Abstract
The article examines the reformist tendencies in the education system of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkestan region during the period of royal power in the late 19th – early 20th centuries and conducts a comparative analysis. The scientific work studies the reforms and innovative directions of the Turkish and Russian Turks in the field of education in the specified period. The role of the ideology of pan-Islamism was very high in the development of religious education in the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Turks, in the formation of similarities and originality between them. Religious education is considered not only a cultural bridge between peoples, but also a unifying force of the Turkic peoples. At first, pan-Islamism was a concept based on religious culture and politics, where the unification of views and positions between states was allowed, then its content changed, and it acquired an educational character, promoting religious knowledge. At first, pan-Islamism was a concept based on religious culture and politics, where the unification of views and positions between states was allowed, then its content changed, and it acquired an educational character, promoting religious knowledge. Although pan-Islamism arose from the policy of unification of Muslim peoples, it was distinguished by a high level of relations between the Turkic peoples based on religious culture and education. The difference in religious education between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Turks was small. All followed the same religion and religious direction and received education based on it. The promotion and instillation of religious knowledge by the Ottoman Empire to the Turks of Central Asia and the strengthening of the education of Russian Turks in the religious schools of the Ottoman Empire was one of the new reform movements.