Remembering the Battle of Geok Tepe

The events at Geok Tepe between 1879 and 1888 marked a key turning point in Turkmenistan’s history. Particularly that of the Akhal Tekke – one of the largest Turkmen tribes – as it fell under the dominion of imperial Russia, and subsequently, the Soviet Union. The battle at Geok Tepe has also played an important role in modern Turkmenistan, its historiography acting as a powerful mobilizing symbol for the ruling regime, and a significant component of the personality cults of both Saparmurat  Niyazov, and his successor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.

The Battle of Geok Tepe was a cruel, yet inevitable outcome of the geopolitical thinking at the time, the assault was conducted as part of the great power rivalry between the Russian and British empires. Although the Russians had established an important military garrison in Krasnovodsky Bay (currently Türkmenbaşy Port), granting access to the other Central Asian territories, the Geok Tepe and Ashgabat oases were essential for managing the Afghan border, a weak spot should the British desire to penetrate further into the region. In addition, the territory offered key logistical points, opening up trade-routes from Persia to Bukhara and Khiva, and then on to Russia and India.

Problematically for the tsarist forces, the territory around Geok Tepe and Ashgabat was controlled by the Akhal Tekke tribe, who made use of the fertile soils – a luxury in the vast Karakum Desert – as well as the abundant sources of water. According to Russian military officers at the time, the Akhal Tekke were fearsome warriors with impressive fighting capabilities. Indeed, General Lomakin had attempted to seize the Geok Tepe Fort in 1879 with an under-equipped force of 4,000 Russians. His forces were beaten back with severe losses, forcing a retreat to the Caspian shore. The failed attack marked the first major defeat the advancing Russian forces had suffered in Central Asia since Khiva in 1717. The battle is a source of great pride for the Turkmen, who overcame a seemingly unstoppable force with just a small number of poorly armed defenders.

General Lomakin was immediately dismissed for this humiliating defeat, and replaced by General Skobelev, a name which evokes the same reaction among Central Asians as Oliver Cromwell’sname does among the Irish. Skobelev was a veteran in the region, and had been leading tsarist assaults since 1868. After the General succeeded in conquering the first, westernmost areas of the Akhal Tekke territories, the tribe retreated to Geok Tepe Fort, where several thousand gathered alongside 4,000 from Merv (modern-day Mary, Turkmenistan) to face off against 6,000 of Skobelev’s troops, armed with over 40 canons.

On January 12, 1881, the General made his decisive move, creating a decoy by attacking the western corner of the Fort, whilst his troops busily tunneled under the southern wall, planting a ton of explosives. The blast echoed across the desert, creating a large opening, suitable for a full-scale siege. Over the course of four days, the Fort was entirely sacked with some 6,500 people inside killed in the chaos. Russian forces hunted down those who fled, including women and children, slaughtering up to 8,000.

Later, Skobelev’s justification for the massacre was bluntly stated as: “I hold it as a principle that the duration of peace is in direct proportion to the slaughter inflicted upon the enemy. The harder you hit them, the longer they remain quiet.”

The battle offers important symbolism for the Turkmen nation, and the Soviet era opposition movement, Agzybirlik (Unity), prominently used its heroism in their rhetoric. The movement attracted the wrath of Niyazov and his associates after a large demonstration held at Geok Tepe, and was quickly disbanded, their symbolism coopted by the authorities for their own nefarious purposes.

Following independence, January 12 was established as Memory Day, linked with the regional custom of commemorating dead ancestors. In addition, the Geok Tepe War was re-named the Patriotic War, a deliberate juxtaposition with the Soviet Patriotic War (World War II). Each year exhibitions of the battle’s artifacts are displayed across the country, re-emphasizing the commemorative aspect.

Geok Tepe serves as a model of Turkmen unity within the ruling regime’s nation-building narrative, with the battle serving as a history of all Turkmen peoples, despite many Turkmen regions and clans who neither took part, nor viewed it with the same sense of heroism. Some tribes in western Turkmenistan came under Russian influence with no resistance, and others avoided the tsarist administration, such as eastern and northern Turkmenistan, which fell under the influence of the Bukhara Emirate and Khiva Khanate. The regime’s rhetoric thus suppresses opposing perspectives and artificially constructs a feeling of Turkmen unity. This new historiography is deliberately anti-Russian, portraying the Soviet era as the decline of the Turkmen nation, and the post-Soviet transition reflects the rise of a new Altyn Asyr (Golden Age) of the Turkmen.

The Battle of Geok Tepe serves an addition function in post-Soviet Turkmenistan, acting as a mechanism for the consolidation of both Niyazov and Berdymukhammedov’s personality cults. Niyazov’s biography frequently made reference to Tangrykuly, the alleged grandfather of the President, and Artyk Khan, his great grandfather; both of whom died at Geok Tepe. The construction of the Great Saparmurat Hajji mosque at the site of the battle is another important example of the intertwining of the presidential cult with the nation’s historiography. The mosque is distinguished by its highly unorthodox inclusion of quotes from the president’s pseudo-philosophical text, Ruhnama (Book of the Soul), alongside the Qur’an on the minarets. Finally, the Battle of Geok Tepe was immortalized as an opera in January 1993, and featured Niyazov as the hero, unifying Turkmenistan’s five tribes into a single nation, and heralding the coming Golden Age.

Berdymukhammedov has continued this tradition, embedding his persona within Turkmenistan’s historiography. His family base lies much closer to Geok Tepe than that of his predecessor – in the villages of Yzgant and Babarap. One of Berdymukhammedov’s first presidential acts was to make Geok Tepe a town, and capital of the district, upgrading its prior status as a municipality. In May 2009, a museum was opened, commemorating the Turkmen who died in Geok Tepe, but also victims of both the Soviet Patriotic War and the 1948 earthquake in Ashgabat. Berdymukhammedov’s grandfather, Berdymuhammed Annaev, who died during the Soviet Patriotic War, features prominently.

As the regime struggles to overcome its current economic crisis, narratives like Geok Tepe will continue to be reiterated to instill a sense of legitimacy. But for how long can the regime retain its obsession with a “Golden Age” before it’s forced to concede, like its Kazakh neighbor to the north, that the Golden Age is no more.