Russian internet site https://russtrat.ru, which serves as a propaganda organ for the Putin regime, published an article on its ‘analytics’ page addressing the commonly-held misconception that all Turks are Muslims. The Gagauz ethnic Turkic people are cited as a case in point of those who converted to [Russian] Orthodoxy. Also examined are other Turkic peoples who have either converted to Orthodoxy or whose way of life has been influenced by it. Together, according to the authors, the result is a “positive sociopolitical” contribution to allay the tensions of the “geopolitical confrontation,” assumed to mean between the Russian and Turkic populations sharing the Eurasian land mass, where the geopolitical interests of Russia collide with those of Türkiye.

The article begins below [translated from Russian by LOC]:

The exacerbation of the situation, arising at the end of February [2024] around Transnistria, where, at the Congress of Deputies of all levels, the decision was made to appeal to Russia for aid in connection with the economic blockade by Moldova and Ukraine, once again underscored the complicated political, ethnic, and religious landscape of this region. Among other things, the Gagauz factor arose again – a Turkic, but Orthodox people that are pro-Russian. The very fact of the existence of the Gagauz underscores that the Turks absolutely are not all Muslims, and the conception of the Turkic world, which Turkey promotes for the sake of its geopolitical interests, is far from being as unambiguous as it would seem in Ankara.

There exist entire nationalities of the Turkic group, for whom the main religion is Christianity, and more to the point, [Russian] Orthodoxy.

The Gagauz are a unique Turkic people of 200 thousand, living in Moldova and the south of Ukraine. The Gagauz (gagauzlar [in Turkish]) speak a language quite close to modern Turkish. The question of their origin has initiated and continues to initiate many arguments. At the beginning of the 20th century, Bulgarian historian G. Dimitrov shared literary information about the Gagauz that pointed to there being 19 different opinions concerning their origin, while M. Guboglo argued for 21. One theory put forward in the mid-19th century was that the Gagauz are Bulgarians who embraced the Turkish language. Proponents of a second version are divided into four groups, depending on preferences: The Gagauz were considered the descendants of the Turkic-speaking Cumans, Turks, descendants of Seljuk Turks. Prominent researcher of the history of the Gagauz people, M.N. Guboglo, based on a careful analysis of scientific data, concluded that today’s Gagauz arose as a result of mixing many ethnic elements, but nomadic Turks of the south Russian steppes occupy a prominent place in their formation. In 2008, a group of scientists from the University of Munich under the leadership of V. Stepanov analyzed Y-chromosomes of 89 Gagauz from two populations in the south of the Republic of Moldova according to more than three dozen genetic markers. But even such a small selection showed signs of significant genetic heterogeneity.

The most striking feature of the national identity of the Gagauz remains Orthodoxy. The unique combination of the Turkish language and Orthodox faith confession has allowed the national identity of the Gagauz people to be formed and maintained, [despite] the constant assimilation pressures from the Bulgarians and Turks. A. Manov, in his works, was proving that already in the 13^th century the ancestors of today’s Gagauz, comprising the majority of the population of the so-called Oghuz state, confessed Christianity and had its own exarchate with its center in Kavarna [in Bulgaria]. In this way, it is possible to say that in the 13^th century, and more so in the 17^th century, the ancestors of the Gagauz people were Orthodox Christians.

It is important to note that other nomadic Turkic-speaking peoples of the Black Sea steppes, to one degree or another, also confessed Orthodoxy: Uz (in Russian manuscripts, Turks), Berendei, Pechenegs, and Polovtsy (also known as Cumans and Kipchaks.)

Even N.M. Karamzin in The History of the Russian State attempted to turn attention to a surprising fact: Kirill and Methodius, who gifted the Slavs an alphabet in 863 [A.D.], earlier had baptized Khazar Turks in 858 [A.D.]. In Russian manuscripts, there are two instances of Pecheneg princes being baptized. A letter from Bruno of Querfurt to the German king, Henry II (1008 A.D.), sheds light on the Christianization of the Pechenegs.

Byzantine sources give witness that in the beginning of the 40s of the 11th century close to 20,000 Pechenegs, under the leadership of Khan Kegen, arrived in Byzantium. Emperor Constantine Monomachos received Kegen into service and baptized him, having presented to the Pechenegs land in the Danube region of Bulgaria. His co-tribesmen followed his example.

The Chavush, the largest Turkic people group (1.2 million) that confesses Christianity, are a visible witness to the spread of Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy has been spread among the Khakas and Yakuts as well as the Kryashens. Kryashens are an officially recognized Tatar subethnic group that lives in closely-knit communities in Tatarstan, Bashkiria, and Udmurtia.

These are by far not all the Turkish peoples who have been converted at various times to Orthodoxy. One can also mention the Altaians since the Altay is considered the birthplace of the Turkish people, the Shor, and the indigenous population of Taymyr.

A huge Christian stratum has been connected with Nestorianism, which, in the words of L.N. Gumilyov, by the 10^th century “had literally flooded Central Asia.” In 1246, when Güyük Khan was elected to the throne, Christianity became the state ideology of the Mongolian Empire; before that, he had led the military party. Güyük brought into his entourage Nestorian officials from among the Uighurs and Orthodox priests from Syria, Byzantium, Georgia, Armenia, and Rus, while at the same time declaring himself an enemy of Roman Catholicism and Islam. Christian culture and literature, based on the Syriac, later on the Uighur script, was widely disseminated among the Turks, and Uighur writing was officially [adopted for] diplomatic correspondence of the Golden Horde.

It is well-known that in 1261 in the Golden Horde there existed the Orthodox Saray-Pereiaslav eparchy, and its first bishop was Mitrofan, while the direct successor of the khan, Sartak, accepted Orthodoxy and married the daughter of Aleksandr Nevsky. Sartak’s cousin, the son of the first Muslim khan of the Golden Horde, Berke, accepted Christianity and is known in the history of the [Russian Orthodox] Church under the name Pyotr Ordynski.

The first builder of mosques in Saray was born in an Orthodox family – Khan Uzbek (ruled from 1312-1340 [A.D.]) – and to his pen is attributed the famous saying: “All ranks of the Orthodox Church and all monks are subject only to the court of the Orthodox metropolitan, and not at all [to that] of the officials of the Horde and not to the princely court… Whoever dares to mock the Orthodox faith or denigrate the church, the monastery, or the chapel is subject to death without differentiation, be he Russian or Mongol.”

The Tagay, Narovchatov, and Temnikov nations of the Golden Horde were formed at the end of the 13^th century on the lands of the Ryazan principalities, where Orthodoxy began to be widely spread. Tatar prince Chet (baptized under the name Zechariah, patriarch of the aristocratic families, famous in Russia, of the Godunovs, Saburovs, Velyaminov-Zernovs, and others) voluntarily accepted Orthodoxy and 1330 A.D. founded the famous Ipatiev-Troitsky monastery near Kostroma.

Practically all exceptional Kazak educators before the revolution – Ybyrai (Nikolay) Altynsarin (1841-1889), Shokan Walikhanov (1835–1865), and Abay Kunanbayev (1845–1904) – were champions of a rapprochement with Russian culture and the principles of the Orthodox lifestyle that flowed from it. The Orthodox identity of many Turks turns out to be a quite significant socio-political factor, which, given the correct use, is capable of playing a positive role in the geopolitical confrontation. [The article abruptly ends].