The 1990s saw an outpouring of books on Central Asia, a region that had newly emerged from the vast unknown of Soviet Asia. The emergence of five new republics, four times the size of western Europe, in the Asian heartland excited the imagination of scholars, travellers and journalists, who went on to produce a stream of books on the subject. Compendium type books on Central Asia proliferated with several published in every country even remotely interested in that part of the world. This was virgin
territory and scholars were determined to be the first to break ground. And they did. A cursory search in Google books will spit out a long bibliography on the subject of Central Asia. For instance, one popular book, available in most libraries and widely referred to, is Giampaolo Capisani’s The Handbook of Central Asia, which provides an excellent narrative on socio-political developments in Central Asia since the decline of the Soviet Union in 1990. Capisani’s handbook was published 10 years ago and since then many more have been written — a number of fairly good ones from this country as well.
Thus, Dilip Hiro’s latest book is not a pioneering effort. Where it does excel, however, is in the delightful insights found throughout the book. His portrayals of some of the main protagonists of the region are excellent and utterly honest. Iconic leaders like Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, his Uzbeki counterpart, Islam Karimov, the now deceased Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, the enduring Tajik President Imamali Rahmanov and the recently ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, have been wonderfully explained and depicted.
It is quite fascinating to learn that the powerful President of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev, was once a stressed out steel worker with an uncertain future; his Uzbek counterpart, Karimov, started life making Illyushin aircraft; Turkmenistan’s Niyazov, orphaned by an earthquake, was an engineer in a power plant; and the Tajik President, Rahmanov, started as a lowly electrician in an edible oil factory. Their progression to power and fame is what the history of Central Asia is all about. It is about a handful of talented but ruthless men seizing the opportunity provided by the collapse of the Soviet Union to sustain and develop unnatural fragments left behind in the wake of a great geopolitical upheaval.
Where this book really departs from the rutted path is its attempt to explain the five Central Asian republics of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in terms of their larger geopolitical, cultural and historical context. The book has two chapters on Iran and Turkey, which cannot count as Central Asian republics. Their inclusion, however, is both pertinent and illuminating. For, these two countries form part of a historical continuum of the races that make up the region. Shia Iran, Sunni Turkey and the five Central Asian republics share a common history shaped by the tectonic movements of the Turkic and Mongoloid races.
Central Asia cannot really be understood without tracing back the connections to these two countries and to Russia, the successor of the Soviet Union. Hiro is one of the few writers who has sensed the primordial connections and has therefore woven those essential features into his story about Central Asia. The region is divided into two main civilisational groups: one Turkic and the other essentially Persian. The Tajik language, for instance, is a dialect of Persian and the histories of Tajikistan, southern Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are inextricably linked to that of Iran. The Kazakhs, Kyrghyz and, to a lesser extent, the Uzbeks, on the other hand, are more allied to Turkey. In Kazakhstan, for instance, Istanbul is the number one tourist destination — not Moscow, New York or Bangkok.
The book contains a wealth of information on this part of the world and is very easy reading. Hiro has a rare talent for unobtrusively weaving apparently inconsequential details with a larger, much higher level narrative. I was amused to learn that a fabulous dish I have had more than once in Kazakhstan called beshbermak means five fingers, meaning good edible stuff that has to be taken in by all five fingers. The main ingredient of the dish, by the way, is horse meat. And it is delicious!
Inside Central Asia is an honest journalistic account of the region’s recent history and complex politics. Much of it will not be appreciated in the republics, especially by the functionaries of state. For, it is an unadulterated version of the complexities of the Central Asian republics. Hiro tells the story of their strongmen with warts and all. Yet, he does try to explain their circumstances, fears and shortcomings. By telling their story as it is, without strong moralistic pronouncements, Hiro ultimately succeeds in unravelling them. This, for the lay reader, the newcomer to Central Asia and, perhaps, even the experts is a great opening. The details can always follow but Hiro’s meticulously researched work is a terrific first introduction to the little explored Central Asia.
Indranil Banerjie is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi