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One morning I visited a village of herders in the Zhongar Alatau, a northern stretch of the Tian Shan named for the last nomadic khanate to rule over the steppes of western China.

More than 500 years ago, Kazan was the capital of a Muslim khanate that rivalled Moscow for influence.

For 400 years, the Kazakh khanates or tribal chiefdoms maintained their independence, holding various conquerors at bay.

“Uzbekistan is a clannish, ethnically diverse country with regions that were rival khanates for centuries and still have conflict potential,” Tynan wrote this week, giving the example of separatist tendencies in the north-west Karakalpakstan region.

This narrative has become familiar to the Kazakhstani audience following statehood celebrations in 2015 to mark the 550th anniversary of the khanate.