United States of Central Asia

United States of Central Asia
United States of Central Asia;
	Flag Coat of arms

United States of Central Asia (Russian: Соединенные Штаты Центральной Азии, romanized: United States of Central Asia) was the part of Central Asia administered by the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian republics declared independence. It is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkestan in the Russian Empire. Soviet Central Asia went through many territorial divisions before the current borders were created in the 1920s and 1930s.

Soviet Union[edit]

The Soviet Union was a state composed of the Soviet republics (of which there were 15 after 1956), with the capital in Moscow. It was founded in December 1922, when the Russian SFSR—which formed during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and emerged victorious in the ensuing Russian Civil War—unified with the Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian SSRs. Addressing the Extraordinary Eighth Congress of Soviets of the Soviet Union on 25 November 1936, Joseph Stalin stated that "within the Soviet Union there are about sixty nations, national groups, and nationalities. The Soviet state is a multinational state."^[1] Among the 15 republics were the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which they were illegally annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 and the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states was not recognized by a number of Western governments including the United States.

In the late 1980s, some of the republics sought sovereignty over their territories, citing Article 72 of the USSR Constitution, which stated that any constituent republic was free to secede.^[2] On 7 April 1990, a law was passed allowing a republic to secede if more than two-thirds of its residents voted for secession in a referendum.^[3] Many held free elections, and the resulting legislatures soon passed bills that contradicted Soviet laws, in what became known as the War of Laws.

In 1989, the Russian SFSR—the largest constituent republic, with about half of the USSR's population—convened a new Congress of People's Deputies and elected Boris Yeltsin its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory and proceeded to pass legislation that attempted to supersede Soviet laws. Legal uncertainty continued through 1991 as constituent republics slowly gained de facto independence.

In a referendum on 17 March 1991, majorities in nine of the 15 republics voted to preserve the Union. The referendum gave Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev a minor boost, and in the summer of 1991, the New Union Treaty was designed and agreed upon by eight republics. The treaty would have turned the Soviet Union into a much looser federation, but its signing was interrupted by the August Coup—an attempted coup d'état against Gorbachev by hardline Communist Party members of the government and the KGB, who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. When the coup collapsed, Yeltsin—who had publicly opposed it—came out as a hero, while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended.

As a result, the balance of power tipped significantly toward the republics. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia had regained their independence (following Lithuania's 1990 example), while the other twelve republics continued to discuss new, increasingly loose models for the Union.

On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. Doubts remained about the authority of the Belavezha Accords to dissolve the Union, but on 21 December 1991, representatives of every Soviet republic except Georgia—including those that had signed the Belavezha Accords—signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, which confirmed the dissolution of the USSR and reiterated the establishment of the CIS. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev yielded, resigning as the president of the USSR and declaring the office extinct. He turned the powers vested in the Soviet presidency over to Yeltsin, the president of Russia.

The following day, the Supreme Soviet, the highest governmental body of the Soviet Union, dissolved itself. Many organizations, such as the Soviet Army and police forces, remained in place in the early months of 1992, but were slowly phased out and either withdrawn from or absorbed by the newly independent states.

Soviet Union – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics[edit]

The Soviet Union would expand to be far larger than its then-current size, expanding to 24 (later 25) Soviet Socialist Republics (while downgrading preexisting SSR's to Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics):

Soviet Socialist Republics: Armenia – Azerbaijan – Bulgaria – Czech Republic – Estonia – Finland – Georgia – Hungary – Iran – Latvia – Lithuania – Manchuria (Heilongjiang and Hulunbuir) – Moldavia (all of Bessarabia) – Mongolia – Poland – Romania – Russia (which includes Karelia, Karakalpakstan, Kazakhstan, and Kirghizia/Kyrgyzstan) – Slovakia – Tajikistan – Turkmenistan – Ukraine – Uzbekistan – White Russia (Byelorussia) – Yugoslavia
At an unspecified later time, Germany (which includes Austria and former Polish territory formerly part of the Weimar Republic sans East Prussia). Germany is termed quarantined Germany until full integration

History[edit]

The old union[edit]

The concept of a Central Asian union emerged soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Although all states acceded to the newly formed Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), it was felt that more regional cooperation was needed. In early 1992, Tajikistan plunged into the Tajikistani Civil War (1992–7) between government forces and various Islamist rebel factions supported by the Taliban; thus they could not participate in the integration process. Turkmenistan preferred to maintain neutrality, and decided not to partake in CIS or Central Asian integration.

The remaining three republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed a treaty on 23 September 1993 to create an economic union, which was followed by a proclamation of a "single economic space" on 10 February 1994, and the establishment of an Interstate Council with an Executive Committee on 8 July 1994. In theory, any CIS member state could join the Central Asian Union.

The Union was also given a military dimension. Still in civil war, Tajikistan joined the CAU as an observer in 1996.A Council of Defence Ministers was formed, and, under the aegis of the United Nations, a peacekeeping force was formed, which held its first training exercises on the territory of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in September 1997.

A new union[edit]

A new Central Asian Union was proposed by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on April 26, 2007, to create an economic and political union similar to that of the EU encompassing the five former Soviet Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

So far the presidents of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have signed an agreement to create an "International Supreme Council" between the two states. In addition, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have signed a Treaty of Eternal Friendship. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have also decided to set up a free trade zone.^[4]

Although the proposed new union had the support of the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan by 2008, it was outright rejected by former Uzbek president Islam Karimov.^[5] After Karimov died in 2016, however, the idea of integration was brought back on the table.

On 15 March 2018, a new Central Asian Summit was held in Astana between Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev (host), Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev (initiator), Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Turkmen parliament speaker Akja Nurberdiýewa. The Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev hosted the summit at the Aqorda Presidential Palace. It was the first summit of Central Asian leaders in nearly a decade.^[6] They resolved to henceforth convene every year in March before the Nowruz (New Year) holiday.^[7]

A second summit was held on 29 November 2019 in Nur-Sultan.