“The Allure of the East” by Chris Istrati, Feature Editor.
“Times of Central Asia,” February 26, 2001

The Silk Road – the great highway that shaped history – draws a band across the heart of most of the world's 142 million Turkic people and the majority of Farsi speaking Tajiks and Afghans. The land now known as Central Asia, at the heart of the Silk Road, was once called Turkestan. Marco Polo, the first European to travel the length of the Silk Road, called the lands of Central Asia – the Province of Greater Turkey. When Russia and China split Central Asia in two, the western half became Russian Turkestan, and the eastern part Chinese Turkestan. Until recently, most of the Turkic peoples living between Turkey and eastern Turkestan called themselves Turkestanis or Turkis.

For more than a thousand years, the Silk Road served as a conduit for communication as well as for commerce and conquest. This network of roads traversed more than 10,000 kilometers, crossing some of the world's highest mountains, most desolate deserts and endless steppes. The length and breadth of the Silk Road created a new world view that was greater than the sum of its parts. The information superhighway of the ancient world linked Europe with China, China with Korea and Southeast Asia, Mongolia with Tibet, India with Persia, Persia with Greece and Rome - and in the hub of the network bubbled the boiling pot of Central Asia.

The cauldron of Central Asia boiled with nomadic tribes spilling out of the steppes to invade decaying civilizations. Great empires poured their armies into the cauldron, wrestling for dominion of the rich lands. The “great game” for control of the Silk Road at one time pitted Greece against Persia, Rome against Parthia, Persia against China, Russia against Britain, China against Russia. The peoples of Central Asia have been blown here and there by the prevailing winds of power. Vast displacements of refugees, migrating nomads, invading hordes have traveled down the Great Silk Road seeking freedom and peace, land, wealth and power.

Filled with high hopes and deep disappointments, the ancient Silk Road witnessed empires rise and fall, religions emerge and disappear, peoples growing in power, then suffering great loss. The Silk Road has been tramped by the armies of Alexander the Great, Tamerlane and Genghis Khan; treaded by merchants and exploreres like Marco Polo and Ibn-Batuta, and threaded by Buddhist monks in saffron robes, Nestorian monks with Syriac scriptures, Sufi holy men whirling in ecstatic dance, and Franciscan friars with compassion for the vast masses of Asia – the lost sheep without a shepherd.

Snaking across its sinuous paths, people, goods, ideas and religions traveled the Silk Road. Fabulous cities emerged from dusty mirages, oasis pools cooled down the caravans of camels, horses, and donkeys. Around the caravan-serais men traded and talked and hauled the treasures of faraway lands. Stories of lost cities in the desert were embroidered with whispers of buried treasures in the sands. Tales of monsters haunting the mountains and sand storms that had swallowed caravans laced the evening air. Men shared their faiths in fear of uncertain fate, and sought the blessings of their gods for safety and prosperity.

At one time the treasures of the Silk Road beckoned men to risk danger from bandits, wild animals, storms, mountains, deserts, extreme heat and bitter cold. The goods traded from town to oasis included silks and brocades, along with gems, spices, fine porcelain, furs, paper, gunpowder and other goods coming from the east. From the opposite direction came gold, silver, cosmetics, perfumes, ivory and glass. Laghman noodles on the far eastern fringe turned into Italian spaghetti at its western extremity.

So the modern Silk Road is still a highway of dreams and visions, offering great hope while suffering enormous disappointments. Today the dreams of wealth contrast with the reality of poverty, another shattered civilization seeking to rebuild from the ruins. Central Asia is still a contested field between East and West, the arena where the values of democracy and capitalism meet the practice of communism and statism. Today, the treasures of the old Silk Road still beckon to traders, armies, and religions.

Once again the eyes of the world look east with expectation to the untapped reserves of oil and gas. Canadian and Australian mining companies dig into the mountains for gold. China plans to build a pipeline to convey oil and gas across the steppes. The Islamic Development Fund pours billions of dollars into Central Asia to develop businesses and build mosques. The Asian Development Fund helps build the highways and lay the train tracks for the new Silk Road. The Aga Khan’s coffers stave off starvation in war torn, anarchic Tajikistan. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development strives to develop the concept of privatization and create the structures for capitalism in formerly communist countries. The United Nations Development Program promotes technical education and the Soros Open Society Fund sponsors democratic forms of government in what was once the Soviet Union. NATO troops practice military operations in partnership with the new republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States, while the Shanghai Five nations cooperate on matters of mutual security.

In this field of dreams, private enterprise has blossomed like the first crocus of spring. Tour operators are taking tourists by the hand and showing them the marvels of creation, the puzzles of culture and the mysteries of history. The allure of the East has not faded with time.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the gates are open for travel to the new Great Silk Road.