Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic Туркестанская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика
Autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR
← 1918–1924 →   →   →   →   →
Flag
Map of Soviet Central Asia in 1922, indicating the location and extent of the Turkestan ASSR (brown).
Capital		Tashkent
Historical era		Interwar period
•	Established	30 April 1918
•	Disestablished	27 October 1924
Today part of		Kazakhstan  Uzbekistan  Turkmenistan  Kyrgyzstan  Tajikistan

The Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (initially, the Turkestan Socialist Federative Republic; 30 April 1918 – 27 October 1924) was an autonomous republic of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic located in Soviet Central Asia.

During the Russian Empire, the Turkestan ASSR's territory was governed as Turkestan Krai, the Emirate of Bukhara, and the Khanate of Khiva. From 1905, Pan-Turkist ideologues like Ismail Gasprinski aimed to suppress differences among the peoples who spoke Turkic languages, uniting them into one government.^[1] This idea was supported by Vladimir Lenin, and after the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks in Tashkent created the Turkestan ASSR. But in February 1918, the Islamic Council (Uzbek: Shuroi Islamia) and the Council of Intelligentsia (Uzb. Shuroi Ulammo) met in Kokand city and declared a rival Turkestan Autonomous Republic, battling Bolshevik forces until the 1920s.^[1]

Meanwhile, a power struggle among the Communists ensued between those favoring a Pan-Turkist government like Turar Ryskulov and Tursun Khojaev, and those in favor of dividing Soviet Turkestan into smaller ethnic or regional units, such as Fayzulla Khodzhayev and Akmal Ikramov. The latter group won, as national delimitation in Central Asia began in 1924.^[1] Upon dissolution, the Turkestan ASSR was split into Turkmen SSR (now Turkmenistan), Uzbek SSR (now Uzbekistan) with the Tajik ASSR (now Tajikistan), Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast (now Kyrgyzstan), and Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast (now Karakalpakstan).^[1]

Turksovnarkom

Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars ("Turksovnarkom")

References

• Uzbekistan at worldstatesmen.org, accessed 23 July 2009.

Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics of the Soviet Union Soviet Union By name Abkhaz Adjar Bashkir Buryat1 Chechen-Ingush Chuvash Crimean Dagestan Gorno-Altai Kabardin Kabardino-Balkar Kalmyk Karakalpak Karelian Kazak2 Kirghiz2 Kirghiz Komi Mari Moldavian Mordovian Mountain Nakhchivan North Ossetian Tajik Tatar Turkestan Tuva Udmurt Volga German Yakut By year established     1918–1924  Turkestan 1918–1941  Volga German 1919–1990  Bashkir 1920–1925  Kirghiz2 1920–1990  Tatar 1921–1990  Adjar 1921–1945  Crimean 1921–1991  Dagestan 1921–1924  Mountain 1921–1990  Nakhchivan 1922–1991  Yakut 1923–1990  Buryat1 1923–1940  Karelian 1924–1940  Moldavian 1924–1929  Tajik 1925–1992  Chuvash 1925–1936  Kazak2 1926–1936  Kirghiz 1931–1991  Abkhaz 1932–1992  Karakalpak 1934–1990  Mordovian 1934–1990  Udmurt 1935–1943  Kalmyk 1936–1944  Chechen-Ingush 1936–1944  Kabardino-Balkar 1936–1990  Komi 1936–1990  Mari 1936–1990  North Ossetian 1944–1957  Kabardin 1956–1991  Karelian 1957–1990  Chechen-Ingush 1957–1991  Kabardino-Balkar 1958–1990  Kalmyk 1961–1992  Tuva 1990–1991  Gorno-Altai 1991–1992  Crimean 1 Buryat–Mongol until 1958. 2 Kazak ASSR was called Kirghiz ASSR until 1925.