ABSTRACT

After the events of 11 September 2001, the states of Central Asia have found themselves on the front line of the struggle against terrorism. Ten years of independence give rise to many thoughts, not least about the geopolitical role of the region both in the past and in the present. To clarify the part played by Turkestan (i.e., the territory of the present-day states of Central Asia) in the geopolitics of the Russian Empire, and then the Soviet Union, is interesting in itself, but this task also helps us to conceptualise the geopolitical peculiarities of the entire region.