Ottoman Pan-Islamism, Russia, and the Great Game in Central Asia

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KAPICI Ö.

Quaestio Rossica, vol.14, no.2, pp.538-553, 2026 (AHCI, Scopus)

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 14 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2026
  • Doi Number: 10.15826/qr.2026.2.1072
  • Journal Name: Quaestio Rossica
  • Journal Indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.538-553
  • Keywords: Abdulhamid II, Central Asia, Great Game, Pan-Islamism
  • Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection
  • Hacettepe University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Ottoman Pan-Islamism emerged as a containment policy against Russia following the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774. As the Ottoman Empire declined, Pan-Islamism became both a tool for internal pacification and a means of externally influencing Muslim communities. Although the Ottoman Sultans, as Caliphs of all Muslims, urged Caucasian and Central Asian Muslims to wage jihad against Russia during wartimes, they failed to rally these co-religionists under the Caliphate’s banner in the nineteenth century. In its dealings with Muslim polities bordering the Russian Empire, ittihâd-ı Islam became a pivotal element of the Sublime Porte’s diplomatic discourse in the early nineteenth century, serving as part of the Ottoman grand strategy to restrain Russia. However, the empire lacked the military and economic resources to execute this strategy effectively. It also struggled to establish a functional diplomatic network across the vast region necessary to counter Russia. Despite these limitations, the Sublime Porte sought to resist Russian advances in the Balkans by fostering unrest and supporting resistance movements in the Caucasus. By the second half of the nineteenth century, a new perception of Turkestan as an ideological concept emerged in Ottoman political thought. Sultan Abdulhamid II revived Pan-Islamism as an image of power in the Great Game, aiming to mobilize Central Asian Muslims against his rivals. This paper examines Abdulhamid II’s policies toward Central Asia within the framework of official Ottoman Pan-Islamism as a balance-of-power policy against Russia and Britain in the Near East.