Introduction

The republics of Central Asia joined the Soviet Union relatively late; they came into existence only in the 1930s, carved from the undeveloped territories of Turkestan, Bokhara and Khorezm, which were inhabited by various Turkic peoples. These ethnically mixed areas became the republics of Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. Kazakhstan initiated the mutual cooperation agreement signed by all the Central Asian republics in June 1990. The document was one of a series of initiatives between republics to negotiate their relationship independently of Moscow’s interference. In the three smaller Central Asian republics of Kirgizia, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, national movements have had more difficulty in establishing themselves. The fate of the Central Asian republics in the post-Soviet order remains uncertain. The conservative republics of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan failed to condemn the August coup at the time, and were loath to undertake the total de-partyization occurring in the Slavic republics.