Тема: RUSSIAN COMPATRIOTS AS AN ACTOR OF RUSSIAN POLITICS IN CENTRAL ASIA СООТЕЧЕСТВЕННИКИ КАК АКТОР РОССИЙСКОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ В ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЙ АЗИИ

The objective of this thesis is to what extend the Russian compatriots determine Russian policy as a foreign policy actor in Central Asia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This will be achieved by analyzing the main foreign policy approaches and implementations of Russian Federation after the demise of the Soviet Union in a historical process. As an issue, it is seen that the Russian compatriots were not studied by reviewing under the historical process of Russian foreign policy after the collapse of the Soviet Union in academic fields and English language. With this regard, the beginning of the main aim of the thesis is the defining problem of the population in the concept of the Russian compatriots abroad should be underlined here in order to understand the main approach of the thesis towards them. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrei Korizev called the 'compatriots abroad' in the first time, thus the term was seen into Russian political discourse. According to Russian governmental approach, the mean of the compatriot refers the person who is connected with Russia and demonstrates the common language, history, heritage and tradition with the Russian state at the same time by having relatives who lived in Russian imperial territory and the Soviet Union. Moreover, it emphasizes on the legal basis which was adopted and renewed in 1999 and 2006 respectively. With this way, the Russian state conceptualizes the population who are living in the former Soviet Union. Therefore, in that study, the term of the compatriot is used for defining and determining of that population who are living in Central Asia.
The importance of the issue can be explained with three main aspects which have a different significance for both Russia and Central Asian states that are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
First of all, Central Asian states have encountered many problems after they declared their independencies from the Soviet Union. This historical breaking point resulted in a complicated demographic problem in the region at the same time. As a result of regional historical background, the Russian-speaking population moved from different parts of the country especially, to Central Asia in the time of Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Hence the region's economy, policy, trade, security, and population could be controlled by the central governance. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, approximately 25 million Russian people stayed out of Russia; about 9.5 million of that population were leaving in Central Asia. With this regard, the problem of Russian compatriots has emerged as a priority for foreign policy agenda with their vital problems which were deeply political, economical and socio-cultural transition. For the region, when Central Asian states started to establish new national state structures with political identities, national languages, it was seen that the Russian compatriot population started to decrease from the beginning of the 1990s gradually. That tendency continued during the 2000s. Today, more than 6.5 million people as compatriots are living in Central Asia. The majority of them is in Kazakhstan with more than 4 million people. That population in all states still keeps their importance in terms of bilateral and multilateral relations of Central Asian states for each other and with Russia.
Secondly, the problems of the transition period were felt deeply in Russia in the area of political, economical, socio-cultural and demographic situations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian foreign policy approaches fluctuated from Atlanticist to Eurasianist points of view by depending on the domestic and international situations of the Russian state. In the second period of the 1990s, the near abroad gained an importance for Russian foreign policy when Primakov was appointed as the ministry of foreign affairs. Thus the Russian compatriots abroad became a top priority of Russian foreign policy agenda. The role of Russia towards the compatriots was stated in main official documents. After the 2000s, it is seen that Russian policy makers have followed mainly a pragmatic foreign policy approach. As a result of this, the compatriots as a foreign policy tool were emphasized in different governmental documents which are foreign policy and security concepts. Moreover, some institutions have established and especially the soft power tools have a great importance in order to protect the rights of the compatriots as language and culture. On the other hand, according to the Russian foreign policy approach, Russia is a great power and has a role in regional and international developments. That perception requires the emergency of Russian compatriots as a priority in the agenda. As a result, the Russian compatriots as an actor should be evaluated at bilateral and multilateral levels of relationships between Russia and Central Asian states. Finally, it is seen that the population of the compatriots in former Soviet Union have become an issue and gained importance by depending regional developments after the Ukrainian Crises, the annexation of Crimea. Academic and political circles all over the world have evaluated the role of compatriots for Russian foreign and security policy towards Central Asia. Especially, Kazakhstan is a significant actor of this debate with a large compatriot population. As a result of those explanations, the thesis will also give an opinion for understanding the compatriot policy to what extent an actor of Russian foreign policy towards Central Asia.
Those three aspects constitute the importance of the thesis. In this framework, the main research question is how the Russian foreign policy perceives and uses the Russian compatriots as a tool in relationships with Central Asian states. As a result of the evaluation in last part of the thesis, the question will be answered by dividing some aspects in order to demonstrate the success and failure points.

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The thesis aims to demonstrate to what extent the Russian compatriots determine the Russian foreign policy towards Central Asia as an actor. In order to demonstrate this, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the new foreign policy approaches and implementations were examined by dividing subtitles before and after the 2000s. There were seen some problems during the process of the thesis. First of all, the Russian foreign policy is a multi¬directional case. In order to determine any specific issue, it should be evaluated all aspects because all of them depend on each other. On the one hand, the determining issue of the compatriot and the Russian policy towards them are also complicated parts of the topic. Some of the writers evaluate the population as a Diaspora when the others claim that they cannot be defined with the concept of Diaspora. At the same time, it is seen that the significant question is 'who is the compatriot'. We can understand the meaning from official and law documents, the speech of the president or the other governmental officers; however, for those people, it is not easy to determine for themselves under that identity. For example, how the compatriot population can accept the identity of the compatriot. Since the demographic situation demonstrates a interwoven complexity. On the other hand, the gathering the information from regional states in terms of the population, the activities of the compatriots in all states is always not easy by depending on their internet systems. In addition, it is a necessity that not only Russian language but also the national language of Central Asian states should be known in order to examine the policies specifically. They are the main difficulties which were seen during the study.
In that point, the general results of the thesis are summarized as by depending on the chapters:
Under the presidency period of Yeltsin until the end of 1999, Russian foreign policy followed the Atlanticist model in the first period between 1991 and 1993. However, the
model could not resolve the main foreign policy challenges of Russian. At the same time, the former Soviet Union or the new abroad was ignored completely. After 1993, the Russian foreign policy approach started to alter from the Atlanticist to Eurasianist concept. The Russian political life entered chamber the nationalist discourse. When Y. Primakov was appointed as a new Minister of foreign affairs in 1996, the new period of Russian foreign policy began practically with known as Primakov Doctrine. As a result of this changing, Central Asia gained importance in terms of military and security implementation. During those years, the main security issue was the Islamic fundamentalism. Therefore, Russia had a peacekeeper role in order to end the Tajik Civil War in 1997. As a result during the presidency period of Yeltsin, the main issue between Russia and Central Asian states were shaped by security and economic concerns. The Russian-speaking population or the Russian compatriots had not a priority for policymakers as an exception, the issue of the dual citizenship with Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Even if there were some political bargains with Turkmenistan by depending on the energy issue, it withdrew from the agreement in 2003. Generally, the Russian foreign policy towards Central was unsuccessful in all areas.

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