Turan Research Center

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.

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

We’re live!

The Turan Research Center is proud to launch our new website: https://t.co/ZdgNhiNLs4

We focus on the shifting geopolitics of Eurasia—from the Caspian to Central Asia and the Caucasus.
Check out our latest insights and meet the team.

#Eurasia #Geopolitics #TuranCenter #ForeignPolicy

[Joseph Epstein @epsteinjos]

Armenia votes June 7, and the result decides whether the U.S.-brokered peace with Azerbaijan survives. Moscow knows this and has mobilized: leaked SDA files, intelligence officers in Yerevan, and a sanctioned billionaire running the Kremlin’s playbook. Washington has the tools to respond. My new piece in @Newsweek: https://t.co/W1ZALEZ5tt

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

Europe treats the Middle Corridor as one option among several. Georgia treats it as leverage over Brussels.
New analysis by @bako_kheladze https://t.co/1spDc9BNCR

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

How does Russia rig elections?

Senior Fellow Bruce Pannier breaks down the five-layer playbook: spies, disinformation, oligarchs, captured institutions, and Western lawyers or lobbyists who help launder the message.

Armenia votes on June 7.

The video draws on recent investigations by @OCCRP, @InsiderEng, Ukrainian and European outlets, research by @MarkGaleotti, and analysis by Turan Research Center Director @epsteinjos .

Watch the full video on YouTube: https://t.co/nGb8qupIq0

#Armenia #Russia #ElectionInterference #Disinformation #Geopolitics

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

With Druzhba's northern leg closed May 1 and SPM-2 still offline, Kazakhstan has fewer westbound oil routes today than at any point since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Aida Amangeldina on Astana's narrowing options:

https://t.co/n55pCMFJXd

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

Eid Mubarak!

Qurbon hayitingiz muborak bo‘lsin!

Құрбан айтыңыз құтты болсын!

Курман айтыңыз маарек болсун!

Иди Қурбон муборак бошад!

Qurban bayramınız mübarək olsun!

Gurban baýramyňyz gutly bolsun!

Kurban Bayramınız mübarek olsun!

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

The Gulf's 2026 strikes on Iran are not a tactical episode. They are the codification of ambiguity into doctrine — deterrence no longer outsourced, but redefined through the strategic manipulation of doubt.

New from @AhmedAlkhuzaie https://t.co/swVsLpSFa0

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

Kazakhstan gave up the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal. Now it wants nuclear energy.

Senior Fellow Bruce Pannier explains Semipalatinsk, Rosatom’s $15B reactor plan, Russia’s stalled energy deals, and China’s growing role.

Watch the full video on YouTube: https://t.co/lBgAyVmoCt

Analysis draws on research by @DosymSatpayev , founder of the Kazakhstan Risks Assessment Group: https://t.co/MXf5dDxXWz

#Kazakhstan #NuclearEnergy #Rosatom #Russia #China #CentralAsia #Geopolitics

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

As many as 121,000 Afghan children have been traded or sold since August 2021. Turan Fellow @hehsani71 tells @skynewsarabia the crisis stems from both rural economic collapse and tribal customary rulings that allow child sales to settle outstanding debts.

https://t.co/jPTGEU7ulGالجوع-يبتلع-الطفولة-عائلات-أفغانية-تعرض-أبناءها-للبيع

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

Assad is gone. Iran is humbled. Russia's regional posture should be unraveling. But Rosatom's pipelines from Bushehr to Akkuyu to El Dabaa tell a different story. New analysis from Research Fellow @emilavdaliani: https://t.co/nAJEqSlH2h

[Joseph Epstein @epsteinjos]

Xi just threw Iran under the bus at the Trump-Beijing summit, signaling China won't back Tehran's taxation or militarization of the Strait of Hormuz. It exposes the China-Russia-Iran "axis" as a partnership of convenience, and Russia should be worried: Moscow fears Beijing far more than it lets on. My new piece in @Newsweek: https://t.co/n7A1qNsStY

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

Can the Turkic world become a real power bloc?

Ahead of the OTS summit in Turkestan, Bruce Pannier speaks with @RafaelSattaroff and Andrei Kazantsev-Vaisman about AI, security cooperation, Russia’s anxiety, and the growing roles of Baku, Astana, and Tashkent.

Watch: https://t.co/bjDoGdXRaO

[Rafael Sattaroff @RafaelSattaroff]

Check out my latest article examining how Pan-Turkism and Turanism evolved from intellectual pan-ideologies into elements of Turkey’s contemporary political and geopolitical toolkit.

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

Erdogan has not replaced Pan-Islamism with Pan-Turkism. Pan-Turkism has joined it. Both are flexible instruments for projecting influence where Turkey's material capacity is constrained — neither, on its own, is grand strategy. New from Rafael Sattarov:

https://t.co/a4CmcyZen0

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

Kyrgyzstan moved $30B+ through licensed crypto platforms in 2025 — more than its GDP.

Now Bishkek is launching state-backed stablecoins and building a crypto reserve.

Innovation, or a sanctions risk?

Video is based on analysis by @AigiTurgunbaeva for the Turan Research Center.

Watch: https://t.co/zobxj1O1hs

Read: https://t.co/QUJ47uMLXq

#Kyrgyzstan #Crypto #CentralAsia

[Joseph Epstein @epsteinjos]

Two of the Kremlin's top propagandists are openly calling for war against Armenia, using the exact "protect the Russian population" line Putin deployed before Crimea and Ukraine. The June 7 vote will decide whether Trump's first peace deal of his second term survives, or whether Moscow vetoes it at the ballot box.
My latest in @Newsweek

https://t.co/zjZZT5uXls

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

@gapnesst @AigiTurgunbaeva Thank you for pointing this out! We have altered the article and issued a correction.

[Turan Research Center @TuranCenter]

Kyrgyzstan's licensed crypto turnover hit $30B+ in 2025 — more than 2x GDP. The state is now issuing its own sovereign stablecoins. New from @AigiTurgunbaeva
https://t.co/su6BWh2Fc9