doktora, Uluslararası ĠliĢkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı Temmuz 2015, 315 sayfa Bu tez Türkiye‘nin Kazakistan‘daki algısını analiz ediyor. Bunu yaparken ben Uluslararası ĠliĢkiler Teorisi‘nin ĠnĢacı yaklaĢımını ve Uluslararası ĠliĢkilerin Ġmaj Teorisi‘ni kullandım. ĠnĢacı anlayıĢa göre, algıyı belirleyen devlet kimliğidir. Bu anlayıĢa dayanarak, çalıĢmanın temel argümanı, Türkiye‘nin Kazakistan‘daki algısının temel belirleyicisi Kazakistan‘ın milli kimliğidir. Ülkenin demografik ve jeopolitik koĢullarından dolayı, Nazarbayev Kazakistan‘ı Avrasya devleti olarak tanımladı. O zamandan beri, merkezinde Kazak-Rus veya Türk-Slav tandem çekirdeği bulunan Avrasyacılık, Kazakistan‘ın çoğulculuk ve çok taraflılığını savunan devlet ideolojisi haline geldi. Bu çekirdek iç politikada ülkedeki tüm etnik ve dini grupları etrafına çeker ve birleĢtirir. Uluslararası iliĢkilerde ise bu çekirdek Rusya veya Türkiye‘ye doğru çekilmez, tersine Moskova ve Ankara‘yı kendine çeken bir merkez haline gelir. Bu Ģekilde, Avrasyacılık çok vektörlü Kazak dıĢ politikasının felsefi temelini oluĢturur. Bu düĢünceler çerçevesinde, Türk dünyasının lideri olan Türkiye, Kazakistan‘ın Avrasya çekirdeğinin bir tarafını temsil eder. Bu nedenle, Türkiye‘nin Kazakistan‘daki algısı Kazakistan‘ın Avrasya kimliği ile doğrudan ilgilidir. Pratik açıdan bakıldığında, Türkiye‘nin Kazakistan‘daki algısını ölçmek için algıyı karar verici, elit, genel halk ve uluslararası çevre olarak dört vi seviyede analiz eden Uluslararası ĠliĢkilerin Ġmaj Teorisi‘ni uyguladım. Bu seviyeleri incelerken çalıĢmanın temel argümanı, Kazakistan‘ın Türkiye algısının olumsuz ‗yabancı imaj‘ ve ‗‗öteki‘ imaj‘dan olumlu ‗dost imaj‘ ve ‗kardeĢ imaj‘a doğru geliĢmekte olduğudur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Kazakistan’ın Türkiye algısı, Türkiye’nin imajı, Kazakistan’ın Avrasyacılığı, Kazak-Türk iliĢkileri vii DEDICATION Ağam Ğaniy Ämetbekke Abim Gani Ametbek‘e To my brother Gani Ametbek viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A Kazakh proverb says: ‗Knowledge is like digging a well with a needle‘ (Bilim iynemen qudıq qazğanday). I would not have begun to dig my well and follow an academic career, if there was not encouragement of my supervisor Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı. He supported me not only in the process of writing the dissertation but also throughout my all stay in Turkey. If one day I become a professor in my life, it is thanks to Hüseyin Hoca‘s inspiration and vision that I should make a presentation on ‗Turkish foreign policy: viewed from Kazakhstan‘ in 2023, during the hundred anniversary celebration of the Republic of Turkey. I also wish to express my deepest gratitude to Assist. Prof. Dr. IĢık KuĢçu and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güner Özkan for their guidance and advice throughout the research. I also thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Ali Karasar for their constructive criticism of the study. It was a great honour for me to defend the dissertation in front of such distinguished scholars in Eurasian studies. Eventually, I think I have to thank my wife Nurzhanat Ametbek for her support and patience in all these years. It would be difficult for me to conduct the research if there was not financial support of several Turkish state institutions. First of all, I have to thank the National Ministry of Education of Turkey which supported me within the program ‗Great Student Project‘ (Büyük Öğrenci Projesi). I would like to express my special thanks to Birol Dok, the coordinator of the program and to Songül Çakmak, the civil servant of Ankara branch of the ministry. In addition, I thank TÜBĠTAK (the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) for its support between the years of 2009 and 2013. At last but not least, I thank Presidency of Turks Abroad and Related Communities of Prime Ministry of Republic of Turkey, (T.C BaĢbakanlık YurtdıĢı Türkler ve Akraba Toplulukları BaĢkanlığı) and Türkiye Scholarships. ix TRANSLITERATION Kazakh Transliteration Pronunciation Notes Alphabet А а A a (as in father) Ҽ ҽ Ä ä (as in cat) Б б B b В в V v Г г G g Ғ ғ Ğ ğ (as in the guttural French r: raison) Д д D d Е е E e (slightly palatalized: ye) Ё ѐ Yo Ж ж J j (as in John) З з Z z И и Ġy iy (schwa + ee as a back diphthong) Iy ıy (schwa + ee as a front diphthong) Й й Y y (consonant, as in yes, or in Turkish bay) К к K k (velar or soft k) Қ қ Q q (back-velar or hard k) Л л L l М м M m Н н N n x Ң ң ñ (ng, as in going) О о O o (with a glide in initial position: wo) Ҿ ҿ Ö ö (as in German schön but with a glide: wö) П п P p Р р R r С с S s Т т T t У у Uw uw (as in Turkish su or tuğ) Üw üw (as in Turkish serüven) W w (consonant, as in wet) Ҧ ҧ U u (very low, rounded back vowel) Ҥ ҥ Ü ü (as in German für but closer to ö) Ф ф F f Х х H h (as in German ich) Һ һ H h Ц ц Ts ts Ч ч Ç ç Ш ш ġ Ģ Щ щ ġ Ģ ъ (Russian hard sign) Ы ы I ı (schwa, as in Turkish hanım) І і Ġ i (Shorter that English i) ь (Russian soft sign) Э э E e (unpalatalized short e in foreign words) Ю ю Yu yu Я я Ya ya xi In this dissertation, for transliterating Kazakh words I utilized Bruce G. Privratsky‘s transliteration system which he used in his book Muslim Turkistan: Kazak Religion and Collective Memory1 with slight modification of mine. For transliteration of Russian words, I benefited from US Library of Congress Transliteration System. 1 Bruce G. Privratsky, Muslim Turkistan: Kazak Religion and Collective Memory, Curzon, Great Britain, 2001, p. xix. xii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ............................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................... vi DEDICATION .........................................................................................................