Eurasianism and the Concept of Central Caucaso-Asia

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Eldar Ismailov and Vladimer Papava
that Kazakhstan belongs to Central Asia. If detached from Central Asia as a
Eurasian state, Kazakhstan will lose its independence and will be swallowed
by Russia. 288
It is interesting to note that although Tolipov regards the very idea of
Eurasianism, including Kazakhstan’s Eurasianism, a myth and a geopolitical
provocation 289 and criticizes the arguments in favor of separating Kazakhstan
from Central Asia and recognizing it as a Eurasian state, he does not entirely
exclude the possibility that Central Asia (including Kazakhstan) will return
to Eurasia (where it was when it belonged to the Soviet Union) after
realizing its geopolitical self-identification. 290 Here the question is whether
the Central Asian countries would want, even in the future, to give up their
actual independence in favor of Russia; and whether integration into Eurasia
is possible if it, using the above terminology, is actually based on a “myth” or
even more on “geopolitical provocation.”
While sharing this critical attitude toward the ideas of Eurasianism, so far
most of the Central Asian countries have not grasped the meaning of their
independence or pondered on their future. These are problems that have not
yet been resolved.
Central Caucaso-Asia – A New Geopolitical Conception
After examining the correlation between the geographic and geopolitical
interpretations of Eurasia, we conclude that the borders of this continent
have been contracted by Russian Eurasianists in their geopolitical attempt to
justify Russia’s imperial intentions in Eurasia.
As for Central Eurasia, it was mentioned earlier that geographic Central
Eurasia, as the central region of the Eurasian continent, essentially
encompasses geographic Central Asia entirely, while Central Europe (as it is
defined above) is not included in it. It was also emphasized above that based
on the reasoning that geographic Eurasia, as a continent, consists of two parts
of the world – Europe and Asia – geographic Central Eurasia, along with
Central Asia, should naturally also include Central Europe, as well as the
288 Ibid., p. 18.
289 Ibid.
290 Ibid.