Abstract

In the first decades after the independence of Finland, macronationalist ideologies experienced a minor boom in public debate and foreign policy. While the young republic was pragmatically searching for foreign recognition and allies in the volatile post-imperial era, idealists presented pan-Turanism as an alternative or a supplement to a Scandinavian orientation. Finland also became a refuge for a small Muslim minority of Tatar ethnicity, originally from the Russian Empire, which found and promoted a new alternative pan-identity in pan-Turkism. The presence and activities of this minority influenced some Finnish intellectuals and politicians to view pan-Turanism in a favourable light.