DC-based non-partisan research program hosted at the Yorktown Institute focusing on the Turkic and Persian worlds in the historic Turan region and beyond.
Washington DC
Joined May 2025
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Turan Research Center retweeted
Iranian analysts close to the IRGC now call the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline “Hormuz 2.0.” It carries nearly half of Israel’s oil and Kazakhstan’s main route around Russia. In @Newsweek, I explain why Washington should harden it before Tehran tests it.
newsweek.com/the-worlds-othe…
Turan Research Center retweeted
Why Central Asia Stays Silent as Russia Recruits Its Citizens for War
youtube.com/watch?v=Qp76zDEC…
Turan Research Center retweeted
Azerbaijan is Turkey’s closest ally and one of Israel’s closest partners. In 2025, it hosted the talks that gave Ankara and Jerusalem a deconfliction line over Syria. When the two decide to make up, Baku is the likeliest broker. My latest for @TheNatlInterest:
nationalinterest.org/blog/si…
Turan Research Center retweeted
The Caspian, the world's largest lake, now carries one of the few reliable trade routes between China and Europe. Russia uses the same waters to rearm Iran, and a treaty bars outside navies. Washington's partners there are Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. My piece in @dcexaminer:
washingtonexaminer.com/op-ed…
Turan Research Center retweeted
Azerbaijan just became the latest post-Soviet Muslim nation to ban the hijab in the classroom.
In my latest for @TuranCenter, I examine why the hijab has become the point where sovereignty, national identity, secular statehood and control over religion meet.
Read here: turancenter.org/analysis/the…
Turan Research Center retweeted
How Kazakhstan Won Trump's Washington youtu.be/Psnle6uH_EM?is=l60v… via @TuranCenter
Turan Research Center retweeted
Russia's method in Ukraine and Armenia was identical: leave a conflict only Moscow can manage, then turn managing it into control. Ukraine's went off in 2014. Armenia's was settled in Washington last August with no Russian in the room. New for @AtlanticCouncil:
atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/uk…
Turan Research Center retweeted
In our latest for @TheNatlInterest, @bako_kheladze and I trace three decades of Georgian-Iranian relations, challenging the idea that Tbilisi has drifted into Tehran's orbit. Three times since 1991, US and Iranian interests collided directly on Georgian soil: under Shevardnadze, Saakashvili, and Georgian Dream. Three times Tbilisi chose Washington.
Read here: nationalinterest.org/blog/si…
Turan Research Center retweeted
Iran treats negotiations as an instrument for extracting concessions. Washington treats them as where problems get solved. That divergence explains most of what looks like dysfunction in the process — and Trump may be the first US president to negotiate accordingly. My interview with @a7medhakim for @IndyArabia: independentarabia.com/node/6…سياسة/تحلیل/هل-أغلقت-آفاق-الحل-السياسي-بين-واشنطن-وطهران؟
Turan Research Center retweeted
Is Iran today where the Soviet Union was in 1985? When Riyadh stopped propping up crude that September, Moscow lost $20B a year in hard currency and never recovered. Tehran is now weaker than Moscow was that autumn — no oil exports, 90% inflation, rationed water in the capital. Latest for @Newsweek.
Read: newsweek.com/is-iran-facing-…
Turan Research Center retweeted
#SpecialLecture | We are pleased to welcome @epsteinjos, Director, @TuranCenter, United States, as the speaker for our upcoming special lecture on “The New Great Game in Central Asia.”
The Session will be moderated by Mr @ArunAnand, Journalist and founder-editor at Global Nationalist.
The session will examine the changing strategic dynamics of #CentralAsia, where #Russia, #China, the #UnitedStates and other regional actors are shaping the region’s geopolitical landscape.
The discussion will also explore India’s interests and opportunities in Central Asia, particularly as the region seeks greater #StrategicAutonomy and diversified partnerships.
📅 3 September 2026
🕒 3-5 PM
📍 Hotel Ambassador, New Delhi
🔗 forms.cloud.microsoft/r/S5cH…
Please note: Registration isn't the confirmation of participation.
@CchaviVasisht | @sainiayus
#ChintanResearchFoundation
Turan Research Center retweeted
Russia never became a source of technology, capital or security that made its neighbors stronger. Its influence rested on frozen conflicts, embargoes, and the implication that troops could arrive. That was the whole edifice, and the war in Ukraine hollowed it out. @Newsweek: newsweek.com/moscows-former-…
Turan Research Center retweeted
#SpecialLecture | We are hosting a special lecture featuring @epsteinjos, Director,
@TuranCenter, United States, on “The New Great Game in Central Asia.”
The lecture will examine the evolving geopolitical landscape of #CentralAsia amid renewed strategic engagement by #Russia, #China, the #UnitedStates, and other regional actors.
The discussion will also explore India’s role and opportunities in the region as Central Asian states pursue greater #StrategicAutonomy and diversified partnerships.
📅 3 September 2026
🕒 3-5 PM
📍 Hotel Ambassador, New Delhi
🔗 forms.cloud.microsoft/r/S5cH…
We invite policymakers, diplomats, researchers, scholars, and students to join us for this special lecture and discussion.
Please note: Registration isn't the confirmation of participation.
#ChintanResearchFoundation
Turan Research Center retweeted
The latest issue of Caravanserai is now available.
This special tenth issue marks 35 years of independence in Central Asia, bringing together leading scholars, writers and photographers to explore the remarkable political, economic and social transformations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan since 1991.
The issue features contributions from Professor Adeeb Khalid, Dr Roman Osharov, @ADoolotkeldieva, @BrucePannier, Dr Franco Galdini, Agnieszka Pikulicka (@Aga_Pik) and @TimJonesFCDO, alongside superb photography by Christopher Wilton-Steer and Claire Thomas (@sctphotographer).
To mark the anniversary, we've made this entire issue open to everyone. Whether you're interested in Central Asia, history, geopolitics or international affairs, we hope you'll enjoy reading it - and we'd be grateful if you would share it with anyone who may be interested.
Link in the comments.
@HemeriaPhoto #CentralAsia
Turan Research Center retweeted
Uzbekistan is spending lavishly to court Washington while its own state-promoted ideologues describe the US as Israel's puppet and warn of a "Jewish world order." The charm offensive abroad and the incubation at home can't both last. @TheNatlInterest
Read here: nationalinterest.org/blog/si…
Turan Research Center retweeted
Georgia under Bush. Crimea under Obama. The full-scale invasion under Biden. Under Trump, Putin has taken nothing — not a country, not a province, not a port. My new piece for @Newsweek:
newsweek.com/putin-is-losing…
Turan Research Center retweeted
A term coined for the Holocaust is now deployed against a 300-death military operation and almost exclusively against US allies. New in @dcexaminer: how "genocide" became a partisan instrument deployed by progressives, and why the alarm won't sound when it's real.
washingtonexaminer.com/op-ed…
Turan Research Center retweeted
A US president and a Central Asian leader now talk the way close partners do. That's new.
My latest for @TheNatlInterest: eight months that rearranged the US-Kazakh relationship: the Abraham Accords, $17B in deals, the largest undeveloped tungsten resource on earth.
Why this cycle of American attention may be different from the last four:
nationalinterest.org/blog/si…
Turan Research Center retweeted
In my latest writing I look at how China is is expanding its engagement with Central Asia amid the war in the Middle East.
New rail links and regional partnerships are reshaping China's strategy for securing trade and supply chains beyond traditional maritime routes. Story by @emilavdaliani: asiasentinel.com/p/china-dee…
Turan Research Center retweeted
Kazakhstan's new constitution just took effect. My take for @dknewskz:
For 30 years, Central Asia's problem wasn't weak leaders — it was the absence of predictable rules for transferring power.
Bringing back the vice presidency writes a real succession mechanism into the constitution for the first time in the region's modern history. It shifts the guarantee of stability off one person and onto an institution.
dknews.kz/ru/politika/397506…
