ИСТИНА

Today’s Muslim community in Central Asia was former the object of the Russian and then the Soviet reforms. And if the perception of many nations of this region by the former Center was formed in the category of “inorodets” first and then seen as “working Muslims of Russia and the East”, the Central Asians at that point never saw themselves as something unified. In the 20th century the Russian Turkestan was populated by such minorities as Uighurs, Dungans, Salars, Central Asian Arabs, Turks, Lyuli, etc. In terms of Islam, minorities can be distinguished as Ismailis, Isnaasharites, followers of various Sufi tariqahs, and others. However, the emergence of these minorities was closely related to political changes. Thus, this paper examines the interconnection between the political changes and the identity formation in Central Asia with the special attention towards national minorities.