KADİM TÜRK YURDU ALTAYLAR: BİRİNCİ DÜNYA SAVAŞI YILLARINDAKİ GENEL DURUMU ÜZERİNE BİR İNCELEME
ANCIENT TURKIC HOMELAND ALTAI: A STUDY ON ITS GENERAL SITUATION DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR YEARS

Summary/Abstract: The Altai region is one of the ancient homelands of the Turks, located in southern Siberia. Throughout history, it has witnessed significant political, military, and socio-cultural upheavals during different periods. Following its incorporation into the Russian Empire, it experienced marked changes and transformations, particularly in the political, cultural, religious, economic, and ethnic spheres. One of the main developments affecting the cultural, economic and, in particular, ethnic structure of the Altai region was the events that took place during the First World War. The Tsarist Russian Empire's entry into the war on the side of the Entente Powers led to the multidimensional effects of the war being felt in Siberia and the Altai region as well. During this period, mobilisations to meet the front's need for soldiers and the population's need for rear services, as well as the compulsory procurement of food, clothing, animals and other material resources, weakened the region's economic structure and placed serious pressure on social life. On the other hand, Siberia, a remote region of the empire, became an area of exile for political prisoners and prisoners of war; the region, particularly the Altai, experienced intense population movement. The settlement of prisoners and convicts of different ethnic and cultural origins in the region negatively affected the ethnic structure and social life, while also increasing social unrest. The aim of this study is to examine the profound and lasting socio-economic and cultural devastation suffered by the indigenous population and Turkic communities in the Altai Mountains as a result of the exploitative and assimilation policies created by the military and economic necessities of war.

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