Officials and Western diplomats acknowledge, moreover, that the fighting blocks Turkey's geographical path to the Muslim, Turkic republics of Central Asia.

Turkestan (the Central Asian Soviet republics, ethnically mainly Turkic).

During his term, he introduced innovative projects such as open high schools and student transfers from the Turkic republics.

In 1926 the Turkic republics of the Soviet Union adopted the Latin script, giving a major boost to reformers in Turkey.

In the same years, several Turkish teachers were sent to these Central Asian Turkic republics to teach Turkish in universities.

The front in Azerbaijan has tried, with mixed success, to cultivate ties with smaller nationalist movements in other Turkic republics.

Now that the army is needed in the Turkic republics, and Latvia, and Estonia.

Political and economic relations are growing rapidly (e.g., Turkey recently eliminated visa requirements for citizens of the Central Asian Turkic republics).

More than 500 Students from the Turkic republics, Turkish and relative communities are presently studying at Erciyes University.

If you want to separate groups of republics, one way is to use "the Slavic republics" and "the Turkic republics."