Turan Battalion

Turan Battalion
Founder	Aidos Sadykov
Commander	Almaz Kudabek
Foundation	November 20, 2022
Country	Ukraine
Allegiance	Armed Forces of Ukraine
Ideology	Pan-Turkism Turanism Anti-Russian sentiment
Status	Active
Size	≈600
Part of	Ukrainian Ground Forces
Opponents	Russia  Russian Ground Forces Wagner Group Chechen Republic Kadyrovites
Battles and wars	Russo-Ukrainian War 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 Kherson counteroffensive 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive Battle of Bakhmut

The Turan Battalion is a Turkic volunteer battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighting in the Russo-Ukrainian War.^[1]

History

On November 20, 2022, a Kazakh opposition activist named Aidos Sadykov declared the group's creation in his Telegram channel. He appointed Kyrgyz national Almaz Kudabek, who worked as a hairdresser in Kyiv, as the commander of the group. Almaz Kudabek appeared in the group's introduction video where he states that the group's goal is to fight against Russia's "genocide against Turkic peoples", and also threatened Vladimir Putin and Ramzan Kadyrov.^[2] The Kyrgyz ambassador to Ukraine, Idris Kadirkulov, offered Kudabek to return to Kyrgyzstan, but Kudabek rejected the offer and chose to keep fighting in Ukraine.^[3][4] In a January 2023 interview, Almaz Kudabek said that the Turan Battalion had about 600 fighters, and claimed that Kadyrov had placed a 500 thousand dollar hit on him.^[5] When Almas Kudabek was talking about his motives, he stated "we just want to fight Russians, we know what they are."^[6] After the Battle of Bakhmut ended, Kudabek said that the Turan Battalion was participating in more battles and that they grown in size. He also said that Kyrgyzstan had placed an arrest warrant on him, and stated "Kyrgyzstan is my homeland, I will always love it. But Ukraine is my home now, I am fighting for Ukraine. The only relief is that many Kyrgyz express support, I am fighting shoulder to shoulder with many compatriots."^[7]

The Turan Battalion has ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis, Uyghurs, Tatars, Crimean Tatars, and various other Turkic peoples from Russia and the North Caucasus among its ranks.^[1][8] A fighter from the Russian-Ukrainian war named Zhasulan Duysembin, "the Kazakh Rambo", also joined the battalion.^[4][9]

See also

• Noman Çelebicihan Battalion
• International Legion (Ukraine)

References

• v
• t
• e

Ukrainian volunteer battalions

Armed Forces

• 131 ORB "UNSO"
• 3 ODSB "Phoenix"
• 46 ODSB "Donbas"
• "Wild Duck"

Territorial defence battalions

• 1st "Volyn"
• 2nd "Goryn"
• 3rd "Volya"
• 4th "Zakarpattya"
• 6th "Zbruch"
• 8th "Podillya"
• 9th "Vinnytsia"
• 10th "Polissya"
• 11th "Kievan Rus"
• 12th "Kyiv"
• 13th "Chernihiv-1"
• 15th "Sumy"
• 16th "Poltava"
• 17th "Kirovograd"
• 20th "Dnipropetrovsk"
• 21st "Sarmat"
• 22nd "Kharkiv"
• 23rd "Khortytsia"
• 24th "Aidar"
• 25th "Kyivska Rus"
• 34th "Batkivshchyna"
• 37th "Zaporizhzhya"
• 42nd "Rukh Oporu"
• 43rd "Patriot"

Reformed	7th "Khmelnytskyi" 14th "Cherkasy" 18th "Odesa" 19th "Mykolayiv" 39th "Dnipro-2" 41st "Chernihiv-2"
Disbanded	5th "Prykarpattya" 40th "Kryvbas"

Special Tasks Patrol Police

• "Berda"
• "Bogdan"
• "Bolgrad"
• "Vinnytsia"
• "Dnipro-1"
• "Ivano-Frankivsk"
• "Kyiv"
• "Kryvbas"
• "Crimea"
• "Luhansk-1"
• "Lviv"
• "Mykolaiv"
• "Peacemaker"
• "Poltava"
• "Svityaz"
• "Svyatoslav"
• "Sicheslav"
• "Scythian"
• "Sumy"
• "Eastern Corps"
• "Ternopil"
• "Kharkiv"
• "Kherson"
• "Chernihiv"
• "Storm"

Reformed	"Azov" "Harpoon" "Donetsk-1" "Golden Gate" "Cascade" "Kyiv-1" "Kyiv-2" "Kyivshchyna" "Kremenchuk" "Mirny" "Sich" "Temur" "Kharkiv-1" "Kharkiv-2"
Disbanded	"Artemivsk" "Donetsk-2" "Poltavshchyna" "St. Mary's" "Slobozhanshchyna" "Tornado" "Fog" "Shakhtarsk"

National Guard

• "Serhiy Kulchytsky"
• "Donbas"
• "Raven"
• "Azov"

Independent formations

• "Dzhokhar Dudayev"
• "Kastuś Kalinoŭski"
• "Noman Çelebicihan"
• "Sheikh Mansur"
• Caucasus Legion
• Imam Shamil
• "T. Shevchenko"
• "Sarmat"
• Ukrainian Volunteer Corps
• "Pechersk"
• "Pahonia"
• "RUYAN"
• "North"
• Tactical group "Belarus"
• Ukrainian Volunteer Army
  • 5th Battalion
  • 8th Battalion "Aratta"
  • "Black Fog"
  • Jewish Company
  • "Wolf"
  • "Volyn"
  • "Hospitallers"
• "Freedom of Russia"
• "Kayfariki Group"
• "Resistance Committee"
• "Polish Volunteer Corps"

Reformed	Georgian Legion "Carpathian Sich" "Kholodnyy Yar" "OUN"
NGOs supporting military	Aerorozvidka

Self-disbanded units are marked in italics.