SOVYETLER BİRLİĞİ'NİN AFGANİSTAN'I İŞGALİ VE TÜRKLER.

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which lasted between the years 1979 and 1989 sparked off the last principal armed conflict of the Cold War. The seperate and unorganized uprisings against the pro-Soviet government of the 1978 coup d'etat, namely "Saur Revolution", had transformed to be farreaching resistance with the help of third parties wherafter the Soviet invasion took place. The primary actors of the crisis were the Soviet Union, Marxist Afghan government and the per contra insurgents. While the resistance groups in Afghan territory were operating under the umbrella of religious political parties, stationed in Pakistan or Iran, they were also enjoying financial aid and arms supply, procured by the countries like the US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Although these political parties were extremely making use of the islamic themes in their discourses they had actually been shaped on ethnic basis and background. In the general sense, part of Afghan people partook in the resistance groups under the auspices of a political party with affiliation motives and some other preferred to be on the side of pro-soviet government. The Turks, mostly resident in Northern Afghanistan followed the same course as is the case with the other ethnic groups and they either chose the option to support Kabul government or to resist the Soviet military forces. Taking into account the Soviet citizens of Turkic origin who participated in the military expedition in Afghanistan, it is deducible to say that Turks in this geography had to fight on different sides of the armed conflict. In this paper, the situation and activities of Turks in Afghanistan and the ones who partook in the armed conflict as soviet soldiers are examined during the Soviet invasion and soon after within the scope of prominent personalities of Turkic origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]