Anatolia has been a crossroads of many civilizations, and has gone through several major shifts in language - From Hittite to Greek to Turkish, with many other languages spoken in its vicinity over thousands of years of history. Knowing that Anatolia was once in the hands of the Persian Empire, and that its western regions today continue to host large populations of Kurds, what would it take to make the majority population of Anatolia Iranian-speaking, and what would be the consequences?
Iranian-speaking Anatolia
- Thread starter pa_dutch
- Start date
Indo-European languages are now geographically united in the old world, for start.
The answer to what it would take to make the majority population of Anatolia Iranian-speaking really depends on the POD. It isn´t even necessary to go as far back as the Achaemenid Empire. Remember that in the year 1000 the Byzantine Empire still controlled all of Anatolia. If you somehow manage to redirect the Turks in another direction, it might open up the possibility that the Persians might conquer the area. Still, it is probably easier with a somewhat earlier POD. If you manage to make the Iranians more successful against the Romans/Byzantines, maybe they could take on the role that the Turks came to play in OTL.
The Kurdish people have existed since Sasanian times, mostly as a broad term for the seminomadic people who lived on the borders of royal authority. If these people could be motivated to move into Anatolia that might be a good option.
Have Asia Minor devastated in the endless back and forth between the Romans and Persians. Have the Kurds begin to move west in great numbers, overwhelming the Roman empire at any point when its extremely weak. That alone would probably do it, with the right PoD, especially if you can get the Romans to practically collapse shortly thereafter and the Iranian nomads can become a dominant ruling class.
Ironically, the Achaemenids are probably one of the worst time periods to try to make Asia Minor Iranian. They're just too cosmopolitan and don't care enough about cultural uniformity.
Alternatively, have instead of a the Turks an Iranian nomad group like the Hephthalites or the Rouran or whatever decide to settle Anatolia. That would work as well, and probably be less complex. If you want to see something like that happen, I wrote a whole timeline about it.
Have Asia Minor devastated in the endless back and forth between the Romans and Persians. Have the Kurds begin to move west in great numbers, overwhelming the Roman empire at any point when its extremely weak. That alone would probably do it, with the right PoD, especially if you can get the Romans to practically collapse shortly thereafter and the Iranian nomads can become a dominant ruling class.
Ironically, the Achaemenids are probably one of the worst time periods to try to make Asia Minor Iranian. They're just too cosmopolitan and don't care enough about cultural uniformity.
Alternatively, have instead of a the Turks an Iranian nomad group like the Hephthalites or the Rouran or whatever decide to settle Anatolia. That would work as well, and probably be less complex. If you want to see something like that happen, I wrote a whole timeline about it.
There are enough Russian and Ossetian speakers in Georgia that this may already be the case.
