Monday, August 1, 2022

Kazakhstan from the Göktürks (Celestial Turks) and Genghis Khan to the Jadid Intellectuals to Nursultan Nazarbayev

The Intertwined Destiny of the Russians, the Kazakhs, and the Other Turkic (Turanian) Nations   

 

Казахстан от Гёктюрков (Небесных тюрков) и Чингисхана до джадидской интеллигенции и Нурсултана Назарбаева

Переплетающиеся судьбы русских, казахов и других тюркских (туранских) народов


        

                                       

Оглавление

Введение

I. Казахская нация: крупная историческая туранская нация

II. Казахи, иранские Сефевиды и Могольские Тимуриды против узбеков и османов

III. Казахи-мусульмане, русские христиане и китайцы-конфуцианцы в войнах против экстремистских буддийских джунгар

IV. Казахские племена и их диахроническое значение

V. Казахи и русские: параллельная жизнь двух туранских народов

VI. Русско-казахские отношения (16-19 вв.) и завоевание Казахского ханства русскими

VII. В Казахстане, Сибири и Средней Азии никогда не было русской колонизации

VIII. Казахи при царизме

а- Царские поселения по всей Средней Азии

б- Деномадизация (или оседлость) казахов и других туранских народов

в- Отмена рабства и крепостного права

г- Административная организация

д- Внедрение современных технологий и, в частности, строительство железных дорог

е- Русский язык в образовании

IX. Джадидское движение как основание всех современных туранских мусульманских народов в Восточной Европе, Центральной Азии и Сибири: исторические корни

а- Габдрахим Утыз-Имяни аль Булгари

б- Таджетдин Ялчыгул

в- Нигматулла Тукаев

г- Габденнасыр Курсави

д- Шигабутдин Марджани

е- Абай (Ибрагим) Кунанбаев

ё- Кадимизм

X. 25 самых выдающихся интеллектуалов, ученых, активистов и политиков движения джадидов.

а- Исмаил Гаспринский

б- Абдурауф Фитрат

в- Файзулла Ходжаев

г- Мирсаид Султан-Галиев

д- Муса Бигеев

е- Мухаммед-Габдулхай Курбангалиев

ё- Алимардан-бек Топчибашев

ж- Гасан-бек Зардаби

з- Мирза Фатали Ахундов

и- Махмуд Ходжа Бехбуди

й- Сайфулла-кади Халид Башларов 

к- Салимгирей Сеидханович Джантюрин

л- Садриддин Айни

м- Хайрулла Усманов

н- Фатали Хан Искендер оглы Хойский

о- Халил-бек Хасмамедов

п- Мулланур Муллазянович Вахитов

р- Ахмет-Заки  Валидов

с- Ризаитдин Фахретдинович Фахретдинов

т- Бахытжан Бисалиевич Каратаев

у- Халел Досмухамедов

ф- Жаханша Досмухамедов

х- Сакен Сейфуллин

ц- Мукыш Боштаев

ч- Алихан Букейханов

XI. Джадидское движение между имперской Россией и СССР: светский характер казахов и других мусульман Средней Азии

XII. Так называемое Андижанское восстание

XIII. Неправильное толкование истории Центральной Азии местными учеными-жертвами западных посольств и американо-британских институтов

XIV. Среднеазиатское «восстание» 1916 года  

XV. Так называемое восстание басмачей (1917-1923 гг.)

а- Восстание басмачей в Ферганской долине (первая фаза)

б- Восстание басмачей в Хорезмии

в- Восстание басмачей в Бухаре

г- Восстание басмачей в Ферганской долине (вторая фаза)

д- Восстание басмачей в Самарканде

е- Восстание басмачей в Закаспийской области

XVI. Годы становления советской власти в Средней Азии

а- Туркестанская Советская Федеративная Республика

б- Хорезмская Народная Советская Республика

в- Киргизская Автономная Социалистическая Советская Республика

г- Бухарская Народная Советская Республика

д- Противоположные теоретические подходы к образованию советских республик в Средней Азии

е- Национальная территориальная делимитация (Национально-территориальное размежевание)

XVII. Казахстан и Средняя Азия при коммунистах

а- Голод в Казахстане (1919-1922 гг.)

б- Пагубная роль Филиппа Голощекина в Казахстане

в- Голод, исход, депортации, демографические изменения в Казахстане 1930-х гг.

г- Корейцы Казахстана

д- Туркменская Советская Социалистическая Республика (1924-1991)

е- Узбекская Советская Социалистическая Республика (1925-1991 гг.)

ё- Таджикская Советская Социалистическая Республика (1924-1991, в т.ч. АССР)

ж- Киргизская Советская Социалистическая Республика (1925-1991 гг., в т.ч. Автономную область и АССР)

з- Основание Казахской Советской Социалистической Республики и рождение современной казахской нации

и- От Мирзояна до Жумабая Шаяхметова (1933-1954)

XVIII. Казахстан от Брежнева до Назарбаева

а- Космодром Байконур, Освоение целины и Массовые угрозы в Темиртау

б- Патриотическая позиция Динмухамеда Кунаева и шымкентский мятеж  (1967 г.)

в- Исмаил Юсупов, уйгурский лидер Казахстана, и Безудержное пренебрежение границами Никиты Хрущева

г- Декабрьские события в Алма-Ате (Желтоксан; 1986): теории заговора и исторические искажения, распространяемые западными учеными и средствами массовой информации

XIX. Казахстан в переходный период

а- Возвышение Нурсултана Назарбаева, величайшего тюркского государственного деятеля после Кемаля Ататюрка

б- Нурсултан Назарбаев: основные достижения и упущения

Послесловие



--------------------------------------  

 


Table of Contents

Introduction

I. Kazakh Nation: a Major Historical Turanian Nation

II. Kazakhs, Iranian Safavids & Mughal Timurids against Uzbeks and Ottomans

III. Muslim Kazakhs, Christian Russians & Confucian Chinese in Wars against the Extremist Buddhist Dzungars

IV. The Kazakh Tribes and their Diachronic Importance

V. Kazakhs & Russians: Parallel Lives of two Turanian Nations

VI. Russian-Kazakh Relations (16th-19th c.), and the Russian Conquest of the Kazakh Khanate

VII. In Kazakhstan, Siberia, and Central Asia, there was never Russian Colonization

VIII. The Kazakhs under the Czarists

a- Czarist settlements throughout Central Asia

b- Denomadization (or sedentarization) of the Kazakhs and other Turanian nations

c- Abolition of slavery and serfdom

d- Administrative organization

e- Introduction of modern technology and, more particularly, construction of railways

f- Russian language in the education

IX. The Jadid Movement as the Foundation of all Modern Turanian Muslim Nations in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia: the Historical Roots

a- Gadbrahim Utiz-Imiani al-Bulgari

b- Taj al-Din Yalchygul

c- Nigmatullah Toukaev

d- Ghabdennasir Qursawi

e- Shigabutdin Marjani

f- Ibrahim (Abai) Qunanbaiuly

g- Kadimism

X. The 25 most Illustrious Intellectuals, Scholars, Activists and Politicians of the Jadid Movement

a- Ismail Gaspirali (Gasprinsky)

b- Abdurauf Fitrat

c- Fayzullah Khodzhayev

d- Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev

e- Musa Yarulovich Bigiev

f- Muhammed-Gabdulkhay Kurbangaliev

g- Alimardan bey Topchubashov

h- Hasan bey Zardabi

i- Mirza Fatali Akhundov

j- Mahmud khodja Behbudiy

k- Saifullah qadi Khalid Bashlarov

l- Salimgirey Seidkhanovich Dzhantyurin

m- Sadriddin Ayni

n- Hairullah Usmanov

o- Fatali Khan Isgender Oğlu

p- Khalil bey Khasmammadov

q- Mullanur Mullazianovich Vakhitov

r- Ahmed Zaki Validov

s- Rizaeddin bin Fakhreddin

t- Bakhytzhan Bisalievich Karataev

u- Khalil Dosmukhamedov

v- Zhahansha Dosmukhamedov

w- Saken Seifullin 

x- Mukysh Boshtayev

y- Alikhan Bukeikhanov

XI. The Jadid Movement between Imperial Russia and the USSR: the Secular Nature of the Kazakhs and the Other Muslims of Central Asia

XII. The So-called Andijan Rebellion

XIII. Misinterpretation of the History of Central Asia by Local Academics-Victims of Western Embassies & US-UK Institutions

XIV. The Central Asiatic 'Rebellion' of 1916

XV. The So-called Basmachi Revolt (1917-1923)

a- Basmachi Revolt in Fergana Valley (first phase)

b- Basmachi Revolt in Chorasmia

c- Basmachi Revolt in Bukhara

d- Basmachi Revolt in Fergana Valley (second phase)

e- Basmachi Revolt in Samarqand

f- Basmachi Revolt in the Trans-Caspian region

XVI. The Formative Years of Soviet Rule in Central Asia

a- Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic

b- Khorezm People's Soviet Republic

c- Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic

d- Bukharan People's Soviet Republic

e- Opposite theoretical approaches to the formation of soviet republics in Central Asia

f- National Territorial Delimitation (Национально-территориальное размежевание)

XVII. Kazakhstan and Central Asia under the Communists

a- Famine 1919-1922 in Kazakhstan

b- The Malefic Role of Filipp Goloshchyokin in Kazakhstan

c- Famine, Exodus, Deportations, Demographic Change in 1930s Kazakhstan

d- The Koreans of Kazakhstan

e- Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1924-1991)

f- Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (1925-1991)

g- Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (1924-1991, incl. ASSR)

h- Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (1925-1991, incl. Autonomous Oblast & ASSR)

i- The Foundation of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and the Birth of the Modern Kazakh Nation

j- From Mirzoyan to Dzhumabay Shayahmetov (1933-1954)

XVIII. Kazakhstan from Brezhnev to Nazarbayev

a- The Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Virgin Lands Campaign, and the Temirtau Riots

b- The Patriotic Stance of Dinmukhamed Kunaev and the Shymkent Riots (1967)

c- Ismail Yusupov, the Uighur leader of Kazakhstan, and Nikita Khrushchev's Unrestrainable Disregard of Borders

d- The Jeltoqsan riots (1986): conspiracy theories and historical distortions diffused by Western academics and mass media

XIX. Kazakhstan in Transition

a- The rise of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the greatest Turkic Statesman after Kemal Ataturk

b- Nursultan Nazarbayev: major achievements and oversights

Postface








 

 

Introduction

There is no geopolitics and there is no global energy politics. There are no states and there are no international organizations. There are nations (not in the villainous and distortive manner they have been portrayed by malevolent 'philosophers' of the so-called Enlightenment era) and there are humans. The existence, i.e. the Creation, of Man is the primordial fact, when it comes to human societies; and because this is so, nothing matters more than Faith and Moral. Any study and analysis of a historical fact is by definition a moral endeavor, a moral evaluation, and a moral conclusion. Without Moral, there is no Man, there are no human societies, and there must not be states at all. That is why there are no 'interests' of persons or of states, and every act of every human is a moral examination, before we all return to the Spiritual Universe from where came here.

 

My current presentation serves as a background and as a point of reference for a forthcoming article in which I will present the reasons for which the UK-US-NATO-EU villainous evildoing and shameless attempt to overthrow the current, widely popular and fully legitimate administration of Kazakhstan was doomed to fail as it finally did in the early days of January 2022. Certainly, in the administration of any society anytime anywhere human mistakes are perpetrated and misconceptions lead to impasses. However, there are always formidable, ethnic, social and cultural factors, formed and consolidated during the history of a nation, that play a determinant role in the time of upheaval and in a moment of challenge; in the present, lengthy article, my intention is to plainly reveal these factors.

 

History is primordially History of Nations, i.e. of peoples – not states. Peoples matter; states do not. States matter only when they reflect the culture and the traditions, the spirituality and the character, the identity and the integrity of a nation. This reality was plainly reconfirmed in Kazakhstan in January 2022.

 

As the Kazakh nation has always been intertwined with other Asiatic and Eastern European nations, I intend to highlight the interaction, the interdependence and the interconnectedness of the Kazakhs, the Russians, the Kirghiz, the Tatars, the Uzbeks, the Cossacks, the Mongols, the Turkmen, the Uighurs and –also- the Iranian nations.

 

Kazakhstan is the leading nation of the Turkic/Turanian world, but it remains deliberately unknown to most of the world. There are other, more densely populated Turanian nations, notably the Uighurs or the Uzbeks. But it is the degree of national consciousness and the authenticity of national integrity that determine the identity of any nation at any moment. For this reason, at the critical moment, the Kazakhs were not fooled, but wholeheartedly sided with their government, supporting President Tokayev's decision to defend the state against the puppets of the evil forces of UK-US-NATO-EU. To demonstrate the causes of the Kazakh national unity around President Tokayev, I herewith expanded extensively.

 

All links to entries of the Wikipedia have been included for those among the readers, who would like to undertake their own research and find bibliography and further documentation there. In many cases of the English version of Wikipedia particularly, I fully disagree with either specific points or the overall structure of the entry.

 


 




I. Kazakh Nation: a Major Historical Turanian Nation

The Kazakhs (or rather the Qazaqs / Qazaqtar - قازاقتار) constituted a major component of the Turanian Cuman-Kipchak (Kıpçaklar/ Кыпшак) Confederation that dwelled in and controlled most of Eastern Europe, Western and Central Siberia, as well as the northern confines of Central Asia from the beginning of the 10th c. until the middle of the 13th c. Known as 钦察 (Qincha) to the Chinese, Половцы (Polovtsy) and Куны (Cuni) to Slavic sources, and Cumani to Eastern Roman and Latin sources, the Cuman-Kipchak emanated from the Second Turkic Khaganate (7th-8th c.), which consisted in a revival of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate (6th-7th c.), i.e. one of the two halves of the divided Göktürk (Celestial Turanian) or 'First' Turkic Khaganate (6th-7th c.). The Göktürks had put an end to the Rouran Khaganate (柔然, Juan-Juan for the Chinese) that lasted from the 4th to the 6th c.

 

The Kipchak are first mentioned as part of the Second Turkic Khaganate whereas their Confederation was well known to Iranian historians as دشت_قبچاق (Dasht-e Kipchak/Steppe of the Kipchak). The end of the Cuman-Kipchak Confederation is entirely due to the phenomenal development that is current described as 'Mongol Invasions'. The collapse of the Confederation was the reason that Kipchak spread everywhere in Asia, Africa and Europe. With their renowned military experience, they metamorphosed into Mamluks whereas others served the armies of the vast Mongol Turanian Empire (Golden Horde). About:

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/欽察

https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kıpçaklar

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кыпшак

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Половцы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Куны

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kipchaks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumania

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumans

https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/دشت_قبچاق

https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk_xoqonligi

ttps://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дешт-и-Кипчак

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Turkic_Khaganate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Turkic_Khaganate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Turkic_Khaganate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Turkic_Khaganate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6kt%C3%BCrks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouran_Khaganate

https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/柔然

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жужаньский_каганат

 

 Whereas the formation of a Kazakh nomad state dates back to 1465, the name itself is mentioned quite earlier, but not as an ethnonym. The meaning of the word hinges on different possible etymologies as per which it can mean the 'free man' (in the sense of gaining one's freedom / qazğaq or qazğan or qaz). As an alliance Uzbek-Kazak, they were first noticed by the famous general and historian Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat (ميرزا محمد حيدر دوغلات /1499-1551; ruler of Kashmir) in his تاریخ رشیدی (Tarikh-e Rashidi) and described as pastoral nomads wandering around the northern and the western borders of Moghulistan (14th-17th c.), which was a derivative khanate of the Chagatai Empire (one of the vast empires founded by the sons of Genghis Khan). About:

https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/تاریخ_رشیدی

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/尔咱·马黑麻·海答儿

https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/میرزا_محمدحیدر_دوغلات

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мирза_Мухаммад_Хайдар

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirza_Muhammad_Haidar_Dughlat

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirza_Muhammad_Haidar_Dughlat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moghulistan

 

The Kazakh Khanate covers almost 400 years of Central and North Asiatic History (1465-1847), and at the time, it was involved in all major historical developments of the Eurasiatic landmass. Its inception has been rather called the 'Kazakh War of Independence' (1468-1500); this war took in fact the form of a civil war within the White Horde, i.e. the eastern wing (also known as the left wing) of the Golden Horde (also known as 'Ulug Ulus', the 'Great State'), i.e. the northwestern part of Genghis Khan's Mongol Turanian Empire.

 

More specifically, Abu'l-Khayr Khan (born 1412; 1428-1468), also known as Abu'l-Khayr Shaybani, one of the scions of Genghis Khan, Jochi and Shiban, Khan (king) of the Uzbek Khanate, was considered as illegitimate ruler of the Golden Horde by Kerey (Kerei) and Janibek (Zhanibek), the sons of Barak Khan, ruler of the Golden Horde (1423-1428). Fearing persecution, Kerey Khan (born 1425; Керей-хан) and Janibek Khan (born 1428; Жанибек хан) left and, being accompanied by 200000 nomads, reached the western confines of Moghulistan. It was then that they called themselves Kazakhs (Qazaqs) for the first time. This is how Kerey (1465-1474) and Janibek (1474-1480) became the first two khans of the Kazakh Khanate.

 

 

II. Kazakhs, Iranian Safavids & Mughal Timurids against Uzbeks and Ottomans

At this point, I must highlight some very critical points; for the aforementioned events and for several ensuing developments, there have been conflicting historical narratives that present enormous variations in favor of one or the other side. They represent the Kazakh and the Uzbek versions of historiography and oral tradition; to offer an example, for the former, Abu'l-Khayr Shaybani was a traitor, whereas for the latter, he was a brave ruler. For two tribal nations that relied extensively on oral traditions due to their cultural identity and moral-spiritual integrity, the heroization of one another's historical enemy underscores a quasi-permanent rivalry.

 

From the above, it becomes clear that, at the very moment of the formation of the Uzbek and Kazakh nations, the two tribal structures appeared to form the two main poles of rivalry in the vast area between the Tian Shan Mountains and the Caspian Sea. Despite several long decades of common struggle and fight against the czarist invasion and, notwithstanding that Kazakhs and Uzbeks were viewed by others -and came indeed to live and cohabitate- as fraternal nations during the decades of the Soviet rule, the burden of the past has always been omnipresent down to our days. If the common future of the two major Central Asiatic nations and states remains always a worthwhile perspective, the shadows of the past constitute a worthless nightmare that the two governments must work hard to irrevocably invalidate and obliterate. Even more so, since evil diplomats, working for criminal governments, are persistent in always doing exactly this: exacerbating the impact that old nightmares may have today.

 

To the original moment of conflict and to several subsequent events are also linked historical alliances that lasted for centuries. Example: Abu'l-Khayr Khan's grandson Muhammad Shaybani (born 1451; 1488-1510), before he established the Khanate of Bukhara, was defeated by the Kazakhs in Iasy (today's Turkistan, in the southern confines of Kazakhstan). During his rise to power, Muhammad Shaybani betrayed the Timurid ruler of Samarqand Sultan Ahmed Mirza, making an alliance with Moghulistan. In the battle of Chirciq (Чирчик) River in 1488, the joined armies of Moghulistan and the Uzbeks, the latter under Muhammad Shaybani, won a decisive battle, and Iasy was given back to the Uzbeks.

 

On this background, it is only normal that the Kazakhs had friendly feelings for the founder of the Safavid Iranian dynasty Shah Ismail I (a Turkmen born in 1487; 1501-1524); the great victory of the Qizilbash Safavid army in the Battle of Merv (1510) and the subsequent death of Muhammad Shaybani were surely auspicious news for the Kazakhs. It is not therefore strange that, under Kasym Khan (born 1445; 1511-1521; قاسم بن جانيبك خان / Қасым бин Жәнібек хан), the Kazakh Khanate reached its greatest expansion. However, Qizilbash involvement against the Ottomans in Anatolia and the excesses of Ismail Safavi's victory (Shaybani was beheaded and his skull was turned to a drinking vessel) turned the Ottomans against Iran and in favor of the Uzbeks; in any case, Shaybani had already established an Uzbek-Ottoman alliance.

 

While discussing all these topics, one must not however forget that these were -one way or another- merely family affairs; not only Kasym Khan and Muhammad Shaybani had common origin from Genghis Khan, common Turanian language and culture, as well as common religion, but they were -literally speaking- cousins. All the same, the disastrous relations that Shaybani and his Uzbek successors had with the Timurids and the support extended at a critical moment by Kasym Khan to Babur (born 1483; 1526-1530;ظهير الدين محمد بابر / Zahir ud-Din Muhammad), founder of the immense Mughal Empire of South Asia (Moghul Empire of India), brought the Mughal emperors and the Kazakh khans close to the Iranian shahs and against the Ottomans and the Uzbeks. If we add the irrevocable Turkmen antipathy for the Ottomans, who constantly and absurdly persecuted Turkmen populations in Anatolia and elsewhere, we get the entire picture. About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Horde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Golden_Horde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_of_the_Golden_Horde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_Empire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiban

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu%27l-Khayr_Khan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_War_of_Independence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_Khanate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerei_Khan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Керей-хан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janibek_Khan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жанибек-хан_(1474—1480)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Shaybani

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaybanids

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Chirciq_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_I

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marv

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasym_Khan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Касым-хан_(Казахское_ханство)

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Қасым_хан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babur

https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/بابر

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бабур

ttps://ur.wikipedia.org/wiki/ظہیر_الدین_محمد_بابر

The Kazakh Khanate - The Diamond Sword

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxYovFils-g

 

 

III. Muslim Kazakhs, Christian Russians & Confucian Chinese in Wars against the Extremist Buddhist Dzungars

The clashes and wars between the Uzbeks and the Kazakhs remained for centuries an invariable trait of the History of Eurasia. All the same, in rough terms, the Kazakh Khanate occupied approximately the same area as today's Republic of Kazakhstan (Qazaqstan Respublikasy), being surrounded by the Nogai Horde (in the west), the Uzbek Khanate of Bukhara (in the south), Moghulistan (in the east), and the Khanate of Siberia (in the north).

 

As the History of the Kazakh nation is not part of the scope of the present article, I would like to herewith highlight the historically important role that the Kazakh Khanate played while combatting -along with several allies- the infamous, extremist Buddhist Dzungar Khanate. The Dzungar ( 準噶爾 / Жоңғар / Джунгары; the name means 'left hand') were one Oirat Mongol Turanian tribe that established a Buddhist Khanate (1634-1755), which -converted to Mahayana (Great Vehicle) Buddhism- became the major factor of destabilization across Eastern and Central Asia. The Dzungar fanatics invaded and occupied the area of today's Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang), undertook attacks on China, Tibet, Siberia and Kazakhstan, and finally proved to be an existential threat for China, the Kazakh Khanate, and Russia. The Confucian – Islamic – Christian alliance of the three realms had to oppose ferocious armies, engage in successive wars, and undertake many attacks before defeating and decimating the Dzungars. The Kazakh-Dzungar wars (1643-1756) helped Qing China pacify Eastern Turkestan and eliminate Dzungars from that region; however, this was possible only after three Dzungar-Qing wars took place. About:

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жоңғар

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жоңғар_хандығы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Джунгары

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Джунгарское_ханство

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzungar_people

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzungar_Khanate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzungaria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh-Dzungar_Wars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzungar_conquest_of_Altishahr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzungar%E2%80%93Qing_Wars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Great_Campaigns#Three_campaigns_against_the_Dzungars_and_the_pacification_of_Xinjiang_(1755%E2%80%9359)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzungar_genocide

 

 

IV. The Kazakh Tribes and their Diachronic Importance 

Every historian, political scientist, commentator or analyst, who happens to speak today about Kazakhstan, without referring to the Kazakh tribes {or, to be more accurate, the Kazakh hordes (ٴجۇز / жүз; Zhuz)}, is by definition an ignorant and farcical idiot. In fact, the Kazakh tribal particularity always played an important role in Kazakh History, and so it does indeed nowadays. And as it will be demonstrated below, this is not only a societal issue, but also a topographical / geographical factor; in other words, it concerns the different parts of the country's territory, de facto classifying them as per the traditional tribal criteria. This implies that, under such circumstances, the transfer of capital (from Almaty/Alma Ata to Astana-Nursultan) is not an easy, one-dimensional affair. 

 

The Kazakh word for horde is identical with the number one hundred (100): жүз (zhuz); this relates to a typical trait of Turkic linguistics as per which -y turns to -zh in some languages (equivalents: жүз in Kighiz; yuz in Uzbek; ýüz in Turkmen; yüz in Turkish). In this case, the Kazakh number has the connotation of 'horde'. There are three Kazakh hordes and their names are quite indicative:

- the Great Horde, lit. the Great Hundred (ۇلى ٴجۇز / Ұлы жүз; Uly Zhuz),

- the Middle Horde (ورتا ٴجۇز; Орта Жүз; Orta Zhuz),

and

- the Minor Horde (كىشى ٴجۇز; Кіші Жүз; Kishi Zhuz).

 

The Uly Zhuz encompasses illustrious tribes, notably the Dulat (or Dughlat), who supported Genghis Khan and rose later to prominence among all Mongol Turanians, the Jalayir, who got permission from Genghis Khan's sons to settle in Central Asia, and the Kangly, whose name is mentioned in the Kul Tigin Inscription (end of 7th-beginning of 8th c.). Parts of the Great Horde are also the following tribes: Ysty (Ысты), Oshakty (Ошакты), Suwan (Суаны), Alban (Албаны), Sary-Uysin (Уйсун), Shapyrashty (Шапрашты), Sirgeli (Сиргели) and Shanyshqyly (Шанышкылы). In total, the Great Horde is composed of 11 tribes; each tribe is made of several clans and sub-clans. Indicatively, I mention herewith that the Dughlat are divided into Botpai (Ботпай), Janys (Жаныс), Sikym (Сикым) and Shymyr (Шымыр), whereas the Jalairs consist of the Syrmanak (Сырманак/with 5 clans), the Shumanak (Шуманак/with 7 clans), and the Birmanak (Бирманак/with one clan). One must point out that these names are not just academic terms with which only historians, ethnographers, linguists and other scholars keep themselves busy, but the real quintessence of a Kazakh's identity description and ancestral pride. And for a nation with vast oral tradition like the Kazakhs, my previous sentence is merely an understatement.

 

Great Horde Kazakhs dwell today in a rather small part of Kazakhstan's territory, notably the southern confines and the Semirechye (Seven Rivers') region, and also in an adjacent province of Uzbekistan (forming the local Kazakh minority). For all intentions and purposes, it is quite significant to take into consideration the fact that, from 1718 until 1798, the most noble and most prominent Kazakh horde had its capital in Tashkent, today's capital of Uzbekistan. And despite the reasonable choice for the post-Soviet independent Kazakhstan to make a new start with a totally brand new capital, a large part of Uly Zhuz (Great Horde) Kazakhs did not accept the transfer of the capital from Almaty to Astana (now Nur-sultan), which is located in the northern confines of the territory of the Middle Horde; that region is viewed as a less important ancestral land. Almaty (آلماتی; Алматы; i.e. 'the city which is full of apples') is actually the continuation of an earlier settlement named Almatau (i.e. 'the mountain of the apples'); it was renamed in Russian as Алма-Ата / Alma-Ata (with the accents on the ultimate syllables), i.e. 'the father of the apples'. This name reflects the traditional belief that this region was the land of origin for all apple trees. Almaty is located with the territory of the Dulat, one of the most illustrious tribes of the Great Zhuz/Horde.

 

Comprising six main tribes {Argyny (Аргыны), Naimany (Найманы), Kipchaki (Кипчаки), Konyraty (Коныраты), Kerei (Кереи) and Waki (Уаки)}, and numerous clans and sub-clans, the Middle Horde occupies almost half the territory of present day Kazakhstan (the central, northern and eastern regions of the vast country). When it comes to epics, oral traditions, tribal virtues, Kazakh fables, and heroic narratives, the Orta Zhuz appears to be less brave, less intrepid, and less renowned than the Great Horde.  

 

Last, the Minor Horde consists of remnants of the Nogai Horde, one of the less brave and less famous realms among the Turanian nations. Divided into three tribes, namely Alimuly (Алимулы), Zhetyru (Жетыру) and Bayuly (Байулы) and many clans, the Kishi Zhuz occupies around one third of Kazakhstan's territory, i.e. the entire western part of the country. About:

https://varandej.livejournal.com/612545.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жуз

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахский_род

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuz#Senior_zhuz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhs#Three_Kazakh_Zhuz_(Hordes)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_tribes

https://tarikh.kz/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/История_Казахстана

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhs

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Старший_жуз

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dughlats

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дулаты

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalairs

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жалайыры

https://vk.com/club1667784

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangly

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Канглы_(племя)

http://atalarmirasi.org/en/orkhon-inscriptions

(English translation:) http://atalarmirasi.org/en/21-the-kul-tigin-inscription

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkhon_inscriptions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kul_Tigin

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ысты

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ошакты

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Суаны

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Албаны_(казахский_род)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Уйсун

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шапрашты

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сиргели

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шанышкылы

About clans:

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ботбай

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жаныс

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сикым

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шымыр

https://www.elim.kz/syrmanak/en

https://alashainasy.kz/shezhire/shejre---alasha-55916/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semirechye_Oblast

ttps://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Семиречье

https://www.youtube.com/c/semirechie

https://www.readcube.com/articles/10.2139%2Fssrn.3106569

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Орта_жүз

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Средний_жуз

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Младший_жуз

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кіші_жүз

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Алма-Ата

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almaty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nogai_Horde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nogais

 

 

V. Kazakhs & Russians: Parallel Lives of two Turanian Nations

The encounter between the Kazakhs and the Russians did not start under auspicious circumstances. The Russians were viewed as a newer, constructed, nation by the Kazakhs (and by many other historical nations of Central and North Asia), and this consideration was very correct and accurate indeed. Although we attest a Kazakh nation in the 2nd half of the 15th c., we have to admit that there were no 'Russians' at the time. What is now called 'Ukraine' and what makes the quasi-totality of Russia's European territory still belonged to several Turanian Islamic realms at the time. In fact, if the Golden Horde did not split to several pieces, there would not be any Russian today.

 

I cannot herewith expand on issues pertaining to the History of Eastern Europe and Northwestern Asia and to what is nowadays presented as 'History of Russia', which are entirely fabricated fallacies and historical untruths propagated by Western colonial universities and academies as part of their malignant bogus-historical dogma, but I have to make a series of brief points related to these topics in order to elucidate the confusing situation that average people have in their minds, being the victims of the Western colonial falsehood.

 

1- Eastern Europe was been the regular habitat of various nomadic Turanian nations, starting with the Huns, who spread in these territories around the middle of the 4th c. CE, coming from Central and Northeastern Asia.

 

2- The Slavic migrations have been a minor episode of the History of Turanian Migrations to the West; indeed Slavs settled mainly in the Balkans and Central Europe. The fact that Slavs settled in great numbers throughout Macedonia, Thrace and particularly Greece in the late 6th c. (i.e. within the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire) is due to the arrival of the Turkic nation of Bulgars, who settled mainly in the lands of today's Ukraine, the central and southern parts of Russia's European territory, and also throughout many adjacent lands. The original language of Slavs is not known and therefore cannot be linguistically identified / categorized.

 

3- As a continuation of the 'Old Great Bulgaria' that controlled Crimea and all lands around the Azov Sea from ca. 630 until ca. 690, Volga Bulgaria was a {first Tengrist (the traditional Turanian religion) and later Muslim} kingdom that lasted from 660 until the arrival of the armies of Genghis Khan at ca. 1240.

 

4- Islam arrived long before Christianity in Eastern Europe. The kingdom of Volga Bulgaria accepted Islam at the times of Almış (Almish Elteber; Алмуш; ألمش بن يلطوار), who lived at the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th c.; more specifically, in 921, the Elteber (title of king) of Bolghar (Volga Bulgaria's capital) sent an embassy to the Abbasid caliph at Baghdad, asking the dispatch of an embassy and religious authorities officially designated to preach and teach Islam throughout his state. Ahmad ibn Fadlan was then dispatched and, in his Resalah (Report of Journal), he detailed in scrupulous detail the historical developments that took place in 922, i.e. ca. 70 years before Kievan Rus' accepted Christianity at ca. 990.

 

5- There is not a shred continuity from the Rus' Khaganate (ca. 800-900; a Turanian, Scandinavian and Slavic nomadic confederation under a purely Turanian ruler, i.e. 'Khaqan', whose whereabouts are entirely unknown due to the lack of clarity of the various historical sources - eventually somewhere in the Krasnodar region) to the Novgorod-based, Varangian–Scandinavian, Rurik dynasty that was founded by Rurik in 862, and to the Kievan Rus', an extraordinarily multi-ethnic principality founded in 882, which disintegrated in the 1240s due to the Mongol invasions.  

 

6- The Turanian Mongolian Invasions of the 13th c. only reconfirmed the fact that what is now falsely called 'Eastern Europe' has always been an ethnically, culturally and spiritually integral part of (Central, Northeastern, Northern and Northwestern) Asia. With the settlement of Turanian Mongolian populations throughout the lands of the Mongol Empire (and later of the Golden Horde) in Eastern Europe, the ethnic-cultural-religious identity of the local populace was homogenized. The marginal town of Moscow/Muscovy was an entirely Islamic city, and there was a mosque in the castle of Kremlin.

 

7- The entire reconstruction of Alexander Nevsky's biography is based on posterior propaganda and untrustworthy sources that make of this insignificant vassal of the Turanian Mongolian Empire a fabulous hero. His genealogy is fabricated, and this proves that there is absolutely no connection between Kievan Rus' and the so-called 'principality of Muscovy', which was turned to ashes in 1389 by the Great Emperor Tokhtamysh (Тухтамыш /Tuqtamış / توقتمش), great grandson of Genghis Khan. The so much praised victory of Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoi (prince of Moscow 1359-1399) over the Khaqan of the Blue Horde, Mamai, at Kulikovo (1380) was not properly speaking a victory, but a machination of Tokhtamysh (1376-1397; Khaqan of the White Horde and later of the Golden Horde), who deliberately did not help Mamai in order to later merge his territory and that of his defeated counterpart, thus re-establishing the Golden Horde.

 

8- The internecine conflicts among different Turanian tribal rulers, notably Timur's (Tamerlane's) invasion of Tokhtamysh's lands and the subsequent war in 1395 and the Battle of the Vordskla River (in 1399; between the victorious Tatars, supported by Timur, and Tokhtamysh, supported by the Poles and the Lithuanians), allowed the principality of Moscow to be re-established again. But it was not an independent state even at the times of Vasily I (1389-1425). Even more significantly, he may have been a Christian, but the majority of his fiefdom's population was Muslim. That is why any annexation of territories (as in the case of Nizhny and Suzdal) was always made in the name of the Turanian Muslim lord of the Muscovite vassal princes.

 

9- Under the princes Vasily I, Vasily II (1425-1462), Ivan III (1462-1505), Vasily III (1505-1533), and Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584), Muscovy experienced first a long period of stability (for more than a century) and then an expansion. It was at that time, when the theory of the Slavic Orthodox ancestry of Muscovy was invented and the entire antiquization propaganda started being developed in order to deliberately and distortedly position 'Russia' (Россия / Rassiya; an absolutely new and forged name that meant nothing to 15th–16th c. Muscovites) as spiritual-religious-imperial successor to Kievan Rus' (Ки́евская Русь), which had already been -as we already presented- an imaginatively nebulous substance with undocumented history and unsubstantiated claims. To the old stuff, the subsequent Romanov and Communist layers of propaganda added many false maps whereby the inimical past appears as 'small' and the various fabricated realms (which supposedly demonstrate a historical continuity) look 'big'.

 

10- In the state of Ivan IV the Terrible, the outright majority of the local population was Turanian of origin; and the peerage, i.e. the famous Boyars (Бояре; in Singular Boyarin/Боярин; of entirely Turanian, not Slavic, etymology), was ostensibly composite, namely of Genghisid and Rurikid ancestry. That's why Ivan IV the Terrible imposed a real tyranny on them, involving also numerous massacres, in order to subdue them and to deprive them of their immense power (Опричнина / Oprochnina). Old Slavonic, which was already used for religious purposes, became a linguistic goldmine for local vindictive grammarians, who wanted to eliminate ('purify') every Turkic linguistic trace. All the same, the expanding state of Ivan IV the Terrible was so weak that, even after the conquest of the Khanate of Kazan (1552) and the Khanate of Astrakhan (1556), the Khanate of Tatar Crimea was still able in 1571 to lay siege of Moscow and burn the entire city within few hours.

 

11- The so-called Tsardom of Russia (1547-1721; Русское царство/Russkoye tsarstvo) expanded tremendously beyond the Urals throughout North and Northeast Asia, starting with the conquest of the Tatar Islamic Khanate of Siberia (1574-1601) the territory of which corresponded to today's province of Western Siberia). The entire process involved extensive genocides of the indigenous Turanian and other nations. Meanwhile, the central part of the tsardom (the European territory of today's Russia, Belarus and Ukraine) was inhabited by Turanian Muslims, who had to accept forced Christianization and linguistic Russification in order to survive. This situation led to extreme turmoil, which is presently known as the 'Time of Troubles' (Смутное время /Smutnoe vremya); the years of upheaval lasted from 1598 until 1613, when the Romanovy (Романовы /House of Romanov) rose to power. After the death of the last Khan of the Khanate of Siberia, the Russians advanced to the East, reaching Yenisei River (1605) and the coast of the Pacific Ocean (1639).

 

12- Furthermore, the centuries of Romanov proved to be not only the time of an intensified linguistic Russification (or de-Turanization) and Christianization (or de-Islamization) but also the period of an imposed educational Occidentalization (or Europeanization) from top to bottom. These monstrous and tyrannical practices and dictates absolutely disfigured the real face of the inhabitants of the vast realm. So, it is not enough to just state today that the Romanovs ruled over a multiethnic, multilingual, multicultural and multi-religious realm; one has to also point out that the so-called ethnic 'Russians' are the Turanian descendants of Tengrist and Muslim ancestors and that they undeniably belong culturally to the world of the historical Oriental nations.

 

13- Now, we can understand what happened, when these 'Russians' attempted to move southwards and advance in Central Asia; they actually first expanded to the east and then to the south. And when these 'Russians' attacked the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks, the Turkmens and the other Muslim Turanian nations throughout Central Asia, they had apparently forgotten that their remote ancestors may well have been the cousins and the brothers of the Kazakhs', the Uzbeks' and the Turkmens' forefathers.

 

14- In fact, there has never been Russian colonization in the sense we use the word for the abominable deeds and the execrable crimes of the villainous, vicious and inhuman English, French, Dutch and Americans. But the early Muscovite and the Imperial Russian expansion against Turanian Muslim nations in Eastern Europe, Siberia, and Northern, Northeastern and Central Asia played into the Anglo-French colonial game, offering the Western powers greater benefits than those it granted to the Crown of the Russian Empire itself. Indeed, the Muscovite-Russian expansion helped consolidate the Western colonial powers and it brought the Romanovs to their knees. Today's Russians must take note of this fact, and act accordingly in order not to play anymore into the same game that 16th c. English ambassadors were able to induce Ivan IV the Terrible to indulge himself in. About:

Россия – наследница Чингисхана?

https://www.exclusive.kz/expertiza/politika/115530/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Great_Bulgaria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubrat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotrag

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_Bulgaria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elteber

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Eilki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alm%C4%B1%C5%9F

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_ibn_Fadlan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rus%27_Khaganate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs#History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Russia#Kievan_Rus'_(882%E2%80%931283)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurik_dynasty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_of_Novgorod

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Moscow

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokhtamysh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Donskoy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Vorskla_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stand_on_the_Ugra_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Crimean_Wars#Russo%E2%80%93Crimean_War_(1570%E2%80%931572)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_of_Moscow_(1571)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expansion_of_Russia_(1500%E2%80%931800)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprichnina

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsardom_of_Russia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_conquest_of_Siberia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chuvash_Cape

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Romanov

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanate_of_Sibir

 

 

VI. Russian-Kazakh Relations (16th-19th c.), and the Russian Conquest of the Kazakh Khanate

The Russian conquest of the Kazakh Khanate -viewed in the correct historical context- was due to the disintegration of the Golden Horde and the expansion of the Muscovite lordship (later tsardom and empire). Furthermore, this development is also due to the internal divisions and the historical warrior nature of the Kazakhs. The Kazakh Khanate carried out wars against the Dzungars, the Oirat, the Bashkirs, the Kalmyks, the Cossacks, the Russians, the Germans settlers in Russia, and also the Fergana Valley-based Khanate of Kokand, which was ruled by the Shaybanid-Genghisid Turanians, who seceded from the Khanate of Bukhara in the early 18th c. and exercised authority over Iranian and Turanian populations (whose descendants today are divided in three countries: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan).

 

In this regard, it is noteworthy that, at the time of the early Russian expansion (16th c.) under Ivan IV the Terrible (1530-1584; reigned after 1547) and during the Time of Troubles (Smutnoe vremya / Смутное время; 1598-1613), the Kazakhs were mostly occupied in wars against the Khanate of Bukhara.

 

The Kazakh Khanate and Russia established official contacts already at the end of the 17th c., when Tauke Muhammad Khan (طاوك محمد خان - Тәуке Мұхаммед хан; 1625-1718; ruled after 1680 as Shah-i Turan, 'Emperor of Turan') met Peter I (the Great) of Russia in 1698. The religious difference between the Kazakhs and the Russians was initially an insignificant matter - in total contrast to numerous modern scholars' forgeries and falsifications that serve only the purpose of the colonial powers of the West, their fake historical dogma, and their disreputable products, i.e. the political Islam and Islamic extremism.

 

This is so because of the cultural propinquity and the ethnic affinity of the 16th–17th c. Russians and Kazakhs, who were Turanian of origin and Asiatic-Oriental of culture. In addition, one must bear in mind that, among Turanians, the diffusion of Islam never erased the original Turanian Tengrist faith, worldview and traditions; this factor made them view Islam and Christianity as two similar religions with many affinities. That's why Kazakhs repeatedly allied with the Christian Cossacks, when the latter rebelled against the Russian nobility and bureaucracy during the 17th (Khmelnytsky Uprising 1648-1657; Stepan Razin's Rebellion 1670-1671) and 18th (Pugachev's Rebellion, 1773-1775) centuries.

 

The existence of common enemies brought indeed the Russians and the Kazakhs together for some time, mainly in the 18th c.; on several occasions, the Kazakhs asked the help of the Russians against the Dzungars and the Chinese, particularly when the Qing emperors were markedly strengthened after the extermination of the extremist Buddhist Dzungar khanate. At the same time, the Kazakh slave trade on German and Russian settlements in the Volga region created its own dynamics, notably during the 18th c., increasing the number of raids undertaken against one another.

 

The divisions among the Turanians appeared quite early and more particularly in the failed attack that Peter I launched against the Khanate of Khiva (1717), which was led by a Muslim convert into Christianity, Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky. It is indeed noteworthy that, although the attack should have been perceived negatively by the Kazakh Khanate, only one year later Mirza Abu'l-Khair Muhammed Khan (1693-1748; ruled from 1718; Мырза Әбілқайыр Мұхаммед хан/ ميرزا أبو الخير محمد خان), the leader of the Minor Horde, asked Russian help against the Dzungars, who are also Turanians.

 

As the same Khan of the Minor Zhuz (Horde) asked Russian help again in 1730, he made it easier for the czarists to control the western part of today's Kazakhstan. When his eldest son, Zairullah Nur Ali Khan (1704-1790; ruled from 1748 until 1786; Зайруллаh Нұр-Әли хан/ زير الله نور علي خان) decided to break the alliance with Russians, the Minor Horde was too weak to possibly face the imperial army; after several heroic battles and decisive defeats, the Minor Horde was annexed to Russia. At that time, the victorious Qing armies annexed the Uighurs of Eastern Turkestan, and in 1759 Russia and China started having common borders. Multi-fragmented Turan (Central Asia) ) stood no chance to survive due to the numerous irreconcilable khanates, which could neither make peace among themselves nor ally with the illustrious Turkmen Afshar Nader Shah (نادر شاه افشار) of Iran (1688-1747; ruled from 1736). In 1740, the conqueror of Delhi (1739) invaded Khiva and Bukhara, thus further exposing the Kazakhs of the Middle Horde.   

 

As it is already stated, the Russian expansion to the east was the consequence of the 16th c. conquest of the Khanate of Sibir (Siberia); the Russian advance to the South (: Central Asia) took place much later. The permanent and omnipresent Turanian divisions facilitated this development, and it is quite indicative that the only who tried to unite the Turanians of Central Asia against the Russians were the English colonials, who dispatched several diplomatic missions from India to Central Asia in the middle 19th c. but failed to convince the Turanian warring factions to stick together against the Russians, paying for the daring attempt with their lives.

 

At this point, it is essential to add that the Russian conquest of the Kazakh and the other Central Asiatic khanates was not a war between Christianity and Islam; the Russian Empire had Orthodox Christianity as official religion, but it was neither an exclusively Christian empire nor an anti-Islamic monarchy. A sizeable part of the population was Muslim and there were also Buddhists, Tengrists and Shamanists among the subjects of the czar. When it comes to the Muslims of the Russian Empire, it is essential to point out that as early as 1788 the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia (Центральное духовное управление мусульман России) was established (by decree of Catherine II) with headquarters at Ufa. The original name was Оренбургское магометанское духовное собрание (Orenburg Mohammedan Spiritual Assembly).

 

To consolidate their newly invaded lands across Siberia and the rest of Northern-Northeastern Asia, the Romanovs started setting up, during the 17th and the first half of the 18th c., several formidable fortresses that constituted the nuclei of the homonymous modern cities. Indicatively (from west to east): Uralsk (1613), Guryev (1645), Orenburg (1743), Orsk (1735), Omsk (1716) on today's Russian soil, and Petropavlovsk (1752), Pavlodar (1720), Semipalatinsk (1718; today's Semey) and Kamenogorsk (1720; today's Oskemen) in today's N-NE Kazakhstan. Due to the advanced disintegration of the Kazakh Khanate, the different Zhuz (hordes) fought separate wars with the Russians, at times also allying themselves with them in order to fight various and occasional Turanian enemies.

 

The first Kazakh to lead an uprising against the czarist armies was Syrym Datov (Сырым Датов/Сырым Дат-улы) from the Minor Horde, who started a rebellion (1783-1797) because of socio-economic discrimination, infringement on the rights of tribal elders, robbery and violence against the people of his tribe.

 

The Nogais of the Minor Zhuz (Horde) used to attack repeatedly Russian cities in the province of Astrakhan (by that time a border region) and the Russians had to ally with the Buddhist Kalmyks (in the NW coastland of the Caspian Sea) to face them. The Khiva Khanate combatted the Nogais too, also invading the Mangyshlak Peninsula (NE Caspian Sea shore), which constitutes nowadays Kazakhstan's westernmost confines. The Bukey Horde was then incepted in 1801, and it formed an independent tribal confederation of the Nogai (Minor Horde), before being invaded by the Russian armies (1845). Kazakh resistance started almost immediately and the most famous among the earlier rebels were Isatay Taymanuly (Исатай Тайманов), Kenesary Kasymov (Кенесары Касымов), and Makhambet Otemisuly (Махамбет Утемисов), who led various uprisings against the Russians between 1837-1838, 1837-1847, and 1838-1846 respectively (the first and the third were supported by the Minor horde, whereas the second gathered commitment from all three hordes).

 

Due to his involvement in the Dzungar-Chinese wars and because of his continuous tergiversations in this rivalry (at times allying with China, at times supporting the Dzungars), Abu'l-Mansur Khan of the Middle Horde (1711-1781; ruled the Middle Zhuz after 1733 and all the hordes, i.e. the entire Kazakh Khanate, after 1771; Әбілмансұр хан / أبو المنصور خان) was exposed to the then powerful Chinese. That's why he asked the help of the Russians; for some time, he was able to keep a certain balance in his relations with the two empires, but he gradually reduced the Kazakh Khanate to a buffer state between Russia and China. Known also as Abylai Khan (Абылай / (أبيلي, Abu'l-Mansur Khan was inconsequential, acknowledging Chinese suzerainty in 1757 but not Russian authority in 1779. To add insult to injury, he campaigned against the Kirghiz {the national name means "we are forty" (tribes)} and attacked the Khanate of Kokand, also invading Tashkent. His three sons took the Turanian divisions to the basics, i.e. the family level, only offering Russians the best excuse to increase their presence in the region and to justify the czarist expansion as an effort to bring 'order' to the chaotic periphery.  

 

The Middle and the Great Hordes engaged in many wars with the Russians in the first half of the 19th c. Unfortunately, Abu'l-Mansur Khan's grandsons imitated their fathers and started warring one upon the other; at the same time, they engaged in skirmishes against the Russians and attacked the Kokand Khanate, which invaded most of the territory of the Great Horde. When it became clear that the Kazakhs had to unite against the Russians, they did so, but it was too late. After many battles and retreats, the Kazakhs were betrayed by the Kirghiz, and in 1847, the Russian armies invaded finally the Kazakh capitals Hazrat-e-Turkistan (presently Turkistan) and Syghanaq (currently Sighnaq), thus officially abolishing the Kazakh Khanate. It was at that time that Eset Kotibaruli (1803–1889) started his rebellion (1847–1858).

 

The Russian Conquest of Kazakhstan was not an easy affair and it was carried out gradually, because the czars were deeply involved in European affairs, there warring against all major nations of Central and Eastern Europe; even more so because Russia was threatened by France at the times of Napoleon. The failed Russian attack against the Khanate of Khiva (1839) proved that the czarist army necessitated enormous resources to entirely invade Central Asia. Whereas the Kazakh Khanate was invaded from north to south, the rest of Central Asia was conquered from east to west. During these invasions, the Russians had to also to squelch the rebellion launched in 1870 by the Adai (Russian: Адай, Адайцы; Kazakh: Адайлар) clan of the Minor Horde in the Mangyshlak (Мангышлак) Peninsula by the Caspian Seaside.

 

The czarist armies advanced to Semirechye ('Seven Rivers' Land' in Eastern Kazakhstan) in 1847-1850, Almaty (1854), Hazrat-e-Turkistan (1864; re-captured from the Kokand Khanate), Tashkent (1865), Khojand and Bukhara (1866), Samarqand (1868), Khiva (1873), Kokand (1876) and, last of all, Turkmenistan (1879-1885, involving Geok Tepe, Merv, and Panjdeh). Only the Pamirs, in the area of today's borders between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan from one side and China from the other side, were conquered last, due to the extremely harsh mountainous terrain (1872-1895). In fact, the current borderline between Kazakhstan and China was demarcated in 1851 (Treaty of Kulja) and 1864 (Treaty of Tarbagatai) between Romanov Russia and Qing China. About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmelnytsky_Uprising

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stenka_Razin#Open_rebellion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pugachev%27s_Rebellion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauke_Khan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_conquest_of_Central_Asia

Der Beitrag der deutschen Minderheit zur Entwicklung der Wissenschaft und der Kultur Turkestans

https://bessler.livejournal.com/112386.html

Turkestan im Leben und in wissenschaftlichen Werken des deutschen Astronomen Franz von Schwarz

https://bessler.livejournal.com/112861.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_Khanate#Disintegration_of_Khanate_and_Russian_conquest

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Центральное_духовное_управление_мусульман_России

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Оренбургское_магометанское_духовное_собрание

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanate_of_Kokand

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergana_Valley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukey_Horde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmykia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmyks

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахские_восстания

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сырым_Датов

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Восстание_Сырыма_Датова

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тайманов,_Исатай

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isatay_Taymanuly

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Утемисов,_Махамбет

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makhambet_Otemisuly

https://itest.kz/ru/ent/istoriya-kazahstana/8-klass/lecture/narodnoe-vosstanie-1836-1838-godov-v-vnutrennej-bukeevskoj-orde-pod-predvoditelstvom-isataya-tajmano

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кенесары_Касымов

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Восстание_Кенесары_Касымова

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Bekovich-Cherkassky

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abul_Khair_Khan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighnaq

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkistan_(city)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eset_Kotibaruli

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khivan_campaign_of_1839

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Адаевское_восстание_(1870)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Адай

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan#Russian_Kazakhstan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan_in_the_Russian_Empire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Turkestan

 

 

VII. In Kazakhstan, Siberia, and Central Asia, there was never Russian Colonization

A lot of ink has been spilled on the topic of the czarist 'colonial' empire, but in vain; this fabricated accusation consists merely in Anglo-French colonial propaganda, as per which their enemy (i.e. Russia) 'had' to be as criminal and as pestiferous as they were. The racist, absurd and paranoid anti-Russian propaganda of the colonial powers England and France (and later America) was continued with the formation of an entire anti-Soviet 'block'. It ends up with the current anti-Russian paroxysm, but this phenomenon is partly due to the czarist, soviet and republican Russian elites who made the colossal mistake to consider the English and the French (and more recently the Americans, the Canadians, the Australians and the Israelis) as 'normal', 'regular' and 'real' states or nations whereas they are not; however, this is a totally different issue.

 

There is nothing properly 'colonial' in the Russian expansion in Siberia and Central Asia; in fact, it consists in land occupation and annexation of several, ethnically and culturally similar, Asiatic nations. Irrespective of the expansion phase, namely the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir (Siberia) or the seizure of the Kazakh Khanate, the Russian advance does not have anything in common with the Anglo-French overseas adventures and the criminal financial exploitation of the colonized nations by Paris and London. The Russian military differed greatly from the racist Western European colonial invaders, who denigrated, belittled and vilified their victims. The Russian expansion in Siberia, North Asia, and Central Asia did not come with political subjugation, cultural disfigurement, educational distortion, intellectual alteration, socio-behavioral subjection and spiritual falsification.

 

One may contend that spectacular changes took indeed place in the occupied territories of Siberia, Northeastern Asia, Kazakhstan, and the rest of Central Asia; that is true, but the real nature of these changes was technological modernization. In other words, there was not a real Russification (or Russianization / Русификация) as it had happened earlier and more specifically during the formative years of the Moscow principality (vassal state of the Golden Horde) and the so-called Tsardom of Russia, i.e. during the reigns of Ivan III (1462-1505), Vasili III (1505-1533), and Ivan IV (1533-1584). It was then that the populations living in the territories under control by the three aforementioned vassal rulers were exposed to intense Russianization and Christianization, because they were Turanian in their outright majority. This fact makes of today's Russians a preponderantly Turkic (or Turanian) nation.   

 

In reality, modernization would come to Central Asia and more specifically to Kazakhstan one way or another; it does not make any difference if it was launched by Alexander II or initiated by a Kazakh military officer acting in total similarity with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Turkey few decades later. Indeed, modernization is modernization; and both Russians and Kazakhs are fraternal nations of the same, Asiatic origin, Turanian ancestry, and Oriental culture. There are many, who would disagree with this down-to-earth approach, but this would only be their own mistake. Those who hold a different view on the topic present contrasting pictures of Russia and Central Asia in the 19th c.; but if we don't take into account the modernization dimension, there was no difference at all between the Russian-speaking and the non-Russian speaking subjects of the czars.

 

The false, contrasting pictures of Russia and Central Asia in the 19th c. and in the early 20th c., which are presented as 'proofs' by Western European and North American historians and colonial forgers, are uneven indeed; the false contrast involves the comparison of the Westernized Russian elite, i.e. a minimal fraction of the entire population, and the then recently annexed nations of Central Asia, namely the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks, etc. But this is a vicious distortion. History is not and cannot be the 'history' of the elites and their ideas, erroneous delusions and pathetic obsessions; History is the History of Nations, i.e. the description of the spirituality, the faith, the culture, the achievements, the exploits, and the behaviors of the peoples.

 

When, at a certain moment and in a specific country, the king and the people are one, there is absolute cultural unity and homogeneity between the ruling elite and the average people; this occurred at the times of Ramses III, Tiglath-pileser III, Darius I, Harun al Rashid, Timur (Tamerlane) and many others. But when the elite are totally detached from the average people and the locally prevailing culture, it is absolutely impermissible for historians to portray a people and a nation after the image of their local elite. This erroneous historiography is misleading and unrepresentative. In other words, if we speak about the Russian Empire in 1900, we cannot afford to take Anton Chekhov as a 'representative' specimen of the Russian culture and civilization; quite contrarily, the average people in Moscow, Ryazan, Saratov. Astrakhan, Kazan, Baku, Tashkent, Bukhara, Khiva, Almaty and elsewhere were the correct, genuine representatives of the authentic local culture: they were 'Russia'.

 

In fact, the misperception of the cultural difference between Russians, Kazakhs and other non-Russian natives across the czarist empire is due to the Westernization of part of the imperial elite; but this development constituted in reality the Western European colonization of Russia. It did not have a military dimension, but it took all the other dimensions of the obnoxious and calamitous practice, namely financial (foreign investment), intellectual (diffusion of Western European ideas, theories and ideologies), artistic (concerted effort of the Russian elite to demonstrate their fake 'European' identity), cultural, educational (blind imitation of the Western European systems), academic (dependence of Russian scholars on their Western European counterparts' methods and approaches), socio-behavioral and political (Western ambassadors' pressure for parliamentary reforms).

 

Russia's colonization had started under Peter I, but it never penetrated the local masses. Even as late as the time of Nikolai (Nicholas) II, it affected much less than 10% of the total population. But the Westernization of part of Russia's imperial elite was, in true terms, sheer De-Russianization; meanwhile Russian Orientalism was totally different from the vicious Anglo-French doctrine and fallacy. Even when it comes to Russian Classical Music and Opera, the Queen of Spades (Пиковая дама) finds its Oriental counterpart in the Tale of Tsar Saltan (Сказка о царе Салтане), the Enchantress (Чародейка) has as counterweight the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya (Сказание о невидимом граде Китеже и деве Февронии), and Eugene Onegin (Евгений Онегин) finds its opposite in the Golden Cockerel (Золотой петушок). About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen_of_Spades_(opera)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Пиковая_дама

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Tsar_Saltan_(opera)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сказка_о_царе_Салтане

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enchantress_(opera)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Чародейка_(опера)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Invisible_City_of_Kitezh_and_the_Maiden_Fevroniya

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сказание_о_невидимом_граде_Китеже_и_деве_Февронии

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Onegin_(opera)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Евгений_Онегин_(опера)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Cockerel

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Золотой_петушок

 

 

VIII. The Kazakhs under the Czarists

The Russian academic and military elites did not have an accurate and pertinent scientific knowledge about Central Asiatic nations, literatures, faiths, religions, spirituality, folklore and traditions. The Westernization of the czarist elites was the main reason for this lack of correct perception, extensive study, and thorough research; this phenomenon constituted in fact a great success for the colonial powers, France and England, which formed in this regard a catastrophic wedge between the Russians and the nations invaded by the czarist armies. It is true that Russian Turanology (or Turkology), Iranology, Sinology, Ethnography, History of Religions, Art History, History, Linguistics started late (around the end of the 18th c.); even worse and with respect to methodology, the Russian academics followed the false colonial model of Western Orientalism. This was an academic, military and national disaster for Imperial Russia.

 

Czarist Russia promoted an incorporation strategy, which hinged on the following six axes:

a- Czarist settlements throughout Central Asia

b- Denomadization (or sedentarization) of the Kazakhs and other Turanian nations

c- Abolition of slavery and serfdom

d- Administrative organization

e- Introduction of modern technology and, more particularly, construction of railways

f- Russian language in the education

 

a- Czarist settlements

Some of these axes are apparently interconnected; more czarist settlers decided to move from regions west of the Ural Mountains and relocate to parts of Central Asia after the construction of the railways. It is therefore normal that the settlements were near the main lines or close to earlier built fortresses. In fact, this practice was not new, as Muscovites and others had already started settling in parts of Northern Asia, after the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir (Siberia), at the end of the 16th c.

 

An independent organization, the Migration Department (Переселенческое Управление), was set up in St. Petersburg to duly supervise and streamline the trend. As the territory of the Kazakh Khanate was far larger than that of all the other Turanian Central Asiatic khanates, it is quite normal that more czarist subjects relocated there than to the area of the other four Central Asiatic countries. In current terms, the area of Kazakhstan (2725000 km2) is more than double the territory of Turkmenistan (491000 km2), Uzbekistan (449000 km2), Kyrgyzstan (200000 km2) and Tajikistan (143000 km2). Although many nations or ethnic-religious groups were forced to relocate under the Soviet rule, the aforementioned reality lasted down to our days.

 

However, to be accurate, one must admit that the czarist settlers were of quite diverse ethnic background; they were not only 'Russians', but also Germans, Tatars, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Jews, Armenians, and others. Today, Russian natives in Kazakhstan outnumber by far the Russian ethnic minorities in the other four Central Asiatic states; their percentage is 18.9% in Kazakhstan, 5.6% in Kyrgyzstan, 2.2% in Turkmenistan, 2.1% in Uzbekistan, and 0.4% in Tajikistan. In total, ca. 400000 czarist subjects relocated to Kazakhstan in the 2nd half of the 19th c. and about 1000000 people moved there in the 1st half of the 20th c.

 

Thanks to the Russian, German, Cossack and other settlers, Christianity was diffused again in the wider region of Central Asia during the 19th century, after having been eradicated for about 500 years; of course, the earlier phase of Christianity in Central Asia, which antedates the arrival of Islam in the region, concerns Nestorianism and the presence of the Eastern Christian Church of the East Syriac Rite (which was based in Ctesiphon/Mahoze). However, Nestorian Christianity had disappeared around 1400. With the Russian settlers already established in the region, a Christian Orthodox bishopric was established there in 1871, based first in Almaty (former Verniy) and after 1916 in Tashkent.

 

b- Denomadization (or sedentarization)

The Kazakh resistance against the czarist rule was neither a Muslim–Christian divide nor a Slavic-Turanian (or Turkic) rivalry; it did not have either ethnic or religious character in the beginning. On the contrary, it concerned mainly the denomadization (or sedentarization) process. The czarist rule brought about a tremendous socio-economic change, making it impossible for the traditional nomadic organization to exist. This caused a terrible destruction, involving economic disaster, dismantlement of the Kazakh tribes, socio-behavioral shock, and even famine. The eradication of the normal Kazakh lifestyle and the creation of structures hitherto unknown made it impossible for many to survive, and the entire Central Asia was plunged into poverty and destitution.

 

When land and water were given to settlers, the Kazakh formed the first nuclei of resistance against the czarist discrimination. Several other reasons for the Kazakh resistance appeared later, but in fact they were all due to the czarist mismanagement of the conquered lands. The czarist administration had no idea what programs were needed for the straightforward sedentarization of an entire nation. As the Romanovs ruled the newly invaded territories as Western lords, they triggered indignation. The Russian dynasty paid dearly for her naivety to view Central Asia only in terms of the Great Game, and not as a union of Oriental peoples, cultures and traditions. That's why the Romanovs got the hit from the back, and in 1916 the entire Central Asia was out of the czarist control.  

 

c- Abolition of slavery

Slavery existed among various Central and Northern Asiatic nations in different forms, starting from the typical case of a war prisoner. Since the middle of the 16th c., there were different types of slavery in Russia, which also involved slave trade. The household slaves and the state slaves constituted only one category, whereas the serfs were unfree peasants who could be sold only with the land that they labored. Peter I ended slavery in 1723, thus turning the slaves into serfs, but the abolition of serfdom took place only in 1861 with the Emancipation reform introduced by the Freemason czar Alexander II (Александр II Николаевич; 1813-1881; ruled from 1881 until the day of his assassination by a group of monstrous Zionist gangsters).

 

In Central Asia, the slave trade had flourished for several hundreds of years; Iran, the Central Asiatic khanates, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire were involved in the process. The major markets for slave trade were Kara-Köl (Каракуль) in Kyrgyzstan, Karshi (Карши), Samarkand and Bukhara in Uzbekistan, and Chardzhou (چهارجوی - Чарджоу; present day Türkmenabat) in Turkmenistan.

 

Slaves were liberated throughout the annexed parts of Kazakhstan in 1859. The advancing Russian armies terminated slavery in Bukhara, Samarqand and Khiva in the 1870s; the last to be liberated were the slaves of the area of Turkmenistan. Several thousands of Iranians and Russians were then allowed to go free back to their countries.

 

d- Administrative organization

The territory of the Kazakh Khanate underwent a true trichotomy; this was due to the formation of the Governor-Generalship of (Russian) Turkestan (Туркестанское генерал-губернаторство) and the Governor-Generalship of the Steppe (Степное); the former was established in 1867 and it included the regions of Trans-Caspian (Закаспийская), Samarkand, Semirechensk (Seven Rivers' Land/ Семиреченская), Syr-Darya, and Fergana regions, i.e. the southern parts of today's Kazakhstan, parts of Uzbekistan, and also most of Turkmenistan's territory. Its capital was located in Tashkent.

 

The Governor-Generalship of the Steppe (Степное генерал-губернаторство) was established in 1882 with capital at Omsk, in today's Russia; it comprised parts of Siberia, the Kazakh steppe (i.e. today's northern and eastern regions of Kazakhstan), and parts of Kyrgyzstan. Its main subdivisions were Semipalatinsk (today's Semey; Семипалатинская) and Akmola (Акмолинская; the region around today's Nur-sultan, which was founded in 1830 as Akmoly only to be renamed as Akmolinsk two years later, Tselinograd in 1961, Astana in 1998, and Nursultan in 2019). For 17 years, the Seven Rivers' Land (Semirechensk) was transferred to the authority of the Governor-Generalship of the Steppe, but in 1899, it was returned to the Turkestan Governor-Generalship.

 

Last, the northwestern part of Kazakhstan had already been part of the Orenburg Governorate (Оренбургская губерния), which was established in 1744. 

 

The administrative organization of the newly conquered lands was connected with considerable military deployment and construction of defensive lines; many Russian fortresses were built on Kazakh territory during the 2nd half of the 19th c., notably at 1) Novo-Aleksandrovsky (1846; Ново-Александровский; known as Fort-Aleksandrovskii / Форт-Александровский between 1857 and 1939; currently known as Fort-Shevchenko / Форт-Шевченко) on the Mengystau Peninsula by the Caspian Sea side,

2) Fort-Perovsky (1853; Форт-Перовский; today's Kyzylorda/ Кызылорда) east of Aral Lake,

3) Syr-Darya fort No. 1 (1853; Сыр-Дарьинский форт № 1; today's Kazaly / Казалинск / Қазалы) east of Aral Lake, and

4) Almaty (1854; Верный - Укрепление Верное / Fort Verny), Kazakhstan's former capital.

 

The interconnection between imperial administration and the army is also attested in the cumulation of two roles, namely that of the governor-general and military officer.

 

e- Introduction of modern technology and, more particularly, construction of railways

As Russia was systematically dragged by the colonial Western powers into the racist delusion of European superiority, it was only normal that the Westernized elite of Russia deployed an enormous effort to imitate the practices and the novelties, the techniques and the applications, the changes and the trends launched by England and France, imitated by Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Japan, the US, Mexico, Brazil and Spain, followed by diverse smaller states, and imposed on the Anglo-French colonies. The implementation and expansion of railway networks became a matter of ferocious competition among kingdoms, republics, colonial empires, and even decadent and obsolete states like Qing China, Qajar Iran, and the Ottoman Empire during the 19th and the early 20th c.

 

It is undeniable that the railways played a critical role in the colonial balance of power worldwide for many reasons. For Imperial Russia, the world's largest contiguous empire in the beginning of the 20t h c., the expansion of railway networks would play and did indeed play a vital role in the consolidation of the territorial enlargement that the czarist armies had made possible. The Russian defeat in the Russian-Japanese War (8 February 1904 - 5 September 1905) fully proved that the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway (21 June 1904) was completed insufficient (initially, it consisted of one track) and quite tardy (if completed 5 years earlier, it would definitely change the war outcome). It was apparently a mistake of the czarist administration to start such a critically important project with a so considerable delay.

 

In Kazakhstan and the wider region of Central Asia, the first railway infrastructure undertaking was the construction of the Trans-Caspian railway (Закаспийская железная дорога); it started only in 1879 and first, it connected Uzun Ada (Узун-Ада), a harbor on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea, with Ashgabat, Merv, Turkmenabat (in today's Turkmenistan), Bukhara and Samarqand (in today's Uzbekistan). It was completed in 1888 (ca. 1500 km). In 1895, the Caspian Sea terminal was transferred to Krasnovodsk (Красноводск; today's Turkmenbashi/ Түркменбашы/ توركمنباشی). In 1898-1901, the railway was extended to Tashkent and Andijan, and in 1905 a train ferry started linking Krasnovodsk with Baku in Russian Azerbaijan. The English colonial gangster and statesman George Curzon (1859-1925), who visited Central Asia and Russia in 1888-1889, described the construction of the Trans-Caspian railway as a threat for the English colonial plans in the Great Game – a statement that highlights the importance of the project and the size of the criminal English intensions and targets.  

 

For the period 1891-1904, Russia undertook the epic effort to construct the Trans-Siberian railway (Транссибирская магистрал), which is =still today- the world's longest railway line with over 9200 km. Presently, the Trans-Siberian does not cross any part of Kazakhstan, but when it was constructed it crossed Siberian cities, which served as the headquarters of administrative divisions that comprised vast parts of today's Kazakhstan, notably Omsk.  

 

The Tashkent railway (Ташкентская железная дорога), which is also known as Trans-Aral railway, was constructed in several stages between 1887 and 1906 to finally connect St. Petersburg and Moscow with Central Asia, and thus consolidate the czarist rule in the newly conquered lands. The most critical stage (1905-1906) was the construction of the part of the railway, which linked Orenburg (Оренбург) with Kandagach (currently Kandyagash / Кандагач - Қандыағаш), Kazalinsk (currently Kazaly / Казалинск - Қазалы), Dzhusaly (presently Zhosaly / Джусалы - Жосалы), Arys (Арысь - Арыс), and Tashkent (Ташкент). Last, with the construction of the Kinel-Orenburg section (1905), the Trans-Aral railway was attached to the Samara-Zlato-ust (Златоуст: lit. 'St John Chrysostom city') railway. This has been mainly known as Kuybyshev railway (куйбышевская железная дорога), because Samara was renamed as Kuybyshev from 1935 until 1991. In 1913, the Trans-Aral railway had a length of ca. 2200 km, 552 steam locomotives, 7853 freight carriages and 655 passenger coaches.

 

However, for the proper railway connection of Central Asia with Siberia, one had to wait until the 1920s and 1930s. It was only then that the Turkestan–Siberia railway (known as Турксиб: туркестано сибирская магистраль) was constructed (ca. 2400 km; 1926-1931). This railway connected Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Shymkent, Taraz, (Kazakhstan), Bishkek, Balykshy (Kyrgyzstan), Shu (Kazakhstan), and Almaty, with Semipalatinsk (Semey), Pavlodar (in Kazakhstan) and with Barnaul (Барнаул кала) and Novosibirsk (which had been built in 1893 as Novonikolaevsk) in Russia (then USSR).

 

Imperial Russia had 23000 km of track in 1880; the network increased to 31000 km in 1890, 51000 km in 1905 and 81000 in 1917. However, during WWI and the Russian Civil War ca. 60% of the railway network and no less than 80% of the locomotives and coaches were destroyed. The Soviet governments had to start almost from scratch. About:

https://rus-turk.livejournal.com/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тюркология

bsk.nios.ru/enciklodediya/pereselencheskoe-upravlenie#:~:text=ПЕРЕСЕЛЕНЧЕСКОЕ%20УПРАВЛЕНИЕ%20(1896–1918),землеустройства%20и%20земледелия%20(ГУЗиЗ).

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Переселенчество

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russians_in_Kazakhstan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Russia

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Западный_Туркестан

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Туркестанское_генерал-губернаторство

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Степное_генерал-губернаторство

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Туркестанская_область_(Российская_империя)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Среднеазиатские_владения_Российской_империи

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Губернии_и_области_Российской_империи_по_состоянию_на_1914_год

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Оренбургская_губерния

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Caspian_railway

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Закаспийская_железная_дорога

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rail_transport_in_Russia#Russian_Empire_(1837%E2%80%931917)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Siberian_Railway

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Aral_Railway

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ташкентская_железная_дорога

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Турксиб 

https://archive.ph/20130504125742/turkestan.ucoz.ru/index/0-59

 

f- Russian language in the education

After the Russian military officers, settlers, administrators, engineers and priests appeared progressively in the lands of the invaded and abolished Kazakh Khanates and other Central Asiatic states, it was the turn of the teachers and the schools to emerge. All the same, across all these newly conquered and annexed lands, no universities were built before the two revolutions of 1917, the Russian Civil War, the chaotic situations that prevailed in Central Asia in the late 1910s and the early 1920s, and the consolidation of the Soviet rule. According to what I already have repeatedly stated, the destructive Westernization of Imperial Russia was such that, out of twelve (12) universities functioning at the time of Nikolai II, only one was located in Asia, and more specifically in Siberia, namely the Imperial Tomsk University (established in 1878).

 

All those, who -based on idiotic Islamist doctrines or Pan-Turanianist (Pan-Turkist) dogmas- accuse Russia of implementing imperialist agendas and carrying out vast Russification campaigns, are talking nonsense. These false accusations consist merely in ludicrous English, French and American propaganda and in anti-Russian racist paroxysm. Even before the conquest and unification of Central Asia, the imperial administration did indeed set up (as early as 1828) schools with instruction in Azeri, Georgian and Armenian in the Caucasus region. In 1850, the state educational network comprised already of Christian, Muslim (Tatar), Jewish and Caucasian schools.

 

However, a major landmark took place in 1864 with the far-reaching novelties and the educational transformation introduced with the Statute on Elementary Public Schools (Положение о начальных народных училищах), which reflected the modernization efforts and ideas of Alexander II. As per the Statute, elementary education was open for the first time to all social strata. Education in Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and other languages became the norm, whereas particular programs were launched in Finland and Poland.

 

Around 1870, the educational system expanded to other nations of the empire, involving the introduction of new, Cyrillic alphabets created for the languages of the Muslims and the Buddhists. Further legislation detailed the modalities and specified the curricula, whereas civil society organizations emerged due to the commitment of teachers and instructors. One must bear in mind that illiteracy was very high, and as per the 1897 census, there were only three (3) literate people out of ten (10) subjects of Imperial Russia (29.6%; 44.4% and 15.4% respectively among men and women); in rural areas, less than one out of four persons (24.6%) was literate.

 

However, in Central Asia, the situation was calamitously worse, and analphabetism was the overwhelming norm; this undeniable fact strikes a blow on all arguments recently made by Islamist and Pan-Turanianist (Pan-Turkist) propagandists, who speak against the Imperial Russian invasion and annexation of Kazakhstan and the rest of Central Asia. Only 8% of Kazakhs, 8% of Turkmens, 4% of Uzbeks, 3% of Kirghiz, and 2% of Tajiks were literate in 1897. That is why it is absolutely absurd and totally misleading to describe the implementation of the imperial language policy as a "tool of russification"; such an approach does not originate from academic research but consists in political propaganda. Example: Ayaz Ahmad, Sana Hussan, Syed Ali Shah; Russification of Muslim Central Asia: An Overview of Language, Culture and Society, in: Global Regional Review (GRR), vol. 2 no 1 (2017), p. 75 (https://www.grrjournal.com/jadmin/Auther/31rvIolA2LALJouq9hkR/IdfqKhkYv5.pdf)

 

These blind propagandists are unable to realize that, if the Imperial Russian conquest of Central Asia did not take place, the tenebrous warring factions of the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks, the Turkmens, the Tajiks and the Kirghiz would continue fighting against one another, while remaining illiterate and uneducated, and living in abject poverty and abysmal ignorance, because their civilized past had long gone. Even worse, all these Muslim nations would become the prey of the criminal English colonials, who would diffuse among them the Satanic doctrines of Political Islam and Wahhabism, therefore plunging these nations to extreme evilness, total inhumanity, and unprecedented self-destruction.

 

In reality, the introduction of Russian in the primary and secondary education as the main means of communication throughout the empire was normal, because it was the official language of the empire; the incorporation of all the schools into the state educational network helped the educationally, pedagogically, and academically underdeveloped regions catch up with the advanced ones. Due to the new, Cyrillic alphabets created for several Central Asiatic languages, millions of young Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Turkmens, Tajiks and Kirghiz were able to flock to universities and form internationally acknowledged scholars; Kazakhstan, more in particular, became an academically leading state (SSR) within the USSR.   

 

Central Asia retained several distinctive features within Imperial Russia, notably the traditional courts with the qadis, and the communal administration by the elders (being generally known as Aqsaqal/ Аксакал, i.e. the white bearded ones, but more specifically divided into four categories shal/ шал,  kariya/ кария, aqsaqal/ аксакал and абыз/abyz).  

 

Bilingual education was introduced in Russian Turkestan as early as 1884; the new schools were called Русско-туземные школы (Russian-native schools). The first bilingual school opened in Tashkent. The curricula comprised courses similar to those in all the educational establishments in other regions of the empire, and a basic curriculum of traditional Islamic education (as in a typical madrasah or maktab). Native teachers took care of this part. In the beginning, only few schoolchildren attended the courses. In 1901, throughout the Russian Turkestan, there were 45 schools of this type; in 1905, they increased to 82' and in 1912, they totaled 89. About:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Университеты_Российской_империи

музейреформ.рф/node/13686

https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1265/Russian-Federation-HISTORY-BACKGROUND.html

https://e-history.kz/ru/news/show/5755/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqsaqal

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Аксакал

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/kakie-goroda-kazahstana-byli-postroeny-kazahami-a-ne-russkimi-3431467980054717456-8393152216881648379/?user_session_id=c3b40262e12c3b

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/istoriya-kazahov-v-sibiri-istoricheskie-fakty-1709019875470285736-6259233697980185232/?user_session_id=b76e0962b357ce

Totally biased presentation: Ulrich Hofmeister, Civilization and Russification in Tsarist Central Asia, 1860–1917; in: Journal of World History, vol. 27, no. 3, 2016, pp. 411–42 (JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44631473)

 

 

IX. The Jadid Movement as the foundation of all Modern Turanian Muslim Nations in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia: the Historical Roots

The long Russian-Turanian educational consociation and complementarity were mainly due to the leading role played by the Tatars, who had already coexisted with the Russians for more than 300 years. It was therefore only normal that the Central Asiatic nations were influenced by the intellectual, educational, socio-behavioral and theoretical systems devised and the ideas and approaches diffused by the Kazan and Crimea Tatars. This is an important parameter of the Russian-Turanian coexistence during the late 19th and the 20th centuries. The Jadid Movement was set up initially by Tatar intellectuals and modernists, who preached a new approach to education and social organization. The leading figures, the intellectuals, and the followers of this trend organized several groups and launched experimental schools that would and did indeed change dramatically the educational landscape among the Muslims in Central and Northern Asia and in Eastern Europe.  

 

The term Jadid (جديد) is an Arabic word meaning 'new'; the educational system, its theoretical background, and the associated ideology were called Jadidiyah (جديدية). In Russian, the terms were retained: Джадид and Джадидизм. The same happened in Turkish: Cedidci and Cedidcilik. As the word denotes, the promoters of these ideas wanted to introduce innovative concepts and astounding reforms to the traditional religious education of all the Muslims irrespective of location or ethnic origin. They denigrated the Islamic religious authorities, namely the qadis, the ulamas and the imams/sheikhs, whom they considered -quite rightfully- illiterate and idiotic.

 

There is a tendency among Western colonial historiographers to equate the Jadid Movement with the İttihat ve Terakki (Committee of Union and Progress) Movement (also known as Young Turks/ Genç Türkler) in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire. But this is very wrong indeed; in reality, the Jadid intellectuals in Russia wanted to and did actually introduce groundbreaking reforms and irrevocable changes that found their parallel in the formidable state of Kemal Ataturk.

 

That is why the Jadid intellectuals also functioned as the formative threshold of all the Muslims of Imperial Russia to the world of Marxism-Leninism and to the state founded by Lenin; actually, the imperial elite disliked the Jadid Movement, as it looked quite secular and republican to them. This was a serious mistake committed by the czarist authorities, and it was due to their traditional, deeply-seated hatred of Islam and mistrust of Muslims. However, this was not the opinion of all the Russians at the time, as biased Western scholars tend to pretend (a very typical example: Jeff Sabadeo, Progress or peril: migrants and locals in Russian Tashkent, 1906-1914; in the collective volume Peopling the Russian Periphery: Borderland Colonization in Eurasian History, London, 2007).

 

The very beginning of the Jadid Movement cannot be easily discerned; however a certain relationship can be delineated with the few remaining (late 18th and early 19th c.) Muslim mystics, erudite polymaths, and repositories of traditional Islamic scientific knowledge: these were the few authoritative visionaries who systematically and resolutely rejected the cholera of the Constantinopolitan Sunni pseudo-Islamic theology and jurisprudence, which had already -since the end of the 16th century- spread the darkness, the ignorance, the barbarism, the depravity, and the wickedness of the Satanic systems of Ahmed ibn Hanbal and Ahmed ibn Taimiyyah. These few Muslim mystics and scholars knew that Islamic science was very much hated, reviled and therefore prohibited by the Ottoman theological elite, which was the sole reason for the decadence, disintegration and disappearance of the Islamic Civilization; they were therefore quite happy to be far from Ottoman Constantinople, the epicenter of every anti-Islamic and anti-Turkish evildoing.

 

a- Gadbrahim Utiz-Imiani al-Bulgari

One can find in the works of the Tatar mystic, poet, scholar and educator Gabdrahim ibn Usman ibn Sarmaki ibn Krym (who was rather known as Gadbrahim Utiz-Imiani al-Bulgari /  Габдрахим Утыз-Имяни аль Булгари; 1752-1836) a very strong criticism of the rich, materialistic, parsimonious , individualistic and villainous imams, sheikhs and mullahs. At the same time, the commentary that Gabdrahim composed for the book 'Resurrection of the sciences of faith' (Iya Ulum al-Din; إحياء علوم الدين) by great Iranian mystic, wise elder, and scholar Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali (1058-1111; أبو حامد الغزالي) lets us discern in Gabdrahim's intentions an effort to revive the Islamic sciences of the Golden Era of Islamic Civilization.  

 

b- Taj al-Din Yalchygul

Similar perceptions of the Islamic past, and parallel approaches to, concepts of, and intentions for the revival of the Muslim World can be found in the works of the Bashkir mystic, therapist, historian, poet, pilgrim and renowned traveler Taj al-Din Yalchygul (1768-1838; Таджетдин Ялчыгул), who is known for his Таварих-и Булгария (History of Bulgaria), which is a typical Asiatic Shajara (usually oral, genealogical historical legend of a tribe or group of tribes); in this case, the name 'Bulgaria' is a mere reminder of Volga Bulgaria and of the earlier Turanian nomad nations, whereas the main narrative establishes a sketch of Bashkir History.

 

c- Nigmatullah Toukaev

The same concerns the Tatar Nigmatullah Toukaev (1772-1844; Тукаев Нигматулла ибн Биктимер ибн Тукай аль-Стерли), a major mystic, tarkhan (Turkic nobleman), imam of mosque and madrasa, multilingual author, manuscript copyist, and erudite polymath, who spent all his money to collect historical manuscripts. He placed at the epicenter of a Muslim's life three fundamental elements, namely ethics, knowledge and hard work. He thus categorically denounced the incredible sloth in which the Ottoman Constantinopolitan theologians plunged their Muslim subjects in order to control them and eliminate opposition to their idiotic plans, which finally destroyed the Ottoman Empire.

 

Other mystics, poets, wise polymaths, and enlightened intellectuals, who realized the extent of the spiritual, cultural, intellectual, scientific, and educational collapse of the Islamic World, and tried to change and improve this situation, are:

 

d- Ghabdennasir Qursawi

The Tatar theologian, intellectual, imam of mosque and madrasa, reformer and educator Ghabdennasir Qursawi (1776-1812; Габденнасыр Курсави), opposed the Maturidi theological school, and decried the conservative theologians, repeatedly debating with them in public and proving them erroneous and obnoxious for the Muslims. Qursawi was persecuted by the immoral, materialist, utilitarianist and reprobate sheikhs and imams whose decisions were exclusively based on their own dirty interests (for the defense of which they used to shamelessly mobilize their theological skills). Although incessantly persecuted during his life, Qursawi won a staggering posthumous victory by attracting the outright majority of Tatars, as well as of other Muslims of the Russian Empire to his ideas, concepts and approaches. After performing Hajj, he contracted cholera and died in Istanbul.

 

e- Shigabutdin Marjani

The Tatar Shigabutdin Marjani (1818-1889; Шигабутдин Марджани) was a historian, ethnographer, Orientalist, theologian and educator, who after studying in Bukhara and Samarqand, returned to Russia, lived and preached in Kazan and Orenburg, and proved to be the first to diffuse secular principles and approaches to education and social life among Russia's Muslims. He was one of the most conscious Muslims of the 19th c., as he well understood that due to the wrong theological schools, education and teachings, and owed to the ensued darkness, Muslims worldwide had entered the status of hibernation. He promoted a balanced education that would encompass their cultural heritage (Turanian past, Islamic sciences, and Iranian culture) and the Russian and European new ideas and technologies. Marjani's extensive criticism of the Islamic theology, which had decayed and become a liability already in the 19th c., is quite appropriate and beneficial to study for 21st-century sheikhs, muftis and qadis from Turkey to Egypt to Saudi Arabia. The reforms of the madrasas that he evoked constitute an urgent need for the wrong and obsolete religious educational systems of today's Muslims.

 

f- Ibrahim (Abai) Qunanbaiuly

The Kazakh Ibrahim (Abai) Qunanbaiuly {1845-1904; Абай (Ибрагим) Кунанбаев} was a poet, writer, composer, intellectual, cultural reformer, and the founder of Modern Kazakh Literature. He was the first promoter of the concept of a Muslim-Turanian rapprochement with the Russian-Western culture, which would take place on the basis of the historical tradition preserved by the enlightened Muslims (i.e. the repository of the heritage of the Golden Era of Islamic Civilization), therefore totally excluding and rejecting the contemporary, uneducated, ignorant and conservative, Muslim theologians. That's why all the leaders of the Alash Movement (see below: part X units f, u, v, x and y; part XI and part XIV) constantly referred to his works, texts and ideas.

 

g- Kadimism

One of the leading Jadidists (джадидисты), Ismail Gaspirali (İsmail Gaspıralı /Исмаил Гаспринский; 1851-1914) launched in 1884 in Crimea an experimental school, which had a tremendous success and became the reference model for many other similar educational institutions. Several Tatar intellectuals contributed to the establishment of a new pedagogical approach and innovative curricula involving World History, Geography, Mathematics, and Science. They met opposition from the outdated religious authorities for which they coined the term Кадимизм (Kadimism) from the Arabic word قديم (kadim), which means 'ancient'; of course, the use was derogatory, but actually true and correct. The Jadidists rejected the traditional Islamic system of education, demonstrating that it was absolutely unable to equip students with skills and knowledge needed in the modern world and to form adequately prepared elites well versed in modern technologies.  

 

However, the Jadidists were intellectuals, activists and militants, who did not have time to extensively explore, evaluate and analyze the issue through a historical viewpoint; they therefore generated a misplaced divide (the 'new' vs. the 'old' or 'modern science' vs. 'Islamic theology'), whereas in reality, 19th and 20th c. Islamic theology is a distorted, meaningless and useless leftover of the historical Islamic sciences, which had long decayed and were abandoned, because of the gradual diffusion of the catastrophic indoctrination of the Muslim populations with the obscurantist pseudo-Islamic theories of ignorant theologians like Ahmed ibn Hanbal, Ahmed ibn Taimiyyah, and Muhammad ibn Abdelwahhab.

 

Thinking that they were properly educating the pupils and accurately teaching the Islamic sciences, the ignorant sheikhs and the idiotic imams of the 17th-19th c. were indeed renegades, who totally abandoned and absolutely forgot the true, historical Islamic sciences. That's why they reduced their curricula to few topics and to wrong interpretations of the Quran and the Hadith. About:

https://eee-science.ru/item-work/2018-130/

https://сувары.рф/ru/content/tarih-nama-i-bulgar

https://dokumen.pub/tatar-empire-kazans-muslims-and-the-making-of-imperial-russia-0253045703-9780253045706.html

http://bibliotekar.kz/istorija-kazahstana-za-8-klass-hviii-v-1

ru.encyclopedia.kz/index.php/Русско-туземные_школы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Русско-туземные_школы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Джадидизм

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жәдидшілдік

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кадимизм

https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedidcilik

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadid

http://mtad.humanity.ankara.edu.tr/III-3_Eylul2006/oz3-32006/40_3-3oz_kesenkulova.htm

https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/gaspirali-ismail-bey

https://interpretive.ru/termin/kadimizm.html#

https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/istoricheskie-diskursy-tyurko-musulmanskoy-ideologii-vtoroy-poloviny-xix-nachala-hh-stoletiy

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Утыз_Имяни,_Габдрахим

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Таджетдин_Ялчыгул

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тукаев,_Нигматулла

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghabdennasir_Qursawi

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Курсави,_Габденнасыр

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Марджани,_Шигабутдин

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abai_Qunanbaiuly

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Абай_Кунанбаев

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Абай_Құнанбайұлы

 

 

X. The 25 most Illustrious Intellectuals, Scholars, Activists and Politicians of the Jadid Movement 

Among the leading intellectuals of the Jadid Movement, the following 25 thinkers, scholars, journalists and politicians were the most illustrious and the most influential:

 

a- Ismail Gaspirali (Gasprinsky)

The Crimean Tatar Ismail Gaspirali (Gasprinsky/see also above: part IX no g) was a remarkable intellectual and politician, and stood critically against the decay of the traditional Muslim social life and education, denouncing the idiotic imams who had failed to understand the changes that were taking place at those days. He launched newspapers and journals to fight against the obscurantism of the traditional theologians; he organized several congresses, and traveled extensively. He spearheaded publications for women and children, and mobilized his family for this purpose. More specifically, he was one of the most committed activists in the Ittifaq al-Muslimin (اتفاق المسلمين / Иттифак аль-Муслимин / Union of Muslims), i.e. the main organization and party of Muslims in the Russian Empire (which cooperated with the Kadet/Cadet Party, i.e. the Constitutional Democratic Party).

 

b- Abdurauf Fitrat

The Uzbek Abdurauf Fitrat (Абдурауф Фитрат; 1886-1938) is the intellectual whom my former professor Hélène Carrère d’Encausse considers as the real ideological leader of the Jadid Movement; he rejected the Bukharan emir, he sided with the Communists, and he held several positions in the soviet administration of Bukhara. Although he opposed several Jadid concepts in his early years, he soon became one of the most prominent proponents of the movement. Author, poet, journalist, theoretician, activist and politician, Fitrat wrote in many languages and traveled extensively. Acclaimed by the Bukharan Diaspora, he spent several years in the Ottoman Empire (Mecca and Istanbul) where he encountered -amongst others- the great mystic Şehbenderzâde (lit. 'son of consul') Filibeli (from Philippopolis) Ahmed Hilmi (1865-1914), a Bulgarian Turk born in Plovdiv, who combatted materialism and initiated Fitrat into the spirituality of Wahdat al Ujud ('Unity of Being'). Fitrat's books became very popular there, but the outbreak of WWI forced him to return to Bukhara where he became immediately an active member of the Young Bukharans (جوان‌بخارائیان; Yosh buxoroliklar; Genç Buharalılar; Младобухарцы), a typically Jadid organization.

 

He was able to combine many aspects of the Jadid Movement, feeling comfortable with Russian nationalism, Pan-Turanianism, Pan-Islamism (not to be confused with either Pan-Ottomanism or Political Islam), and Communism. More importantly, Abdurauf Fitrat was the first Muslim, Turanian and Soviet intellectual, who identified England, France and the US as the main enemies of the Muslim World and of the Mankind. He therefore called for a strategic alliance between Russia and the Muslim World in order to destroy the colonial empires of the West, a call that remains appropriate and timely even today. Fitrat held several ministerial positions, and carried out critically important work for the preservation of Uzbekistan's cultural heritage, but after a certain period of time, his pan-Turanianist approaches and his contacts with Turkey and Afghanistan were viewed as dangerous for Soviet Union. Along with others, he was considered as 'anti-revolutionary' by Stalin and therefore executed in 1938.

 

c- Fayzullah Khodzhayev

The Uzbek Fayzullah Khodzhayev (Файзулла Убайдуллаевич Ходжаев; 1896-1938) originated from Bukhara. He was among the founders of the Young Bukharans, and in 1918, he tried to form a pro-Soviet government in Bukhara, reducing the power of the local emir, but in the process, he failed and had to escape to Taskkent, after losing several hundreds of partisans. He strongly combatted the Basmachi Revolt (see below) and the Young Turks' leader Enver Pasha. This critical development serves as effective proof of the fact that the Jadid Movement had nothing in common with the ideas of the ill-fated Committee of Union and Progress (İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti/ إتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی), which exercised political power in the Ottoman Empire for several decades. Khodzhayev was the true leader (Chairman of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee) of the short-lived Bukharan People's Soviet Republic (a quasi-independent state recognized by Moscow; 1920-1924) and, after the redrawing of the borders in Soviet Central Asia, Chair of the Council of People's Commissars of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. However, after 1929, he disagreed with Stalin's policies for Uzbekistan, and he was subsequently executed in 1938.  

 

d- Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev

The Tatar Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev (Мирсаид Хайдаргалиевич Султан-Галиев; 1892-1940) was a fervent communist who became known as one of the main proponents of the Muslim National Communism. Sultan-Galiev has been a worldwide leading critic of the Western European genocide of the indigenous nations of the Americas, and an early and remarkable champion of the dependency theory, as per which an eventual communist revolution in England would not change the imperialist-colonial nature of that state. Sultan-Galiev defended Bolshevism as the natural choice for all Tatars, Turanians and Muslims, offering as example the calamitous colonization process of entire continents by the Western powers and the ensuing destructions caused to great historical nations in Asia, Africa and America. Well-versed in World History, he published devastating criticisms of the uneducated and obsolete sheikhs and imams whose ignorance did indeed function in favor of the colonial powers. He actively participated in the Civil War and he had a strong relationship with Lenin, but unfortunately, after 1924, his pan-Islamist and pan-Turanian views (which however were all intertwined with Communism) were misinterpreted and after several years of exile and forced labor, he was executed in 1940. He was one of the best interconnected pioneers of the Jadid Movement, who progressively accepted Marxism-Leninism.

 

e- Musa Yarulovich Bigiev

The Tatar Musa Yarulovich Bigiev (Муса Яруллович Бигеев; 1873-1949) was one of the most outstanding Turanian Muslim intellectuals and most committed activists in the Ittifaq al-Muslimin. He traveled extensively in young age, notably in Russia, in the Ottoman Empire (Mecca, Damascus, Istanbul, etc.), and in the English colonies of Egypt and India. With time, his trips increased, and in middle age, he moved even more considerably: in Turkey (where he attended several parliamentary sessions and met with leading statesmen, like Ismet Inonu), in Egypt and Saudi Arabia (as Soviet Muslim delegate in the Pan-Islamic Congresses), in China and Afghanistan (where he ran into exile in 1930), in the English colonies of Palestine and India, in Indonesia and Japan (invited by the famous 19th-20th c. Pan-Turanianist Abdurreshid Ibrahim / Абдурашид Гумерович Ибрагимов), and also in Germany. He too encountered many ups and downs in his relations with the Soviet government, although he was a passionate supporter of the Bolsheviks and he considered them as the best ally against the English and the French colonials.

 

f- Muhammed-Gabdulkhay Kurbangaliev

In striking contrast with many other Jadid intellectuals, the Bashkir Muhammed-Gabdulkhay Kurbangaliev (Мухаммед-Габдулхай Курбангалиев; 1889-1972) entered into alliance with the White Movement and the leading Turkophile, Austrian-German-Russian nobleman, general, mystic, and potentate Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, before living successively in Manchuria, China and Japan, and spending 10 years in jail (1945-1955) in the USSR.

 

g- Alimardan bey Topchubashov

The Azeri Alimardan bey Topchubashov (Алимардан-бек Топчибашев; 1863-1934) was a prominent leader of the Ittifaq, and later Minister of Foreign Affairs, speaker of the Parliament of the short-lived (1918-1920) Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (the first secular republican state in the Turanian and the Muslim worlds), and head of the Azerbaijani Delegation at Versailles Conference,

 

h- Hasan bey Zardabi

The Azeri Hasan bey Zardabi (Гасан-бек Зардаби; 1842-1907) was a leading secular Muslim intellectual and activist very close to the ideas of the Russian Narodniki (народничество), and founder of Akinci (Экинчи/Əkinçi/اکينچی), the first newspaper in Azeri.

 

i- Mirza Fatali Akhundov

The Azeri Mirza Fatali Akhundov (Мирза Фатали Ахундов; 1812-1878), a leading Azeri nationalist, materialist and atheist, epitomized the Turanian-Iranian-Russian unity, as he identified Russia as his empire, Turkic Azeri as his ancestry, and Iran as his nation. Written in Farsi, his 'Eastern poem on the death of Pushkin' (1837) proved to be a real symbol of unity for the Russian, Turanian and Iranian worlds.

 

j- Mahmud khodja Behbudiy

The Tajik and Uzbek Mahmud khodja Behbudiy (Махмуд Ходжа Бехбуди; 1875-1919) was a distant descendant of the illustrious 12th c. Turkic mystic, philosopher and poet Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (whose tomb is a magnificent edifice located in Turkistan, South Kazakhstan). He traveled and lived in Mecca, Cairo and Istanbul, returned to Samarqand, launched the famous weekly Ayina (Oino), participated actively in the Ittifaq, wrote numerous textbooks, theatrical plays, and articles, took part in the first executive committee in Samarkand after the February 1917 revolution, and was in good terms with the Soviet government, only to be arrested by the counterrevolutionaries and executed in 1919 by the rebel Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan (the last Emir of Bukhara, who was finally deposed in 1920 and died in exile in Afghanistan in 1944).

 

k- Saifullah qadi Khalid Bashlarov

The Dagestani Saifullah qadi Khalid Bashlarov (Сайфулла-кади Башларов; 1853-1919) was early expelled to Saratov in 1878 (for having participated in the 1877 rebellion), joined the Ittifaq, returned to Dagestan in 1909, supported the anti-clerk rebellion in 1913 (which forced the czarist administration to partly abandon the local plan for introduction of the Russian alphabet), was exiled to Kazan, and finally killed in the White Movement (in 1919).  

 

l- Salimgirey Seidkhanovich Dzhantyurin

The Kazakh Salimgirey Seidkhanovich Dzhantyurin (or Jantyurin / Салимгирей Сеидханович Джантюрин; 1864-1926) was a nobleman from Ufa and a descendent of the Kazakh khans of the Bukey Horde; he was one of the principal leaders of the Kazakh national movement. He graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics of Moscow University, worked for the czarist administration in the Ufa province, and became a remarkable landowner, a pioneering politician, a philanthropist, member of the Ittifaq Central Committee and member of the Kadet Party. Despite his outstanding career and benefactions, after the rise of the Bolsheviks to power, he lived a modest life and died in an accident.  

 

Studying Dzhantyurin's biography, achievements and contributions, one discovers and has therefore to underscore the extraordinary contrast between the Russian-Muslim osmosis and the Anglo-French colonial disparity with the Muslim World. Because of their antithesis with the Muslims, the Western colonial powers carried out a pernicious infiltration into the colonized Muslim societies and they systematically distorted the local version of decayed Islam. Quite contrarily to what happened in Muslim lands colonized by the English and the French, as early as 1906, Dzhantyurin was intellectually advanced enough to advocate the abolition of death penalty.

 

In striking contradiction to Dzhantyurin's Islamic humanism, throughout the territories colonized by the evil colonials of England and France, uneducated and paranoid sheikhs and imams, duly utilized by their criminal colonial masters (without even understanding it), started advocating extremist ideas, criminal acts, and increased ignorance.  The detrimental comparison is quite enough to prove to all Muslims that, as per the principles of Islam, it is absolutely impermissible for any Muslim to live in the colonial countries of the West, to accept their embassies in Muslim countries, and to study in these countries' disreputable universities which propagate a historical forgery to indoctrinate and thus enslave the idiotic Muslims who find it normal to study in Australia, Canada, US, UK and France.  

 

m- Sadriddin Ayni

The Tajik Sadriddin Ayni (Садриддин Айни; صدرالدين عينى; 1878-1954) was a widely acclaimed author, poet, theoretician, historian and philologist, who propagated Communist ideas in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. He became member of the Supreme Soviet of Tajikistan, and more importantly, he extensively elaborated and cultivated the Tajik cultural identity, so that nowadays in Tajikistan he is widely viewed as their national poet.

 

n- Hairullah Usmanov

The Tatar Hairullah Usmanov (Хайрулла Абдрахманович Усманов; 1866-1915) was a leading educator and pedagogue, who introduced Jadid methods and approaches in many schools and madrasahs. Mobilizing Tatar businessmen, like A. G. Husainov (А. Г. Хусаинов), and average people for the cause of the Jadid Movement, Usmanov directed several cultural centers and took active part in the Ittifaq. He was elected as deputy in the Second State Duma (1906) and there he drafted a Bill, demanding the abolition of restrictions on political and civil rights related to religion and ethnicity.

 

o- Fatali Khan Isgender Oğlu

The Azeri Fatali Khan Isgender Oğlu ('son of Alexander') Khoyski (i.e. from Khoy in today's NW Iran) was the first Prime Minister of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918-1920). Khoyski (1875-1920; Фатали Хан Искендер оглы Хойский; فتحعلی ‌خان خویسکی) was a court lawyer and he was elected in the Second State Duma, before becoming a minister in the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (April-May 1918). As he did not want to engage Azerbaijan against the Russian counterrevolutionary Denikin and his army, the Red Army invaded and annexed Azerbaijan. Khoyski escaped only to be later assassinated in Tbilisi by an Armenian terrorist.

 

p- Khalil bey Khasmammadov

The Azeri Khalil bey Khasmammadov (Халил-бек Хасмамедов; 1873-1947) was a lawyer and an enthusiastic supporter of Ismail Gaspirali's ideas and thoughts. He was elected in the First and Second State Dumas, appointed in several ministerial positions in the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, and then dispatched as ADR ambassador to Turkey, where he stayed for the rest of his life, because he decried the Soviet occupation of Azerbaijan and he disagreed with the Soviets. 

 

q- Mullanur Mullazianovich Vakhitov

The Tatar Mullanur Mullazianovich Vakhitov (Мулланур Муллазянович Вахитов; 1885-1918) was a leading figure of the Muslim Socialist Committee (MSK), editor of a Communist journal in Kazan, and commissar of Central Muslim Commissariat of Narkomnats (Народный комиссариат по делам национальностей; People's Commissariat on Nationalities); he was killed defending Kazan against the armies of the counterrevolutionaries.

 

r- Ahmed Zaki Validov

The Bashkir Ahmed Zaki Validov (or Zeki Velidi Togan / Ахмет-Заки Валидов; 1890-1970) was an outstanding member of the Jadid Movement, activist, fighter for the liberation of Bashkortostan, theoretician, explorer, scholar, author and professor, who -like so many other Jadid intellectuals- tergiversated in favor and against the Bolsheviks. Ahmed Zaki Validov was also one of the leaders of the Basmachi Movement (against the Soviets), chairman of the National Union of Turkistan, refugee in Iran, head of a secret organization that collaborated with Nazi Germany, and a multilingual academic with working experience in many countries (Turkey, Austria, Germany, US, Pakistan, India, Iran, etc.).

 

s- Rizaeddin bin Fakhreddin

The Bashkir and Tatar Rizaeddin bin Fakhreddin (1858-1936; Ризаитдин Фахретдинович Фахретдинов) was a leading author, educator, and director of madrasah; he proved to be a very active member of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia (Центральное духовное управление мусульман России, which was then named Оренбургское магометанское духовное собрание/Assembly) at Ufa. As a systematic reformer, he came up (1905) with a comprehensive project, which he submitted to the aforementioned institution, also asking the imperial permission to allow them to extend their authority among the Kazakhs. This was rejected, because the imperial authorities believed that it would lead to a very centralized Muslim authority throughout their vast country. Fluent in many languages, he published extensively on topics of Islamic History, Philosophy, Spirituality and Jurisprudence.

 

t- Bakhytzhan Bisalievich Karataev

The Kazakh Bakhytzhan Bisalievich Karataev (or Karatayev; 1863-1934; Бахытжан Бисалиевич Каратаев / Бақытжан Бейсәліұлы Қаратаев) graduated from the Orenburg gymnasium and the Faculty of Law in St. Petersburg, and then worked as bailiff and later as attorney. He participated (1905-1914) in the Cadets (кадет партия; the Constitutional Democratic Party), becoming the leader of the Ural-Kyrgyz group (which represented several nations). Elected in the Second State Duma, he was part of the Muslim group and the Siberian group. He confronted the czarist premier Stolypin's policy of resettlement (переселенческая политика), because he viewed it as a threat for the interests of the indigenous nations. He was a prolific writer and contributor to many newspapers, and he assisted the Muslim faction of the Third State Duma, being dispatched (1907-1908) on behalf of the Kazakhs of the Steppe Governorate. He actively participated in the works of the 4th Muslim Congress (1914; St. Petersburg) that came up with great proposals of major reforms in the religious administration.

 

Opposing Russia's participation in WWI, Karataev demonstrated remarkable foresight and real love for all the nations of the empire; he participated (December 1914) in the All-Russian Congress of Representatives of Muslim Public Organizations (Всероссийский съезд представителей мусульманских общественных организаций); after that point, he distanced himself from the Cadets and gradually became member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Bolsheviks) {Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия (большевиков)}. He was arrested (early 1918) and imprisoned for 9 months by the White Cossacks (a counterrevolutionary group in the South Urals), before assuming many positions during the early years of the Soviet administration (member of the Kirghiz Revolutionary Committee; delegate of the 1st and 2nd Congresses of Soviets of the Kirghiz ASSR; chairman of the Aktobe Provincial Collegium; employee in the State Archives of the KASSR in Aktobe). Following several disagreements with other local authorities, he withdrew and later was expelled from the Communist Party.

 

u- Khalil Dosmukhamedov

The Kazakh Khalil Dosmukhamedov (Халел Досмухамедович Досмухамедов; 1883-1939) was the first Kazakh to feel the need for a political organization or party to defend the national interests of the Kazakhs, along with those of the other Turanian and Muslim nations of the empire. He graduated from the Ural Military Real School (Уральское военно-реальное училище) in 1902; he then entered the St. Petersburg Imperial Military Medical Academy (Санкт-Петербургская императорская военно-медицинская академия), which is now named Военно-медицинская академия имени С. М. Кирова (S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy). He served as medical doctor in the Perm province, in the 1st Turkistan, 2nd Ural Kazakh-Russian rifle battalion, and then in the Urals. In his book "How to deal with the Plague among the Kirghiz People", he described in details the methods he used to combat the plague that broke in 1916.

 

His political career started with articles and strongly Jadidist proposals published as early as 1905 (in newspapers like Uralskiy Listok/уральский листок and Fiker/Фикер). He was member of the All-Russian Congress of Muslims in Moscow (May 1917), member of the 1st All-Kazakh Congress, member of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly (November 1917), and member of the Kazakh party Alash (Алаш), which was allied with the Constitutional Democratic Party (rather known as the Cadets / from the first syllable of the first two words: Конституционно-демократическая партия).

 

He was member of the Alash Orda government, in March 1918, and along with others, he entered into negotiations with Lenin and Stalin with respect to Kazakhstan's autonomy; after the dissolution of the Alash government (following the defeat of the White Army in 1920), he took part actively in the People’s Commissariat for Education of the Republic of Turkestan and later held several other positions in the USSR. Dosmukhamedov is today considered as the father of modern scientific research in Kazakhstan, because he contributed greatly to the establishment of regular academic education and scholarly exploration, also publishing many books. However, he was rather viewed suspiciously, arrested and exiled in the 1930s; before being executed, he died when hospitalized in 1938, but he was rehabilitated thanks to Nikita Khrushchev.

 

v- Zhahansha Dosmukhamedov

The Kazakh Zhahansha Dosmukhamedov {Жанша (Жаханша) Досмухамедов; 1887- 1938} was a leading Kazakh lawyer, scientist, author, translator, political activist, cultural reformer, and national statesman. He originated from a family of steppe shepherds, and after studying in a Russian-Kazakh moving school (Булдуртинская аульная передвижная русско-казахская школа) and in the one-year Russian-Kazakh secondary school (одноклассное русско-казахское училище) in Dzhambeity (Джамбейты; today Zhymbiti/Жымпиты), he enrolled in the Ural Military Real School in Uralsk {Уральское войсковое реальное училище; which is currently named after him (Высший педагогический колледж имени Жаханши Досмухамедова)} and then in the Faculty of Law (Moscow University). His studies, like those of almost all the Kazakh students, were financed by Kazakh foremen of the administrative districts from which the students originated. As student, he treated Russians with sympathy and respected Russian culture. He always supported a position of convergence between Russians and Kazakhs, which predetermined the Kazakh national stance toward Kazakh-Russian relationship.

 

As chairman of the Ural Regional Kazakh Committee, Zhahansha Dosmukhamedov participated in the All-Russian Congress of Muslims where he was elected deputy chairman. He formed the Uilsky Olyat government (the Western branch of Alash Orda) and therefore participated in the Alash government (proclaimed at the 2nd All-Kazakh Congress, in 1917). He was the jurist, who shaped the legal concept of Alash. In 1918-1919, along with his old schoolmate Khalil Dosmukhamedov, he negotiated with Lenin and Stalin. As a lawyer, he translated the Soviet civil and criminal codes to Kazakh, and he greatly contributed to the consolidation of the national culture. He was arrested and persecuted several times in the 1930s, and despite his sickness, he was executed in 1938, only to be rewarded with rehabilitation and recognition due to Nikita Khrushchev. 

 

w- Saken Seifullin  

The Kazakh Saken Seifullin (1894-1938; Сәкен Сейфуллин; Сәдуақас Сейфоллаұлы Сейфуллин) was a great poet and writer; he has been acknowledged as the father of Modern Kazakh Literature. In addition, he was the founder of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan, and he proved also to be a remarkable statesman and a prominent member of the Bolshevik Communist Party. Member of the Argyn (Аргын/аргун) tribe (from the Middle Horde), he studied first in the Russian-Kazakh school of the Copper Smelter Plant at Spask (спасский медеплавильный завод; Karaganda region, i.e. NE Kazakhstan), which was built in the 1850s. He continued in the Akmola Primary School and in the 3-year Secondary School at Akmola (Акмолинское трёхклассное городское училище), and then he started teaching Russian language to Kazakh and other Muslim schoolchildren in a madrasa.

 

In 1913-1914, Seifullin entered the Omsk Vocational School for Teachers (Омская учительская семинария) and started publishing articles and writing poems in Kazakh, before becoming one of the pioneers of the Kazakh youth organization Birlik ('Unity'). During that period, he befriended and collaborated with other young Kazakh activists, who took part in the Jadid Movement before becoming the leading intellectuals, academics, and statesmen of the Kazakh nation in the early 20th c., namely Magzhan Zhumabaev (Магжан Жумабаев), Zhanaydar Saduakasov (Жанайдар Садуакасов; Джанайдар Садвокасович Садвокасов), Nygymet Nurmakov (Ныгымет Нурмаков), Abylkhayyr Dosov (Абылхайыр Досов), Shaimerden Alzhanov (Шаймерден Алжанов).

 

In April 1917, Seifullin founded a society named Жас қазақ (Zhas Kazak/Young Kazakhs), the name of which alludes to the organization Genç Türkler (Young Turks) in the ailing Ottoman Empire; all the same, the cultural, ideological and socio-political identity of the Young Kazakhs was totally different from that of their Ottoman coreligionists. In the same year, Seifullin composed a pro-Soviet poem, which has been considered as the first piece of Kazakh Soviet literature. He was elected member of the presidium of the Akmola Soviet of deputies, and then appointed as People's Commissar of Education. During the Civil War, Seifullin was arrested by the counterrevolutionaries, imprisoned and condemned to death, but managed to escape and survive. After the end of the hostilities, he assumed several positions in the early soviet administrations and later, in November 1922, the 3rd Congress of the Kirghiz (: Kazakh) ASSR elected him as head of the government ('Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Republic'). One month later, he was elected member of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR (Центральный исполнительный комитет СССР).  

 

Seifullin deployed a great effort in order to change the wrong appellation and to impose the correct national name ('Kazakh' instead of 'Kirghiz') as that of the SSR, thus rightfully granting to his native tongue the status of state language. At this point, one must clarify that the confusion of names was due to the traditional Russian appellation of the Kazakhs and the Kirghiz: the former were known to Russians as Kirghiz-Kazaks (киргизы-казахи or also Киргиз-кайсаки) and the latter were called Kara-Kirghiz (кара-киргизы/Black Kirghiz). Seifullin is credited with the historic sentence "Let's call the Kazakhs Kazakhs! Correct the mistakes! Until today, Russians called Kazakhs Kirghiz." (Давайте называть казахов казахами, исправим ошибки. До сегодняшнего дня русские называли казахов киргизами.)

 

Although he was well-known for his staunch pro-Soviet stance, for his impressive award (Order of the Red Banner of Labor), and for his outstanding contribution to the consolidation of the Soviet rule in Kazakhstan, despite his enormous engagement in the establishment of the Soviet academic life, and in spite of his commitment to the diffusion of Marxism-Leninism among the Muslims of Central Asia, Seifullin was arrested, sentenced and executed (1938), only to be rehabilitated under Khrushchev.

 

x- Mukysh Boshtayev

The Kazakh Mukysh Boshtayev (1897-1921; Мукыш Боштаев) was jurist, journalist, and political activist; he also became a leading member of the Alash Movement. This group proved to be one of the many efforts undertaken by Turanians and Muslims to implement the concepts and the ideals promoted by the Jadid Movement across a far wider area, not only Kazakhstan. In fact, the Alash Movement was the first Kazakh political party, and it formed a provisory government until the end of the Civil War (August 1920). This movement sought to consolidate the Kazakh identity, but it was divided around several issues, such as secular society, modern education, state run economy, free market, etc. Boshtayev published groundbreaking articles about Kazakh education, culture, autonomy, social organization and modernization. In 1917, he was elected as candidate for the All-Russian Constituent Assembly from the Semipalatinsk region, and at the 1st All-Kazakh Congress, he was nominated as a deputy from the Alash party. At the 2nd All-Kazakh Congress, he was elected in the Alash government (Orda). He died during the hostilities in an unknown location.

 

y- Alikhan Bukeikhanov

The Kazakh Alikhan Bukeikhanov (1866-1937; Алихан Нурмухамедович Букейханов) was one of the most determinant figures of Modern Kazakh History, first Kazakh Prime Minister (in the Alash Orda state), and one of the founders of the Alash Movement; he was a leading statesman, scientist, writer, secular intellectual, and member of the Communist Party. More importantly, he was a far descendent of Genghis Khan and the great-grandson of Barak Sultan, the khan of the Bukey Horde (see above: part VI 12th paragraph). This fact is also denoted in his family name: Bukeikhanov. From his mother's side, he was a far descendent of the famous Mamai, the Khaqan of the Blue Horde (see above: part V no 7). Not only did his origin play an important role in his rise among the Kazakh Jadidists, but also his wholehearted commitment to the cause of Modern Kazakhstan reserved for him a truly distinct position. Making of his secular ideas a way of life, he was one of the very first Muslims in Imperial Russia to get married with a Russian Christian lady: Elena Yakovlevna Sevostianova (Елена Яковлевна Севостьянова). Even his son bore two personal names, one Christian and one Muslim (Sergei Oktay / Сергей Октай).  

 

After studying in the Russian-Kazakh school, the Omsk Technical School, and the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute (Dept. of Economics), he worked on statistics also publishing articles in the newspaper Семипалатинские областные ведомости (Semipalatinsk Regional Statements); in young age (24), he changed his name from Nurmukhamedov (surname after his father's name) to Bukeikhanov (after his tribe's name), which is clear indication of Kazakh national identity. Quite interestingly, in 1904, he willingly participated in the expedition of the Russian Cossack scholar and leading statistician (also known as the 'Father' of Russian Zemstvo Statistics), and Narodnik politician Fyodor Andreyevich Sherbina to prepare for a mass resettlement of peasants from Central Russia to the Steppe region of Kazakhstan. His commitment is of critical importance for us today, because it clearly demonstrates that, as early as the first years of the 20th c., the Kazakhs -quite contrarily to the then criminal Anglo-French colonial attempts and in full rejection of the current, nonsensical and utterly fallacious Western bibliography and diplomatic pretentions- did not view the Russian conquest as an inimical invasion by an alien force, but as a re-congregation of all the Turanian, Slavic and Northern Asiatic nations under a fraternal, progressive and reinvigorating plan.

 

Bukeikhanov represented the mainstream of Kazakh intelligentsia that was oriented toward modernization, educational improvement, cultural revival, and national re-awakening. At the time, they named this trend, concept, tendency and approach 'Westernization' (Западничество or западническое направление/Western direction), but in reality they meant that the Kazakhs and the other Turanian and Muslim nations of the region needed to follow the example of the Russians and to empower themselves in order to successfully compete with all the leading nations of the world; in fact, their approaches and ideals were finally implemented not in the Soviet Union but in Turkey of Kemal Ataturk. That's why in the 1900s, most of the Jadidists, irrespective of their later career path and theoretical-ideological choices, felt close to, and were allied with, the Cadets (Constitutional Democratic Party) whose official name was 'Party of People's Freedom'. Strong in his anti-colonial determination, Bukeikhanov opposed both, the czarist effort to colonize Kazakhstan and the nonsensical anachronism of the imams, the mullahs and the traditional Tatar merchants.

 

The political career of Alikhan Bukeikhanov started with his participation in the All-Russian Congress of Local (Agrarian and Municipal) Authorities' Representatives (общероссийский съезд земских и городских деятелей), which took place in Moscow on 6th-13th November 1905; there he identified himself as the spokesman of "four million Kirghiz (: Kazakh)" and condemned the persecution of the Kirghiz (: Kazakh) medium schools. However, these points need to be carefully examined, because on similar statements are based modern Western misinterpretations and distortions of Asiatic, Turanian and Russian History. The czarist persecution of these schools was not denounced by Bukeikhanov on racist Anti-Russian grounds; more specifically, he decried the czarist censorship, because it did not allow the translation (from Russian to Kazakh) of 46 fables by Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (1769-1844; Иван Андреевич Крылов). In other words, Bukeikhanov wanted to bring the two nations -the Kazakhs and the Russians- educationally, culturally, and intellectually closer.

 

Member of the Cadet Party after 1905, Bukeikhanov was elected and participated in the Central Committee from 1906 to 1917; known for the numerous newspapers that he edited, for the Vyborg Manifsto (Выборгское воззвание) that he signed, and for his steadfast struggle for autonomy, he was elected in the 1st State Duma from the Semipalatinsk region. He was repeatedly imprisoned, banned from elections, and forced to contractual exile in Samara. In the early 1910s he became member of the pro-French Freemasonic political organization ВВНР (Великий восток народов России/Great Orient of the Peoples of Russia) and of the Lodge Чермак (Chermak) in St. Petersburg. After the February Revolution (1917), he disagreed with the Cadets (notably on the issue of autonomy for Kazakhstan) and left the party. He used his experience to create {with others, notably Akhmet Baitursynov (1872-1937; Ахмет Байтурсынов) and Mirzhakip Dulatov (1885-1935; Миржакип  Дулатов)} the Kazakh political organization Alash in order to participate in the Constituent Assembly of Russia (November 1917-January 1918; Всероссийское учредительное собрание). Bukeikhanov participated in the congress of the Siberian autonomists (Сибирская областная дума) in Tomsk (December 1917) where the Kazakhs were given full autonomy as part of the short-lived Siberian Republic (Сибирская республика; 4th June – 3rd November 1918).

 

At Bukeikhanov's initiative, at the 2nd All-Kazakh Kurultai (General Assembly; with more than 200 delegates), the Alash autonomy was discussed; the historic event was held in Orenburg (December 1917-January 1918). The final decision was postponed for a month, but the autonomy was de facto valid and most of today's Kazakhstan's territory was ruled autonomously. The Kazakh autonomous government, Alash Orda, participated in the Civil War against the Soviet government, and because of this situation, Bukeikhanov and other members of the government had to hide for a long period. Around the end of 1919, the Bolsheviks prevailed, the Alash Orda had to capitulate, and the first Kazakh Prime Minister, who considered Lenin's rise to power as an illegal event, had to abandon his ambitions and political career in order to achieve a nominal recognition of the Kazakh autonomy. Among Kazakhs, the pro-Soviet activists of the party Ush Zhuz (Уш жуз) opposed Bukeikhanov's ideas. He therefore preferred to work in the fields of culture, education, academic research, and publications; in the 1920s, he worked for several years as literary employee in the Central Publishing House of the Peoples of the USSR (in Moscow). In the late 1920s and the 1930s, he was repeatedly arrested and imprisoned; last, in 1937, he was condemned to death and executed. It is only in 1989 that the verdict of the Supreme Commissariat of the USSR Armed Forces was canceled as unfounded, Bukeikhanov was posthumously acquitted, and his reputation restored. About:

https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/İsmail_Gaspıralı

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Гаспринский,_Исмаил

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Gasprinsky

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ходжаев,_Файзулла_Губайдуллаевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayzulla_Khodzhayev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Фитрат,_Абдурауф

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdurauf_Fitrat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Hilmi_of_Filibe

https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genç_Buharalılar

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Младобухарцы

https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosh_buxoroliklar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Bukharans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirsaid_Sultan-Galiev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Султан-Галиев,_Мирсаид_Хайдаргалиевич

«L’Empire russe face à l’Islam», entretien avec Hélène Carrère d’Encausse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StgY7fKCXts (minutes: 16:00-25:00)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бигеев,_Муса_Яруллович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_Bigiev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ибрагимов,_Абдурашид_Гумерович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdurreshid_Ibrahim

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Курбангалиев,_Мухаммед-Габдулхай

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammed-Gabdulkhay_Kurbangaliev

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_von_Ungern-Sternberg

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Унгерн-Штернберг,_Роман_Фёдорович_фон

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_von_Ungern-Sternberg

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Категория:Члены_партии_Иттифак_аль-Муслимин

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Иттифак_аль-Муслимин

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_the_Muslims_of_Russia

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Топчибашев,_Алимардан-бек

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimardan_bey_Topchubashov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ахундов,_Мирза_Фатали

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirza_Fatali_Akhundov

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_poem_on_the_death_of_Pushkin

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Восточная_поэма_на_смерть_Пушкина

https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/Восточная_поэма_на_смерть_Пушкина_(Ахундов)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Зардаби,_Гасан-бек

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_bey_Zardabi

https://web.archive.org/web/20091027110315/http://geocities.com/evan_j_siegel/Akinji/Akinji.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akinchi

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Экинчи

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudkhodja_Behbudiy

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бехбуди,_Махмуд_Ходжа

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Башларов,_Сайфулла-кади

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Антиписарское_восстание_в_Дагестане_1913-1914_годов

https://vk.com/wall-46152709_857

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сәлімгерей_Сейітханұлы_Жантөрин

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Джантюрин,_Салимгирей_Сеидханович

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02634939708401009?journalCode=ccas20

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02634938908400656?journalCode=ccas20

https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Садриддин_Айнӣ

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Айни,_Садриддин

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadriddin_Ayni

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Усманов,_Хайрулла_Абдрахманович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Хойский,_Фатали_Хан_Искендер_оглы

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatali_Khan_Khoyski

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Хасмамедов,_Халил-бек

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalil_bey_Khasmammadov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Вахитов,_Мулланур_Муллазянович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullanur_Waxitov

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Socialist_Committee_of_Kazan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Валидов,_Ахмет-Заки

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeki_Velidi_Togan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizaeddin_bin_Fakhreddin

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Фахретдинов,_Ризаитдин_Фахретдинович

https://tt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Фикер_(газета)

https://studentlib.ru/значение-слова/уральский%20листок

https://prabook.com/web/khalil.dosmukhamedov/737612

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Досмухамедов,_Халел_Досмухамедович

Https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Халел_Досмұхамедов

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_Democratic_Party

https://www.inform.kz/lenta/alash/en/

https://alash.semeylib.kz/?page_id=125&lang=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1917_Russian_Constituent_Assembly_election

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Досмухамедов,_Жаханша

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Высший_педагогический_колледж_им._Ж._Досмухамедова

https://vk.com/wall-37335662_91217

https://alash.semeylib.kz/?page_id=76&lang=ru

https://elbasylibrary.gov.kz/en/news/project-spiritual-modernization-eternal-countrys-giants-zhakhansha-zhansha-dosmukhamedov

http://bibliotekar.kz/istorija-kazahstana-za-8-klass-hviii-v-1/4-otkrytie-svetskih-shkol-v-stepi-vo-vto.html

https://tengrinews.kz/mixnews/pervyie-shkolyi-kazahstana-325583/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Каратаев,_Бахытжан_Бисалиевич

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бақытжан_Бейсәліұлы_Қаратаев

https://iie.kz/?page_id=365

http://gasur.ru/activity/measures/expo/15_02_2017.php?clear_cache=Y

https://tatarica.org/ru/razdely/istoriya/novejshee-vremya/znachimye-sobytiya/vserossijskie-sezdy-musulman

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Всероссийский_съезд_мусульман

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сейфуллин,_Сакен

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saken_Seifullin

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жас_қазақ_(ұйым)

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сәкен_Сейфуллин

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Soviet_Socialist_Republics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_Autonomous_Socialist_Soviet_Republic#History

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirghiz_Autonomous_Socialist_Soviet_Republic_(1926%E2%80%931936)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргиз-кайсаки

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrgyz_people#Etymology

https://vlast.kz/avtory/25256-avlautsa-li-kazahi-i-kirgizy-geneticeskimi-bratami.html

https://edu.e-history.kz/ru/contents/view/539

https://shoqan.kz/incompleted/works_kirgiz_orda/

https://e-history.kz/ru/news/show/4287/

http://qamba.codeo.kz/site/book/online/cherkter-zhlzhazbalar/content/content_52.xhtml/

https://yznaika.com/mobile/notes/28-sakenovedenie/360-rol-s-sejfullina-v-razvitii-kazakhskogo-yazyka

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Боштаев,_Мукыш

https://alash.semeylib.kz/?page_id=125&lang=en

https://imena.pushkinlibrary.kz/ru/d-alash/1617-.html

https://bigox.kz/alash-orda-kuryltajy/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alikhan_Bukeikhanov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Букейханов,_Алихан_Нурмухамедович

 

 

XI. The Jadid Movement between Imperial Russia and the USSR: the Secular Nature of the Kazakhs and the other Muslims of Central Asia

The above brief portraits represent only a small number of intellectuals, scholars, activists, journalists and politicians, who formed the Jadid Movement, but they are quite representative. They allow every reader understand that the formidable movement, which shook Northwestern, Northern, Central and Northeastern Asia and Eastern Europe, was actually an enormous intellectual nebula, which comprised people of very different ethnic backgrounds, diverse walks of life, distinct theoretical directions, disparate ideological motivations, divergent philosophical opinions, and varied political intentions.

 

Under this title, one can find Muslim secularists, Turanian nationalists, anti-czarist progressives, pro-Russian socialists, liberal economy supporters, social reformists, educational pioneers, Islamic modernists, revivalists of the Golden Era of Islam, cultural identity advocates, pan-Turanianists, pan-Islamists, propagandists of a variably and differently conceived Westernization, and even Muslim traditionalists. Men from all the walks of life were actually in tune with some of the concepts advanced and the principles heralded by the Jadid Movement. However, it is noteworthy that none of the Jadidists supported the so-called 'Turkish History Thesis'; neither can one find liberal Kemalists among them. This is clearly shown in the case of the Azeri scholar, theoretician, author, journalist and politician Ahmet Ağaoğlu (1869-1939; Ахмед бек Агаоглу or Ахмед-бек Агаев), a student of the French Orientalist Ernest Renan and an associate of the French Iranologist James Darmesteter, who finally got naturalized Turk, became a close adviser of Kemal Atatürk, was elected in the Turkish Parliament, and served in several positions.

 

If there is an ideologically critical common denominator for all the Jadidists, this is certainly the notion of 'awakening'; this was brilliantly elaborately by many among them, notably the Kazakh Mirzhakip Dulatov, one of the founders of Alash, who published (in Ufa) the historic book 'Awake, Kazakh!' (Оян, қазақ!) in 1909. Other outstanding Kazakh Jadidists were the following intellectuals, activists and politicians: Valid Khan Sherafedinovich Tanachev (1882-1968; Валидхан Шерафеддинович Таначев), Bakhtygerei Ahmetovich Kulmanov (1857-1919; Бахтигирей Ахметович Кулманов), Muhammedjan Tynyshpaevich Tynyshpaev (1879-1937; Мухамеджан Тынышпаевич Тынышпаев), Koshmuhambet Duysebaiuly Kemengerov (1896-1937; Кошмухамбет Дуйсебайулы Кеменгеров), Smagul Sadvakasov (1900-1933; Смагул Садвакасов), and Ylyas Omarovich Omarov (1910-1970; Ильяс Омарович Омаров).

 

If there is a politically critical common denominator for all the Jadidists, this is certainly the fact that most of the Jadidists born in the 2nd half of the 19th c. were either forced to emigrate {like the Tatar Musa Bigiev (see above part X unit e) and the Azeri Adil Khan Ziyadkhanov (Адиль Хан Абульфат Хан оглы Зиятханов; 1870-1957)} or killed in wars that took place after the end of WWI (like Adil Khan Ziyadkhanov's older brother Ismail Khan Ziyadkhanov; 1867-1920; Исмаил Хан Абульфат Хан оглы Зиятханов) or decimated (like the Uzbek Abdulhamid Sulaymon oʻgʻli Yunusov, who became rather known as Choʻlpon, his penname; 1893-1938; Абдулхамид Сулейман угли Чулпан) in the Yezhovshchina (Ежовщина), i.e. the Great Purge in 1930s' USSR, during which Stalin sought to eradicate any pro-Trotsky elements or disappeared without leaving any traces (like the Bashkir Sharafutdin Abdulgalimovich Kulbakov; 1849-?; Шарафутдин Абдулгалимович Кульбаков).

 

As I already said, the Jadid Movement is absolutely irrelevant to the Genç Türkler (Young Turks) Movement; there cannot be comparison even at the practical-factual level. The Committee of Union and Progress (İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti) ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1908 to 1918, whereas the Alash Autonomy was a short-lived state, which controlled a small part of the territory that it claimed to represent and lasted only for few months, before being dragged into the Civil War and subsequently defeated. In addition, it has to be taken into consideration that the Bolsheviks initially viewed positively the demands of many nations for autonomy, due to then prevailing ideas and Lenin's fundamental theory about 'the Right of Nations to Self-Determination' (which was also the title of a book published in May 1914 by the head of the Bolsheviks: О праве наций на самоопределение).

 

On the other hand, it has to be underscored that the Jadid Movement was totally different from the so-called Islamic Modernism, which has been a fake, Western colonial fabrication geared by French and English Orientalists in order to deliberately plunge all the Muslims, who have been living in their colonies, into a pathetic anachronism, obsolete concepts, fake dilemmas, and the impossible idea that the measures and the criteria of an outdated period can be matched with modern socio-economic standards, political systems, and technological determinism.

 

Actually, it would be more accurate to specify that the Jadid Movement was diametrically opposed to the nonsense that French and English Freemasons meticulously projected onto naïve, gullible and unsophisticated people like Jamaluddin al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Mahmud Shaltut, Hassan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb, and others in order to definitely engulf them in a spiritual, ideological, intellectual, and educational impasse, and to therefore make them genuinely unable to achieve a proper nation building process.

 

Today, what is called 'Islamic Modernism' is -in reality- a religious reductionism, a dogmatic rigidity, a theological heresy, a spiritual sterility, a catastrophic ignorance of the Islamic Civilization, and an unprecedented identitarian crisis inextricably mixed with abject immorality, grave lack of piety, total disregard for the human being, materialistic conceptualization of the world, ridiculous political eschatology, and full compliance with the anti-Islamic interests of the anti-Christian colonial powers. As a matter of fact, all the figureheads of the Jadid Movement were at the very antipodes of the reactionary movement of 'Islamic Modernism'. About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirjaqip_Dulatuli

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дулатов,_Миржакип

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhmet_Baitursynov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Байтурсынов,_Ахмет

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_A%C4%9Fao%C4%9Flu

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Агаев,_Ахмед-бек

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zemstvo

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Земство

Деятельность А.Букейханова в экспедиции Ф.А.Щербины (1896-1903 гг.)

https://articlekz.com/article/5271

http://slavakubani.ru/kazachestvo/fame-cossack/scherbina-f-a/organizatsiya-statisticheskogo-issledovaniya-stepnykh-oblastey-kazakhstana-ekspeditsiey-f-a-shcherbi/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Щербина,_Фёдор_Андреевич

Видеоролик «Алихан Бокейханов – борец за свободу казахского народа». Библиотека №10 села Есенгельды.

https://salda.ws/video.php?id=Gke33a4FZxo

https://datnews.info/s-kakoy-tselyu-alihan-bukeyhan-vstupal-v-masonskuyu-lozhu/

ПЕТЕРБУРГ. ЛОЖА "ЧЕРМАКА"/http://www.samisdat.com/5/23/523r-che.htm

https://tjournal.ru/stories/125597-masony-v-rossiyskoy-imperii-vyrozhdenie-taynogo-obshchestva-volnyh-kamenshchikov-v-podpolnuyu-politicheskuyu-organizaciyu

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Выборгское_воззвание

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vyborg_Manifesto

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сибирская_областная_дума

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Второй_всеказахский_съезд

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сибирская_республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Republic_(1918)

And this is the villainous English propaganda of the disreputable and fallacious site of Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Republic

https://articlekz.com/article/6727

http://bibliotekar.kz/istorija-kazahstana-belye-pjatna/partija-ush-zhuz-i-ee-dejatelnost-v-peri.html

https://bilimland.kz/kk/courses/audiochrestomathy/11-synyp/poehziya/lesson/3-mirzhaqyp-dulatov-oyan-qazaq

https://abai.kz/post/12879

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_History_Thesis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relationship_between_Liberalism_and_Kemalism

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Таначев,_Валидхан_Шерафеддинович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кулманов,_Бахтигирей_Ахметович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тынышпаев,_Мухамеджан_Тынышпаевич

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кеменгеров,_Кошмухамбет

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Садвакасов,_Смагул

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Омаров,_Ильяс_Омарович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cho%CA%BBlpon

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Чулпан,_Абдулхамид_Сулейман_угли

https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/İsmayıl_xan_Ziyadxanov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Зиятханов,_Исмаил_Хан_Абульфат_Хан_оглы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Зиятханов,_Адиль_Хан_Абульфат_Хан_оглы

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adil_Khan_Ziyadkhanov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кульбаков,_Шарафутдин_Абдулгалимович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadid#Central_Asia

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Алашская_автономия

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alash_Autonomy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alash_(party)

http://www.revolucia.ru/pravonac.htm

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/self-det/index.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_modernism

 

 

XII. The so-called Andijan Rebellion (1898)

The czarist control of Central Asia did not happen without several types of problems and inconveniences; but this does not mean that the various revolts were due to a direct rejection of the Russian conquest. It is well-known that the long period of decay prior to the czarist rule was filled with intra-Turanian and intra-Muslim factionalism and endless hostilities. This means that we cannot afford to take let's say a one-day event, like the so-called Andijan Rebellion (Андижанский мятеж или Киргизско-Андижанское восстание; 17 May 1898; Andijan being a 2500-year old, historical city located in the Fergana Valley, in today's Uzbekistan, not far from the borders of Kyrgyzstan), as an expression of either national Kirghiz or religious Islamic resistance against the czarist government. First, it was not a mass revolt; second, it had genuinely tribal character; third, it was not timely supported or posteriorly defended by any prominent figure of the Jadid Movement. On the contrary, all people affiliated with this movement reviled the backward leader of the misfortunate event.

 

Biased historians, academic forgers, vicious political scientists, and ignorant geopolitical analysts of today's corrupt Western countries promote their fallacious dogmas and approaches, systematically trying to export their false historical model onto all the lands that the colonial countries of the West (England, France, and more recently the US) did not conquer, notably throughout the Caucasus region, Central Asia, Russia and China. To do so, these mendacious and disreputable academics highly politicize, ideologize, and fully distort several events (like the one-day so-called Andijan Rebellion) in order to integrate them (not as true, historical events anymore but as factoids) into their pseudo-historical version as per which Russians would have always been the 'aggressors', the 'enemies' of the Turks (or all Turkic nations) and the 'oppressors' of Muslims. That's absurd and ludicrous. Any Muslim, who believes and accepts the vicious lies of Western (and Western-educated Muslim) academics, diplomats and politicians, is an infidel and an idiot.  

 

As a matter of fact, the root causes of the Andijan Incident go back to a period that antedates the Russian conquest by several decades; the leader of the few hundreds of Kirghiz rebels, Muhammad Ali Madali (Мухаммад Али Мадали; 1856-1898), who was also known as Dukchi Ishan (Дукчи-ишан), had already revolted many times against Sayid Muhammad Khudayar Khan III (or just Khudayar Khan; Сайид Мухаммед Худояр-хан III / خدايارخان), the last true ruler of the Kokand Khanate (1829-1886; reign: 1844-1875).

 

If we now examine closely what occurred during the three decades of Khudayar Khan's rule in Kokand, we will soon realize the indescribable extent of lawlessness that prevailed among the decayed, self-destructive, and multi-divided local tribes. In fact, his rule was interrupted four times (1851 by one usurper; 1858-1862 by two other usurpers; 1862 by two other usurpers; 1862-1865 by three other usurpers and by a surviving earlier usurper) and, at the end of his reign, Khudoyar Khan asked the help of the Turkestan Governor-General (a czarist officer) and finally in 1875, he fled to Tashkent under the protection of Russian troops.

 

His son, Nasir al-din Khan (Насриддин-бек или Насриддин-хан; 1850-1877), participated in the revolt against his father, which was undertaken by some tribal leaders and sheikhs, and succeeded his father. Few months later, he signed an agreement with Russia in order to concentrate his efforts on the internal front, only to be soon overthrown by the unruly tribal leaders, i.e. the likes of Pulat khan (1844-1876; Пулат-хан; his true name was Ishaq Hasan uglu / Исхак Хасан-уулу.), Muhammad Ali Madali, and Abdurahman Aftobachi (1844-1884; Абдурахман-автобачи). He made a brief comeback in January 1876 only to escape to Tashkent, as the ill-fated Khanate was duly and ultimately abolished. However, quite indicative of the then prevailing conditions was the fact that, while he was the bek (bey) of the Andijan vilayet (under his father's authority: 1865-1875), Nasir al-din had to annually spend the whole administrative district's income available in order to build several -otherwise useless- luxurious madrasahs and the magnificent Jami mosque only to appease and please the fancy of pathetic local sheikhs and tribal leaders, who could not make sense of the misery in which they found themselves.

 

The final outcome of the Andijan Incident (which was not a rebellion) involved few Russian casualties, namely 22 dead and 16 wounded soldiers. Most of the lawless and unruly elements of the Kokand Khanate were arrested (546 men), condemned to forced labor or exiled in Siberia (356); the leaders were executed (18 men) and the rest were allowed free (163). There were no Kazakhs involved in this incident, but the importance of the fact today lies rather in its misinterpretation, and as such it offers a model of historical falsification that biased Western scholars try to reproduce when writing about topics of 'National History' for all the nations of Central Asia. For this reason, I examined it closely. About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andijan_uprising_of_1898

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Андижанский_мятеж

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Madali

https://star-wiki.ru/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_Madali

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Khudayar_Khan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Худояр-хан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanate_of_Kokand

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кокандское_ханство

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Насриддин-хан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasruddin_Khan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мечеть_Джами_в_Андижане

http://www.marcopolo.uz/en/attraction/287

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Абдурахман-автобачи

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Пулат-хан

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кокандский_поход_(1875—1876)

 

 

XIII. Misinterpretation of the History of Central Asia by Local Academics-Victims of Western Embassies & US-UK Institutions

To reveal the entire spectrum of the historical event and to offer a better insight into the historical evolution, I have to herewith denounce the fallacious, ahistorical, and absolutely biased perspectives that several modern scholars try to suggest as regards the History of the Russian Conquest of Central Asia. I must add that, after 1991, the unnecessary presence of Western embassies, consulates, institutes and academics in all the Central Asiatic states is the main reason for the systematic and methodical historical revisionism, which has been undertaken in many countries of the region – not without serious damages caused to all these targeted states.

 

This forgery has been performed under concealed, malignant and disastrous Western guidance; as a matter of fact, this phenomenon usually takes the form of academic-educational exchanges involving an incredible number of invitations, scholarships, and other types of duplicitous and malicious cooperation by which gullible Central Asiatic scholars are being bought up by the criminal Western elites and their academic gangsters in order to accept the fallacious Western version of History and further reproduce it only for the sake of destruction of their own countries.

 

The vicious historical revisionism, promoted by the Western diplomatic and academic criminals throughout Central Asia, causes detrimental destruction at the academic, intellectual, educational, and political levels. This is so because, within the context of the Western fallacy, which is projected onto the unsuspicious populations of those states, all wrong political ideas, concepts, thoughts and choices are founded on monstrous historical distortions, gross forgery, and unprecedented anti-Russian racism. Misperceiving their nations' past (through the deceitful, evil schemes of the Western universities, institutes and publications), many Central Asiatic academics inevitably misinterpret their National History, thus ending up with a fake national identity, calamitously wrong political choices, and self-destructive foreign policy.

 

This situation leads to a catastrophic political trouble; whereas the establishment of all the Central Asiatic countries fully and clearly realizes the ne cessity for close cooperation and alliance with Russia, China and Iran, several gullible academicians, misguided due to the temptations advanced by Western embassies, universities and other institutions, produce fallacious literature (of divisive, anti-Russian, and anti-secular character) about the local national past. This literature is then duly and timely popularized by other local stooges of the Western embassies (i.e. journalists, NGOs, activists, sheikhs and intellectuals) and subsequently diffused among the uneducated masses that the Western gangsters want to fanaticize in order to manipulate against the local governments. This is the typical action plan of the criminal Western elites.    

 

I will now offer two typical examples of fallacious and pernicious academic articles, which clearly mislead local Muslim Turanians, giving them the impression that the Czarist armies acted as foreign invaders, harmed the Kazakhs, the Uzbeks, the Turkmen, the Tajiks, the Kirghiz, the Azeris and the other nations of the Caucasus region and Central Asia, and deprived the Muslims and the Turanians of their own homelands and stripped them of their independence. As I already explained in the case of the Andijan Incident, this assertion is entirely false, because during the 19th c. and until the unification with czarist Russia, all the Central Asiatic peoples were divided across tribal and sectarian lines, killing one another in a way that the criminal Western Anglo-Saxon gangsters passionately want to revive.  

 

Two Tajik scholars, Prof. Nazirjon Ochilovich Tursunov (Назирджон Очилович Турсунов) and Buston Rahmonovich Tursunov (Бустон Рахмонович Турсунов), wrote, in the trilingual (Russian, Uzbek and English) abstract that they added at the beginning of their article Героическая борьба народов Северной Ферганы за свободу и упразднение кокандского ханства {The heroic struggle of the peoples of Northern Fergana for freedom and the abolition of the Kokand Khanate: УДК (Универсальная десятичная классификация) 93 ББК (Библиотечно-библиографическая классификация) 63.5(5Т)-3 (p. 11-14) / https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/geroicheskaya-borba-narodov-severnoy-fergany-za-svobodu-i-uprazdnenie-kokandskogo-hanstva}, that following the agreement signed (22 September 1875) between the Kokand Khanate (Nasir al-din Khan) and Russia, "the peoples of Fergana united and continued the struggle against the occupation of their homeland. From October to the end of December, the population of the entire territory of Namangan division waged a struggle against occupation".

 

That's absurd because the uprising was against the Khan, and not the Russians; even worse, the catastrophic event only precipitated the final annexation of the Kokand Khanate by Russia. In a rather non-academic language, the two scholars expand on the topic, inciting fanaticism and anti-Russian hatred, while totally misinterpreting the situation that led to the decomposition and the final collapse of the ill-fated khanate ("Particularly, strong resistance was the population of Namangan-city. November 23-27, 1875 the majority of the population of Oshoba organizedly defending their village showed unprecedented heroism. Skobelev’s punitive detachments brutally cracked down on civilians destroying the population, robbing and organizing arson of their houses - a sakley, as they themselves called them in the sources"). Quite dishonestly, the two professors offer no historical proof in support of their assertion that 'the majority of the population' resisted against the Russian forces; in fact, there is no such proof. The only problem that really existed in the said khanate was the weakening of khan's authority, which was due to the gradual strengthening of the divisive and corrupt elements, i.e. the tribal leaders and the ignorant sheikhs.

 

With such unfounded statements, which do not help scholars, students and average readership get an accurate understanding of the historical events but merely promote Western anti-Russian propaganda in Central Asia, one can easily understand why Prof. Nazirjon Ochilovich Tursunov was triumphantly included in the encyclopedic and otherwise propagandistic catalogue that an Iranian-American scholar, Prof. Iraj Bashiri (who is also known to have worked for the Tajik division of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty !!), elaborated a while back (in 2003) for English-speaking academics: Prominent Tajik Figures of the Twentieth Century (https://www.academia.edu/7858297/Prominent_Tajik_Figures_of_the_Twentieth_Century). About Prof. Nazirjon Ochilovich Tursunov:

ttps://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Назирҷон_Турсунов

 

The second example of misleading academic publication is offered by Prof. Buston Rahmonovich Tursunov, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Fatherland History and Archeology {under the SEI "KhSU named after Acad. B. Gafurov" (Tajikistan, Khujand)}; in his article Героическая оборона крепости Махрам и ее значение в истории Кокандского ханства {Heroic Defence of Mahram Fortress and its Importance in the History of Kokand Khanate, УДК 930 ББК 63.3(543.0) / http://vestnik.tj/hum_dok/2020/n2/RU/Tursunov_B.R..pdf), he added a trilingual (Russian, Uzbek and English) abstract in which he wrote (about the Battle of the Mahram Fortress) the following: "one of the heroic and tragic pages of the history of the Tajik people which took place on August 22, 1875. It is shown how Tajik together with the representatives of other nations of Kokand khanate organized a heroic defense of the fortress".   

 

This is totally misleading; the term 'Tajik' was historically used as a designation of 'settled Iranian villagers' in contrast to the nomadic populations. There was no Tajik nation at the end of the 19th c.; this is a modern construction. At the time, all Tajiks identified themselves as Iranians. Indeed, either in Afghanistan or in Tajikistan, the Tajiks are Farsi-speaking Iranians, who can also be called 'Eastern Iranians', because of the geographic location of their homeland. The fabrication of Afghanistan was an English colonial trick providing for the division of Iran. Even worse, the Battle of the Mahram Fortress was engaged because unruly elements of the Kokand Khanate did not want to accept the peace with the Russians that their rightful leadership had already concluded.

 

As a matter of fact, it is extremely wrong to speak of 'representatives of other nations of Kokand khanate', because there were not many different nations in this khanate, but one: 'Muslims'. The multilingual character of the said state was quite natural, and all the Muslims constituted (and believed that they constitute) one nation. At the time, no one identified himself as member of what we now call 'an ethnic group' throughout the Fergana Valley. Tribal divisions existed indeed, but not along 'ethnic' lines or on the basis of nationalist argumentation. Describing the defense of Mahram Fortress as 'heroic' consists in a vicious misinterpretation of this historical fact in which several lawless tribal leaders were proven idiotic enough to bring about the destruction of their khanate, as they had already fomented numerous revolts against their last khans. After all, one has to underscore the fact that hundreds of Kazakh cavalry units were also fighting along with the Russians, against the Kokand lawless rebels. There were no sectarian criteria involved in that event; this is the historical truth. It was neither a Christian-Muslim clash nor a Russian-Tajik/Uzbek war. About:  

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кокандский_поход_(1875—1876)#Битва_у_Махрама

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Махрам_(посёлок)

Nalivkin, Vladimir Petrovich (1852-1918). A brief history of the Kokand Khanate

https://www.prlib.ru/en/node/341340

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/ferganskaya-dolina-vazhnejshij-i-samyj-vzryvoopasnyj-region-vsej-azii-2705836356219014515-4108911894258076149/?user_session_id=ef130962e03013

 

 

XIV. The Central Asiatic 'Rebellion' of 1916  

It would surely be mendacious to pretend that, in the late 19th and early 20th c., the situation across the czarist territories of Central Asia was pertinent and impeccable. There were certainly many problems; but they had nothing to do with all the ethnic, national and religious divides that today's Western colonial academics intend to invent and fabricate (and constantly do so) in their disreputable institutions and publications, before exporting them at the local level.  

 

The czarist authorities found it preferable to carry out a great deal of Turkification mainly in the territories of the former khanates of Samarqand and Bukhara, which correspond to the largest part of today's Uzbekistan. Although Tajik (an eastern dialect of Farsi) was the predominant language in those areas, it receded significantly during the 20th c. This resulted in a strange phenomenon of discrepancy between official demographic data and average people claims about their ethnic origin in post-1991 Uzbekistan; as per the State Statistics Committee, Tajiks make 5% of the country's total population; however, independent researchers persistently report that 20-25% of the population pretend to be ethnically Tajik, although the majority among them do not speak Tajik anymore.

 

Czarist rule in Central Asia was a matter of monumental failure, administrative incapability, and extensive corruption. The reasons for this situation lie in the very conservative, extremely confused, and utterly self-catastrophic nature of the czarist regime; the imperial administration first, was foolish enough to consider Russia as a 'Western' (or 'European') Empire; second, the imperial elite used to view all Muslims, Buddhists, Tengrists and Shamanists as barbarians (which was self-disastrous for Russia); and third, they did not want to cooperate with the numerous progressive elements among the Kazakhs and the other Muslim peoples of Central Asia. It appears bizarre, but it is true: the czarists preferred to deal with their worst enemies, i.e. the most reactionary elements of the Muslim societies, the sheikhs and the various tribal leaders, instead of embracing the evidently pro-Russian, progressive intellectuals and the enlightened mystics. This disastrous choice caused an explosion in the middle 1910s. No one can cooperate with untrustworthy elements without facing the consequences.

 

The briefly described situation became soon widely known among the ailing czarist administration. Konstantin Konstantinovich Pahlen (1861-1923; Константин Констанович Пален; known in German as Konstantin Johann Georg von der Pahlen), a leading Russian statesman and explorer, governor and senator (of German origin), was tasked by the czar (1908-1909) to chair a commission, examine the imperial administration in Central Asia, and report on the prevailing conditions. Pahlen uncovered detrimental abuses carried out by the czarist officials. His monumental and multi-voluminous report is the most important historical document for the History of Central Asia during the reign of Nikolai II. About:

Пален К. К., Всеподданнейшая записка, содержащая, главнейшие выводы отчета о произведенной в 1908–1909 гг. по Высочайшему повелению, Сенатором Гофмейстером графом К. К. Паленом ревизии Туркестанского края. Ч. 1–2. СПб., 1910. С. 3. (Po vysochaishemu poveleniyu Senatorom gofmeisterom gr. K. K.

Palenom, revizii Turkestanskogo kraya / Report to the Tsar, Comprising the Main Conclusions of the Inspection of the Turkestan Region Carried out in 1908-1909 on the Highest Authority by Senator Hofmeister Count K. K. Pahlen; Ch. 1–2. SPb., 1910. S. 3.)

https://www.cairn.info/revue-mondes1-2013-2-page-45.htm

https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/istoriko-istochnikovedcheskiy-obzor-otchetov-revizii-senatora-k-k-palena

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Пален,_Константин_Константинович

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_von_der_Pahlen_(Politiker,_1861)

 

With the hindsight that we now have, we can understand that the Russian conquest of Central Asia was an ill-conceived and erroneously implemented project, which would have been carried out with a remarkable success, had not the Russian monarchical, military, academic, educational and intellectual elite not been so blindly pro-Western and so disastrously unaware of their true ethnic and cultural identity. This was indeed confirmed in multiple cases, notably the (Prime Minister) Stolypin (Столыпин) reforms (Столыпинская аграрная реформа), which were introduced after the Russian peasants' revolt (1905-1906) during the period 1906-1912, when around half a million households were offered the possibility to be transported to the wider region of Central Asia and possess land lots there. In the beginning, Russians and 'natives' were residing in different districts, despite the fact that many Jadid intellectuals were apparently pro-Russian.

 

Troublesome internal affairs and disastrous foreign policy brought about the end of czarist Russia. The dissatisfaction of Central Asiatic Turanian Muslim populations increased because of another calamitous choice that Nikolai II was gullible enough to make, namely to ally Christian Orthodox Russia with the malignant and duplicitous, colonial states of France and England, thus becoming the enemy of the Kaiser and the Sultan, who were ipso facto the Russian monarch's natural allies. The early successes of the Russian Caucasus Army against the Ottoman Empire and the occupation of Van (17 May 1915), Erzerum (16 February 1916), Trabzon (15 April 1916), and Erzincan (2 July 1916) caused great resentment among the Turanian populations of Central Asia, even more so because the Constantinople sheikhulislam had declared Holy War (Jihad) in 1914.

 

The successive disastrous defeats of the Russian armies by the  German army in the eastern front forced finally czar Nicholas II to issue (25 June 1916) a decree for the conscription of Central Asian men from the age of 19 to 43; they were necessary for the Brusilov Offensive (Брусиловский прорыв), i.e. against Austria-Hungary. This decree caused what is now called Central Asiatic rebellion of 1916 (Среднеазиатское восстание 1916 года); naming these events a 'rebellion' is certainly an exaggeration, because they consisted merely in a series of uncoordinated unrests and spontaneous protests.

 

The agitators were mobs controlled by tribal chieftains, small groups of peasants fanaticized by local backward sheikhs, and local young men who did not want to participate in WWI. The rebels carried out many atrocities, before being eliminated by Russian, Kazakh, Tatar and other officers of the czarist army. The incidents took place in July-September 1916 without involving a great number of protesters or casualties. It must be underscored that leading Kazakh political and intellectual figures, notably Alikhan Bukeikhanov and Akhmet Baitursynov (see above, part X, unit y), steadfastly opposed the extremist tactics of the obscurantist sheikhs and the fanaticized terrorists. The Alash Movement rejected all grounds for local opposition to the czarist decree.  

 

However, these events triggered an enormous, astounding 'exodus' of mainly Kirghiz (but also Kazakh and Uzbek) populations from Central Asia to China (Eastern Turkestan, today's Xinjiang). It is true that this fact attributed a certain epic character to those events, as thousands of people moved through the cliffs, the narrow valleys, and the passes of the Tian Shan Mountains, walking at high elevation and in adverse weather conditions. The descendants of those populations still live in Eastern Turkestan today, being Chinese citizens. About:

https://e-history.kz/ru/history-of-kazakhstan/show/9215/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Революция_1905—1907_годов_в_России

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Столыпинская_аграрная_реформа

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus_campaign

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus_Army_(Russian_Empire,_1914%E2%80%931917)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_campaign_(World_War_I)

h ttps://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Среднеазиатское_восстание_1916_года

https://histrf.ru/read/articles/sredneaziatskoe-vosstanie-1916-goda-zapredelnaya-zhestokost-i-nevyuchennye-uroki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Asian_revolt_of_1916

https://e-history.kz/ru/history-of-kazakhstan/show/9232/

 

 

XV. The so-called Basmachi Revolt (1917-1923)

The so-called Central Asiatic rebellion of 1916 became a most controversial issue in the modern historiography. The number of casualties has been systematically exaggerated by English and American propagandists and disreputable academics whose priorities are set by the mendacious and duplicitous diplomats, military, and intelligence of those criminal states. In fact, the event was only the prelude of the Basmachi Revolt.

 

What is called 'Basmachi Revolt' is rather the Central Asiatic version of the event, which is generally known as counter-revolution or White Army. The term is derived from a word common in many Turkic languages: basma (raid). The word basmacı is formed with the ending – cı (-ji or –chi); it means the 'raider', the 'robber' or the 'bandit'. Another term was also used by local Turanian authorities: baskıncı; this word denotes the 'raider' or the 'attacker', and it also has a very pejorative meaning. The Russian-Soviet authorities used the term Басмачи and formed the term Басмачество (or басмаческое движение/Basmachi Movement) for the civil unrest that took place in the late 1910s and the early 1920s in parts of the Russian-Soviet Central Asia.

 

The Central Asiatic territories annexed by Imperial Russia and inherited by the Soviets, which are today divided among Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, can be geographically categorized as a) deserts (mainly in Turkmenistan), b) steppes (mainly in Kazakhstan), c) fertile plains (mainly in Uzbekistan) and d) mountains (the southern parts of all five states). Within this vast area that totals more than 4 million km2 (Kazakhstan 2725000 km2; Turkmenistan 488000 km2; Uzbekistan 447000 km2; Kyrgyzstan 200000 km2; Tajikistan 141000 km2), the mountains are located in the southern extremities.

 

This means that the easiest regions for people to wage a rebellion in were the frontier lands close to the borders of Iran, Afghanistan and China (in Eastern Turkestan / Xinjiang). Particularly Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are extremely mountainous territories, since Tian Shan Mountains cover ca. 80% of the former and Pamir Mountains cover almost the totality of the latter countries. The largest part of Tajikistan's territory is higher than 3000 m above sea level. It is worthy saying that the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (bordering with Kyrgyzstan in the north, China in the east, and Afghanistan in the south), which makes almost half the land area of Tajikistan, is inhabited by only 3% of the country's population because of difficulty of the precipitous terrain.  

 

The Basmachi Revolt, as historical term, covers incidents that took place in Fergana (first and second phases), Chorasmia (Хорезм /خوارزم; Khwarazm or Khawarizm or Khorezm; the Western part of today's Uzbekistan), Bukhara, and Samarqand. A fully particular aspect of the counter-revolution phenomenon concerns the so-called Trans-Caspian Government (in the area of today's Turkmenistan) and the English colonial Malleson mission. In the central and northern parts of today's Kazakhstan the Basmachi Revolt took the form of Alash Autonomy (see above, part X, unit y).

 

a- Basmachi Revolt in Fergana Valley (first phase)     

The most striking geomorphological particularity across the entire region is the Fergana Valley (Ферганская долина или Фергана; Фарғона водийси; Фергана өрөөнү; водии Фарғона; وادی فرغانه; 費爾幹納盆地), which is today divided among Kyrgyzstan (the valley's eastern part), Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan (the western confines). Protected by high mountains all around and crossed by two rivers that come together to form the famous Syr Darya River (known as Iaxartes to Ancient Greeks and Romans), Fergana Valley has an area of about 25000 km2 and was for more than two millennia a high point of culture, wisdom, spirituality, arts, sciences and trade.

 

Being a mythical land of many Iranian and Turanian legends, literatures, and folklore traditions, an outstanding spot in the Silk Road, and a melting pot of numerous Iranian, Turanian and other nations and civilizations, Fergana was also the land of great fighters, formidable heroes, luminous mystics, and erudite scholars. With all this in mind and knowing that, in the beginning of the 20th c., the remotest places were left to the hands of backward tribal leaders, we can easily understand why all those mountainous areas, which had scarce communication with Russia's major urban centers, became the center of the opposition to the successive czarist, republican and soviet governments. The major centers of unrest were the cities of Kokand, Andijan and Namangan, i.e. Fergana Valley's part that belongs today to Uzbekistan.

 

In early 1917, the Jadid Movement and the Bolsheviks had several points of common understanding, and more importantly, they agreed on the need for autonomous rule to be granted to every nation or ethnic-religious group. For the Bolsheviks, the strict adherence of the Jadidists to the Bolshevik socioeconomic program would function as a 'guarantee' for their autonomous government; but this reality was not accurately perceived by the majority of the Jadidists. Even worse, as I have already described, the divergence of opinions among them was vast.

 

For reasons particular to the conditions of social life among the Muslim societies of Central Asia, most of the Jadidists, who were members of the All-Russian Muslim Council, found it opportune to set up an Islamic Council (Shura-i Islam) and share power with other Muslims. The main target was to proclaim an autonomous state and to isolate tribal leaders, conservative and backward elements and sheikhs. These reactionary elements wanted to secede from Russia/Soviet Union and establish a religious state based on what they called 'religious law' (Sharia), which in fact was their own, erroneous and mean, interpretation of the Islamic Fiqh. These elements opposed the Jadid intellectuals and activists, but they represented only a marginal minority among the Muslims of Central Asia; they founded the Ulema Jamiyeti. However, the two organizations had to soon merge, because of the formation of the Tashkent Soviet on the 2th March 1917. The fact that only two Muslims participated in this organization was viewed negatively; it was considered as an intention to cause confrontation with, and isolation of, the Muslim societies of Central Asia.

 

The decision of the Tashkent Soviet (Ташкентский городской совет) to allow only a minimal representation of the Muslim population turned it, practically speaking, to an organization of Russian settlers in Central Asia, notably railway workers, and other labor unions. As reaction to what appeared to be a colonial approach against them, the Kokand Autonomy (also known as Turkestan Autonomy/ Кокандская автономия или Туркестанская автономия) was proclaimed on 27th November 1917. It was a secular state with five official languages, namely Uzbek, Kazakh, Russian, Kirghiz and Tajik. It was located south of the Kazakh Alash Autonomy, which was proclaimed in December 1917 with capital at Semey and with authority over central and northern parts of today's Kazakhstan. The first president the Kokand Autonomy was the Kazakh historian, ethnographer, journalist and political activist Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev and the second (and last) president was Mustafa Shokay (Мустафа Шокай; Мұстафа Шоқайұлы; مصطفى شقاي), an extraordinary theoretician, intellectual, author, polyglot, political activist, and unprecedented international adventurer (he was probably the only person to have been in touch with Kerensky, leading French statesmen, and the circles of people around Lenin, Kemal Ataturk, and Hitler.  

 

Initially, the Tashkent Soviet recognized the Kokand Autonomy, limiting however its authority to Muslim villages, towns, cities and sectors of cities (for instance, Tashkent comprised of two different districts at the time). In addition, all the decisions of the Kokand Autonomy would be subject to final approval by the local soviet. Quite unfortunately, the divisions among the Muslims were disastrous and, despite the presence of many Jadidists, the Kokand authorities, who were viewing their rule as the comeback of the Kokand Khanate (1709-1886), decided to align themselves with the White Army. This proved to be a self-destructive decision. After Shokaev rejected the ultimatum issued by the Soviets (January 1918), started the hostilities; the soviet government dispatched an army and Armenian Dashnak terrorists to put everything under control, and in about three months the Kokand Autonomy was entirely dismantled. Following this noxious development, started the Basmachi Revolt.

 

The precarious, sectarian and reactionary character of the events that we call Basmachi Revolt is highlighted by the fact that all types of incidents, riots and raids were totally uncoordinated and relevant to diverse tribal localisms. First to revolt against the Soviet army were two Fergana sheikhs known as Irgash (Эргаш). The first of them was also known as 'Little Irgash' (Кичик Эргаш/ Küçük Ergaş; 1885-1918); he was killed in the Battle of Bachkir in February 1918.

 

The second Irgash, Mullah Irgash or Irgash Bey (Эргаш бек / Ergaş Bey), was also known as 'Great Irgash' (Катта Эргаш - Большой Эргаш; 1882-1921); he was a sheikh from Kokand, known for having many followers. Standing against the Soviet rule, he gathered several criminals into a group that he called an 'Islamic army' and he was acclaimed as the 'supreme military leader' (amir ul musalmin) by many other backward sheikhs of the remotest locations. It was certainly easy to gain supporters at a time the nationalization projects, which were implemented by the soviets, had caused economic disaster.

 

Around 20000 bandits took then control of the very fertile Fergana Valley. Irgash Bey managed to defeat the Red Army in the Kokand and Namangan regions. Initially, the Tashkent Soviet was unable to maintain the order, because they did not have many soldiers available; that is why their control was limited mainly to plains and big cities. All the same, divisions among the Muslims were so deep and occurred so often that quite soon the Great Irgash was constrained to fight with Madamin Bey (see below) for the rebel leadership; around the end of 1918, Irgash was defeated and wounded. Few years later, the Red Army spotted him and killed him.

 

The Tashkent Soviet was thus forced to mobilize as many Russian settlers as possible in order to form an impromptu army of volunteers. This military body was named "the Peasant Army of Fergana" (Крестьянская армия Ферганы); it was commanded by the settler, contractor and landowner Constantine Ivanovich Monstrov (1874-1920; Константин Иванович Монстров), who was famous for his enormous moustache. As one can understand, in similar cases, the brutality is excessive from both sides. Due to the disparate forces involved in the insurrection, multiple divisions took place and, after several months, other tribal leaders and fighters challenged and killed Little Iragsh.

 

For many long months during 1918 and early 1919, the Uzbek kurbashi (leader of raiders and bandits; Курбаши / قورباشی) Madamin Bey (مدمنبيک / Мадамин-бек; his real name was Muhammad Amin Ahmad Bek / Мухаммад Амин Ахмадбек; 1893-1920) tried to impose among the Fergana Muslims the choices of less intransigent people. In May 1919, he allied with the Russian settlers and decided to work with them in order to establish a common state. However, their joined forces were repeatedly defeated by the Muslim Volga Tatar Red Brigade and, in March 1920, Madamin Bey concluded a peace treaty with the Soviet government; his fighters became part of the Soviet Army, but one of the defectors assassinated him. On 20th March 1920, a celebration and a parade took place in Fergana in presence of Michael Frunze, the commander of the Red Army in the Eastern Front. Only small nuclei of rebels were able to survive hiding for some years in quasi-inaccessible mountains.

 

b- Basmachi Revolt in Chorasmia

In Chorasmia, a wealthy Turkmen tribal chieftain known as Junaid Khan (Джунаид-хан; his real name was Muhammad Kurban Serdar / Мухаммед-Курбан Сердар; 1857-1938) gathered ca. 1600 armed horsemen and managed easily to prevail in large swaths of land in January 1918. The decay and the advanced decomposition of the traditional Muslim Turkmen society in that region are underscored by the fact that he, although illiterate, had great authority, being the qadi (Islamic court judge) and the water manager of an entire region; this situation was solely due to the fact that he belonged to the dominant Turkmen tribe of Yomutlar (Yomut; Йомуды). And as in his otherwise meaningless life he did nothing virtuous, he was honorably called 'serdar' (which is a Persian military term meaning 'commander'), only because after 1912 (at the age of 55), he customarily robbed caravans in the Karakum desert.

 

In early 1918, Junaid Khan captured first Khiva, a major historical city and capital of an important khanate. As he had an enduring duel with the khan of Khiva (who was under czarist authority) Asfandiyar Khan (Асфандияр хан), an Uzbek, he took revenge by killing him, because back in 1912, Asfandiyar Khan had undertaken a punitive campaign against the Turkmens of the Takhta region, with whom the lifelong bandit Junaid Khan had sided at the time. This event occurred despite the fact that Asfandiyar Khan had changed his attitude toward Junaid Khan in January 1918 and appointed him as 'commander' of the Khiva Khanate's armed forces.

 

I expand on a few details of the historical background just to show that any post-Soviet effort of glorification or 'rehabilitation' of the Basmachi Revolt only distorts the historical facts, tarnishes the true identity of Islam, promotes Islamic extremism, and plays into the UK-US colonial game. Junaid Khan was certainly not a freedom fighter; even worse, he was a fake Muslim, who -with his miserable life- helped write a shameful page of History, namely that of the Islamic decadence. Furthermore, at the time, the Turkmen were tribally divided across sectarian lines to an extent that fully justifies the Russian annexation of the territories that formed later the SSR of Turkmenistan and in 1991 the Republic of Turkmenistan. 

 

In fact, the undeserved rise of Junaid Khan was due to his opportunistic mentality, his canny attitude and the deal he closed with one of the most extraordinary figures of Modern Russian Military History, the Cossack Ivan Matveyevich Zaitsev (Иван Матвеевич Зайцев; 1879-1934), colonel of the Russian Imperial Army, commander of the Orenburg Cossack Army, major-general of the Orenburg Independent Army (Оренбургская отдельная армия; an anti-Bolshevik force in the eastern front), bold maverick, border crossing adventurer, and infiltrator of the Soviet Army (with the intention to overthrow the regime), who at the end committed suicide. In September 1917, Zaitsev was returning from Iran where he had participated in Russian military operations against the English infiltration; he needed to put some sort of public order across Russian Turkestan and use local forces and resources against the Bolsheviks whose seizure of power he overwhelmingly rejected. Along with many other czarist loyalists, he set up the Turkestan Military Organization (Туркестанская военная организация). He then met Junaid Khan and managed to align his modest forces with his troops.

 

In reality, the upsurge in Khiva and the entire Chorasmia was a tribal affair linked with aspects of the White Army program and military activities; Junaid Khan's prevalence in Khiva was mainly due to his alliance with Zaitsev's forces, as the anti-Communist major-general needed the Turkmen bandit there, because he intended to foment insurgence against the Soviet rule throughout Central Asia. Zaitsev contacted the second president of the Kokand Autonomy, Mustafa Shokay, in order to agree on the terms of the common anti-Bolshevik fight. From Khiva, he proceeded straight to Chardzhou (Чарджоу; چهارجوی; today's Türkmenabat-Түркменабат), then further to Samarqand, and finally to Tashkent, while also mobilizing for his campaign the Ural Cossacks, the Siberian Cossacks, and the Aral Cossacks (аральские уральцы; these Cossacks were Christian Orthodox Old Believers/ старообрядцы казаки).

 

Zaitsev's heteroclite forces managed to occupy Samarqand, but failed to conquer Tashkent; however, after several battles, they were forced out of Samarqand. Zaitsev had to flee, and later he was arrested and condemned, but managed to escape (July 1918). Junaid Khan's control of Khiva was unstable, but it lasted for most of 1918 and 1919. In early 1920, the Red Army prevailed, Junaid Khan's forces were dispersed and Sayid Abdullah (Саид Абдулла хан; سعید عبدالله خان; 1871-1933; Asfandiyar Khan's brother who had only nominal authority, after being appointed by the usurper Junaid Khan) was compelled to abdicate.

 

Then, the short-lived Khorezm People's Soviet Republic (Xorazm Xalq Sovet Jumhuriyati; Хорезмская Народная Советская Республика) was proclaimed (26 April 1920) on parts of the territories of today's Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; this Soviet Republic was renamed in 1923 as Khorezm Socialist Soviet Republic (Хорезмская ССР) and finally abolished in 1924, after being divided among the Soviet Socialist Republics of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and the Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast, which is nowadays named Republic of Karakalpakstan (in Russian: Каракалпакия / in Karakalpak: Қарақалпақстан Республикасы) and constitutes the northwestern part of Uzbekistan. Junaid Khan continued his raids, attacks and burglaries for some years, until he finally escaped in Iran and then Afghanistan where he died. Only in 1928, the Soviet state got rid of his nuisance, after a special military operation was undertaken in the Karakum desert.

 

c- Basmachi Revolt in Bukhara

In Bukhara, the Basmachi Revolt took the form of a swansong, namely that of the Manghud dynasty (Мангыты; 1756-1920). In fact, after 1868, the Khanate of Bukhara was merely a vassal state to Russia and therefore the venue of several Russian Imperial ambassadors. The emirs of Bukhara were predominantly pro-Russian, open to new technologies, modern sciences and academic knowledge, also having a friendly attitude toward the Jadid Movement. Following the death of his father, Sayyid Abd al-Ahad Khan (Сеид Абдулахад-хан; 1859-1910; ruling after 1885), Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan (Сеид Мир Мухаммед Алим-хан; سعید عالم‌خان; 1880-1944) ruled over the khanate. Like his father, he had been sent to Russian educational and academic institutions where he became acquainted with techniques of modern war and administration.

 

His rule was basically a matter of disappointment, disillusion and deception for him. Being initially close to concepts and principles of the Jadid Movement, he tried to eliminate the corruption brought about due to the collapse of the Islamic civilization and the prevalence of ignorant sheikhs and tribal mentality; however, after some early successes, he failed in his effort. To pull him to their reactionary and pseudo-religious ideas, the obscurantist sheikhs of Bukhara utilized the very old method of flattery. By inflating his ambitions and by convincing him to bear the then already meaningless title of caliph, they managed to drag the otherwise progressive emir of Bukhara to positions that could not match with those of the Bukharan Jadid activists, who progressively leaned toward the rising Bolsheviks. When the imperial authority was overthrown in Petrograd, Bukhara became a de facto self-ruled state. All the same, Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan had already been pulled to anti-Bolshevik positions, and because of this development, the Bukharan Jadidist organization of the Young Bukharans (Младобухарцы; Uzb. بوحارا یاشاری; Uzb. Yosh buxoroliklar; Farsi جوان‌بخارائیان; Genç Buharalılar / founded in 1909, it was totally unrelated to the Genç Türkler / Neo-Turks) contacted the Bolsheviks in March 1918 to announce that the city and the khanate were ready to accept the Red Army.

 

When the Red Army reached Bukhara, asking the emir to abdicate, the ill-tempered Sayyid Mir Muhammad Alim Khan killed the delegation and several hundreds of pro-Communist Bukharans and Russians. The ominous overlord was able to continue ruling during 1919, but Bukhara was twice attacked in 1920 (March and September) and in the second siege, Mikhail Frunze managed to destroy the formidable walls of the legendary Ark (: fortress) of Bukhara and squelch the rebellion. Innocuous but indescribable, the ill-starred emir escaped to Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and thence to Kabul (Afghanistan). From there and until he died (5/5/1944), he tried in vain to get back his lost treasures (27 million rubles in gold, 7 million rubles in private banks, 150 million rubles in French and English banks & 32 million rubles deposited in foreign banks). During his exile, he survived as karakul / astrakhan (fleece) trader, and even managed to finance the Basmachi bandits for some time. About:

http://www.aigine.kg/images/1916/butino.pdf

https://zonakz.net/2011/07/26/реабилитация-басмачества-в-централь/

https://e-history.kz/ru/history-of-kazakhstan/show/9229

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ташкентский_городской_совет

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tashkent_Soviet

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шура-и-Ислам

https://tftwiki.ru/wiki/Jamiat_Ulema-e-Islam

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кокандская_автономия

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkestan_Autonomy

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Басмачество

https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmacı_Hareketi

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Курбаши

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Эргаш-курбаши

https://kafkassam.com/basmacilar.html

https://www.academia.edu/35531040/TÜRKİSTAN_BAĞIMSIZLIK_VE_BASMACI_HAREKETİ

 (the previous three articles are ideologically motivated and partially written)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мадамин-бек

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Крестьянская_армия_Ферганы

https://ru-civil-war.livejournal.com/327407.html

iht.uz/download/slides/1kurs/historyofuzbekistan/ru/005_1курс_1сем_ИстУзб.pdf

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Монстров,_Константин_Иванович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Хорезмская_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Джунаид-хан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junaid_Khan_(Basmachi_leader)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Йомуды

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Асфандияр-хан

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Зайцев,_Иван_Матвеевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Matveyevich_Zaitsev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Туркестанская_военная_организация

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkestan_Military_Organization

https://vk.com/@voccentr-rss-579331155-300109371

https://www.academia.edu/4532803/СОЦИАЛЬНАЯ_ЖИЗНЬ_НАРОДОВ_ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЙ_АЗИИ_В_ПЕРВОЙ_ЧЕТВЕРТИ_XX_ВЕКА_ТРАДИЦИИ_И_ИННОВАЦИИ_Материалы_международной_конференции_Ташкент_12_13_сентября_2008_г_Ташкент_2009_167_с

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Саид_Абдулла-хан

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Переворот_в_Хиве_(1918)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khorezm_People%27s_Soviet_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Хорезмская_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakalpakstan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Каракалпакия

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сеид_Алим-хан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayyid_Mir_Muhammad_Alim_Khan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мангыты_(узбеки)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manghud

https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosh_buxoroliklar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Bukharans

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Младобухарцы

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirate_of_Bukhara

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бухарская_операция_(1920)

 

d- Basmachi Revolt in Fergana Valley (second phase)

The second phase of the Basmachi Revolt in Fergana started in Bukhara in November 1921. It was then that Enver Pasha arrived there, after he failed to be accepted back in Kemal Ataturk's Turkey. When the Young Turks' most inconsistent and most ominous chief reached Bukhara, he had just crossed his life's most tumultuous period. After being dismissed from the position of War Minister (4 October 1918), he had to flee, because the Sultan had been ordered by the English to declare defeat (Enver Pasha wanted to continue the fight against England and France); he therefore moved to Germany where he stayed for some months, contacting military officers and political activists, before traveling to Bolshevik Russia (April 1919).

 

In Moscow, Enver Pasha contacted all communist leaders (Lenin included) and tried to establish a German-Russian-Turanian-Oriental alliance against English-French colonialism and imperialism. From there, he also tried to help Mustafa Kemal Pasha Ataturk (in spite of his earlier contempt for the Father of Modern Turkey); as he appeared quite useful to the new elite in Moscow, they welcomed him, and he participated in the famous Congress of the Peoples of the East (Съезд народов Востока), which was held in Baku in September 1920. There he delivered a fervent speech, proving that he could be beneficial at both, military and socio-political, levels. In July 1921, Enver Pasha reached Batumi, capital of Adjaria (Georgia), and attempted to enter Turkey (having the intention to contribute to the Turkish War of Independence, which was undertaken under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk), but was blocked at the border.

 

The endless topic of personal relations between Kemal Ataturk and Enver Pasha can be discussed in dozens of PhD dissertations, but in reality Ataturk's overall negative assessment and ultimate rejection of Enver Pasha was due to the latter's apparently unstable mood, temporary chimeras, erroneous perception of balance of power, and unrealistic evaluation of the consequences of his actions and of his opponents' reactions to them. Enver Pasha returned to Moscow and soon afterwards (autumn 1921), he was sent by Lenin to Bukhara, then capital of the short-lived (1920-1924) Bukharan People's Soviet Republic (Бухарская Народная Советская Республика / Buxoro Xalq Shoʻro Jumhuriyati / جمهوری خلقی شوروی بخارا / Ҷумҳурии Халқии Шӯравии Бухоро) with the task to extinguish the Basmachi banditry. This proved to be one of Lenin's worst mistakes.  

 

Untrustworthy, chimeric and self-destructive as never before, Enver Pasha in fact defected to the rebel side and, instead of putting down the uprising, he attempted to regenerate it, organize the bandits into a military corps, and use them for the sole personal benefit of becoming the ruler of a delusional Central Asiatic Turanian state at the very antipodes of Kemal Ataturk's Turkey. Contacting and cooperating with Junaid Khan and Shir Muhammad Bek 'Gazi' {basically known as Kurshirmat / Korşirmat / Курширмат and at times named Mahmud Bek (Mahmood-bek / Махмуд-бек); 1895-1970; Шир Мухаммед-бек 'Гази' (grandson of Khudoyar-Khan, who was one of the last rulers of Kokand – see above part XV unit a)}, Enver Pasha managed to establish a significant and sufficiently trained force (of ca. 20000 bandits turned soldiers) and appear as a serious challenge to the Soviet rule in Central Asia. In the early months of 1922, Soviet authority in the region was dwindling. Sizeable parts of the territories of today's Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan went out of control. At the same time, the Soviet regime gained an unexpected and valuable supporter: the Dungan Muslims (of Chinese Hui origin) and their commander Magaza Masanchi (1886-1937; Магазы Лебузович Масанчи).

 

An eventual secession of Turkestan from Soviet Union in 1922 would certainly be an absurd and paradoxical phenomenon; this is so because the Soviet administration consciously implemented an overwhelming Korenizatsiya (Коренизация) policy in striking contrast with the imperial practices of the previous decades. The Soviet term originates from the Russian words 'коренное население' (korenoe naselenie), which mean 'native population'; it encapsulates the Soviet concept of nation and the Soviet theory on the right of peoples to self-determination (as illustrated in Lenin's The Right of Nations to Self-Determination and in Stalin's Marxism and the National Question). This approach systematically promoted the use of the native mother tongue in the education and the administration of the various soviet republics, guaranteed the involvement of natives in the local government at all levels, and straightforwardly opposed the imperial policies of Russification. In addition, the Soviet authorities had made significant concessions as regards the validity of the Islamic Law, the existence of the medresas (Quranic schools), and the reinstatement of the Waqf (Vakıf) lands. For all these reasons, Enver Pasha's unplanned and unprepared proposal of an otherwise ill-defined Turkestan did not offer much instead.

 

When Enver Pasha turned from asset to liability for the Soviet authorities, the Dungan Muslim regiment proved to be highly important; the Dungans (Дунгане; 干族) were Chinese Hui (回族 - Hui-zu; Хуэй) Muslims, who migrated from China on different occasions during the 19th c. and settled in various territories of Central Asia, notably parts of today's Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Today, there are ca. 15 million Hui in China (where they are recognized as an independent ethnic-religious group), but only ca. 200000 in Central Asia; totally unrelated (and rather rival) to Uighurs, the Hui are of Chinese Han ancestry.

 

Gradually, the Soviet authorities mobilized forces able to put down the upsurge, also utilizing military aircraft; they motivated most of the people in Central Asia, and particularly all those who supported Jadid intellectuals and Communist activists. Many volunteered to join the Red Army, and after a series of battles in April and May 1922, Enver Pasha's forces were first defeated - to some extent due to airstrikes, which were undertaken by the Soviet air forces {the Soviet Air Forces (военно-воздушные силы) were the re-organized form of the Imperial Russian Air Service (Императорскій военно-воздушный флотъ) that was the world's largest air fleet in 1914}. Enver Pasha was offered a peace proposal that he declined (May 1922) only to face further defeats in June and July. The capture of Dushanbe by the Red Army (14 July 1922) marked an irreversible step in the Soviet effort to put down the Basmachi banditry.

 

Despite his defeats in many battles and although the enemy was very close, Enver Pasha was still foolish enough to allow his remaining troops to enjoy the celebration of Kurban Bayramı (Eid al-Adha)! As his whereabouts were reported, the Bashkir cavalry brigade (so, an entirely Muslim force) under the Armenian commander Yakov Melkumov (Яков Аркадьевич Мелькумов; 1885-1962) attacked them, thus spreading chaos in the already disorganized force. Enver Pasha managed to escape with his guard; the pursuit lasted several days, but finally he was killed on 4th August 1922.

 

Enver Pasha's subordinate, Selim Pasha, continued the struggle for some time until he finally escaped to Afghanistan in 1923. Several battles took place then in the upper flow of Zeravshan River, in Hissar Valley, in Darvaz region and other mountainous lands close to the borders of Afghanistan. Sporadic clashes used to occur throughout Soviet Central Asia in 1923-1925, because Ibrahim Bek (Ибрагим-бек; Иброҳимбек Чакабаев - Ibrohimbek Chaqaboev; 1889-1931) re-organized banditry and undertook several raids, until he too was forced to find shelter in Afghanistan. Subsequently, numerous, rather minor incursions were incessantly launched from the territory of Afghanistan against the Soviet rule in Central Asia; for this purpose, arms were regularly smuggled into the Soviet Union and bandits hidden there from village to village.  

 

Junaid Khan was able to also launch an attack against Khiva in 1926; it took two years for the Soviet forces to fully dismantle this group. Due to this situation, which could not lead anywhere, the bulk of Central Asiatic population of Soviet Union gradually embraced the Communist regime. Still, the Red Army was forced to carry out several operations inside Afghanistan, notably in 1929 and 1930, in order to make sure that no further attacks would originate from that land.

 

Korshimat was also defeated and escaped in Afghanistan too (in September 1922); moved by his acrimonious feelings, he set up an intelligence network, which later proved to be quite important for the Japanese, Turkish and German secret services. From Afghanistan, he organized an anti-Soviet guerilla during WWII, while working under the guidance of the German Abwehr (military intelligence). For this reason, Soviet historiographers used to date the end of the Basmachi movement in the early 1940s.

 

e- Basmachi Revolt in Samarqand

With the collapse of the imperial rule, Muslim rebels seized power in the wider Samarqand region and, in November 1918, they proclaimed the independence of all the lands up to the Matcha (or Mastcha) region (Матча или Мастча́; Мастчоҳ), which corresponds mainly to today's Gorno-Matchinsky district of the Sughd vilayet of Tajikistan. In the autumn of 1919, Penjikent, Khujand, Ura-Tube, and Samarqand formed a self-ruled territory.

 

In 1921, the leading Bashkir Jadidist theoretician and explorer Ahmed Zaki Validov (see above: part X, unit r) arrived in Samarqand. He had already started criticizing and opposing the Bolsheviks, and therefore Samarqand was an ideal location for him to expand his multifaceted endeavors and activities. As he was accompanied by significant forces, he merged with the local rebels, who were fascinated with his ideological clarity and his undeniable eloquence. He soon became the undisputed leader of the Basmachi Movement; until 1923, he was the chairman of the 'National Union of Turkistan'. However, the rebel troops were repeatedly defeated in 1922-1923, and then Validov escaped to Iran, taking with him the original manuscripts of Ahmad ibn Fadlan (see above: part V no 4) that he had found in the meantime. This valuable document consists in a major historical source for the History of Eastern Europe, as it details the diffusion of Islam in Volga Bulgaria - 70 years before Kievan Rus accepted Christianity. Despite their defeats, various dispersed local rebels kept launching attacks across this region until as late as 1935. About:

https://www.academia.edu/44016901/ENVER_PAŞA_VE_BASMACILIK_HAREKATI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadid#Central_Asia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmachi_movement

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Басмачество

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enver_Pasha#Relations_with_Mustafa_Kemal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_the_Peoples_of_the_East

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-й_Съезд_народов_Востока

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukharan_People%27s_Soviet_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бухарская_народная_советская_республика

https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buxoro_Xalq_Sovet_Respublikasi

https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ҷумҳурии_Халқии_Шӯравии_Бухоро

https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/جمهوری_شورایی_خلق_بخارا

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korenizatsiya

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коренизация

https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/self-det/

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1913/03.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungan_people

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дунгане

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/干族

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hui_people

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Хуэй_(народ)

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/回族

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magaza_Masanchi

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Масанчи,_Магазы_Лебузович

https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korşirmat

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Курширмат

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kor%C5%9Firmat

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/kyrgyzstan-still-burying-the-past-100-years-after-urkun-1833

https://www.academia.edu/39772114/Поляков_Ю_А_Чугунов_А_И_Конец_басмачества_М_1976

https://djvu.online/file/ob3bJkBgBpwMa

https://vk.com/wall-77649927_95

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ибрагим-бек

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_Bek

 

f- Basmachi Revolt in the Trans-Caspian region

The Turkmen Basmachi revolt in the Trans-Caspian region (today's Turkmenistan) reached significant proportions in 1918 and also (partly and briefly) in 1922, but by 1924, it was almost completely suppressed by the Red Army and various local pro-Soviet formations. It all started with the apparent desire for political autonomy that prevailed among the Turkmen around the end of 1917 and the subsequent formation of the Turkmen National Army in February 1918. The Ashgabat (Bolshevik) Soviet did not have sufficient forces to maintain control and that's why it demanded help from the Tashkent Soviet. The opponents of the Bolshevik Soviet belonged to either the Menshevik Party (Russian Social Demorcratic Labour Party / Российская социал-демократическая рабочая партия) or the Socialist Revolutionary Party (Партия социалистов-революционеров), and in their majority, they were workers of the Trans-Caspian Railway. The dispatched forces were not sufficient and, after several clashes, the rebels prevailed.

 

The tumultuous proclamation (11th-12th July 1918) of the Trans-Caspian Provisional Government (Закаспийское временное правительство) was the consequence the fact that the majority of the people did not accept the Ashgabat Soviet's order for a census of armed men (which was issued in mid-June 1918). Fyodor Adrianovich Funtikov (Фёдор Адрианович Фунтиков; 1876-1926), who was a Russian Socialist Revolutionary railway worker and a significant opponent of the Bolshevik rule, led the uprising. This shows clearly that the incidents had no ethnic or religious but rather political motives. The dispatched forces under Fyodor Ivanovich Kalesov (Фёдор Иванович Колесов; 1891-1940), chairman (November 1917–November 1918) of the (Tashkent-based) Soviet (Совет Народных комиссаров: Council of People's Commissars) of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, acted very violently and unwisely killing indiscriminately and persecuting the local population. The Bolshevik armed forces were therefore obliged to withdraw, after having many dead among them in the clashes.

 

The Trans-Caspian Provisional Government included Turkmen khans, Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Dashnak Armenians, and even several individuals of the imperial administration. On 21st July 1918, almost the entire territory of the Trans-Caspian region (today's Turkmenistan) was controlled by the anti-Bolshevik forces. Furthermore, they intended to soon convene a constituent assembly. General Uraz-Serdar (the son of the last Turkmen Khan Tykma-Serdar) and the officers Hadji Murat, Khan Yomudsky, and Ovozbaev (of the Russian army) were the Turkmen who took part in the government. As the meager armed forces of the government (less than 2000 men) were defeated by Bolshevik army on 28th July 1918 near Chardzhou (see above part VIII unit c), the Trans-Caspian Government turned to the English military detachment in Mashhad (NE Iran) for help.

 

What follows constitutes an excellent demonstration of the criminal English colonial policies, and of England's perfidious plans providing for divisions, destructions and bloodshed throughout Central Asia and the Eurasiatic landmass in general. At the same time, the numerous incidents, which occurred due to the ultimately failed English intervention in the Trans-Caspian region in 1918 (nowadays euphemistically baptized 'Malleson mission' by the disreputable center of worldwide disinformation named 'Wikipedia'), constitute today an excellent historical lesson and a perfect reason for all the states of the wider region to resolutely close down forever all English, Australian, Canadian and US embassies, consulates, institutes and NGOs and to ban British Commonwealth and US citizens from entering their territories. As a matter of fact, the only reason for an English to be present in Central Asia is to foment discord and enmity, and to promote anti-Chinese, anti-Russian, and anti-Iranian hatred among all the indigenous Turkic nations in order to further trigger wars, destructions, ruins, and endless killings.

 

The English colonial plans against all the nations of Central Asia were immediately set in motion as soon as the Russian imperial government collapsed in early 1917. As a matter of fact, London's colonial interference in Central Asia is the continuation of England's destructive involvement and unprecedented evildoing first in the Mughal Empire's territories and later in Iran. Gradual, methodic and sophisticated colonial infiltration is at the origin of the gradual collapse of the Qajar dynasty of Iran (1789-1925). The truly last Qajar Shah, who reigned in Iran, was Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar (مظفرالدین شاه قاجار; 1853-1907; he reigned after 1896).  

 

Due to English, French, Russian and Ottoman infiltration and owed to incessant propagation of viciously anti-Iranian, lowly, villainous and barbarian concepts, such as democracy, parliament, civil rights, and politics, Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar was forced to open the first Iranian parliament in 1906; after making this disastrous and calamitous concession to the criminal colonial powers, he died due to an unexpected and mysterious heart attack. His son Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar (محمدعلی شاه قاجار; 1872-1925) reigned only for 2.5 years (1907-1909). Perfidious, heinous and criminal English diplomats duplicitously exhorted him to close the parliament down; supporting both sides, the English colonials strongly encouraged and guided the parliamentarians and parts of the Iranian army as to how to depose the shah.

 

Thus, soon after he bombarded the parliament, he was held captive by his rebellious officers and deputies, who -inflicting a national disaster on their own country- forced the shah to abdicate and to flee to exile. His son, Ahmad Shah Qajar (احمد شاه قاجار; 1898-1930), the boy king, was merely a symbolic figurehead, who could not avoid serving his criminal colonial masters; they used to fool him on daily basis in order to continue England's incessant evildoing in Iran. Finally, he was marginalized after the 1921 military coup, sent to exile in 1923, deposed in 1925, and finally buried in 1930. The shameful story of the last three decades of Qajar rule was ludicrously named 'Persian Constitutional Revolution' (انقلاب مشروطه), and its last phase was called 'Jungle Movement of Gilan'.

 

For the aforementioned reasons, the English colonials were able to dispatch forces from their colonies in India through Iran to Central Asia. Their criminal colonial deeds were euphemistically named 'Persian Campaign during WWI', whereas in Farsi they are correctly called ' اشغال ایران در جنگ جهانی اول' (Occupation of Iran during WWI). The mere presence of the heinous colonial gangsters triggered famine, cholera, typhoid and plague in which no less than 7-8 million people perished. However, in today's rotten world, no one speaks about the Iranian genocide, which was deliberately carried out by the English barbarians.

 

The so-called 'British military mission in Turkestan' was established immediately after the abdication of Czar Nikolai II. It was led by Major General Wilfrid Malleson (1866-1946) and it also included the notorious gangster Reginald Teague-Jones (1889-1988), an intelligence officer, who carried out so heinous, inhuman and beastly deeds that he was forced to change name in 1922 and live afterwards secluded as 'Ronald Sinclair' somewhere in England for no less than 66 years! The English military force encamped in the outskirts of Mashhad as early as August 1917. They immediately established contacts with various tribal leaders, ignorant and uneducated sheikhs, and small merchants in several cities across the southern territories of Central Asia whereby confusion and chaos started prevailing after the collapse of the imperial administration.

 

In general, the English infiltration in Central Asia can be divided into three periods:

a) January to July 1918: this was the period of early contacts and covert interference in the local affairs; it involved minimal financial assistance and limited technical help (at the military level) offered to the Trans-Caspian Provisional Government.

b) August 1918 to March 1919: during this period the English attempted to invade the territory of Turkmenistan (then rather named 'Trans-Caspian region').

c) April 1919 to 2020: during this period, the bulk of the English forces withdrew, because they realized that they did not have sufficient forces to be further involved in the region and that they had failed to turn the local nations against the Soviet rule up to a point that would create serious trouble to the Soviet government. All the same, they maintained their contacts, kept monitoring the developments closely, and offered limited technical help and instructions.

 

After the Trans-Caspian Government first contacted the English in Mashhad, a small group of officers were dispatched to Ashgabat. As they assessed the local forces' capacity as nil, they trained them and led them in skirmishes against the equally small forces that the Bolshevik government could avail in that remote region. Soon afterwards, W. Malleson sent another small force of ca. 500 fighters (Indians in their majority), who managed to oppose further Communist attacks. On 12th August 1918, a supplementary force (ca. 500 Indian soldiers of the 19th Punjabi Regiment) crossed the border and merged with the Turkmen Trans-Caspian force.  On 19th August 1918, the Ashgabat authorities under Funtikov signed an agreement with General Malleson. This was how thoughtless and fanatic opposition to the Bolsheviks turned out to be a form of high treason.

 

At the same time, the English dispatched another mission directly to Tashkent; few men under Colonel F. Bailey (Frederick Marshman Bailey; 1882-1967) crossed through Kashgar (Eastern Turkestan / Xinjiang, China) and the Fergana Valley (Osh in today's Kyrgyzstan and Andijan in today's Uzbekistan) and reached Tashkent on 10th August 1918. The mission included Captain L. V. S. Blacker (who is known for his report 'From India to Russia in 1914' that was published by Royal Geographical Society, London, 1917) and four Hindu servants. Only few days later, Sir George Macartney (馬繼業; 1867-1945; he was half-Chinese and also the godchild of the Chinese general Li Hongzhang), the former British consul in Kashgar (at the end of a 28-year tenure there), arrived in Tashkent; he introduced Colonel F. Bailey and Captain L. V. S. Blacker to the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the Turkestan Republic (народный комиссариат иностранных дел Туркестанской республики) as English diplomats.  

 

As it is understood, the arrival of the English diplomats in Tashkent coincided with the first clashes between the Malleson Mission forces and the Red Army around Ashgabat. This complicated the Tashkent mission of the English diplomats whose tasks included every type of evildoing involving bribery, contacts with all sorts of local anti-Bolshevik elements, and instigation of disorder, criminality and rebellion. Even worse for them, a Russian employee of the Russian-Asiatic Bank (Русско-Азиатский банк) Kashgar branch duly informed the members of the Central Executive Committee (центральный исполнительный комитет) of Turkestan as regards the real nature and the hostile targets of the English mission, sharing with them his experience on Colonel F. Bailey's contacts with anti-Bolshevik Russian employees of the bank branch in Kashgar. The evil English diplomats, who established ties with various elements of the anti-Bolshevik forces in Tashkent, pretended that their criminal deeds were merely German rumors! Of course, the Soviet authorities did not believe a word said by those gangsters. The mission ended when Sir George Macartney and Captain L. V. S. Blacker left back for Kashgar (28th September 1918), after they realized that the English did not have any chance to duly destabilize Soviet Central Asia.

 

Only Colonel F. Bailey and his Indian servant stayed further in Tashkent only to be soon placed under house arrest and then ordered to leave. However, thanks to the illegal network of informers that he had already established, he was timely informed about the permission that the local Soviet had asked from Moscow in order to arrest them, and then he disappeared being disguised as an Austrian prisoner of war (1st November 1918). After staying out of Tashkent for some weeks, he returned as a pro-Bolshevik Austrian prisoner of war, and with the help of a real Austrian prisoner of war, he got a job position in the 2nd department of the Military Control. From that position, he was sent to conduct counterintelligence operations against the English officers, who were around the Emir of Bukhara; however, he used this opportunity to form a small detachment of White Army officers, escape with them, and finally reach General W. Mallison in Mashhad (NE Iran), at a distance of ca. 570 km. While he was crossing the deserts Kyzylkum (Кызылкум) and Karakum (Каракум), among the people, who joined his small group, was the Russian prince Alexandre Nikolaïevitch Iskander (after 1925 Romanovski-Iskander; Александр Николаевич Искандер; 1887-1957), who later returned to Tashkent and participated in several uprisings there (1919) and in Crimea (1920), before moving to exile first in Greece (following an invitation extended to him by his aunt and godmother, the then Queen Regent Olga of Greece) and then in France. 

 

The sort of the Malleson Mission was bloodier; the combined Turkmen-Czarist-anti-Bolshevik Communist-Hindu forces under English commandment engaged in many battles, notably on 28th August, 11th and 18th September, 9th–11th October (the battle of Arman Sagad / Арман-Сагад), and 14th October (the battle of Dushak / Душак). They repeatedly prevailed over the Bolshevik forces, but due to the limited number of forces on both sides, no conclusive victory was possible for either side. All the same, the English dispatched further reinforcements, notably the 28th Light Cavalry (after 1935 it was known as 7th Light Cavalry) from India. As a consequence of these victories, the combined forces occupied Tejen (Теджен), more than 200 km SE of Ashagabat, and Mery (or Marv; Мары/ Мерв; مرو), ca. 180 km NE of Tejen.

 

In September 1918, a heinous crime was committed in Krasnovodsk (Красноводск; currently known as Turkmenbashi / Türkmenbaşy / Түркменбашы); the English political and intelligence officer Reginald Teague-Jones bears the entire responsibility for the crime. After the fall of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (22 April – 28 May 1918; led by the 'Council' or 'Sejm' in which Azeris, Georgians and Armenians co-existed peacefully, but Bolsheviks did not participate), the Azerbaijani National Council founded the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in Tiflis on 28 May 1918. This was the first secular republic throughout the Islamic world in modern times. Ganja was declared provisory capital, because Baku was already occupied by the Bolsheviks. In fact, the Commune of Baku did not include only Bolsheviks, but practically speaking all the anti-Muslim and anti-Azeri forces of the wider region (namely Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and even the anti-Bolshevik Kadets, and Armenian Dashnaks). This was the conseuquence of the earlier clashes between Armenians and Azeris and the deliberate genocide of Azeris perpetrated by the heinous Dashnak party members. On the 5th June, they managed with difficulty to oppose an Azeri-German-Ottoman attack.

 

The fact that the Baku government consisted of so diverse (ethnically and ideologically) elements did not bode well. When the Bolsheviks rejected the treacherous idea of asking English help against the victorious Azeri-German-Ottoman army, the Armenian Dashnaks conspired with the Social Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, kicked the Bolsheviks out, imprisoned them, and proclaimed the so-called Centro-Caspian Dictatorship (Sentrokaspi Diktaturası / Диктатура Центрокаспия), an ephemerous tyranny that lasted from the 26th July until the 15th September 1918. The 26 Commissars of the Baku Commune {under the gangster Stepan Shahumyan (or Shaumian / Степан Георгиевич Шаумян; 1878-1918), who was also known as the 'Caucasian Lenin'} tried to escape to Astrakhan, but were intercepted by the Imperial Russian Caspian fleet, arrested and delivered back to Baku where they were imprisoned for about 45 days and then liberated by few Red Army soldiers under Anastas Mikoyan (Анастас Иванович Микоян; 1895-1978; the renowned Soviet statesman) at the very time of the Ottoman-German-Azeri final attack, invasion and liberation of Baku. The English army {a 1,000-strong elite force under Major General Lionel Dunsterville (which hd arrived after sailing in the Caspian Sea from the Iranian harbor of Bandar-e Anzali/Бендер-Энзели / بندرانزلی)} was then evacuated. The 26 Baku Commissars intended to sail to Astrakhan, the only Caspian harbor under Bolshevik control at the time, but due to the presence of two English officers onboard, the captain was forced to navigate to Krasnovodsk where the commissars were arrested again, this time by the Turkmen-English forces under Reginald Teague-Jones.

 

As soon as the Ashgabat Committee and Fyodor Funtikov came to know about the identity of the newly arrived statesmen and activists, they decided to execute them; as they evidently depended on the English officers, they had to discuss the topic with Captain Teague-Jones and get his approval for the execution. Without the consent of the top English military, no deliberate massacre of Bolshevik officials would take place. In an article published in Izvestia few months only after the event (no 85, 23rd April 1919), Stalin denounced Captain Teague-Jones for the 'savage murder', further accusing him for "intending to circulate false testimony to the effect that the Baku Bolsheviks had died a 'natural' death in prison or hospital". The article titled 'The Shooting of the Twenty-Six Baku Comrades by Agents of British Imperialism' makes state of evil English efforts to put the blame on others and to attribute their inhuman deeds to third persons or groups of people. Stalin wrote the following:

 

"The second document recounts a conversation that the author of the first document, Chaikin, had with the British General Thomson towards the close of March 1919. General Thomson demanded that Chaikin should name the eye-witnesses of the savage murder of the 26 Baku Bolsheviks by Captain Teague-Jones. Chaikin was prepared to present the documents and to name the witnesses on condition that a commission of inquiry were set up composed of representatives of the British command, the population of Baku and the Turkestan Bolsheviks. Chaikin furthermore demanded a guarantee that the Turkestan witnesses would not be assassinated by British agents. Since Thomson refused to agree to the appointment of a commission of inquiry and would give no guarantee of the personal safety of the witnesses, the conversation was broken off and Chaikin left. The document is interesting because it indirectly confirms the barbarity of the British imperialists, and not merely testifies but cries out against the impunity and savagery of the British agents who vent their ferocity on Baku and Transcaspian “natives” just as they do on Negroes in Central Africa".

 

In fact, the Soviet authorities extensively investigated the terrible massacre that occurred on the 20th September 1918 in Turkmenistan, and for this purpose, a special commission (under Vadim Chaikin / already mentioned in Stalin's article as per above) was established. The fact was widely discussed, and a renowned Soviet painter Isaak Brodsky (Исаак Израилевич Бродский; 1883-1939) immortalized the 'Execution of the 26 Baku Commissars' ('Расстрел 26 бакинских комиссаров') in his painting (1925; currently in the Museum Mashkova in Volgograd). Quite contrarily, English authors tried to present diametrically opposite versions and narratives in order to effectively portray the English officers as innocent. All the same, the fact that Captain Teague-Jones had to change his name and live in seclusion and anonymity for no less than 66 years of his life after this heinous crime is quite telling. And until as late as 1956, General Wilfrid Malleson kept boringly denying any English involvement and responsibility.

 

The executed and dismembered (not just 'decapitated') 26 Baku commissioners belonged to many different ethnicities, namely Azeri (notably Meshadi Azizbekov, Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs and gubernial commissar for Baku), Armenian (more particularly Stepan Shahumian, the Chairman of the Baku Council of the People's Commissars and Commissar Extraordinary for the Caucasus), Georgian, Russian, Latvian, Jewish and Greek (Heracles Metaxas / Irakly Metaksa; Ираклий Панаитович Метакса; Ηρακλής Μεταξάς του Παναγιώτη; 1889-1918; he was born in Batumi and served as Shahumian's bodyguard). Several memorials were built in the USSR to honor the memory of the 26 Commissars and to underscore the atrocities committed by the colonial powers. When Azerbaijan decided in 2009 to demolish the Baku Memorial (in an effort to erase the Soviet past from the collective historical memory), the decision caused a certain reaction from Armenia, but it was implemented promptly.

 

One of the most obscure parts and undecipherable points of this story is how Anastas Mikoyan, then a subordinate of Stepan Shahumyan, managed to survive and then escape from this massacre. Plausible interpretations vary, and the most common explanation is that his name was not found on the list of Commissars' names that the Ashgabat Committee managed to get; still this is highly hypothetical and ostensibly too convenient for an immovable member of the Soviet nomenklatura, i.e. someone who stayed invariably in power for almost half a century under all (Lenin, Stalin, Khushchev and Brezhnev)!  

 

The Ashgabat Committee was an unstable and disparate formation and, to the eyes of the English colonial officers, this fact could jeopardize their interests and prevent them from achieving their targets. As there were continually many disputes and conflicting opinions about the continuation of the anti-Bolshevik fight among the very diverse elements of this governmental body, the English intervened brusquely in Ashgabat in December 1918, using the popular protests as an excuse, dissolving the government, and establishing (1st January 1919) an arbitrary "Committee of Public Salvation" entirely manned by Turkmen traitors-puppets of the English officers, who were under the orders of the gangster Teague-Jones. This meant that, in fact, there was an English dictatorship in that part of the Russian territory.

 

On 16th January 1919, the Indian, English and Turkmen (Trans-Caspian) forces repelled an attack launched by the Red Army at Annenkovo, between Merv and Chardzhou (Türkmenabat); the Bolsheviks wanted to destroy the railway line and thus eliminate their enemies' escape route, but despite their numerical superiority, they failed to materialize their targets. However, the very limited resources that the English could avail and the number of casualties that they had convinced them that it would be better to allow the White Army military leadership to take control of the situation. The English decided then to merely coordinate the anti-Bolshevik efforts undertaken by local forces in the Terek, Dagestan and Trans-Caspian regions and to offer minimal financial support and adequate training to Anton Denikin's henchmen.

 

The developments in Tashkent (the anti-Bolshevik uprising of 19th January 1919 and its subsequent suppression two days later) convinced Lieutenant-General Denikin that he had urgent tasks to complete in Turkmenistan (Trans-Caspian region) as well, and by order of the supreme commandment of the 'Armed Forces of South Russia' (Вооружённые силы Юга России; AFSR) on the 22nd January 1919, the Turkestan Army was formed as an integral part of the AFSR forces. While the anti-Bolshevik forces were able to garner support among the Turkmen and within few months they could avail 7000 infantry men and 2000 cavalry men, the successes of the central government were far more determinant. The liberation of Orenburg (22nd January 1919) and the restoration of railway communication with Turkestan constituted the beginning of the end for all types of rebels in Turkestan.  

 

By April 1919, the English had already evacuated their forces, leaving only a small garrison at Krasnovodosk by the Caspian Sea side; this unit returned to Iran in August 1919. In fact, the plans of the anti-Bolshevik military commandment for an advance of the Turkestan Army to Tashkent and Almaty (Verny) were impossible to materialize, despite the the support extended by Junaid Khan, the dictator of the Khiva Khanate. After many successive battles (in Baýramaly, Merv, Serhetabat, and Tejen) during the period May – July 1919, the Red Army sieged and took Ashgabat (9 July). The Turkestan Army was gradually dispersed and could not further resist the Bolshevik advance. Until December 1919, the Soviet forces prevailed throughout the region and reached the Caspian seashore where the last battles were fought before the reunification of the Russian imperial territory under Soviet rule. The very last remnants of the AFSR were rescued by English ships and evacuated in Iran in early 1920.

 

After the English colonial intruders moved back to Iran, they continued dispatching military aid and equipment to anti-Bolshevik forces in Turkestan for some time; in 1919, they sent two caravans of 600 and 200 camels with weapons, ammunition and other military equipment to Bukhara. In January 1920, they dispatched 1200 rifles, 12 machine guns, 4 guns and a large number of cartridges and shells. Even after the dismantlement of Denikin's troops in the Transcaspian region (February 1920) and in the Emirate of Bukhara (September 1920), the English still kept providing assistance (weapons and money) to isolated Basmachi groups. Later on, they continued forming Basmachi armed detachments on the territory of Afghanistan and Iran; they used them in various sabotage activities. The Soviet army intervened twice in Afghanistan (1929 and 1930), during and after the Afghan Civil War (1928-1929) in order to fully destroy the Basmachi forces there. Only then, the Eglish efforts to foment unrest throughout Soviet Turkestan ended. About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jadid#Central_Asia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcaspian_Government

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Закаспийское_временное_правительство

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleson_mission

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Teague-Jones

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Английская_интервенция_в_Средней_Азии

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Маллесон,_Уилфрид

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_Malleson

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Фунтиков,_Фёдор_Адрианович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Funtikov

https://www.permgaspi.ru/publikatsii/konferentsii/grazhdanskaya-vojna-na-vostoke-rossii/v-zh-tsvetkov-mezhdu-belym-yugom-i-sibiryu-spetsifika-upravleniya-v-zakaspijskoj-oblasti-v-1918-1920-gg.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Колесов,_Фёдор_Иванович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Колесовский_поход

http://volk59.narod.ru/inter14.htm

http://militera.lib.ru/research/shambarov1/03.html

https://nik191-1.ucoz.ru/publ/istorija_sobytija_i_ljudi/istorija_sobytija_i_ljudi/rasstrel_26_bakinskikh_komissarov_ili_kak_redzhi_stal_ronni/7-1-0-2547

https://foto-history.livejournal.com/2640170.html

https://nni.jes.su/s013038640003984-0-1/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_campaign_(World_War_I)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_famine_of_1917%E2%80%931919

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Миссия_Бейли

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бейли,_Фредерик_Маршман

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Marshman_Bailey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Macartney_(British_consul)

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/马继业

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Русско-Азиатский_банк

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kazakhstan_National_encyclopedia_(ru)_-_Vol_1_of_5_(2004).pdf&page=384

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/843950.Mission_To_Tashkent

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=12681351357&searchurl=an%3DBLACKER%252C%2BCAPTAIN%2BL%2BV%2BS%2B%26sortby%3D20&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title2

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Nikola%C3%AFevitch_Romanovski-Iskander

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Искандер,_Александр_Николаевич

http://www.dk1868.ru/history/ISKANDER.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20090304230256/http://www.imperialhouse.ru/rus/dynastyhistory/morganatic/276.html

https://zyle.ru/en/bathroom-and-toilet/zavoevaniya-srednei-azii-rossiiskoi-imperiei-zavoevanie-srednei-azii/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бакинские_комиссары

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26_Baku_Commissars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkestan_Army_(Armed_Forces_of_South_Russia)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Туркестанская_армия_(ВСЮР)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcaucasian_Democratic_Federative_Republic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_Democratic_Republic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Shaumian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrocaspian_Dictatorship

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Диктатура_Центрокаспия

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baku

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Битва_за_Баку_(1918)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastas_Mikoyan

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1919/04/23.htm

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Расстрел_26_бакинских_комиссаров

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Метакса,_Ираклий_Панаитович

https://avim.org.tr/tr/Kitap/9/pdf

https://today-in-wwi.tumblr.com/post/182060526949/british-and-transcaspian-forces-repel-bolsheviks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_Forces_of_South_Russia

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Афганский_поход_Красной_армии_(1929)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_intervention_in_Afghanistan_(1929)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Афганский_поход_Красной_армии_(1930)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_intervention_in_Afghanistan_(1930)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Гражданская_война_в_Афганистане_(1928—1929)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Civil_War_(1928%E2%80%931929)

 

 

XVI. The Formative Years of Soviet Rule in Central Asia

Whereas the imperial administration viewed the different peoples of Central Asia as one unit or entity mainly defined by the locally prevailing religion, i.e. Islam, the Bolshevik government pursued a totally different approach, promoting the gradual but steadfast formation of nations, national identities, and national identification mechanisms. Bolsheviks emphatically discouraged the assimilation of other nations into Russians. This was quit normal for activists and revolutionaries, who viewed their revolution as the first among many forthcoming, which would eventually re-organize the mankind into an international community organized in independent Communist states.

 

The theoretical foundations of these policies can be retraced in Stalin's essay 'Marxism and the National Question' (1913) and in the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia (Декларация прав народов России), which was one of the earliest documents signed by the revolutionary government only on the 15th November 1917, just 8 days after the October Revolution (7th November or 25th October 1917, according to the Old Calendar). The historical document called for equality among the peoples of Russia and for free development of all national minorities and ethnographical groups; it also recognized the right of every people to free self-determination, national sovereignty, and even secession and formation of a separate state; it also abolished all national and religious privileges and restrictions.

 

On the basis of this document, numerous lands declared independence in the period November 1917 - November 1918, irrespective of the sovereignty (Russian, German or Austrian-Hungarian) at the time: Ukraine, Finland, Lithuania, Moldova, Belarus, Estonia, Poland and Latvia. Furthermore, several other republics declared their independence in 1918, although most of them did not last for long: Tuvan People's Republic (Тувинская Народная Республика), Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (закавказская демократическая федеративная республика), Kuban People's Republic (Кубанская Народная Республика), Idel-Ural State (mainly a Tatar state named Ural-Volga state in Tatar; Урало-Волжский штат), Kaluga Soviet Republic (Калужская советская республика), North Ingria or Republic of Kirjasalo (Республика Северная Ингрия или Кирьясало), etc.

 

a- Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic

In Central Asia, the first autonomous republic to be formed (30th April 1918) was 'Turkestan', initially named 'Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic' (Туркестанская Советская Федеративная Республика) with Tashkent as capital; in the midst of the Basmachi uprising, the state introduced its Constitution (15th October 1918). Within Turkestan's territories were included the southern part of today's Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and parts of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. With a new Constitution promulgated on 24th September 1920, the country was renamed as 'Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic' (Туркестанская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика). The vast state (its surface covered an area of about 1.5 million km2) was in reality a multi-ethnic structure that could not last long, taken into consideration the aforementioned principles, practices and perspectives of the Bolshevik government. In 1920, the total population amounted to 5.2 million people; the main ethnic groups were Uzbeks (39%), Kazakhs (21%), Kirghiz (10%), Tajik (8%), Turkmen (5%) and others. Turkestan was dissolved on 27th October 1924 and I will soon explain why.

 

b- Khorezm People's Soviet Republic

In February 1920, as continuation of the Khiva Khanate, the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic (Хорезмская Социалистическая Советская Республика / Xorazm Xalq Sovet Respublikasi) was proclaimed in Khiva (today in Uzbekistan), following the abdication of the local khan. The development took place during the First Khorezm Kurultay (General Assembly), a time-honored Turanian (Turkic) tradition. Khorezm (Chorasmia) was a small state with an area of ca. 62000 km2, a population of ca. 1 million people (mainly Uzbeks, but also Kazakhs, Turkmen, Karakalpak, etc), and as currency the Khorezm Ruble (Хорезмский рубль). On the 20th October 1923, the tiny state was renamed 'Khorezm Socialist Soviet Republic' (Хорезмская Социалистическая Советская Республика), only to be dissolved on the 27th October 1924 for reasons that I will soon describe. 

 

c- Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic

After the chaos caused because of the clashes between the Bolsheviks and the Basmachi movement in different locations throughout Central Asia, on the 26th August 1920, the proclamation of the Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (Киргизская Автономная Социалистическая Советская Республика) took place in Orenburg, which was the initial capital of the new state. As part of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика), the new entity controlled the northern half of today's Kazakhstan. Two official languages were recognized: Russian and Kazakh.

 

Today's, most people -even in Russia- are astounded when they come to know that the first modern Kazakh state was named 'Kirghiz', but I already expanded on the topic (see above: part X, unit w). Here, I merely repeat that, until the middle 1920s, Russians -for several centuries- used to name the Kazakhs as 'Kirghiz-Kazaks' (киргизы-казахи or also Киргиз-кайсаки) and the Kirghiz as 'Kara-Kirghiz' (кара-киргизы/Black Kirghiz); it is the great Kazakh Jadidist intellectual Saken Seifullin, who is credited with the clarification of the confusion. It is therefore understood that, at the time the Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic was launched mainly for the Kazakhs, the Kirghiz (then known as 'Kara-Kirghiz') did not have any problem with, or objection to, the development, as they were included in the already launched 'Turkestan Soviet Federative Republic'.

 

On 19th April 1925, at the Fifth All-Kyrgyz (: Kazakh) Congress of Soviets (Пятый Всекиргизский съезд Советов), the decision for the change of name and the transfer of capital was taken. The decision was implemented on 15th July 1925. The state was named 'Kazak Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic' (Казахская Автономная Социалистическая Советская Республика / Qazaq Aptonom Sotsijalistik Sovettik Respublikasь). Two days later, on 17th July 1925, the capital was transferred from Orenburg to Ak Mechet (Ак-Мечеть: 'White Mosque'; earlier known as Fort-Perovsky/ Форт-Перовский; currently known as Kyzylorda / Кзыл-Орда / Қызылорда, i.e. 'Red Horde' or also 'Red City' in modern context). Two years later, in May 1927, the capital was again transferred to Almaty (Алматы), one of the very few cities in the world that had so many different names (in Islamic times: Almatu/ Алмату́; 1854: Zailiyskoye/ Заили́йское and soon afterwards Vernoye / Ве́рное; 1867: Almatinskoe/ Алмати́нское; 1867-1921: Vernyi (Ве́рный: 'Faithful'); since 1921: Alma-Ata/ Алма́-Ата́ in Russian and Almaty/ Алматы in Kazakh). This state was the largest of all four Central Asiatic soviet republics; its surface covered an area of ca. 3 million km2 and the population amounted to ca. 6.5 million people (1926), after the national delimitation that took place in 1924-1925.

 

d- Bukharan People's Soviet Republic

On 8th October 1920, in Bukhara, as continuation of the Bukhara Emirate, the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic (Бухарская Народная Советская Республика; Бухоро Халқ Совет Республикаси / بخارا خلق شورالر جمھوریتی / Buxoro Xalq Sovet Respublikasi; Ҷумҳурии Халқии Шӯравии Бухоро / جمهوری خلق شوروی بخارا) was proclaimed by Fayzulla Khodzhayev (see above: part X, unit c). With three official languages (Russian, Uzbek and Tajik), with the Soviet Ruble (советский рубль) as currency, with ca. 2.5 million people as population, and with an area of about 182000 km2, this state was a rather small entity among the then four Central Asiatic republics. Only the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic was smaller. The short-lived Republic came to an end on 17th February 1924, when borders were demarcated in Soviet Central Asia on the basis of ethno-linguistic criteria and national identity.

 

e- Opposite theoretical approaches to the formation of soviet republics in Central Asia

It is clear that the above described border delineation in Soviet Central Asia had nothing to do with the concepts and the principles declared by the Bolshevik government. This is not strange because the modern Western European concept of nation is worthless and absurd for any other part of the world. It was an obscene, barbaric invention that caused terrible oppression first against subjugated and persecuted nations in France, England and the US, and then in the colonies of these countries where this concept was forcefully 'exported'. The Bolshevik concept of nation reflects a better understanding of History, but it was still meaningless for Asiatic, African and European Muslims. And the new rulers had limited knowledge of the true situation on the ground.

 

At the same time, different ideas and conflicting approaches were diffused among Turkic speaking Muslims throughout Central Asia; one side of Jadidist intellectuals suggested the establishment of a unified Turkestan within the USSR. People like the Kazakh revolutionary Turar Ryskulov (Турар Рыскулович Рыскулов) viewed all the Turanian nations of Central Asia as one entity, and proposed the establishment of one Communist Party for all of them. Modern Western historians tend to interpret this fact as an indication of Pan-Turkism or Pan-Turanianism, but this is wrong.

 

This approach reflects a traditional nomadic Turanian understanding of the world, which is entirely due to Tengrism and its fundamental beliefs; Islam does not differ from Tengrism in this regard, and that is why the concept of the Muslim Ummah was easily accepted by Turanians only to be extensively reflected in their lives. Among Turanians, it was the sedentarization processes that brought divisions, rivalries, enmities and hostilities, but this embarrassing truth was never easy for colonial historians to admit. But Ryskulov and many others, who supported this concept, like Tursun Khojaev, Commissar for Health and National Affairs of the Soviet Government of Turkestan, had nothing in common with the ideas and the mindset of Enver Pasha and the other members of the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti), who became known as Genç Türkler (Jeunes Turcs) and truly promoted Pan-Turkic / Pan-Turanian concepts. Ryskulov never met Enver Pasha in Central Asia, but he was sent against him – which makes the case very clear.

 

Another side of Jadidist intellectuals supported the concept of independent national life for each nation. This approach had however two serious disadvantages: first, never ever did Turkic / Turanian people live in clearly demarcated territories except for the period each group of them lived as nomads. In the early 1920s, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Turkmens, and Kirghiz lived together (and without discord or problems) in many parts of their present territories, along with newcomers: Russians, Germans, Tatars, Bashkirs, and others. This reality compromised any true effort of border delineation. The recently (2020-2022) aggravated troubles between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan show very well that this disadvantage persists one century after the Soviet authorities thought that they solved the problem; problems start only when otherwise meaningless borders separate people into various nations.  

 

Second, by accepting the five Central Asiatic nations as such, the soviet government disrespected other nations with smaller populations, like the Karakalpak. In this manner, when the national territorial delimitation took place, the Turkmen had their own state, namely the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, but the Karakalpaks had to be content with an autonomous area within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which represented a lower level of federal functionality. The position in favor of the formation of a distinct soviet socialist republic for every major nation in Central Asia was overwhelmingly accepted, because it appeared to be closer to the announcements of the Soviet government, and more specifically the Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia. The majority of the Jadid intellectuals and activists supported it, like Sadriddin Ayni, Fayzulla Khodzhayev, and others.

 

Even worse, this approach was quite unrealistic and ahistorical; the Jadidist intellectuals, who intentionally wanted to view well-defined nations everywhere, failed to duly assess the field situation, which was multi-dimensional indeed. First, the modern Western European concept of nation has no place in History; second, the historical concept of nation is not yet correctly, deeply and conclusively studied; third, the transformational moment in which a group of people 'becomes' a nation -as per their own terms- has not yet been properly identified; fourth, there have been groups of people, like the Sarts (Сарты), for whom neither language nor religion was a criterion for the definition of their nationhood, but rather their social status of sedentary people dwelling in towns and cities.

 

As such, the Sarts were Tajik-speaking Turanians with a strong tendency for bilingualism, and they were viewed as such by many other historical nations. The Soviet policy intended to eliminate or abolish them because their reality contradicted the unbearable Soviet ideological rigidity. The authorities attempted therefore to officially 'identify' some of them as Tajiks and the rest as Uzbeks! All the same, this nonsensical attempt failed, and the Sarts survived. Actually, one must admit that because of this policy, many 'Uzbeks' today in Uzbekistan identify themselves as Tajiks, although they acknowledge that they forgot their language.

 

f- National Territorial Delimitation (Национально-территориальное размежевание)

After repeated deliberations, the Soviet authorities took a decision on 25th February 1924 in favor of the Национально-территориальное размежевание (national-territorial demarcation) as they defined it. Immediately afterwards, a special committee and three sub-committees (Kazakh, Uzbek, and Turkmen) were duly established. Finally, in April 1924, despite strong local opposition, the 'delimitation' process took place. The Turkestan ASSR was abolished and split mainly into Uzbek SSR and Turkmen SSR, which roughly corresponded to the territories of today's Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Subsequently, the Khorezm People's Soviet Republic and the Bukhara People's Soviet Republic were also abolished and then incorporated in the Uzbek SSR, with minor parts of their territories attributed to the Turkmen SSR. The new soviet socialist republics were proclaimed in October 1924. By special decree of the 3rd Congress of Soviets of the USSR (issued 13th May 1925), the treaty on the formation of the USSR was extended to both new entities.

 

The Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) was also created in October 1924 with capital at Dushanbe (which was later named Stalinabad from 1929 until 1961); it was included in the Uzbek SSR. Similarly, in October 1924, out of parts of the Turkestan ASSR where Kirghiz (then known as Kara-Kirghiz) was the main native language, the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast was established with capital at Bishkek (then spelled Pishpek/Пишпек), which was renamed as Frunze between 1929 and 1991; it was part of the Russian SFSR.

 

Following the rectification of the name of the 'Kirghiz Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic' into 'Kazak Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic', the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast was renamed as Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast, on 15th May 1925. Few months later, in February 1926, it was upgraded to Kirghiz ASSR. Due to the initiative of the Tajik activist and Communist statesman Shirinsho Shotemur (Шириншо Шотемор; 1899-1937), the Tajik ASSR was upgraded to Tajik SSR in October 1929.

 

This means that by the end of the 1920s, in Central Asia, there were three soviet socialist republics: Turkmen, Uzbek and Tajik. Whereas the Kazak Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic was enlarged with the addition of territories from the dissolved Turkestan ASSR in 1924, Almaty was the capital of an ASSR until 1936. It is only then (on the occasion of the proclamation of the second constitution of the USSR) that the Kazak ASSR and the Kirghiz ASSR were upgraded to Kazakh SSR and Kirghiz SSR (5th December 1936). About:

http://www.hist.msu.ru/ER/Etext/DEKRET/peoples.htm

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Декларация_прав_народов_России

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_the_Peoples_of_Russia

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тувинская_Народная_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvan_People%27s_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Закавказская_демократическая_федеративная_республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcaucasian_Democratic_Federative_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кубанская_народная_республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuban_People%27s_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Урало-Волжский_штат

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idel-Ural_State

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Калужская_советская_республика

https://ik-ptz.ru/en/dictations-on-the-russian-language--class-2/istoricheskaya-spravka-kaluzhskaya-guberniya-vo-vremena-kievskoi-rusi-kaluzhskaya.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Республика_Северная_Ингрия

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Ingria

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сарты

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sart

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Российская_Советская_Федеративная_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Туркестанская_Автономная_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkestan_Autonomous_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Хорезмская_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khorezm_People%27s_Soviet_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Хорезмский_рубль

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Soviet_Socialist_Republics

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_Автономная_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика_(1920—1925)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахская_Автономная_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика

https://kayabaparts.ru/obrazovanie-kazahskoi-kirgizskoi-assr-1920-g-kazahskaya-sovetskaya/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_Autonomous_Socialist_Soviet_Republic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_famine_of_1919%E2%80%931922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukharan_People%27s_Soviet_Republic#History

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бухарская_народная_советская_республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukharan_People%27s_Soviet_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Национально-территориальное_размежевание_в_СССР

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_delimitation_in_the_Soviet_Union

ttps://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Рыскулов,_Турар_Рыскулович

ttps://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тұрар_Рысқұлов

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turar_Ryskulov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Туркменская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmen_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Узбекская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbek_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Таджикская_Автономная_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajik_Autonomous_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_автономная_область

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kara-Kirghiz_Autonomous_Oblast

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_Автономная_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика_(1926—1936)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirghiz_Autonomous_Socialist_Soviet_Republic_(1926%E2%80%931936)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Таджикская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шотемор,_Шириншо

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirinsho_Shotemur

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajik_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirghiz_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

 

Following the aforementioned developments, the Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast (Кара-Калпакская автономная область), which was established in February 1925, at the time of the dissolution of Turkestan ASSR, was integral part of the Kirghiz (later: Kazak) Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic until July 1930. Then, it was transferred to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In 1932, it was upgraded to Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Каракалпакская Автономная Советская Социалистическая Республика), and as such, it was transferred to the Uzbek SSR in December 1936.

 

After the dissolution of the USSR, in 1992, the Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan was proclaimed as integral part of Uzbekistan, and one year later, the local parliament adopted the constitution. With Nukus as capital, Islam as religion, and two official languages (Karakalpak and Uzbek), with a population of about 2 million people, and an area of ca. 165000 km2, Karakalpakstan is inhabited by three ethnic groups, namely Uzbeks, Karakalpaks, and Kazakhs (each of them totaling about one third of the entire population). Speaking a language closer to Kazakh than to Uzbek, the Karakalpaks are today by far the most pro-Russian Muslim nation and, in their majority, they would favor a merge with Russia; if this occurs in the future, Karakalpakstan would be a Russian exclave, like Kaliningrad. About:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кара-Калпакская_автономная_область

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakalpak_Autonomous_Oblast

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Каракалпакская_Автономная_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakalpak_Autonomous_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Каракалпакия

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakalpakstan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Каракалпакский_язык

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakalpak_language

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Каракалпаки

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakalpaks

 

 

XVII. Kazakhstan and Central Asia under the Communists

Modern national life started in Kazakhstan under totally inauspicious conditions. Along with the Civil War, a terrible famine devastated the country for three years, namely 1919-1922. To some extent, this was the consequence of WW I and all the emsuing developments; the collection of grain for the needs of the army (развёрстка: apportionment) that the Minister of Agriculture Aleksandr Rittikh (Александр Александрович Риттих; 1868-1937) introduced triggered a serious food crisis in parts of Russia. Two years later, when the Bolshevik government -facing the counter-revolution (which involved also extensive sabotage)- was cut off from Russia's main wheat-producing regions, Lenin found no other solution than the продразвёрстка (prodrazvyorstka: confiscation of agricultural products from the peasants at fixed prices, which did not reflect at all the market value), which was a calamitous measure for the peasants.

 

a- Famine 1919-1922 in Kazakhstan

It must be added that the famine was also due to drought, which has always been a periodical circumstance in Russia and Central Asia; but this time, it was -of course- greatly aggravated due to the aforementioned developments. Kazakhstan was not however the only region to be affected; North Caucasus, South Ural, the Volga basin, South Siberia faced ruination and were plagued with death too. In total, 5 million people lost their lives throughout the country. The situation would be far worse, if the American and Western European relief did not come abundantly and timely. An International Committee for Russian Relief was set up, but also many other funds and organizations participated actively and for several years.

 

In Kazakhstan, the worst hit areas were the northern half of today's territory, because the populations of steppes always depend on others. Various contaminations and diseases spread also at the time. On the contrary, the southern regions were spared to some extent, because the population relied on cultivated lands in regions crossed by rivers and on the Fergana Valley. In this regard, it is safe to claim that the various rebellions, which occurred in those lands at the time, helped the populations escape central control and thus survive. The estimates about the casualties vary between 20%and 33% of the total Kazakh population.

 

b- The Malefic Role of Filipp Goloshchyokin in Kazakhstan

The Soviet administration of Kazakhstan starts with a very bizarre coincidence; due to the relative scarcity or the ideological instability of Kazakh and other Central Asiatic Bolsheviks at the time, Russians were regularly dispatched to securely fill the top positions and to fully implement the centralized government directives. It was the continuation of an imperial practice, but it was viewed by the central government only as temporary, because an overwhelming korenizatsiya (see above: part XV unit e) was already in the plans. The Kazakhs were definitely not lucky in the beginning; the abominable person appointed as First Secretary of the Communist Party in the Kazak Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic was none other than the notorious paranoid gangster Filipp Goloshchyokin (1876-1941; Филипп Голощёкин; born Shaya Itsikovich / Шая Ицикович), the Jewish murderer of the Romanov royal family.

 

A dental technician, with apparently no other experience in anything else except homosexuality, Goloshchyokin was one of the founding members of the Bolsheviks; he participated in the 1905 Revolution, only to be later exiled, then deported, and finally released after the February 1917 Revolution. After the October Revolution, he was appointed as Military Commissar of the Urals. Using his authority, he tried to have Prince Georgy Lvov (1861-1925 / Георгий Львов; Chairman of the Provisional Government after the February Revolution) executed, but he failed, because of the imminent interference of Isaac Nachman Steinberg (1888-1957; Исаак Нахман Штейнберг), the then People's Commissar for Justice. However, using as argument the then rapid advance of the White Army toward Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg / Екатеринбург), he managed to have the Romanov royal family executed (17th July 1918). This filthy rascal was dispatched to Kazakhstan in 1925 and he ruled the vast ASSR for eight years (until 1933) as a really excruciating tyrant, taken into account the fact that there was no central government interference in his work and that, practically speaking, he was not held accountable to anyone.

 

Filipp Goloshchyokin carried out extensive infrastructure work in Kazakhstan, notably in the construction of the Turkestan-Siberia railway (туркестано сибирская магистраль; Turksib/ Турксиб), therefore making possible the exploitation of Kazakhstan's enormous mineral resources by the central soviet government. With a total length of ca. 2375 km, the Turksib rail network links Orenburg and Tashkent with Semey and Novosibirsk. Implementing collectivization and dekulakization (elimination of the social class of kulaks, i. e. the wealthy farmers), the indoctrinated soviet government triggered an enormous socio-economic crisis of disproportionate dimensions; people were not allowed to possess even their gardens. In lands with a strong agricultural tradition, livestock property, and millennia-long heritage in animal husbandry, the resistance to such plans would be thunderous. Finally, the confiscation campaign turned one Kazakh against the other (pitching the poor against the rich), because these were the governmental intentions.

 

c- Famine, Exodus, Deportations, Demographic Change in 1930s Kazakhstan

It all resulted in detrimental reduction of livestock numbers; within 3-5 years (1928-1933), from 22 million sheep less than 2 million were left alive, whereas from 7 million cattle only about 1.5 million remained in life. More than 10000 wealthy Kazakh farmers were deported. To survive, an enormous number of Kazakhs attempted a dramatic exodus to Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, then known as Xinjiang Province/新疆省, in the Republic of China). Despite the long way to walk (at times more than 500 km) and the evidently difficult crossing of Semirechye (Семиречье/ Жетісу- Zhetysu; 'Seven Rivers' Land'), a mountainous region, this was certainly preferable as an effort to survive.

 

About 1.3 million ethnic Kazakhs died in Kazkahstan during that period in what is now remembered as a horrible period of atrocious hatred and unprecedented persecution. The total number of Kazakhs in Soviet Union fell from ca. 4 million in 1926 to 2.8 million in 1937; the casualties amounted to 38% of all Kazakhs (and this is the higher number among all ethnic groups in the USSR). One has however to admit that Russians and non Russians were persecuted indiscriminately; they all suffered to the same extent during that period and throughout the entire USSR, around 11-12 million people died for the sake of the collectivization. The governmental policy that involved intentional deflation of prices killed them all.

 

One can surely describe the tragic event as an involuntary manslaughter of millions of people and as an unprecedented killing in negligence, but it is not correct, accurate and reasonable to define the brutish, yet nonsensical and vain, collectivization of the USSR as 'genocide'. There was no specific malice, except for the Communist delusion itself. Contrarily, the Great Purge (Ежовщина/ Yezhovshchina; 1936-1939) was a deliberate genocide envisioned and carried out by Stalin, Yezhov, and many others.  

 

In parallel with the aforementioned, an enormous project of population transfer started taking place in the 1930s throughout Soviet Union; these forcible deportations were due to various reasons: ethnic inadaptability to the overwhelming changes, socio-economic disobedience (incorrigible kulaks who did not cope with the soviet norm) or simply anti-Soviet attitude of any sort. It goes without saying that an extra number of casualties was due to these measures. As the land of Kazakhstan was viewed as a sparsely populated territory, many populations were deported and settled there. This triggered a severe demographic change; from 1939 until the middle 1980s, there were more Russians than Kazakhs in Kazakh SSR.   

 

More specifically, whereas in 1926, there were ca. 4 million Kazakhs and slightly above 1 million Russians in the Kazak ASSR, in 1939, both ethnic groups totaled around 2.5 million people. For the subsequent five decades, the Kazakhs represented 30% to 40% of the total population of the Kazakh SSR, whereas the Russians were steadily above 40%. Only in 1989, the Kazakhs outnumbered again the Russians on the territory of the Kazakh SSR (40.1% to 37.4%); this was due to the then tendency of the Russians to relocate to major Russian cities, and it was accentuated after the events of December 1986 (known as Jeltoqsan), which attempted to trigger enmity between Kazakhs and Russians.

 

Staying mostly in his office, being guarded by police, dogs and vehicles, dodging the average people, and avoiding movements in provinces and villages, Goloshchyokin ran the state as a scared psychopath and a deranged paranoid. Issuing absurd orders and schizophrenic dictates, he was asking subordinates to enforce them, keeping himself hidden for most of the time. His manners, which seriously damaged the communist cause and endangered the diffusion of soviet ideas, became gradually known to many across the USSR. Kazakhs and Russians alike started realizing in 1932 that something extremely abnormal, miserable and catastrophic was taking place in the Kazakh ASSR.

 

Panicked like rats, the indigenous populations were fleeing the place with whatever luggage they could manage to take with; this situation was already causing serious problems to various local adminsitrators in Siberia; furthermore, an unprecedented and dramatic exodus of numerous local populations to China's Xinjiang could irreparably damage Soviet Union's image as the best possible choice for the world's proletariat. In January 1933, Goloshchyokin was terminated thanks to the steadfast efforts of Uraz Isayev (1899-1938; Ураз Джанзакович Исаев), a leading Kazakh Communist who served as prime minister of the Kazak ASSR and the Kazakh SSR from 1929 until 1937, and following the complains expressed by several other patriotic Kazakh Communists.

 

Isayev was executed in the Great Purge, but few months later, when the leading Communist and People's Commissar for Internal Affairs (lit. Minister of Interior), Nikolai Yezhov (1895-1940; Николай Иванович Ежов), the chief executioner during the Great Purge, was arrested, he confessed that he had a homosexual relationship with the notorious Goloshchyokin; this development led to the arrest, incarceration, and execution of the 'Butcher of Kazakhstan". 

 

d- The Koreans of Kazakhstan

The deportation of 172000 Soviet Koreans from Eastern Siberia (currently Far Eastern Federal District / Дальневосточный федеральный округ) to the Kazakh SSR in 1937 was another issue of embarrassment for the local population. It was actually the first forced relocation to be decided by the Soviet authorities for an entire ethnic group/nationality. According to estimates, ca. 30000 Koreans died in the process, because of various reasons. Their integration in the new, different geomorphological environment proved also to be very difficult; it is only with the rise of Khrushchev, after Stalin's death in 1953, that the harsh life of Koreans in the steppes of Kazakhstan started improving. The principal reason for their deportation was the fact that the soviet leadership suspected them to be spies for the Japanese, who were USSR's main rival in East Asia.  

 

It is only after 1936 and the establishment of the Kazakh SSR that modern national life started being normalized, education widely implemented, industrialization accentuated, and better integration achieved within the USSR. Despite the extreme adversities that the entire country underwent during WW II, there was a remarkable stability in the Kazakh SSR; this can be attested in the leadership of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan; from 1936 until 1989 (53 years), eleven persons only preceded Nursultan Nazarbayev in the position of the First Secretary of the Communist Party.

 

e- Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (1924-1991)

Similar stability was experienced in all the other Central Asiatic SSR. Notably, in the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Туркменская Советская Социалистическая Республика), just thirteen (13) persons succeeded one another (starting from 1924) before Saparmurat Niyazov (Сапармурат Атаевич Ниязов; 1940-2006) was appointed (21 December 1985) as the First Secretary of the Communist Party (partly due to his strong Soviet credentials and also because of his Jewish wife) by M. Gorbachev (whose mother's Jewish ancestry is well-known), only to rule the country during the transition period and until his death.

 

It is interesting that until 1947, only two ethnic Turkmen held the position of the First Secretary of the Communist Party (only for about one year each), namely Shaymardan Ibragimov (Шаймардан Ибрагимов; 1899-1957) and Anna Mukhamedov (Анна Мухамедов; 1900-1938). All the same, after 1947, only ethnic Turkmen held this position, which is quite telling about the time needed for the central Soviet government to form local generations of Soviet leaders, i.e. the nomenklatura.

 

f- Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (1925-1991)

Similarly, between 1925 and 1989, in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Узбекская Советская Социалистическая Республика), only 13 persons preceded Islam Karimov (Ислам Каримов; 1938-2016), who was appointed (23 June 1989) as the First Secretary of the Communist Party to squelch the Islamist revolt, which had already been fomented in the Fergana Valley by Afghani Taliban, who were guided by the UK, US and Saudi Arabian secret services.

 

His predecessors, Inomjon Usmonxoʻjayev (Инамжон Бузрукович Усманходжаев; 1930-2017) and Rafiq Nishonov (Рафик Нишанович Нишанов; born in 1926, 96 years old today), who ruled for 5 and 2 years respectively (1983-1988/1988-1989) were proven untrustworthy, the former for being involved in the notorious 'Cotton Scandal' and the latter for failing to put the clandestine activities of the Islamists under full control. Like Niyazov in Turkmenistan, Islam Karimov was able to effectively rule during the transition period in Uzbeksitan and to eliminate the Wahhabi contamination – to the great chagrin of the perfidious UK, US and other Western diplomats and statesmen who are ceaselessly talking nonsense about 'human rights', 'democracy', 'freedom', etc. only to use this idiotic literature as a smokescreen for their subversive activities against numerous targeted countries.

 

Quite interestingly, none of the four persons, who held the position of the First Secretary of the Communist Party in Uzbekistan between 1925 and 1929, was ethnic Uzbek: they were (in chronological order) Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian and Jew. The first ethnic Uzbek to be appointed in this position was Akmal Ikramov (1898-1938; Акмаль Икрамович Икрамов), who was known for his strong anti-religious convictions. He ruled for 8 years (1929-1937), but he was accused of Trotskyism, Pan-Turkism, nationalism and Anglophilia and he was subsequently condemned to death and executed, only to be rehabilitated in 1957 by the Khrushchev administration. After a brief passage of Pavel Nikitovich Yakovlev (Павел Никитович Яковлев) from that position (1937), only ethnic Uzbeks were appointed atop the local Communist Party.

 

g- Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (1924-1991, incl. ASSR)

Contrarily with the turmoil experienced in the transition period after 1991, the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Таджикская Советская Социалистическая Республика) had sustained a remarkable stability, and this is shown in the number of persons who held the position of First Secretary of the Communist Party in Tajikistan. With the ASSR period included, just 14 persons held this position from 1924 until 1991; they were not all ethnic Tajiks. Although during the period of the Tajik ASSR, there were ethnic Tajiks in the top position of the Communist Party, and despite the fact that the Tajik ASSR was upgraded due to the persistent efforts of the great Tajik intellectual and pioneering activist Shirinsho Shotemur (see above part XVI unit f), until 1946 mainly non Tajiks were atop the Communist Party of Tajikistan, namely involving (in chronological order) an Azeri, a Russian Jew, an Armenian, an Uzbek, and a Russian.

 

However, following the appointment of the great historian, academic and Orientalist Bobojon Ghafurov (1908-1977; Бободжан Гафурович Гафуров) as First Secretary of the Communist Party (his tenure lasted 10 years: 1946-1956), only ethnic Tajiks held this position. Known for his outstanding thesis {published in 1941; История секты исмаилитов с начала XIX в. до первой империалистической войны/The history of the Ismaili sect from the beginning of the 19th century until the first imperialist war (WW I)}, Ghafurov is also remembered for his great presentation of the cultural Oriental–Macedonian synthesis which resulted from Alexander the Great's invasion of Iran (Александр Македонский и Восток/ Alexander the Great and the East – in collaboration with the Soviet historian D. Tsibukidis/ Димитриос Цибукидис).

 

The last First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan who ruled the SSR was Qahhor Mahkamovich Mahkamov (1932-2016; Кахар Махкамович Махкамов); he was appointed by M. Gorbachev in December 1985, mainly because his predecessor, Rahmon Nabiyev (1930-1993; Рахмон Набиевич Набиев), was involved in many corruption scandals. Qahhor Mahkamov's tenure was a tormented period, due to the rise of Tajik nationalism, Islamic radicalism, anti-Russian and anti-Soviet extremism. To appease some of his opponents and at the same time to divide them, Mahkamov introduced a law designating Tajik as the sole official language of the SSR. In February 1990, the Dushanbe riots, which were due to the resettlement of Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, caused many casualties and a rift among the ethnic groups of the country, particularly because most of the troops deployed against the protesters were Russian. Mahkamov was able to put the Islamists under control, arresting many, and he was subsequently appointed as President of Tajikistan by Gorbachev, but his catastrophic support for the August 1991 coup against Gorbachev triggered his fall. In Turkmenistan, Niyazov supported the coup too for a brief period, but he did not face an opposition like the embattled Tajik president.

 

Following massive protestations, Mahkamov resigned and was ousted from power on 31st August 1991 in what proved to be the prelude to the Tajik Civil War. In his stead, Qadriddin Aslonov was elected as temporary successor, but his effort to please the protesters and his announcement of the dissolution of the Communist Party of Soviet Union triggered another coup (23rd September 1991) during which Aslonov disappeared only to perish one year later. Then, Mahkamov's predecessor as First Secretary, Rahmon Nabiyev, was appointed as Second President of Tajikistan and announced elections in which he presented himself as the leading candidate. On 6th October 1991, due to strong opposition, Nabiyev resigned and was replaced by Akbarsho Iskandrov; however, Nabiyev won the elections of 2nd December 1991, thus becoming the first elected President of Tajikistan.

 

Few months later, in May 1992, the Tajik Civil War started; it plunged the country in absolute chaos. On 7th September 1992, Nabiyev was ambushed by opposition rebels and he resigned immediately only to die one year later under obscure circumstances. He was replaced again by Akbarsho Iskandrov, who in turn resigned two months later (20th November 1992), when the Supreme Soviet of Tajikistan, in its 16th session (held in Khujand), abolished the position of the president, proclaimed the country as a parliamentary republic, and chose Emomali Rahmon as chairman of the Supreme Soviet. Acting as the head of the government and being acknowledged as the 'Founder of Peace and National Unity' and the 'Leader of the Nation', the former Soviet apparatchik (chairman of sovkhoz in 1987) was elected and re-elected in his position in 1994, 1999, 2006, 2013 and 2020. In fact, the Civil War in Tajikistan ended only in 1997.

 

The post-USSR transition period in Tajikistan was markedly different from the situation that Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan experienced. This difference may look bizarre to various naïve specialists, who think they can study History and Political Science in Western universities, libraries and institutes. It appears so particularly because all these three countries share common borders with Afghanistan. However, those, who study such topics by visiting these countries, exploring their provinces, and examining the situation from closely, know very well that, although the borders of Afghanistan with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are easy to guard effectively, this does not and actually cannot happen with the mountainous area through which the Afghanistan - Tajikistan borderline passes. These borders are very porous, involving high elevation areas, steep peaks, precipitous cliffs, difficult passes, and many long months with fog, snow and ground frost.

 

h- Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (1924-1991, incl. Autonomous Oblast & ASSR)

Similarly with the three aforementioned cases, the Kirghiz Soviet Socalist Republic (Киргизская Советская Социалистическая Республика) experienced a period of stability under the Soviet rule; as already mentioned, it started as Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast in 1924, was renamed as Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast in 1925, was upgraded to ASSR in 1926, and became a SSR in 1936. On 21st October 1924, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee approved 17 people, who formed a Revolutionary Committee geared to manage the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Region. Among them, Imanaly Aidarbekov (1884-1938; Иманалы Айдарбеков), a pioneering Kirghiz jurist, judge and statesman, played a leading role, and soon afterwards, he was elected chairman of the committee. In 1925, he was seconded to the Central Asian Bureau of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, but later he was reprimanded for what was viewed as 'nationalist' ideological deviation {namely his participation in the 'group of 30' and his support for another Kirghiz Communist intellectual with 'nationalist' tendencies, i.e. Yusup Abdrakhmanov (1901-1938; Юсуп Абдрахманович Абдрахманов)}.

 

To ensure dogmatic uniformity and to prevent ideological aberration, all the persons, who held the position of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, were not Kirghiz, but predominantly Russians; this was typical for the periods of the Autonomous Oblast and the ASSR, and also for the early years of the SSR. From 1925 until 1950, eight (8) people held this position. Only after 1950, ethnic Kirghiz were appointed in the top position in their country. However, there was an overwhelming majority of Kirghiz in both, the position of the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Kirghiz SSR (1936-1938; before the implementation of the 1936 Soviet Constitution) and the position of the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR (1938-1990).  

 

Kyrgyzstan experienced great stability in the period 1950-1991, and during that period, only four persons held the position of the First Secretary of the Communist Party, starting with Ishkak Razzakov (1910-1979; Исхак Раззакович Раззаков). The last to substantially hold this position was Absamat Masaliyev (1933-2004; Абсамат Масалиевич Масалиев), who was appointed in November 1985; this appointment was engineered by Gorbachev and it was merely the consequence of the 'necessary' replacement of Masaliyev's notorious predecessor, Turdakun Usubaliyev (1919-2015; Турдакун Усубалиевич Усубалиев), a typical Brezhnev era apparatchik, who had stayed 24 years in power.

 

Masaliyev's tenure was tarnished because of the violent Osh riots (4-7 June 1990), which were triggered mainly by teeanagers fanaticized by agents of Western embassies, which were acting uncontrolled bribing as many agitators as they could, due to Gorbachev's apparent, total inability to govern the country while changing it. The establishment of so-called 'free' groups and 'cultural associations' {like the Uzbek organization Adolat/Адолат ('Justice') and the Kirghiz band Osh Aymaghi/ Ош аймагы ('region of Osh')} produced the necessary venues where local infiltrators and agitators could carry out directives received from foreign embassies and consulates. Similar events had already started to happen to minor extent in Uzbekistan (June 1989: against the Meshketian Turks who had been deported there in … 1944 !!) and Tajikistan (early: against the recently transported Armenians). But the special forces dispatched by Gorbachev to Osh in order to squelch the riots killed more than 1000 demonstrators; all the same, the local mob had already performed more than 5000 crimes, pillaging and killing as many Uzbeks as they could. It is to the credit of the local political establishment that, as early as 1991, the related judicial investigation had duly taken place and fair trials had been properly conducted.

 

Although being for some months (April to December 1990) also the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, Absamat Masaliyev failed to be voted (opposite Apas Jumagulov/ Апас Джумагулович Джумагулов; born in 1934) as President of the Republic; due to both candidates' failure, the electors (: the Supreme Soviet) appointed Askar Akayev as president. In April 1991, Jumgalbek Amanbayev (1946-2005; Джумгалбек Бексултанович Аманбаев) was appointed at the top position of the Communist Party only to be terminated in August 1991, when the party was dissolved. Askar Akayev (Аскар Акаевич Акаев; born in 1994), who immediately condemened the failed Soviet coup, proved to be an ideal person for the critical transition period in Kyrgyzstan; that's why the country at the time did not undergo a civil war like neighboring Tajikistan, which experienced a great turmoil in the 1990s and a long period of calmness and stability afterwards. In fact, Kyrgyzstan followed a reverse path.

 

Akaev's ability to effectively introduce privatization, promote Neo-Tengrism (in order to avoid the Wahhabi cholera), and restructure the local administration was remarkable. He won the elections of October 1991, December 1995, and October 2000. Unfortunately, Kyrgyzstan experienced in the 2000s what its leadership was able to prevent in the 1990s. Demonstartions started as early as 2002, only to turn worse in 2005. Akayev fled on 24th March 2005, reached Moscow and officially resigned from there; he still lives in Russia, working on scientific projects of his field. The so-called First Kirghiz (or 'Tulip') Revolution (March-April 2005) was orchestrated by the US-UK embassies, which supported several leaders of the opposition. After the interim presidency of Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, Kurmanbek Bakiyev was first appointed by the Legislative Assembly (25th March 2005) and then elected in a rigged election. Fully supported by Western diplomats, Bakiyev ran Kyrgyzstan as a disgrace; in April 2010, the Kyrgyz Revolution (Апрельская революция/April Revolution) forced Bakiyev to resign and leave the country, only to settle in Belarus. Meanwhile, he was sentenced in absentia to life in prison for the killings of demonstrators that he calmly and coldly ordered. His departure did not help much, and the riots ended up in many deaths, during the intense ethnic clashes, which took place between the Kirghiz and the Uzbek minority.    

 

The ethnic clashes in Osh and other locations in South Kyrgyzstan ended up with many dead. Neither Roza Otunbayeva (chosen by the US and supported by the Kirghiz 'opposition'), who ruled as 'president' from July 2010 until December 2011, nor Almazbek Atambayev (prime minister after the 2010 parliamentary elections and president after the October 2011 presidential elections), nor Sooronbay Jeenbekov (prime minister for the period April 2016 - August 2017, and president after October 2017) managed to bring peace, calm, and concord to the Kirghiz nation. That's why, after the rigged parliamentary elections of October, riots broke out and Jeenbekov resigned on 15th October 2020, only to later settle in Saudi Arabia. Ruling the country first as prime minister and interim president, and then as elected president after the 10th January 2021, Sadyr Japarov has indeed a difficult task to carry out.

About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droughts_and_famines_in_Russia_and_the_Soviet_Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodrazvyorstka

ttps://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_Автономная_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика_(1920—1925)#Голод_в_Киргизской_АССР_1919—1922_годов

ttps://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Голод_в_Казахстане_(1919—1922)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_famine_of_1921%E2%80%931922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_famine_of_1919%E2%80%931922

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipp_Goloshchyokin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectivization_in_the_Soviet_Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekulakization

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulak

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Голод_в_Казахстане_(1932—1933)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_famine_of_1930%E2%80%931933

https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/en/document/kazakh-famine-beginnings-sedentarization.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_(novel)

https://www.ozon.ru/product/andrey-platonov-dzhan-povest-neizvestnyy-tsvetok-skazka-byl-141839728/?sh=-Ugp3Uh27A

Д.Б. Касымова - М.Ч. Калыбекова, КАЗАХИ В ТУРКМЕНИСТАНЕ В НАЧАЛЕ 1930-х гг.: ЭПИЗОДЫ ПРОТИВОСТОЯНИЯ СОВЕТСКОЙ ВЛАСТИ: https://edu.e-history.kz/kz/publications/view/1771

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_transfer_in_the_Soviet_Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_famine_of_1930%E2%80%931933

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_settlements_in_the_Soviet_Union

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Национальный_состав_Казахстана

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Население_Казахстана

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_demography_of_Kazakhstan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Паспорт_гражданина_СССР

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Паспортная_система#СССР

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport_system_in_the_Soviet_Union

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Исаев,_Ураз_Джанзакович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraz_Isayev

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Yezhov#Arrest

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Koreans_in_the_Soviet_Union

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Туркменская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коммунистическая_партия_Туркменистана #Руководство

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ниязов,_Сапармурат_Атаевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Туркменский_календарь

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_renaming_of_Turkmen_months_and_days_of_week

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmen_Soviet_Socialist_Republic#Creation_of_an_SSR

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Узбекская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коммунистическая_партия_Узбекистана_(СССР)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbek_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Uzbekistan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Каримов,_Ислам_Абдуганиевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_Karimov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Усманходжаев,_Инамжон_Бузрукович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inomjon_Usmonxo%CA%BBjayev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Нишанов,_Рафик_Нишанович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafiq_Nishonov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Икрамов,_Акмаль_Икрамович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akmal_Ikramov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Таджикская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajik_Soviet_Socialist_Republic

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коммунистическая_партия_Таджикистана

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Tajikistan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Гафуров,_Бободжан_Гафурович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobojon_Ghafurov

https://iranicaonline.org/articles/gafurov-

http://www.orientalstudies.ru/rus/index.php?option=com_personalities&Itemid=74&person=591

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Махкамов,_Кахар_Махкамович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qahhor_Mahkamov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Массовые_беспорядки_в_Душанбе_(1990)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_Dushanbe_riots

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Растохез

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastokhez

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Аслонов,_Кадриддин_Аслонович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qadriddin_Aslonov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Набиев,_Рахмон_Набиевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahmon_Nabiyev#Leader_of_Tajikistan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Гражданская_война_в_Таджикистане

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tajikistani_Civil_War

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Рахмон,_Эмомали

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emomali_Rahmon

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизия#История

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/История_Киргизии#Киргизия_в_1922—1941_годы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_автономная_область

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_Автономная_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика_(1926—1936)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Kyrgyzstan#The_Soviet_Era:_1917%E2%80%931991

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirghiz_Soviet_Socialist_Republic#History

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коммунистическая_партия_Киргизии_(СССР)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kirghizia

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Айдарбеков,_Иманалы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Абдрахманов,_Юсуп_Абдрахманович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Усубалиев,_Турдакун_Усубалиевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turdakun_Usubaliyev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Масалиев,_Абсамат_Масалиевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absamat_Masaliyev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Джумагулов,_Апас_Джумагулович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ошские_события_1990_года

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osh_riots_(1990)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Аймак

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ферганские_погромы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Акаев,_Аскар_Акаевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Askar_Akayev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тюльпановая_революция

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_Revolution

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кадырбеков,_Ишенбай_Дюшенбиевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishenbai_Kadyrbekov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бакиев,_Курманбек_Салиевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurmanbek_Bakiyev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Революция_в_Киргизии_(2010)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrgyz_Revolution_of_2010

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Беспорядки_на_юге_Киргизии_(2010)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_South_Kyrgyzstan_ethnic_clashes

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Отунбаева,_Роза_Исаковна

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roza_Otunbayeva

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Атамбаев,_Алмазбек_Шаршенович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almazbek_Atambayev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жээнбеков,_Сооронбай_Шарипович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sooronbay_Jeenbekov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жапаров,_Садыр_Нургожоевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadyr_Japarov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Иванов,_Владимир_Алексеевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Ivanov_(orientalist)

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/calendar/exhibition/wladimir-ivanow-amp-modern-ismaili-studies-1e51e12f3d510d8d8

 

i- The Foundation of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and the Birth of the Modern Kazakh Nation

The administration of most of today's Kazakhstan's territory was the topic for which Lenin, Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich, and Lidiya Fotiyeva from the Council of People's Commissars (i.e. the Soviet government) signed the decree "On the Revolutionary Committee for the Administration of the Kirghiz Territory" on 10th July 1919. The Revolutionary Committee would organize the 'Kirghiz' lands and prepare the local infrastructure. On 30th April 1920, the Central Committee of the RCP created the Kirghiz Regional Bureau of the RCP, which included A. Avdeev (А. Авдеев), A. Aitiev (А. Айтиев), A. Alibekov (А. Алибеков), S. Argancheev (С. Арганчеев), A. Dzhangildin (А. Джангильдин), M. Murzagaliev (М. Мурзагалиев) and Stanislav Pestkovsky (Станислав Пестковский).

 

Consequently, for the period Kazakhstan ('Kirghiz lands') was still a 'krai' (region) of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика), there were Secretaries of the Kirghiz Regional Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (RCP - 1920-1921). The third and last person to hold this position was an early Kazakh Communist intellectual, party activist and leader, Muhammad Hafii Murzagaliev (1887-1938; Мухамедхафий Мурзагалиев / Мұхамед-Хафиз Мырзағалиев). The First Kirghiz ('Kazakh') Regional Party Conference took place in Orenburg (11th to 18th June 1921) and elected the regional party committee. In April 1922, the Kirghiz Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP was created.

 

At the end of 1920, Murzagaliev became also the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Kirghiz ASSR, and in January 1921, he was appointed as Secretary of the Kirghiz (Kazakh) Regional Committee of the RCP. As he was later asked to focus on his activities in the government, he was relieved from his duties in the party. Three other persons succeeded him in his post, two Russians and one Georgian (Victor Ivanovich Naneishvili/ Виктор Иванович Нанейшвили; 1878-1940). After February 1925, the local party leaders were styled 'Secretaries of the Kazakhstan Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Soviet Union'. Naneishvili was the first to hold this position, and he supervised the change of name, only to be soon succeeded by Filipp Goloshchyokin (whose malefic role for the period 1925-1933 was already described; see above: part XVII unit b) and Levon Mirzoyan (1897-1939; Левон Исаевич Мирзоян). It is only after the proclamation of the Kazakh SSR (5 December 1936) that the Communist Party of Kazakhstan was founded (23 April 1937).

 

Until 1921, there was not one single Bolshevik party center throughout the territory of modern Kazakhstan; on the contrary, there had already been since 1918 a center in Tashkent, but due to the then existing borders, this belonged to the Communist Party of Turkestan, which was dissolved in 1924 in order to allow the communist parties of Tukrmenistan and Uzbekistan to be established following the completion of the delimitation process. The Tashkent office created party organizations in the regions:  Syrdarya, Semirechensk, Turgai and Ural. In the early 1920s, there were very few ethnic Kazakhs (less than 1500 persons) to belong to the local RCP organization (they were less than 10% of the total number of members).

 

However, following the early implementation of Korenizatsiya and Kazakhization (Казахизация) policies, many ethnic Kazakhs realized that the Soviet government was very different from the imperial practices, and they therefore showed an interest to become members; more than 8000 people were then accepted, involving 6000 workers and peasants ('farm laborers' as per the soviet jargon). Illiteracy proved then to be a major problem, because 4 out of 10 Kazakh members of the RCP were indeed absolutely illiterate. A great pedagogical effort was subsequently deployed and the situation improved dramatically. In 1926, the Russians outnumbered the Kazakhs in the local party organization, but in 1937, the Kazakhs constituted almost half of the local party members (and except the Russians, there were also Ukrainians and others).

 

The establishment of the Kirghiz (: Kazakh) ASSR was the subject of a special decree signed on 26th August 1920 by Lenin and Michael I. Kalinin (1875-1946; Михаил Иванович Калинин) on behalf of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR; the title was "On the Formation of the Autonomous Kirghiz Socialist Soviet Republic". One must bear in mind that the above mentioned developments of 1919-1920 took place just in the aftermath of a troublesome situation, namely the short-lived state 'Alash Autonomy' (see above: part X units f, u, v, x and y; part XI and part XIV). The 'Alash Orda' (party) was still strong and its members could undertake clandestine activities. There were indeed many Alash leaders, who wanted still to defend their lands against the Soviet rule. Lenin desired to solve the issue peacefully, because in spite of all the differences that they had about national issues, the Jadidist members of the 'Alash Orda' and the Bolsheviks were ideologically close to one another.

 

Consequently, a meeting with Kazakh Jadidists was arranged, including also young associates of the 'Alash Orda' party leader Alikhan Bukeikhanov, and the topic of the discussion was: 'On the situation of the Kirghiz region in general, and on the issue of borders, in particular'. In that meeting, the young Kazakh activist and intellectual Alimkhan Ermekov (Алимхан Ермеков; 1891-1970) convincingly presented the need to include Akmola, Semipalatinsk, and also Guryev (currently Atyrau) in the newly established 'Kirghiz' region. The demands of the great Kazakh scholar, academic and linguist Akhmet Baitursynov, who was the reformer of the Kazakh alphqabet, were also accepted, and thus Kostanay became part of the 'Kirghiz' region. In this manner, the bulk of Kazakh Jadidist intellectuals and activists, including the leader Alikhan Bukeikhanov, accepted finally the Soviet government and integrated well into the USSR.

 

The Constituent Congress of workers, peasants, Cossacks, Kirghiz and Red Army deputies of the Kirghiz ASSR took place in Orenburg on 4th October 1920; V. A. Radus-Zenkovich, chairman of the Kirghiz Revolutionary Committee (Kirrevkom), welcomed the 273 delegates (128 Kazakhs, 127 Russians, 18 representatives of other nationalities) from all regions of Kazakhstan ('Kirghiz' region) and also 6 delegates from the Kazakh population of the Altai province (southern Siberia). The congress adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Workers of the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic'.

 

On 12th October 1920, the Constituent Congress of Soviets elected the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the Kirghiz ASSR, which consisted of 76 members and 25 probationer members. The CEC Presidium included 10 members and 5 probationer members; among them were several leading Kazakh Jadidists, namely S. Mendeshev (chairman), V. A. Radus-Zenkovich, A. Dzhangildin, S. Seifullin, I. F. Kiselev and others. Then, the Kirghiz Revolutionary Committee, which was a temporary body, transferred all its powers to the government of the Kirghiz ASSR.

 

On 13th July 1921, the First Congress of the Communist Youth Union of Kyrgyzstan started in Orenburg. In October 1921, the First Kazakhstan Conference of Trade Unions took place; the participants defined their tasks in restoring the national economy, increasing labor productivity, and ameliorating the educational, cultural and living conditions of workers and employees. The CEC of the Kirghiz ASSR developed and approved the 'Regulations on the People's Commissariats' of Justice, Education, Agriculture, the Kirpromburo and other executive bodies. The Council of People's Commissars of the Kirghiz ASSR adopted a decree on the use of Kazakh and Russian as official languages ​​in state institutions, whereas in areas with predominant Kazakh population it was allowed to conduct office work and correspondence in the native language. Between 4th and 10th October 1921, the Second Congress of Soviets of the Kirghiz ASSR was held to mainly pay special attention to the questions of local Soviets. Then, the same norms of representation and the same electoral processes as in the central regions of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic were approved in the congress: "Regulations on the procedure for the election of city, rural (aul) Soviets, volost, district (county), provincial executive committees, the All-Kyrgyz Central Executive Committee and on the procedure for convening congresses of Soviets".

 

The "Regulations" allowed elections to be held at meetings of citizens of each aul, if they could not participate in the general meeting of the population of several auls that elected one aul Council; this was very important, because due to the still existing nomadic nature of the Kazakh society and the immensity of the Kazakh steppe, one aul (fortified village, typical in the Caucasus region and in Central Asia / Russian: аул; Kazakh: Ауыл) could be very far from the next.

 

On the basis of Lenin's decree on the nationalization of land, the Central Executive Committee of the Kyrgyz ASSR adopted a decree (2nd February 1921) on the return to Kazakh peasants of all lands alienated by the czarist government for landowners, as well as lands of the colonization fund and monasteries. Furthermore, in April 1921, another decree was issued to specify the details of the return to the Kazakh workers of all the lands transferred by the imperial government to the ownership of the Ural and Siberian Cossack troops. Sedentary life was highly encouraged, and those willing to change their walk of life were supplied with building materials, agricultural implements, and seeds. Extensive and groundbreaking land and water reforms (collectivization) were implemented in 1921-1922, involving also mistakes (notably the confiscation of the property of the middle peasants). On 26th August 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted the "Basic Law on labor land use in the Kirghiz Republic", after which the reform was completed throughout the territory.

 

Life in early Soviet Kazakhstan involved a great deal of partisan agitation and propaganda. In April 1922, Alibey Dzhangildin (1884-1953; Алиби Тогжанович Джангильдин / Әліби Тоғжанұлы Жангелдин), an outstanding Kazakh author, intellectual, revolutionary and traveler, started implementing what he envisioned as Red Caravan and Yurt (: tent). The sociocultural event involved representatives of the Kirobkom of the RCP, Komsomol organizations, people's commissariats for education, health care, agriculture, trade, and the CEC department for work among women; it helped bring together simple people from many parts of the country (wherever the Red Caravan moved to as per the schedule) and people from the middle and higher levels of the soviet administration, so that they come ti know one another and discuss all topics of common interest. The Red Caravan helped with the construction of collective farms, and assisted the starving, the poor, and the sick. From 20th May until 9th August, they traveled to numerous cities, towns, auls and villages, notably Orenburg, Semipalatinsk, Orsk, Turgai, Atbasar, Akmolinsk, Petropavlovsk, Pavlodar, etc. In addition, they stayed in 37 auls, visited the then few existing industrial centers (Spassky and Ekibastuz), and held no less than 126 meetings and 420 talks in order to extensively explain the governmental policy and the partisan ideology.  

 

This was just the beginning of an enormous work that was later undertaken by provinces, which created their own Red Caravans and Yurts, while agitation and propaganda departments (APO) were subsequently developed under the Kirghiz regional committee and provincial party committees. The emancipation of Kazakh women was accelerated with similar events in which prominent figures of the local and federal women's movement helped poor and illiterate women living in remote areas fully learn and understand the rights that the new state offered them, thus terminating the extremely immoral and pseudo-religious use of Islam by ignorant and uncouth, sadomasochist sheikhs and imams.  

 

The 3rd Congress of Soviets of the Kirghiz ASSR was held 6th to 13th October 1922. The various reports emphasized "the steady implementation by the Soviet government of the principles of national equality and self-government of the working masses of various nationalities". Among many other decisions made, the congress led to the creation of the 'Society for the Study of the Kirghiz Territory' (: Kirghiz ASSR / Общество изучения Киргизского края). Bringing Russian and Kazakh scientists together, this institution functioned as the cradle of the Kazakh academic class.

 

The 4th Congress of Soviets of the Kirghiz ASSR was held 5th to 10th January 1924. The focus was evidently focused on the agriculture and that's why the resolution "On measures to restore and strengthen agriculture" detailed the local needs, notably the development of demonstration plots, breeding nurseries, the creation of state reserve seed funds, the training of agricultural specialists from Kazakhs (for which a special scholarship fund was provided), the reduction of prices for agricultural implements, the organization of hay forage bases, the reward of farms for improving livestock productivity, etc. Amongst others, the congress discussed the draft Constitution of the Kirghiz ASSR, which consisted of 7 sections and 18 chapters, and instructed the Central Executive Committee to finalize the text. About:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_Soviet_Socialist_Republic#Formation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kazakhstan_(Soviet_Union)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan#Kazakh_SSR

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Алашская_автономия

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизский_край

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Киргизская_Автономная_Социалистическая_Советская_Республика_(1920—1925)#История

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Руководители_ЦК_Компартии_Казахстана_(1920—1991)#Первые_секретари_ЦК_Компартии_Казахстана[6]

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мурзагалиев,_Мухамедхафий

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коммунистическая_партия_Туркестана

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коммунистическая_партия_Казахстана_(СССР)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kazakhstan_(Soviet_Union)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахизация

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Языковая_политика_в_Казахстане#Русификация_в_Казахской_ССР

https://e-history.kz/ru/prominent-figures/show/12699/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Джангильдин,_Алиби_Тогжанович

https://vlast.kz/civilwar/28394-pervyj-kazah-bolsevik-alibi-dzangildin.html

https://e-history.kz/ru/prominent-figures/show/12677/

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5353947

https://voicesoncentralasia.org/nomads-and-soviet-rule-central-asia-under-lenin-and-stalin-an-interview-with-an-author/

https://vk.com/wall-213744_587981?lang=en

https://articlekz.com/article/18322

 

As already mentioned (part XVII unit b), the Kazakh ASSR had the very bad luck to experience the tenure of the paranoid gangster Filipp Goloshchyokin for 8 years (1925-1933). So evil this person was that he wanted to launch, a second, 'small', October (Малый Октябрь) with the intention to suppress and eliminate the local tribal elites of the Kazakhs in an unnecessarily overwhelming manner. The term was amply used in the sense that the October 1917 Revolution had not yet properly 'come' to Kazakhstan. It is true that, despite all the decisions made and measures taken until 1925, the central government had only minimal leverage over the nomadic population - in great contrast with what was happening with the workers and the populations of the country's central regions. This is so because the main supporters of the Bolsheviks among the Kazakhs were the youth, the workers, and the intellectuals, who also had little contact with, and knowledge about, the nomads. When it comes to the aul households, which was still the nucleus of the Kazakh social life, as per the data of the 1926 census, only 23% of them were fully settled (sedentary).

 

For these reasons and because of personal vanity, Filipp Goloshchyokin wanted to 'start from scratch' and implement absurdly and inhumanly radical measures; that's why he rejected the methodic work done by his predecessors (as it had not brought forth spectacular results) and he started fighting with all the local Communists. Long before Stalin decimated all those, who disagreed with him, throughout Soviet Union during the Great Purge, Goloshchyokin persecuted the Kazakh intellectuals in the period 1926-1930, removing most of them from their positions, arresting them, and accusing them of 'national deviationism'. He even wrote a theatrical letter to Stalin to ask permission to launch his 'Small October'! The brutal, prompt and forceful shift from nomadism to sedentary life caused the terrible famine, which has already been briefly described (part XVII unit c); it is noteworthy that only in the period 1926-1927, for the redistribution of arable and pasture land, about 1.360.000 acres of hayfields and 1.250.000 acres of arable land were taken from wealthy households and transferred to the poor and middle peasants.  

 

Stalin expressed great indignation when he came to learn about the population decline in Kazakhstan, but unfortunately, it was too late. The fact that it took too long for Kazakh Bolsheviks like Uraz Isayev and others to protest is due to several reasons; first, there was an enormous improvement in terms of infrastructure; second, it was clear to the Kazakh intellectuals that the entire socioeconomic restructuring would be beneficial to most in the long run and that the overall progress would bring about a fair, just and right order among Kazakhs; third, the extensive implementation of korenizatsiya, after many decades of Russification and czarist imperialism, was enthusiastically accepted by all the nations and ethnic groups throughout the USSR. In fact, there was a certain crescendo in the realization of korenizatsiya concepts from the early 1920s until 1936, when the new constitution (effective: 5th December 1936) was adopted; within the context of every nation, korenizatsiya signified a complete and proper nation building – the building of a soviet nation of course. It covered all aspects of the nations under formation: socio-behavioral, educational, academic, scientific, cultural, ideological, artistic, economic, administrative and governmental.

 

It was in the early 1930s and thanks to korenizatsiya that the illustrious Kazakh author, playwright and intellectual Gabit Musirepov (1902-1985; Габит Махмутович Мусрепов) wrote the libretto to the first Kazakh opera Kyz-Zhibek (Кыз-Жибек), which was based on a 16th c. traditional folk legend that narrated the terrible troubles that were caused to the Kazakhs by the feudal oligarchs (music: Yevgeny Brusilovsky). Similar paradigms existed within every other Soviet nation. And according to the new constitution, throughout the USSR, there were 11 socialist republics, 22 autonomous republics, 9 autonomous regions, and 9 national territories; this means that, due to korenizatsiya, no less than 50 different nation building processes were undertaken within the vast country, whereas at the same time, the administration was greatly centralised. An incredible achievement indeed!

 

Gradually, after 1936, korenizatsiya started dwindling and finally, it faded away; many historians view in this development a certain comeback of the Russification, but this is wrong. Simply, as process, korenizatsiya was completed. It was actually never canceled or repealed; but the young Communist nations were already consolidated, and what was needed at the time was a stronger bond among the already built, established, and strengthened nations of the USSR. By the 1930s, in the Kazakh ASSR, there were already more than ten pioneering linguists, grammarians and lexicographers, who had already extensively published about practically speaking anything – from manuals of Kazakh language to academic articles and scholarly researches. Indicatively: Khalil Dosmukhamedov (1883-1939; Халел Досмухамедович Досмухамедов), Koshmuhambet Kemengerov (1896-1937; Кошмухамбет Кеменгеров), Saken Seifullin (1894-1938; Сакен Сейфуллин), Beimbet Mailin (1894-1938; Беимбет Жармагамбетович Майлин), Mirzhakip Dulatov (1885-1935; Миржакип Дулатов), Magzhan Zhumabaev (1893-1938; Магжан Жумабаев), Telzhan Shonanov (1894-1938; Телжан Шонанов), Eldes Omarov (1892-1937; Елдес Омаров), Ahmet Baitursynov (1872-1937; Ахмет Байтурсынов), Kudaibergen Zhubanov (1899-1938; Кудайберген Куанович Жубанов), Nazir Turekulov (1892-1937; Назир Тюрякулович Тюрякулов), Jusibek Aimautov (1889-1930; Джусупбек Аймаутов), T. Zhurgenov (1898=1938; Темирбек Караевич Жургенов), etc. About:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Малый_Октябрь

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korenizatsiya

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мусрепов,_Габит_Махмутович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabit_Musirepov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кыз-Жибек

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyz-Zhibek

https://articlekz.com/en/article/29944

https://asu.edu.kz/en/university/khalel-dosmukhamedov/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Досмухамедов,_Халел_Досмухамедович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кеменгеров,_Кошмухамбет

http://m.adebiportal.kz/en/authors/view/3558

https://www.inform.kz/en/saken-seifullin_a2203455

http://old.kazatu.edu.kz/en/saken-seifullin-is-125-years-old/biography-of-saken-seifullin/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Майлин,_Беимбет_Жармагамбетович

https://bolashaq.edu.kz/en/novosti-en/alash-orda-beimbet-mailin/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дулатов,_Миржакип

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirjaqip_Dulatuli

https://vk.com/wall230681428_10230

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жумабаев,_Магжан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magzhan_Zhumabayev

https://adebiportal.kz/en/authors/view/3535

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шонанов,_Телжан

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Телжан_Шонанов

https://alash.semeylib.kz/?page_id=187&lang=en

https://www.eurasian-research.org/20-nisan-2019-tarihinde-turkiye-genclik-ve-spor-bakani-sayin-dr-mehmet-muharrem-kasapoglunun-baskanligindaki-heyet-avrasya-arastirma-enstitusune-nezaket-ziyaretinde-bulundular/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Омаров,_Елдес

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Елдес_Омаров

https://www.academia.edu/3090511/The_Geography_of_Civilizations_A_Spatial_Analysis_of_the_Kazakh_Intelligentsia_s_Activities_from_the_Mid_Nineteenth_to_the_Early_Twentieth_Century

https://qamshy.kz/article/21630-eldes-omarulynynh-shygharmalary-elim-dep-enhirep-otken-eldes-basy

https://e-history.kz/ru/prominent-figures/show/12608/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Байтурсынов,_Ахмет

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhmet_Baitursynov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жубанов,_Кудайберген_Куанович

https://aktobetv.kz/ru/news/society/kudaibergen-zhubanov-osnovopolozhnik-abaevedeniya

https://news-ru.arsu.kz/?p=12665

https://kieli7su.kz/index.php/arterzhanmenu/poplangmenu/184-kudaibergen-zhubanov-o-problemah-interferencii

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тюрякулов,_Назир_Тюрякулович

https://nomad.su/?a=15-201306170031

https://peoplepill.com/people/nazir-tyuryakulov

https://urss.ru/cgi-bin/db.pl?lang=Ru&blang=ru&page=Book&id=65135

https://fnt.kz/en/

https://www.inform.kz/en/untold-story-of-nazir-torekulov-first-soviet-diplomat-in-jeddah_a2962374

https://astanatimes.com/2013/06/kazakh-diplomat-celebrated-120-years-after-birth/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Аймаутов,_Джусупбек

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жүсіпбек_Аймауытов

https://www.peoples.ru/state/teacher/aymauitov/

https://imena.pushkinlibrary.kz/en/writers-and-poets/471-.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жургенов,_Темирбек_Караевич

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коренизация

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Языковая_политика_в_Казахстане#Русификация_в_Казахской_ССР

 

j- From Mirzoyan to Dzhumabay Shayahmetov

When Levon Mirzoyan (1897-1939; Левон Исаевич Мирзоян) was moved from Perm (where he was Secretary of the Perm Regional Committee and 2nd Secretary of the Ural Regional Committee of the Communist Party) to Kazakhstan to replace Goloshchyokin, he did not know that Kazakhstan would soon be upgraded to SSR. In fact, on 5th December 1936, the Kazakh ASSR was removed from the Russian SFSR and was given the status of a union republic: the Kazakh SSR (Казахская ССР). Following this development, the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks upgraded (on 23th April 1937) the regional party organization, thus establishing the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. In June 1937, the First Congress of Communists of the Republic completed the formalization of the CPK. Kazakhs remember with some nostalgia the period of Mirzoyan's tenure. This happens not without some reason.

 

Mirzoyan was a passionate human and a caring person; all the troubles that he encountered in Kazakhstan strongly motivated him to outperform himself and to do all that it took to improve the conditions of life and to ensure a humane treatment of all the inhabitants of the vast state. In a letter sent to Lazar Kaganovich (a Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Khazarian from Ukraine, who was one of the closest associates of Stalin: 1893-1991; Лазарь Моисеевич Каганович), Mirzoyan wrote the following: "I left Moscow being sure that the situation in Kazakhstan was difficult, but what I saw here exceeded all my expectations". As he arrived in January 1933, he deployed a great effort in the first months, thus ensuring an excellent harvest in the summer; he ordered to stop the mass slaughter of livestock and to distribute more than 1 million 100 thousand heads of cattle to collective farmers over the span of the next three years.

 

Among Mirzoyan's major achievements, one can enumerate the following: the beginning of the construction of the Ulba hydroelectric power station, the building of the Chimkent lead plant, the construction of the Ridder plant, the fast development of the Karaganda coal basin, the expansion of the explorations in the Emba region, the commissioning of new oil fields, and the establishment of industrial zones. At the end of 1935, the construction of the Guriev-Orsk oil pipeline with a length of about 800 km was completed. In an astounding change from the earlier socioprofessional conditions, already in the second half of the 1930s, 46.5% of the local population worked in the industrial sector. The industrialization of Kazakhstan was a fact.

 

Mirzoyan showed a great interest for the arts and the sciences in Kazakhstan. He supervised the establishment of the Kazakh Musical Theater, the Kazakh State Philharmonic Society, and the Kazakh base of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (with the following sectors: the botanical, zoological, geographical, Field Research Commission, Historical and Archaeological Commission, and Commission for the Kazakh dictionary). Furthermore, the First Congress of Writers of Kazakhstan was duly prepared and successfully held; in addition, the great national Kazakh poet Abai Kunanbaev (rather known in English bibliography as brahim (Abai) Qunanbaiuly: 1845-1904; Абай Кунанбаев) was fully 'rehabilitated'.

 

Living in a cruel era, Mirzoyan was perilously humane; at times, he warned Kazakh intellectuals and partisan activists about their forthcoming arrest, trying to convince them to leave the country. Worse, he entered in personal dispute with Stalin and others in order to save 'nationalist' elements that they wanted to arrest and execute. When he opposed the decision to further deport the Koreans (see above: part XVII unit d) from South Kazakhstan to North Kazakhstan, because this eventuality would expose these populations to further adversities, he created doubts about his fidelity and trustworthiness. At a time, when the human life had absolutely no value, this attitude proved to be lethal; he was arrested in 1938 and executed in February 1939, only to be rehabilitated in 1958.

 

Mirzoyan was replaced first by the Russian Nikolai Skvortsov (1899-1974; Николай Александрович Скворцов) for the period May 1938 - May 1945, and later by the Russian Gennady Borkov (1905-1983; Геннадий Андреевич Борков) for the period May 1945 - June 1946. Before his appointment, Skvortsov was the deputy head of the department of leading party bodies of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party. Before being appointed at the top partisan position in Kazakhstan, Borkov was the First Secretary of the Khabarovsk Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party, in Eastern Siberia, very close to the borders of China.

 

It is only in 1946 that the position of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan was first held by an ethnic Kazakh, i.e. Dzhumabay Shayahmetov (1902-1966; Жумабай Шаяхметович Шаяхметов), a well-known apparatchik and Stalinist propagandist, who had held many key positions in the Soviet administration. In a way, he was promoted through the ranks, because as early as June 1938, he was appointed as 3rd Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR. From his position, he supervised the people's commissariats of the Finance, Utilities, Food Industry, Health Care, and the Komsomol; he also widely popularized the Stalinist version of Marxist-Leninist ideology, and -with others- contributed to the process of effectively providing proper support to China in the war against Japan.

 

One year later, in June 1939, Shayahmetov was appointed as 2nd Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR. The promotion was timely, because it coincided with the preparation of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the Kazakh ASSR, the commissioning of the Akmolinsk-Kartaly railway, and the transition to an eight-hour working day and a six-day working week. Shayahmetov achieved a remarkable improvement in the development of agriculture and he was awarded for this. In 1941, he was appointed as authorized member of the State Defense Committee (Государственный комитет обороны) for the Kazakh SSR.

 

In fact, during the critical days of the Great Patriotic War (WW II), Shayahmetov was the top person who supervised the arrival and the temporary integration in the Kazakh SSR of many people and enterprises evacuated from the western regions of the USSR. Only in 1941, ca. 360000 evacuated people arrived in Kazakhstan, and until the middle of 1943, the number rose to 530000 people. In addition, the Kazakh authorities were asked to accommodate thousands of cattle, sheep and horses, plus other types of property belonging to collective and state farms of the western regions.

 

Solving issues of accommodation and addressing sociobehavioral problems of the deported peoples, Shayahmetov proved to be a highly effective bureaucrat and a fully trustworthy subordinate. During WW II, with a population of 6 million people and with 1.2 million people drafted into the army, the Kazakh SSR experienced a shortage of personnel. Shayahmetov tried to solve the problem by inviting Kazakhs, who were living in other parts of Soviet Union, to return and work in Kazakhstan. When the inflow of wounded and sick people increased tremendously, a department for the coordination of medical institutions was launched, and military hospitals increased exponentially (from just 2 before the war to 78 in 1942). At a certain moment during the war, it was possible to treat simultaneously 24000 patients in Kazakhstan's military hospitals. Similarly, in diverse sectors of the economy, like agriculture and industry, the Kazakh SSR proved able increase the productivity considerably to meet the nationwide needs.

 

Last, after the end of the war, the Kazakh SSR provided assistance to the regions of the country, which were liberated from the invaders. In 1945, following the festivities for the 25th anniversary of the formation of Kazakhstan, Dzhumabay Shayakhmetov was awarded the First Order of Lenin for services to the development of agriculture. It was therefore only normal that, in the first months of 1946, he was promoted to First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR. Actually, to be accurate, it was more than just a promotion; it was an exceptional praise expressed by Stalin in favor of Shayahmetov; in fact, it occurred several times, notably in the air parade in Tushino, when Stalin introduced Shayahmetov to Soviet Union's top officials with the following words: "Comrades, this is Dzhumabay Shayahmetov, the first national secretary of Kazakhstan".

 

It was then (summer 1946) that Stalin called the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR "Eagle of the East". There was a good reason for Stalin to laud the Kazakh nation's contribution to the Soviet victory. Actually, the first Soviet officer to raise the Soviet Flag at the Reichstag in Berlin was an ethnic Kazakh, namely Lieutenant Rakhimzhan Qoshqarbaev (1924-1988; Рахимжан Кошкарбаевич Кошкарбаев / Рақымжан Қошқарбаев) of the 674th Infantry Regiment; he is not the person shown on the world-famous photo (which immortalized an event occurred on the 2nd May 1945). The brave officer managed to sneak into the building on April 30th in the afternoon and to raise the flag in the early hours of 1st May; as it was dark, no picture could be taken; however, all the participants in the brave act were proclaimed heroes of the Soviet Union. The flag was brought down after the dawn, and therefore the flag shown on the illustrious picture is merely the second Soviet Flag raised over the Reichstag.

 

Among other illustrious Kazakh heroes of the Great Patriotic War, one can mention Khiuaz Dospanova (1922-2008; Хиуаз Каировна Доспанова), the famous Kazakh pilot, who was the first Kazakh aviatrice and served in the 588th Night Bomber Regiment {which was also called 'Night Witches' (ночные ведьмы)}, and Bauyrzhan Momyshuly (1910-1982; Бауыржан Момышулы), author and military officer (colonel), who commanded the 9th Guards Rifle Division and took part in many battles.

  

Dzhumabay Shayahmetov did not have an easy job in Kazakhstan after the end of WW II either; although not a single battle was fought on the territory of the Kazakh SSR, there were heavy casualties among the inhabitants: 600000 dead and many thousands of soldiers wounded at the battlefield. Consequently, the labor shortage created a serious problem, and collective farms and state farms could not maintain their production levels. The living conditions deteriorated, because due to lower production, people could not get the necessary amount of food. There was shortage in almost everything, and the situation turned worse because of the presence of immigrants and deportees. Shayahmetov made a breakthrough by training and re-training former front-line soldiers and young graduates of schools and vocational schools. After great effort, positive results in the development of agriculture were achieved in 1947 and the number of livestock increased up to a point that the card system was not anymore necessary in the Kazakh SSR.

 

Shayahmetov's tenure is also remembered because of the following achievements: the intensification of the industrialization, the mass electrification of auls and villages of the republic, the creation of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR (1946), the creation, growth and improvement of national cadres, the official translation of the collected works of Lenin into the Kazakh language, and the increased participation of Kazakhs in the higher education; there were only 1400 university students in 1944, but already 3500 students in 1946. And in the period from 1950 to 1955, about 700 industrial enterprises were built in the Kazakh SSR. The increased number of Kazakh candidates and members of the Communist Party testified to public support and acceptance of the governmental policies; from 113000 partisans in 1943, there were 203000 partisans in 1947. Despite the fact that at the time Russians outnumbered the Kazakhs throughout the Kazakh SSR, among the partisan cadres (secretaries of city and district party committees, secretaries of the regional committees, chairmen of the regional executive committees, etc) the Kazakhs formed the majority.

 

The personal success of Shayahmetov's commitment to incessant improvement became widely known across the Soviet Union; in 1950, at the first session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was elected chairman of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which was a great distinction at the personal and the national levels. Soon afterwards, the very influential Marshal Nikolai Bulganin (1895-1975; Николай Александрович Булганин), who had already been Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (1947-1950), proposed Shayakhmetov's candidacy for the post of minister in the Government of the USSR, but Stalin rejected the idea mainly because he believed that there was no proper replacement for Shayakhmetov in the Kazakh SSR at the time.

 

When Khrushchev rose to power after Stalin's death, Shayahmetov fully disagreed with the new leader's ideas and plans for further, faster agricultural development in the Kazakh SSR. The visioner and paragon of de-Stalinization mistrusted the Kazakh leader as Stalinist and, consequently, at the IX plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, which was held on 5th-6th February 1954, Shayakhmetov was removed from the post of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR.

 

In the period between February 1954 and January 1960, four persons succeeded one another in the top partisan position of Kazakhstan; the first was Belarussian and the other three Russians. The first three spent one year each at the top position of the local Communist Party, and the fourth stayed in the position for slightly more than two years. Among them, the first to be appointed was Panteleimon Ponomarenko (1902-1984; Пантелеймон Кондратьевич Пономаренко), a high rank Soviet official, who had just served for two years as Minister of Procurement and for one year as Minister of Culture of the USSR, before being appointed in the Kazakh SSR. Outstanding Belarussian partisan (like Andrei Gromyko, the illustrious Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs), Ponomarenko had served as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Belarussian SSR from 1938 until 1947. His credentials testify to the importance that the Supreme Soviet attributed to the Kazakh SSR.

 

And the liberation of the arrested and imprisoned (in 1951, for reasons of 'bourgeois nationalism') Kazakh historian and professor of university Ermukhan Bekmakhanov (1915-1966; Ермухан Бекмаханович Бекмаханов) bears witness to the importance that Ponomarenko gave to the Kazakhs; he even condemned the arrest of the Kazakh academic - a very rare act in the USSR. At this point, it is noteworthy to underscore that Ermukhan Bekmakhanov's comprehensive, convincing and very remarkable contribution "Присоединение Казахстана к России" (the Accession of Kazakhstan to Russia; Almaty 1957) totally demolishes all the viciously odious and absolutely erroneous pretensions, assumptions, arguments and presentations of the perfidious and disreputable Western forgerers and pseudo-academics, who customarily publish bogus research only to diffuse historical distortions and divisive propaganda that serves only the anti-Kazakh, anti-Russian, and anti-Turkic interests of NATO, UK, US and other Western countries. About:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kazakhstan_(Soviet_Union)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Руководители_ЦК_Компартии_Казахстана_(1920—1991)#Первые_секретари_ЦК_Компартии_Казахстана[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan#Kazakh_SSR

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakh_Soviet_Socialist_Republic#Formation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levon_Mirzoyan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Мирзоян,_Левон_Исаевич

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Скворцов,_Николай_Александрович_(партийный_деятель)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Борков,_Геннадий_Андреевич

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шаяхметов,_Жумабай_Шаяхметович

https://online.zakon.kz/Document/?doc_id=30506763&pos=3;-52#pos=3;-52

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Государственный_комитет_обороны

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кошкарбаев,_Рахимжан_Кошкарбаевич

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Рақымжан_Қошқарбаев

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakhimzhan_Qoshqarbaev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Знамя_Победы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Знамя_Победы_над_рейхстагом_(фото_Халдея)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_a_Flag_over_the_Reichstag

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Доспанова,_Хиуаз_Каировна

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khiuaz_Dospanova

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/46-й_гвардейский_ночной_бомбардировочный_авиационный_полк

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Момышулы,_Бауыржан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauyrzhan_Momyshuly

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Пономаренко,_Пантелеймон_Кондратьевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panteleimon_Ponomarenko

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Бекмаханов,_Ермухан_Бекмаханович

 

 

XVIII. Kazakhstan from Brezhnev to Nazarbayev

a- The Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Virgin Lands Campaign, and the Temirtau Riots

When Panteleimon Ponomarenko was sent as ambassador to Poland (in 1955, before being subsequently dispatched to India, the Netherlands, and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna), Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982; Леонид Ильич Брежнев) was dispatched to the Kazakh SSR to replace him. Of course, no one at the time could imagine the meteoric rise that this Major General of the Red Army (in 1946) would have in the 1960s (backed by the so-called "Dnipropetrovsk Mafia" / Днепропетровский клан), but already Brezhnev was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (1950) and the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Moldovan SSR (1951-1952; where he first encountered Konstantin Chernenko, the last Secretry General of the Communist Party of Soviet Union before M. Gorbachev).

 

Beyond the support of the aforementioned 'clan' or group, Brezhnev had two key moments in his partisan life that later proved to be quite instrumental in propelling him to the very top: first, a personal meeting with Stalin at the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (5 to 14 October 1952), after which he was elected a member of the Central Committee and soon afterwards secretary of the Central Committee and candidate member of the Presidium of the Central Committee (at the age of 46), and second, the support that he offered to Khrushchev against Malenkov in the post-Stalin era (which was due to Brezhnev's correct evaluation of the dynamics of the party balance). This is how he was boosted to the top.

 

So, as it happened with Ponomarenko, Brezhnev's appointment in Kazakhstan fully demonstrates the great importance that the Moscow's top attributed to the Kazakh SSR. One year before moving to Almaty (Alma-Ata), Brezhnev was appointed as Deputy Head of the Main Political Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense with the rank of Lieutenant General. On 26th June 1953, Brezhnev was among the ten armed generals summoned to the Kremlin to arrest Lavrentiy Beria (1899-1953; Лаврентий Берия), one of Stalin's closest allies and one of the most dominant Soviet potentates of all times.

 

In Kazakhstan (7th May 1955 to 6th March 1956), Brezhnev made his careerist manners and attitude well known; he did not care much about people, but about projects – notably those that would be counting to his credit. He supervised the development of the virgin lands, for which he was later (1957) awarded a medal by the Supreme Military Council of the Kazakh SSR, and he dedicated his attention almost entirely to the preparation of the construction of the "Research Test Site No. 5" of the USSR Ministry of Defense in the southern part of Kazakhstan, which is what is nowadays widely known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome. However, his interest in Baikonur antedates his appointment in Kazakhstan, because Brezhnev oversaw the issues of the military-industrial complex, including the development of space technology, already when he was the secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. As a matter of fact, if the Soviet Cosmodrome is located in Kazakhstan, and not elsewhere, this is due to Brezhnev; he wrote in his memories the following:

 

"Experts understood well: it would be faster, easier, cheaper to settle in the Black Lands. Here, there is a railway, a highway, water, and electricity, the whole area is inhabited, and the climate is not as harsh as in Kazakhstan. So the Caucasian version had many supporters. At that time, I had to study a lot of documents, projects, certificates, discuss all this with scientists, business executives, engineers, specialists who in the future were to launch rocket technology into space. Gradually, a well-grounded decision took shape in my own mind. The Central Committee of the Party came out in favor of the first option - the Kazakh one. ... Life has confirmed the expediency and correctness of such a decision: the lands of the North Caucasus are preserved for agriculture, and Baikonur has transformed another region of the country. The missile range needed to be put into operation quickly, the deadlines were tight, and the scale of the work was huge".

 

However, in his Virgin Lands Campaign, Brezhnev failed and the food crisis that Soviet Union experienced at the time lasted for some years. Had he stayed longer in Almaty, his career would have been ruined, but in March 1956 he was back in Moscow as candidate member of the Politburo in charge of the heavy industry, the space program including the Baykonur Cosmodrome, and the defence industry.

 

In replacement of Brezhnev, Ivan Yakovlev (1910-1999; Иван Дмитриевич Яковлев) was dispatched to Almaty; prior to his appointment, he had served as the First Secretary of the Novosibirsk Regional Committee of the CPSU for 6 years (1949-1955 and as the Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan for one year under Brezhnev. His tenure lasted about 20 months (6th March 1956 – 13th December 1957), and then he was replaced by Nikolai Belyaev (1903-1966; Николай Ильич Беляев). The fact that for many years several Russians succeeded one another in the top position of the Kazakh SSR should not take anyone by surprise, because we have to always take into consideration the fact that for many decades -as it is already said- the Russians outnumbered the Kazakhs on the territory of the SSR.

 

Belyaev had served as the First Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party in the Altai Region (1943-1946) where he led the local effort for economic restoration and development; in 1946, he was elected in the Supreme Soviet, and he was a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (since 1952). In his position in Kazakhstan (13th December 1957–19th January 1960), he failed terribly first, because he did not manage to stop the decline in agriculture, and second, due to his low performance in the Temirtau riots; that's why he was fully dismissed in 1960. Subsequently, he was sent to the Stavropol Territory as the First Secretary the local committee of the Communist Party; by coincidence, the First Secretary of the Stavropol city's Komsomol was a 29-years old young man named Mikhail Gorbachev (a native from the area).

 

The Temirtau riots ended up with 10 people dead, dozens of wounded and hundreds of arrested and imprisoned. The events started as a strike and they lasted four days (1st– 4th August 1959); they were related to the construction of a metallurgical plant named Kazakhstan Magnitka. No less than 25000 people had arrived earlier in 1959 to work there, although the housing, working and living conditions were extremely rudimentary and harsh. Temirtau is located ca. 200 km south of Nursultan; in the scorching Kazakh steppe climate, the workers were accommodated in tents (an entire tent city), whereas the water and food supply was inadequate and untimely. As it was a common practice in the Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern Bloc, a group of Bulgarian workers arrived to also work there at the middle of July 1959, but they were treated differently; the corporate authorities insisted that the foreign guests could not be accommodated in tents. This produced an overwhelming reaction among the local workforce; the situation deteriorated on 1st August, when the guards forced the Kazakhs and the Russians to wait out, until the guest workers complete their breakfast in the canteen.

 

Then, the local workers decided not to work, but to destroy whatever they found around them, starting with the canteen, the nearby shops, and a department store that they looted. There were several hundreds of rebels; that's why the Temirtau municipal authorities sent soldiers against them. This was all in vain, because the troops heard the story details from the insurgents and rejected to shoot unarmed workers. A chaotic situation lasted for 2-3 days, and then other troops (including cadets) were dispatched; they opened fire at the workers, and soon the insurgence was suppressed. Many insurgents escaped driving looted cars, which were later found abandoned in the steppe. It is noteworthy that almost half of the arrested were members of the local Komsomol; and there were more than 100 soldiers and officers wounded. On 4th August everything seemed to be calm again, but the news had spread and there was an overwhelming indignation throughout the Kazakh SSR.

 

On 5th August 1959, Leonid Brezhnev, due to his previous experience, arrived from Moscow to Temirtau; having executive powers and the intention to prevent further escalation, he took measures to effectively satisfy the local people. He immediately eliminated several apparatchiks, partisans, corporate managers, and economic activists; he expelled several people from the party and fired many policemen and municipal officials. Normal housing, working and living conditions were granted to all the workers, the Bulgarian team was sent back to Bulgaria, and within a week time, the damages were repaired and the workers returned to their posts. There was also a promise that top people would inevitably pay for their laxity; consequently, on 22nd October 1959, the First Secretary of the Karaganda Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, Pavel Isaev (1911-1974; Павел Николаевич Исаев), was removed from his post and even expelled from the ranks of the CPSU; and on 19th January 1960, Nikolai Belyaev was transferred to Stavropol with a demotion.

 

Belyaev was replaced by an ethnic Kazakh, but during the last three decades of the Kazakh SSR (1960-1991), there was still one more ethnic Russian to hold the post of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR. Actually, during these 30 years, only four persons (in five different assignments) succeeded one another atop the local Communist Party. What happened, in brief, was this: Dinmukhamed Kunaev (1912-1993; Динмухамед Ахмедович Кунаев), a Brezhnev-protégé, was appointed to replace Belyaev in 1960, at a time Brezhnev had still good relations with Khrushchev. After almost three years, Kunaev disagreed with Khrushchev's plans to transfer parts of South Kazakhstan's territory to Uzbekistan, and he was replaced in December 1962 by Ismail Yusupov (1914-2005; Исмаил Абдурасулович Юсупов), an ethnic Uighur and member of the Uighur minority in Kazakhstan, who held the top position in the Kazakh SSR for two years, until December 1964. By that time, Khrushchev had been overthrown by Brezhnev (13th October 1964); it took Brezhnev little time to bring his protégé back to the position that he had had. Kunaev stayed there for 22 years, until the end of 1986, thus being himself an outstanding example of the -often deliberately misinterpreted 'era of stagnation' (Период застоя: 1964-1985)- Brezhnev period.

 

When Gorbachev was elected as the successor of Kostantin Chernenko (11th March 1985), it was clear that young technocrats and dynamic apparatchiks would be favored over the 'old guard', i.e. Brezhnev's team (or 'Mafia'). Gorbachev would apparently support young men who stood against the nomeklatura corruption and the stagnant bureaucracy. Meanwhile, on 22nd March 1984 (a little bit more than a month after Chernenko succeeded Andropov as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Soviet Union), Kunaev appointed a 44-year old apparatchik as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR (which was the equivalent of a prime minister/ Председатель Совета министров Казахской ССР): Nursultan Nazarbayev. He was the youngest person ever to be appointed in that position throughout Soviet Union. Nazarbayev proved to be one of the earliest supporters of Gorbachev in 1985; one year later (1986), as prime minister, Nazarbayev criticized institutions, which had not yet taken steps in the direction of perestroika; his stance and approch was a general position with no personal motives. When the issue reached the Kazakh Academy of Sciences (then presided by Kunaev's brother), there was a certain turmoil, because Askar Kunaev was an influential person.

 

By that time, Dinmukhamed Kunaev flıed to Moscow and met Gorbachev to express his wish to retire for health reasons; this was true and it is well known that he died few years later, after having had very poor health for that period. His demand was accepted and, soon afterwards, Kunaev was replaced by Gennady Kolbin, a decision that was due to the ill-tempered and disastrous advisers of Gorbachev. Of course, Nazarbayev was too young at the time to be appointed as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR, but there were certainly other potential candidates, except the person that Kunaev suggested personally to Gorbachev.

 

Western forgers have relentlessly tried to propagate the idea that the appointment (16th December 1986) of Gennady Kolbin (1927-1998; Геннадий Васильевич Колбин), an ethnic Russian from Western Siberia, who had never been in Kazakhstan before, was the reason that triggered the protests. However, this is a terrible distortion of the historical reality. The events became known as Jeltoqsan (Желтоқсан), which is the Kazakh name for December. In fact, most of the protesters were students, who decried Gorbachev's rejection of the candidate designated by Kunaev himself as his own successor. There was no ethnic character in the events. From the 16th to the 19th December 1986, many cities of the Kazakh SSR were in real chaos. It took three days for the troops, cadets, policemen, KGB staffers, and partisan volunteers to put the riots under control; but Kolbin stayed, only to be replaced later, on the 22nd June 1989, by Nursultan Nazarbayev. There were only two dead and hundreds of wounded protesters. Some dozens of students were expelled from the universities and few prosecuted. About:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Освоение_целины

https://histrf.ru/read/articles/nachalo-osvoieniia-tsielinnykh-ziemiel-event

https://www.dp.ru/a/2020/03/01/Podnjataja_i_ostavlennaja

https://bigenc.ru/domestic_history/text/4674308

http://svetich.info/publikacii/apk-respublika-kazahstan/osvoenie-celiny-v-kazahstane.html

 

b- The Patriotic Stance of Dinmukhamed Kunaev and the Shymkent Riots (1967)

As a matter of fact, what happened in Tajikistan in the 1990s and in Kyrgyzstan in the 2000s, occurred in Kazakhstan in the 1980s. The real reasons of the turmoil may have been different from one country to the other, and the duration of the ordeal may have hinged on the dexterity and the ability of the local rulers, but at the end of the 20th century, all the nations of Central Asia were left with the impression that the visions of their Jadidist intellectuals and activists before 100 years were never materialized; this was true and accurate indeed. That's why there have been much nostalgia and many references to them, plus numerous acts of rehabilitation of their memory.  

 

At this point, a clarification must be made as regards the ethnic origin of the ruling elite of the Kazakh SSR; although from 1920 to 1991, the top partisan position was mainly occupied by non-ethnic Kazakhs (involving following positions: Secretaries of the Kyrgyz Regional Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP / Секретари Киргизского областного бюро ЦК РКП from 1920 to 1921; Secretaries of the Kirghiz (Kazakh) Regional Committee of the RCP / Секретари Киргизского (Казахского) обкома РКП from 1921 to 1925; Secretaries of the Kazakhstan Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Soviet Union / Секретари Казахстанского крайкома ВКП from 1925 to 1937; and First Secretaries of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan / Первые секретари ЦК Компартии Казахстана; from 1937 to 1991), this situation did not occur in other top posts in Kazakhstan. For the aforementioned positions, (3+3+2+11) 19 persons succeeded one another {in (3+4+3+13) 23 assignments}, but only 5 among them (in 7 assignments) were ethnic Kazakhs.

 

As I have already stated, this situation was partly justified, because the Russians outnumbered the Kazakhs within the territory of the Kazakh SSR for many decades. All the same, this state of affairs was not repeated in other important positions of the local administration (involving following positions: Chairmen of the Central Executive Committee of the Kazakh SSR / Председатели Центрального исполнительного комитета Казахской ССР from 1933 to 1938; Chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR / Председатели Президиума Верховного Совета Казахской ССР from 1938 to 1990; Chairmen of the Council of People's Commissars of the Kazakh SSR / Председатели Совета народных комиссаров Казахской ССР from 1929 to 1946; and Chairmen of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR / Председатели Совета министров Казахской ССР from 1946 to 1991). Almost all the persons, who succeeded one another in these positions, were ethnic Kazakhs.

 

Many specialists and insiders are convinced that, if Khrushchev remained in power another 5-7 years and managed to eliminate the increasing influence of Brezhnev and his gang (or team or 'Mafia'), the Soviet Union would not disintegrate, but efficiently transform into a mixed economic model, eventually similar to Deng Xiaoping's China in the 1980s and 1990s, with Khrushchev having then been successful where Gorbachev apparently failed. This remains hypothetical, but there was indeed a time when all the paragons of the stagnation were well-performing administrators, energetic partisans, and burgeoning executives". This was particularly ostensible in post-WW II Kazakhstan.

 

Dinmukhamed Kunaev, who is also well-known for his famous book 'From Stalin to Gorbachev' (От Сталина до Горбачева; published posthumously in 1994), had already risen to important positions before his encounter with Brezhnev; in 1952, at the age of 40, he was President of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, and three years later, he was appointed as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR. Beyond his strong commitment to the improvement of the agricultural production, the expansion of the industrial development, and the enhancement of the natural resources' exploitation, Kunaev was a paragon of the Kazakhization and to some extent he consolidated the foundations of the Kazakh nationalism. He fervently supported Khrushchev's Virgin Lands' campaign in Kazakhstan (Освоение целины в Казахстане), which is also another indication of the consciousness that the Soviet rulers had about the importance of Kazakhstan for the entire Soviet Union.

 

Kunaev asserted his authority over the Kazakh SSR mainly after his comeback in 1964, when Brezhnev appointed him again, after having overthrown Khrushchev. His early dynamism soon subsided, after he faced the Shymkent riots in the hot summer of 1967. He preferred to secure stability and order than to achieve growth and development while angering the population.

 

The events that took place in Kazakhstan's southern city of Shymkent {Шымкент (spelled Chimkent/Чимкент at the time); ca. 130 km north of Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent} on the 13th June 1967 remain a mystery until now. Known in Russian as Чимкентский бунт (Chimkent riot), the precipitous and unforeseen events clearly shed light on the exasperation of local prople and professional categories (notably the drivers) with the policemen and their brutal manners. It all started with a funny but unlucky personal story of a driver, who died out of an accident late in the evening of the 12th June; early in the morning of the 13th June, due to various rumors, the colleagues of the deceased driver attributed his death to policemen (which was not true), because such was the height of the indignation.

 

Many other drivers joined the crowd that walked up to the local police station, passing by the city market first to garner supporters. Other drivers drove their cars, thus generating great confusion to the average people and unprecedented panic to the local authorities. Police officers began firing at the crowd only to get stones and Molotov cocktails in response. Many attributed, already at the time, the riots to the British Intelligence and their local agents, pinpointing that, although the event started spontaneously, it soon turned out to be a matter of coordinated action. The rebels invaded the police station and advanced to the pre-trial detention center to 'liberate' the arrested people (there were about 400 prisoners there). The protesters failed to invade the center, but the ensued chaos was only resolved on the next day, after the arrival of the paratroopers (1,150 servicemen of the Turkestan military district from Tashkent, and troops of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR). The military forces killed many rioters and arrested hundreds of them. The public transport resumed immediately, but it took some days for full normal life to return to Shymkent, because people were afraid to walk in the streets and more particularly in the area where the events took place.

 

With the police buildings burned, the documents lost, the local forces panicked, the rumors spread, and the grudge against the policemen overwhelming, it is normal that the authorities made an effort to appease the people. Until now, the archival materials are classified, whereas the various participants, who may eventually speak, give highly divergent versions of the events, which were -quite typically- dubbed 'anti-police'. But it is certain that, at certain moment, there were ca. 3000 protesters shouting against the police in the streets of the city, although it is also true that many other people were present there only out of curiosity. There is one point on which all sources seem to agree: all the public order officers were scared to oppose the protesters, and all the inhabitants of the city were shocked seeing the glow of the blazing fire, which was visible from all parts of the city.

 

The party and police leadership urgently flocked to the city from Alma-Ata and Moscow. Who has not been to Shymkent after the riots: member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU Andrei Kirilenko, Minister of Public Order (as the Ministry of Internal Affairs was then called) Colonel-General Nikolai Shchelokov, his deputy Boris Shumilin, head of the Main Police Department Alexei Kudryavtsev, Minister of Public Order Order of Kazakhstan Shrakbek Kabylbaev! Then, many officials were removed from work and others were forced to retire.

 

This may sound strange to those having the very wrong impression (which was deliberately and scrupulously cultivated throughout the Western countries at the time) that there were no unrests, protests and riots in Soviet Union. As a matter of fact, only on the basis of hitherto declassified reports of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, from 1953 to 1964, 416 cases of mass riots occurred in the Soviet Union. The most famous was the execution of striking workers in Novocherkassk in 1962 (which was known as Novocherkassk massacre / Новочеркасский расстрел). A lot has been written about these tragic events and in sufficient detail, so it makes sense to talk about similar performances in other parts of the USSR.

 

c- Ismail Yusupov, the Uighur leader of Kazakhstan, and Nikita Khrushchev's Unrestrainable Disregard of Borders

Yusupov, who was Khrushchev's favorite for the top position in the Kazakh SSR, did not leave good memories among most of the Kazakhs, first because he belonged to the Uighur minority, second for having been too docile to Nikita Khrushchev, and third due to the fact that he accepted the transfer of several southern parts of the Kazakh SSR's territory to the Uzbek SSR. It goes without saying that Yusupov met strong resistance even from his close subordinates for this reason and his 2-year long tenure was almost a 'mission impossible'. That's why all were happy in Kazakhstan, when Kunaev came back to power in 1964 thanks to Brezhnev (only 2.5 months after the removal of Khrushchev and the coming to power of the 'troika' or triumvirate Brezhnev, Kosygin, and Podgorny).

 

Of course, the real problem was not the docile attitude of Uighur Yusupov, but some of Khrushchev's ideas, and more specifically his tendency to ceaselessly play with borders. If we see things from the viewpoint of Communist Internationalism, we can eventually reach the conclusion that, if all the lands between the Atlantic, the Indian, the Pacific and the Arctic oceans are ruled by communist establishments, it does not really matter whether Tibet is part of India, Kashmir belongs to Pakistan, and Siberia is Chinese territory. But this approach, which may look attractive at a general level, is never accepted at the specific local level – and for very good reason.   

 

Over the past ten years, there has been an endless and passionate discussion about the terrible consequences that Khrushchev's transfer of Crimea to Ukraine has had (Передача Крымской области из состава РСФСР в состав УССР; 1954); this is due to the situation that prevailed in the fake state of Ukraine after 2014. But in this field, one has to admit that Khrushchev's unrestrainable Communist Internationalism, which most probably was a latent form of late Trotzkyism, did indeed cause a lot of damages in many other parts of the USSR too.  

 

To be succinct and correct, the problem with the borders between the Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek SSR truly antedated the rise of Nikita Khrushchev to power. Yet, these borders for good reason were considered as one of the best regulated lines within the USSR. In fact, there was a border demarcation problem only in a section of about 200 km long; this was due to the existence of densely populated lands on both sides, namely in Kazakhstan (Saryagach/Сарыагаш and Maktaaral/ Мактаараль; in the Turkestan region / Туркестанская область, which is today known as South Kazakhstan Province / Южно-Казахстанская область) and in Uzbekistan (Tashkent and Jizzakh/Джизак/ جىززﻩخ regions).

 

However, in the first 3-4 decades of Soviet rule in the region, the practice of transferring territories for pastures to other republics became very common. This measure was adopted for temporary use and only for the purpose to increase the overall productivity of animal husbandry. However, in all of these cases, the land was viewed as 'foreign' and the users did not pay due attention; the ensuing negative result was that gradually these lands lost their fertility. At the same time, similar small territories started being very easily and very often transferred from one soviet republic to another and vice versa.  

 

Within the aforementioned context, the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR issued a resolution on 21st January 1956 in order to apply to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR with a request to transfer the Bostandyk (Бостандык) region with a total area of ​​​​almost 5000 km2 from the Kazakh SSR to the Uzbek SSR, except for certain territories, namely

- pastures used by collective farms of the Dzhambul (Жамбыл/Джамбул; currently Taras/Тараз) region,

- lands depending on the Southern Golodnostepsky canal (южно-голодностепский канал) and the Central Golodnostepsky canal, and

- various lands that had been transferred to the Uzbek SSR in 1936–1937 for temporary use.

 

The Bostandyk region transfer had the strong support of N. Khrushchev, but not that of the experts. More specifically, a special commission had been created in 1954 to study the question of the validity of the transfer of these territories to the Uzbek SSR. Having carefully examined the issue, the commission decided that these territories were of particular importance for the economic activity of Kazakhstan and, therefore, their transfer to Uzbekistan would be inappropriate. Immediately, Zhumabek Tashenev (pronounced: Tasheniov; Жумабек Ахметович Ташенев), who was the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR, and Leonid Brezhnev, who was the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR, approved the conclusion of the commission. Contrarily to them, Khrushchev did not accept any of the objections of the commission. Taking into consideration the realities of the Soviet governance, as well as the structure and the function of the administrative hierarchy, Tashenev and Brezhnev understood that they had to accept the transfer, because as Brezhnev said at the time, "if we refuse, then others will fulfill this decision".

 

Subsequently, the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR voted to include the Bostandyk region into the Uzbek SSR's territory, and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued an order on 13th February 1956 to reconfirm the "partial change in the border between the Kazakh SSR and the Uzbek SSR". In spite of this development, further seizure of Kazakh pasturelands continued being carried out by Uzbeks. Collective farms and state farms in the Bukhara region (i.e. in a region far from the Kazakh-Uzbek border) used arbitrarily more than 3500 km2 of Kazakh territory as pastureland; in total, an area almost the size of Sardinia (more than 20000 km2) was captured by Uzbeks for pasture purposes. The directorates of the Kazakh Kyzylkum (Кызылкум) and the Chardara (Чардара; Kazakh: Шардара) state farms issued then an alarming warning. 

 

The institution which we can now conventionally call 'Soviet Ministry of Agriculture' (Государственный комитет СМ СССР по хлебопродуктам/'USSR Council of Ministers State Committee for Grain Products') issued a statement ordering the immediate abandonment of transhumance areas that were parts of Kazakhstan. A proposal involved also the early return of the Keles (Келес) territory (1500 km2) to Kazakhstan. But in 1961-1962, the leadership of the Uzbek SSR submitted a request for an extra permission to use 3500 km2 in South Kazakhstan and 6000 km2 in the Kyzyl-Orda regions as pasturelands; the Kazakh SSR rejected the demand. It is on this background that Khrushchev's deeply anti-Kazakh feeling started being expressed, amd his personal involvement commenced to take shape.

 

Even nowadays, many people firmly believe that Khrushchev intended to effectively dismantle Kazakhstan and purposefully create an entirely new SSR in the process; this idea had much to do with the project of Virgin Lands (Освоение целины) that was geared to turn Kazakhstan into the granary of the entire Soviet Union. All the same, if this ambitious enterprise were successfully materialized, in Khrushchev's mind, the 'granary' could be elevated to a higher status and become an independent SSR. Actually, it is well known that he spoke in favor of revising the borders between some SSRs in a closed meeting of the highest state and party bodies that took place on 24th January 1959.

 

In spite of the fact that the economy of Kazakhstan developed at a very fast pace, Khrushchev came up with the absurd argument that Kazakhstan was not capable of independently developing both agriculture and industry; to take things seriously, if this could be stated about Kazakhstan, it could also be said about any other SSR. To enlarge the Virgin Lands, he wanted to single out five regions of Kazakhstan and, in this manner, to attempt later to disaggregate the SSR; according to his words, the main goal of creating a new territorial unit was to stimulate the development of non-arable lands in the northern parts of the Kazakh SSR. In the future, Khrushchev would detach the enlarged Virgin Territory into a Soviet Socialist Republic separate from Kazakhstan, giving it the status of a union or resubordination of the region to the RSFSR. At this point, it is necessary to pinpoint that formally, throughout its existence, the Virgin Territory was part of Kazakhstan, but the real control was carried out from Moscow.

 

To advance with his plans, Khrushchev called to Moscow the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, Dinmukhamed Kunaev, and Zhumabek Tashenev, who headed the local government; there he announced his plans to them (September 1960). Both, Kunaev and Tashenev, rejected Khrushchev's concepts, but in the aftermath of the meeting, Khrushchev lied, when announcing that the Kazakh authorities agreed with his positions; actually, he was never really interested in their opinions on the topic, and the meeting was merely procedural. There is much literature about this event and, due to the existence of numerous rumors, no one can conclude on how far Khrushchev's interlocutors went in their reactions. As it appears, Kunaev was well-tempered and moderate, but Tashenev reacted overwhelmingly and even threatened to take the case to international bodies, which would be tantamount to dissolution of the USSR.

 

Many assumptions about the two Kazakh patriotic leaders' reactions against Khrushchev in that meeting draw on ulterior developments; both, Kunaev and Tashenev, were fired, but the latter fell in disgrace. Tashenev was indeed accused of 'special intolerance' and even marginalized.  On Khrushchev's 'recommendation', he was removed from all highest posts of the Kazakh SSR. From 1961 until 1975 (date of his retirement), he was the Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of the South Kazakhstan - Chimkent Regional Council. However, after 1999, many streets in numerous cities of Kazakhstan were named in his honor. In 2012, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth, the voluminous research 'Zhumabek Tashenev' was published due to contributions by scholars from the Institute of State History of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan; it was a full rehabilitation and a great tribute to his memory. In 2019, a mosque was built in his honor in Topar (Karaganda region), whereas in August 2021, a monument to him was unveiled in Nur-Sultan.

 

After the aforementioned thunderous meeting and until Nikita Khrushchev's demise, Kazakhstan's fate was in jeopardy. The fact that, despite the great investments made and the dispatch of Soviet Union's best specialists, the Virgin Lands project did not bring forth the fabulous results that the Soviet leader expected made him very nervous. Even worse, the crop yield was rather falling every year. This situation angered Khrushchev enormously; it was then that he turned his eyes to the southern borders of the Kazakh SSR where new oil reserves had just been explored.

 

At a certain point, distrusting even the docile Ismail Yusupov, Khrushchev proposed the transfer of the oil-rich Mangyshlak peninsula (Полуостров Мангышлак) to Azerbaijan or the division of the region between the Azerbaijan SSR and the Turkmen SSR. If implemented, this absurdity would constitute a unique and unprecedented moment in the History of the Caspian Sea region, because never did a kingdom or any other state based on the Caspian Sea's western coast control the eastern coastlands or a part of them. In other words, there was never a Caucasian kingdom or any other type of state (having its capital in the Caucasus region) that controlled any part of Central Asia, even the Caspian Sea's eastern coastlands. Several inconsistent theories and silly arguments always accompanied Khrushchev's unconditional biases against the Kazakhs; he was purportedly 'sure' that the leadership of the Kazakh SSR would not be able to engage in oil production and harvesting because, "historically, the Kazakhs are the nation that is best at animal husbandry", which is of course nonsensical. With so childish 'explanations', he insisted on the need to transfer many industries to other republics. Finally, Khrushchev's anti-Kazakh paroxysm generated significant reaction within the Politburo.  

 

Many people believe that Alexei Nikolaevich Kosygin (1904-1980; Алексей Николаевич Косыгин), a discreet, highly intelligent, and greatly influential Soviet statesman {who may/might have been Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov (1904-1918; Алексей Николаевич Романов), the last czarevich of the Russian Empire, i.e. the only son of St. Nicholas II, according to some speculative theories} really saved the territorial integrity of the Kazakh SSR, because he was the only capable to lead the opposition to Khrushchev's plans, supporting the Kazakh authorities and describing as unconvincing the arguments of the supporters of the transfer of the Mangyshlak peninsula to neighboring republics. Following a reaction of this scale, Khrushchev did not go ahead with this anti-Kazakh plan until October 1964, when he was removed from power.

 

Nevertheless, due to Ismail Yusupov's docile attitude, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR decided (on 26th January 1963) to transfer to the Uzbek SSR

a- the Kirov (Кировский район) and Pakhta-Aral (Пахта-Аральский район, currently known as Maktaaral District/Мактааральский район) regions and the Kyzylkum and Chimkurgan (Чимкурган) village councils of the Kyzylkum district of the Chimkent (Чимкент) region with a total area of ​​9560 km2,

b- pasture lands in the Chimkent region with a total area of 15440 km2, and

d- pasture lands of the Kyzyl-Orda region with a total area of 11500 km2 (these lands were in long-term use of the Uzbek SSR).

 

Subsequently, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR issued an order "On the partial change of the border with the Kazakh SSR" (25th May 1963). Last, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued an order "On a partial change and an updated description of the republican borders between the Uzbek SSR and the Kazakh SSR" (19th September 1963). This meant that an area of 36630 km2 (i.e. larger than Belgium) was detached from the Kazakh SSR and assigned to the Uzbek SSR.

 

It is therefore easy to understand why everyone in Kazakhstan was happy with Nikita Khrushchev's removal; actually, many different parts of the Kazakh Soviet establishment, from security forces to business executives, were cheerful. With Leonid Brezhnev in power, a better assessment of Kazakhstan's prospects and opportunities was made, because he knew personally the Kazakh SSR as a whole quite well. As I have already said, he returned Dinmukhamed Kunaev to the top post of the SSR, canceled the Virgin lands project, and demonstrated a real interest in the Kazakh economy's continued growth.  

 

However, it took years to return the grabbed territory back to the Kazakhs; on 11th May 1971, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR issued an order "On the transfer of part of the territory of the Samarkand region of the Uzbek SSR to the Kazakh SSR"; and on the next day, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR promulgated an order "On the inclusion of part of the territory of the Syrdarya region of the Uzbek SSR into the Kazakh SSR". On 28th June 1971, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR proclaimed a decree "On a partial change in the border between the Uzbek SSR and the Kazakh SSR", irrevocably returning the territories of the Kirov and Pakhta-Aral regions to the Kazakh SSR. According to Kunaev's memoirs, he managed to return all three districts that were abducted back in 1963, with the exception of two state farms. About:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахская_Советская_Социалистическая_Республика#Председатели_Центрального_исполнительного_комитета_Казахской_ССР

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Руководители_ЦК_Компартии_Казахстана_(1920—1991)#Первые_секретари_ЦК_Компартии_Казахстана[6]

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Днепропетровский_клан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnipropetrovsk_Mafia

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Брежнев,_Леонид_Ильич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Brezhnev#Advancement_under_Khrushchev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Яковлев,_Иван_Дмитриевич

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Беляев,_Николай_Ильич

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/pochemu-bajkonur-postroili-imenno-v-kazahstane-i-imenno-v-tom-meste-6740908698584788010-506042045234859466

https://www.roscosmos.ru/479/

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Байқоңыр_(ғарыш_айлағы)

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Байқоңыр_ғарыш_кешені

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Байконур

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome

http://www.kremlin.ru/supplement/2291

https://www.prlib.ru/history/619281

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Belyaev_(politician)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Массовые_беспорядки_в_Темиртау_(1959)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Исаев,_Павел_Николаевич

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кунаев,_Динмухамед_Ахмедович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinmukhamed_Kunaev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ташенев,_Жумабек_Ахметович

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Освоение_целины

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Lands_campaign

https://mysl.kazgazeta.kz/news/2259

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Юсупов,_Исмаил_Абдурасулович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Yusupov

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/pochemu-vzbuntovalis-shofery-v-kazahstane-v-1967-godu-1253733045544045123-5895727832480940043

https://kazpravda.kz/n/zharkoe-leto-1967-go/

https://von-hoffmann.livejournal.com/1380237.html

https://elitar.kz/ru/materialy/aktivnyy-grazhdanin/shymkentskiy-myatezh1967-goda-kak-eto-bylo

https://statehistory.ru/982/CHimkentskiy-bunt--1967-g-/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leaders_of_Kazakhstan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kazakhstan_(Soviet_Union)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qairat_Rysqulbekov

https://articlekz.com/article/5951

http://nblib.library.kz/elib/Sait/Sovrem-e%20knigi/01-01-2017/Kunaev%20D%20A%20Ot%20Stalina%20do%20Gorbocheva/files/assets/basic-html/page-1.html#

https://newizv.ru/news/society/09-02-2018/ne-tolko-krym-kak-pri-hruschyove-menyali-granitsy-soyuznyh-respublik

https://qamshy.kz/article/18249-on-ne-otdal-zemli-kazakhstana-rossii-turkmenii-i-uzbekistanu

https://www.trtrussian.com/mnenie/kak-hrushev-kazahstan-raschlenyal-vnutrennie-granicy-soyuza-bratskih-narodov-8514582

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Узбекско-казахстанская_граница

https://www.trtrussian.com/mnenie/kak-hrushev-kazahstan-raschlenyal-vnutrennie-granicy-soyuza-bratskih-narodov-8514582

https://www.trtrussian.com/mnenie/dinmuhamed-kunaev-zabytyj-otec-kazahskoj-modernizacii-7868593

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumvirate#Soviet_Union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leaders_of_the_Soviet_Union#List_of_troikas

https://babel.ua/ru/texts/36813-55-let-nazad-triumvirat-brezhnev-kosygin-podgornyy-sverg-nikitu-hrushcheva-vspominaem-o-partiynyh-intrigah-i-roli-v-nih-rukovodstva-ussr-v-arhivnyh-foto

https://ezoteriker.ru/en/kosygin-carevich-aleksei-dokazatelstva-aleksei-kosygin-biografiya-roditeli-i/

https://www.kp.ru/daily/26555/3572214/

https://zen.yandex.ru/media/glaz/aleksei-kosygin-kak-syn-nikolaia-vtorogo-popal-v-politbiuro-5e27c4d7f73d9d00ac830261

https://news.rambler.ru/other/41394550-otkuda-vzyalas-versiya-chto-aleksey-kosygin-utselevshiy-tsarevich-aleksey-romanov/

https://linalina20.livejournal.com/770993.html

https://santorpack.ru/en/piggy-bank-big-ideas/otkuda-vzyalas-versiya-chto-aleksei-kosygin-ucelevshii-carevich.html

http://www.cnshb.ru/AKDiL/0024/base/RW/000448.shtm

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Голодная_степь

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Достык_(канал)

https://agricultural_dictionary.academic.ru/5456/ЮЖНО-ГОЛОДНОСТЕПСКИЙ_КАНАЛ

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Освоение_целины

https://soviethistory.msu.edu/1954-2/virgin-lands-campaign/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Lands_campaign

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/znamenitoe-osvoenie-celiny-pri-hruschyove-gde-byla-stolica-etoj-celiny-6740908698584788010-3741536840455478054/?user_session_id=ef130962e03013

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/pochemu-poezdka-brezhneva-v-tashkent-stala-dlya-nego-rokovoj-2989640820865754251-7513265440897770742/?user_session_id=10f0806628a0bd4

 

d- The Jeltoqsan riots (1986): conspiracy theories and historical distortions diffused by Western academics and mass media

After his comeback to the position of the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan in December 1964, Dinmukhamed Kunaev ruled for 22 consecutive years, thus becoming the longest ruling Kazakh lord in centuries; his record was later surpassed by the founder of post-Soviet Kazakhstan, former president Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Kazakhs owe much to Kunaev, because he contributed greatly to the stabilization of the country, the development of the economy, the modernization of the Kazakh society, and the remarkable improvement of the Kazakh SSR in every sense – socio-cultural, academic, educational, intellectual, economic, and scientific.  

 

With the implementation of the Kosygin reforms in the 1960s, the agrarian sector of the economy of Kazakhstan began to develop rapidly, and the Kazakh SSR turned out to be a vital territory for the Soviet production of industrial crops, such as sugar beet, cotton, and tobacco. It is during the Kunaev years that Kazakhstan became one of the three largest economies in the USSR, along with Russia and Ukraine. From 1970 to 1985, the volume of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Industry tripled, and thanks to the discovery of new oil fields in the western part of the country, the republic became one of the major oil production centers in the USSR. According to the statistics of the Information and Analytical Center of Moscow State University, during Kunaev’s tenure, the productive potential of the Kazakh SSR grew by more than 700%; the volume of industry grew 9 times, of agriculture 6 times, and of capital construction 8 times.

 

The infrastructure of Kazakhstan and of the capital Almaty (Alma-Ata) developed rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s; the Central Republican Museum, the building of the National Library, the Koktobe TV tower, the House of Friendship, the Medeo sports complex, the House of Political Education, the new buildings of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Казахский национальный университет имени аль-Фараби), the Monument of Glory in the park of 28 Panfilov guardsmen, several microdistricts, many other cultural and residential facilities, as well as a number of outstanding sanatoriums and big hotels were all built at the time of Kunaev.

 

For 22 years, Kunaev did much and could actually do everything; but he could never escape the absurd, unsystematic and catastrophic de-Brezhnevization, which was pursued as a panacea by the hopeless and confused M. Gorbachev, who thought that, by firing Brezhnev's acolytes, he would rectify the various troubles that Soviet bureaucracy had generated and accumulated over the years. In fact, treacherous advisers led Gorbachev from mistake to mistake, and this situation ended up in the deliberately engineered collapse of Soviet Union without Gorbachev even understanding what he was doing. Many people today speak about the chaos of the Yeltsin years (1991-1999), which is surely correct, but at the same time, this narrative helps conceal the even worse havoc, namely that of the Gorbachev years (1985-1991). In today's untrustworthy, irrelevant, and deeply fallacious, Western bibliography, Gorbachev's 'beatification' is complemented with terrible historical distortions and numerous conspiracy theories that are incessantly reproduced by the Wikipedia, the Western mass media, and the nonsensical propagandists of the Western countries' bogus-universities.

 

In this regard, about the end of Kunaev's tenure, the Gennady Kolbin's appointment (as Kunaev's replacement), and the Jeltoqsan riots of 1986, an incredible conspiracy theory has been fabricated and diffused by the corrupt and shameless Western academics only to facilitate the task of the criminal Western diplomats, scandalous pseudo-intellectuals, and the mainstream media bogus-journalists to present the Jeltoqsan events as an inter-ethnic conflict and as an expression of anti-Russian, Kazakh national feelings. This preposterous story is entirely false, but at this point, it is worthwhile to examine closely how such vicious and insidious lies are being produced and diffused.  

 

The Western conspiracy theory about Jeltoqsan involves the following four major points of a most disreputable narrative:

a) Kunaev's prime minister ('Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR') Nursultan Nazarbayev criticized personally the President of the Academy of Sciences Askar Kunaev (Dinmukhamed Kunaev's brother) for "his inertia and anti-reformist credentials";

b) this criticism caused the reaction of Dinmukhamed Kunaev, who -having appointed Nazarbayev as prime minister in 1984- felt betrayed and thus flied to Moscow in order to demand Nazarbayev's dismissal personally from Gorbachev;

c) Gorbachev pressurized the Kazakh Communist leadership in order to dismiss Dinmukhamed Kunaev and his brother Askar Kunaev from their respective positions;

d) Gorbachev appointed Gennady Kolbin as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR, and because he was not a Kazakh ethnic, the supposedly inter-ethnic conflict of Jeltoqsan erupted.

 

This conspiracy theory can be found in the English Wikipedia, but it is absent from the Russian Wikipedia and the Kazakh Wikipedia, because Russians and Kazakhs would not believe a word of these ludicrous lies and they would consequently demand from their governments to permanently block the evil, perfidious and criminal site of Wikipedia. Where does the forgery diffused by the English Wikipedia come from?

 

In support of the aforementioned 4-point claim (and narrative), the English Wikipedia (in the entries about Dinmukhamed Kunaev and Nursultan Nazarbayev, but not in the entry concerning the Jeltoqsan riots) presents as reference (and bibliography) the fake PhD dissertation of an obscure and otherwise unknown 'historian' named Sally (Nikoline) Cummings. Who this person is we can learn in the site below: "Educator, editor, and author- Keele University, Staffordshire, England; temporary lecturer, 1995- University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland; temporary lecturer in politics, 1998-1999 & lecturer in politics, 1999-2003- St. Andrews University, St. Andrews, Scotland; lecturer in politics, 2003; held research posts with NATO and the European Union" https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/cummings-sally-nikoline

 

In other words, this is a disreputable MI6 agent masqueraded as academic, who {instead of planning to kill statesmen like Slobodan Milosevic (which is the case of Nicholas Fishwick who was masqueraded as a 'diplomat')}, works systematically to kill the Truth, which is the essence of academic research, in order to diffuse the sick, paranoid and inhuman lies of the world's most pathetic, most illegal, and most criminal state, i.e. England.

 

It is therefore high time to unveil the filthy lies of the morally defective, mentally incapacitated, and academically execrable, NATO staff member Sally (Nikoline) Cummings; going through her nonsensical diatribe, which was comfortably accepted as 'PhD dissertation' by England's falsehood machines that are euphemistically called 'universities', one can easily realize the nature of this text. The 'author' merely collected diplomatic rumors, unreliable hearsay from various agents of NATO countries' secret services, confessions made by duly bribed Kazakhs, undocumented claims, unsubstantiated arguments, wishful thinking, and irrelevantly collected bibliography to compose her fake PhD dissertation. What is even worse is the extreme dishonesty with which she shamelessly presents her forgery.  

 

On p.75 of her trashy dissertation {"The Political Elite in Kazakhstan since Independence (1991-1998): Origins, Structure and Policies"}, the notorious forger Sally (Nikoline) Cummings writes:

"In his memoirs, Kunaev describes his role in the original appointment of Nazarbaev and his feeling of betrayal: "Igor Ligachev and I, we decided a number of cadre questions in the republic, in particular the promotion of Nursultan Nazarbaev to the post of Chairman of the Kazakh SSR Council of Ministers".5 Shortly after this appointment, Kunaev flew to Moscow and demanded the removal of Nazarbaev. Meanwhile, supporters of Nazarbaev lobbied for Kunaev's removal and his replacement by the young Chairman. Gorbachev, often preferring compromise, opted for neither, and instead parachuted in from Moscow an ethnic Russian, Gennadii Kolbin. The decision set off three days of rioting in Alma-Ata, between 16 and 18 December, 1986. These riots at the imposition of an outsider are often interpreted as the first major nationalist crack in the supranational Soviet edifice".

Note 5 can be found on p. 115; it reads: "Dinmukhamed Kunaev, O Moem Vremeni (Alma-Ata: Deyir, 1992), p. 9".

 

This is entirely inconsistent; Nazarbayev's appointment as Chairman of Kazakh SSR Council of Ministers dates back to the time of Konstantin Chernenko; it had nothing to do with Gorbachev (22 March 1984: see above: part XVIII unit a). Even worse, in December 1986, Dinmukhamed Kunaev did not fly to Moscow in order to demand "the removal of Nazarbayev", but to get Gorbachev's agreement and approval of his resignation because of poor health. What is really embarrassing is the fact that the dishonest Sally (Nikoline) Cummings refers to Dinmukhamed Kunaev's book that was published posthumously ('О моем времени. От Сталина до Горбачева' / 'a mayom vremeni: at Stalina da Gorbachova' / 'About my time: From Stalin to Gorbachev') only to misquote the book and cheat her readers who do not happen to read Russian. Kunaev did not write in his memoirs that he "demanded the removal of Nazarbaev". This is a lie.

 

In his book, Kunaev states the following (the link is below, at the end of the unit):

"Выполняя поручения ЦК и Президиума Верховного Совета, выезжал в ряд социалистических и капиталистических стран, возглавлял партийные и парламентские делегации. Мне выпало большое счастье работать, встречаться, слушать видных деятелей нашей партии и государства, международного рабочего и коммунистического движения. Приходилось беседовать с крупными государственными и партийными деятелями капиталистических стран.

 

Хочу сразу сказать, что о масштабных изменениях в экономической, культурной жизни республики за указанный период невозможно рассказать в пределах данной книги.

 

Поэтому своей целью я поставил постараться рассказать о главных событиях, происшедших в жизни республики и страны в общей форме, не вдаваясь в описание отдельных подробностей. Еще хочу сказать, что я не писатель и не историк и моя работа не претендует на какое-то художественное повествование или историческую хронику.

 

Я решил систематизировать и обобщить свой более чем пятидесятилетний опыт партийной, государственной, хозяйственной и научной деятельности. Надеюсь, что мои записки напомнят моим товарищам и друзьям о нашей совместной работе, о незабываемом времени социалистического строительства в Казахстане. Память бережно хранит те переломные моменты, происшедшие в истории республики, которые определили и явились решающей базой ее дальнейшего развития.

 

У каждого политического деятеля наступает в жизни момент, когда он должен принять самое ответственное и, не скрою, очень трудное для себя решение: пора уходить в отставку.

 

Я не сомневался, что мое заявление об уходе на пенсию будет принято, и порукой тому было много разных и веских причин. О нюансах я расскажу, наверное, позже, но тогда, в декабре, мой Опыт подсказывал мне: нужно лететь в Москву и встретиться с М. С. Горбачевым.

 

И вот я в Москве. Остановился в гостинице «Казахстан», которая была, кстати, построена силами нашей республики рядом с Казахским представительством на Чистых прудах, напротив памятника Грибоедову и станции метро «Кировская». На следующее утро в Кунцевской больнице я проведал жену, Зухру Шариповну. Из больницы приехал на Старую площадь в ЦК и поднялся на пятый этаж, где находился кабинет Генерального секретаря ЦК КПСС. Я шел по знакомому коридору в хорошо известный мне кабинет Генсека. Здесь в свое время работал Хрущев, Брежнев, Андропов, Черненко. Было время, когда в этом кабинете Хрущев и Брежнев с моим участием принимали немало решений о помощи Казахстану, касающихся развития его экономики, культуры и науки. Вспомнилось, как в начале 1955 года Н. С. Хрущев благословлял меня здесь на должность Председателя Совета Министров Казахской ССР.

 

Но на этот раз я шел к Генсеку с личным вопросом. Горбачев встал из-за стола, как всегда во время наших встреч, тепло поздоровался. Затем мы сели за длинный стол, где обычно сидят присутствующие на совещаниях. После взаимных приветствий, не растягивая разговор, я положил ему на стол свое заявление. В заявлении было сказано, что ЦК КПСС вот уже несколько десятков лет оказывал Мне большое доверие, поручая весьма ответственную и почетную работу. За оказанное высокое доверие я выражаю свою сердечную благодарность ЦК, Политбюро и Генеральному секретарю, но в настоящее время мое здоровье и возраст не позволяют мне плодотворно трудиться на этом посту, поэтому прошу рассмотреть вопрос о моем уходе на пенсию.

 

Горбачев, на мой взгляд, к такому разговору был достаточно уже подготовлен и сказал, что он поддерживает мое предложение и заявление мое вынесет на рассмотрение Политбюро. Далее он сказал, что большая занятость не позволит ему принять участие в работе пленума ЦК КПК, а потому в Алма-Ату прибудет Разумовский.

 

Признаюсь, что в душе я надеялся, что Генсек спросит меня, кого бы я хотел рекомендовать на свое место. Он не спросил. Тогда я сам задал ему вопрос. Горбачев довольно сухо сказал: «Решение этого вопроса оставь нам. В республику будет рекомендован и направлен хороший коммунист».

 

Перед моим уходом он сказал, что обеспечит жильем в Москве. Я поблагодарил его за заботу и ответил, что не собираюсь никуда переезжать и буду жить в своем родном городе. Тепло прощаясь со мной, Горбачев сказал: «Будете в Москве, обязательно заходите». На том и расстались. Вечером я вылетел в Алма-Ату.

 

В кабинете, который я занимал в ЦК, собрал подаренные мне книги от писателей, деятелей науки и культуры и отправил их домой. Из Москвы никто не тревожил, да и в Алма-Ате, по всему чувствовалось, ждали перемен, и потому напряжение последних лет резко поубавилось. На заседание Политбюро меня не вызывали, но просьбу удовлетворили. После получения решения я собрал бюро ЦК КПК и сообщил товарищам об уходе на пенсию. От имени бюро выступил С. Мукашев и поблагодарил за совместную работу. Ну, а 16 декабря состоялся пленум ЦК. О его работе, его последствиях читатели узнают в одной из заключительных глав".

 

A rough translation of the above excerpt reads:

"Fulfilling the instructions of the Central Committee and the Presidium of the Supreme Council, I traveled to a number of socialist and capitalist countries, headed party and parliamentary delegations. I had the great fortune to work, to meet, to listen to prominent figures of our party and state, of the international workers' and communist movement. I had to talk with major state and party leaders of the capitalist countries.

 

I want to say right away that it is impossible to tell about large-scale changes in the economic and cultural life of the republic during the specified period within the limits of this book.

 

Therefore, I set as my goal to try to tell about the main events that took place in the life of the republic and the country in a general form, without going into a description of individual details. I also want to say that I am not a writer or a historian, and my work does not pretend to be some kind of artistic narrative or historical chronicle.

 

I decided to systematize and generalize my more than fifty years of experience in party, government, economic and scientific activities. I hope that my notes will remind my comrades and friends of our joint work, of the unforgettable time of socialist construction in Kazakhstan. The memory carefully preserves those turning points that occurred in the history of the republic, which determined and became the decisive basis for its further development.

 

Every political figure has a moment in his life when he must make the most responsible and, I will not hide, very difficult decision for himself: it's time to resign.

 

I had no doubt that my application for retirement would be accepted, and there were many different and good reasons for this. I will probably tell about the nuances later, but then, in December, my experience told me: I need to fly to Moscow and meet with M. S. Gorbachev.

 

And here I am in Moscow. I stayed at the hotel "Kazakhstan", which, by the way, was built by the forces of our republic next to the Kazakh representative office at Chistye Prudy, opposite the monument to Griboyedov and the metro station "Kirovskaya". The next morning at the Kuntsevo hospital I visited my wife, Zukhra Sharipovna. From the hospital I came to Staraya Square to the Central Committee and went up to the fifth floor, where the office of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU was located. I walked along the familiar corridor to the General Secretary's office, well known to me. Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko worked here at one time. There was a time when, in this cabinet, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, with my participation, made many decisions about helping Kazakhstan, concerning the development of its economy, culture and science. I remembered how at the beginning of 1955, N. S. Khrushchev blessed me here for the post of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR.

 

But this time I went to the General Secretary with a personal question. Gorbachev got up from the table, as he always did during our meetings, and greeted us warmly. We then sat down at the long table where those present at meetings usually sit. After mutual greetings, without dragging out the conversation, I put my statement on his desk. The statement said that for several decades now the Central Committee of the CPSU has given me great confidence, entrusting me with a very responsible and honorable job. For the high trust placed in me, I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Central Committee, the Politburo and the General Secretary, but at present my health and age do not allow me to work fruitfully in this post, so I ask you to consider my retirement.

 

Gorbachev, in my opinion, was already sufficiently prepared for such a conversation and said that he supported my proposal and that he would submit my application to the Politburo for consideration. Further, he said that, being very busy, he would not allow him to take part in the work of the plenum of the Kazakh Communist Party Central Committee, and therefore Razumovsky would arrive in Alma-Ata.

 

I confess that in my heart I hoped that the General Secretary would ask me whom I would like to recommend for my position. He didn't ask. Then I asked him a question myself. Gorbachev said rather dryly: "Leave this issue to us. A good communist will be recommended and sent to the republic".

 

Before I left, he said that he would provide housing in Moscow. I thanked him for his concern and replied that I was not going to move anywhere and would live in my hometown. Warmly saying goodbye to me, Gorbachev said: "If you are in Moscow, be sure to come". On that we parted. In the evening I flew to Alma-Ata.

 

In the office that I occupied in the Central Committee, I collected the books presented to me from writers, scientists and cultural figures and sent them home. No one from Moscow disturbed, and in Alma-Ata, by all accounts, it was felt that they were waiting for changes, and therefore the tension of recent years has sharply decreased. I was not summoned to a meeting of the Politburo, but the request was granted. After receiving the decision, I called the bureau of the CCP Central Committee and informed my comrades about my retirement. S. Mukashev spoke on behalf of the bureau and thanked for the joint work. Well, on December 16, a plenum of the Central Committee was held. Readers will learn about his work, his consequences in one of the final chapters".

 

This was the historical reality; there was no conspiracy; there was no animosity between Kunaev and Nazarbayev, and there was no inter-ethnic conflict in the December 1986 riots. And this can be easily understood, if we take into consideration the very numerous occasions on which Nazarbayev honored the memory of Kunaev. Today's Kazakhstan is filled with streets, avenues, squares, institutes, colleges, academies named after Kunaev; this would have never been the case, had the West-masterminded conspiracy been true.

 

Kolbin was indeed a very good Soviet apparatchik; he was few years older than Gorbachev, he had served in Sverdlovsk (Second Secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU), in Georgia (Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party), and in Ulyanovsk (First Secretary of the Ulyanovsk Regional Committee of the CPSU), being Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1971-1975), Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1979-1989), and Member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1987-1989); he was an experienced technocrat known for his commitment to infrastructure modernization. But for Kunaev's position, he was the wrong choice – at least psychologically.

 

The December 1986 events, which became known as Jeltoqsan, were in reality an explosion of the feelings of few radical students, who perceived Kunaev's tenure in their own, wrong, inaccurate, and 'nationalistic' manner. Consequently, the appointment of Gennady Kolbin was an occasion for them and others to express their anger for the growing economic malaise, their fears for the unknown (as represented by Gorbachev's erroneous choice), and their resentment of an eventual Russification (which did not take place). There were certainly several problems in the Kazakh society, and at the level of the local administration, in spite of several decades of implemented korenizatsiya, the Russian language was still at a more advantageous position than Kazakh. Russian was a mandatory requirement for all people willing to be appointed at the highest positions in the administration and the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR; however, this did not apply in the case of the Kazakh language. This meant that, in the Kazakh SSR, local Russians could hold a leadership position without knowing Kazakh, but local Kazakhs could not hold a leadership position without speaking Russian. It is normal that 'details' like this count more than expected by the cool-minded bureaucrats and the rationalistic apparatchiks, who cannot feel the pulse of average people.

 

In fact, fear existed from both sides, but this is not enough to characterize the Jeltoqsan riots as inter-ethnic conflict. In fact, even among the top positions in the Kazakh SSR, Kazakh natives feared that any partisan attempt against what was described as Kazakh nationalism (which was viewed as a deviation by the standard communists) would be tantamount to (or excuse for) return to the Great Russian Imperialism; and Russian natives viewed things the other way round.

 

In fact, the existence of governmental plans providing for the prevention of 'group violations of public order', like План «Метель-1986» (Plan "Metel-1986") which was prepared in 1985 by the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, demonstrates that riots were expected in fact anywhere, not only in Alma-Ata (Almaty). The plan was surely implemented during the December 1986 riots (Jeltoqsan), but this shows that the reasons anticipated were basically economic and not inter-ethnic of nature.

 

There are several indications demonstrating that Kolbin's appointment merely offered the opportunity that for a protracted period the protesting students were searching for; according to several testimonies, students started to agitate in the dormitories already on 14th December 1986, i.e. already two days before Kolbin's appointment was announced. According to reports of other insiders, the banners that the students showed in the streets on 17th December 1986 were prepared several months in advance.

 

On the first day of the riots (16th December), the protesters were few, namely around 200 students; they shouted demanding the cancellation of Kolbin's appointment. The governmental reaction was very fast indeed; the Ministry of Internal Affairs was immediately instructed to disperse the rally. Throughout the city, all telephone communications were turned off; the groups of students were dispersed by the police. Special Forces detachments from the Siberian military school were assembled, as well as cadets from the local border school.

 

On the second day, there were more protesters, more violence, banners with extremist demands, and grave deterioration. Nursultan Nazarbayev, along with other officials, spoke to the raging crowd, urging young people to return to their educational institutions and/or workplaces; this bold action unfortunately did not bring results, and -even worse- it was deliberately misinterpreted by few Western conspiracy theorists, who invented a plot as per which Nazarbayev had personally organized the riots (and in such case, he was the true leader of the protesters). When Gen. Vladimir Lobov (Владимир Николаевич Лобов; born in 1935), commander of the Central Asian Military District (and later Chief of the General Staff of the USSR), refused to involve the troops subordinate to him in the dispersal of youth, it became clear that several thousand soldiers had to be airlifted and transferred to Alma-Ata. The first units landed on the same day and attacked the protesters, dispersing them and cleaning the city.

 

On the same day, the state of emergency was declared in part of the territory of Kazakhstan, but it did not apply to Alma-Ata (Almaty); in the outskirts of the Kazakh capital, an operational camp was established with at least 50000 military personnel from parts of the Central Asia, Moscow, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and other military districts, the navy, and internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; this shows that the strength of the protesters was over-estimated by the Soviet authorities. As part of the state of emergency, all approaches to Aktau (the main harbor of the Kazakh SSR in the Caspian Sea) were blocked by the Caspian military flotilla of the Soviet Union.

 

On the night of December 17th, work teams were formed in factories and industrial plants in Alma-Ata; it was planned to use them on the next day in order to disperse the demonstrators.

 

On the third day (December 18th), the demonstrators were more numerous (perhaps around 20000 or 25000 students and youngsters), but the number of the participants was still insignificant, if we take into consideration the size of a city like Alma-Ata (ca. 1100000 inhabitants at the time). The security forces used the same tactics as on the previous day. Early in the morning, a limited number of policemen were visibly deployed. The protesters were thus entrapped and started clashing with the law enforcement agents; after few hours, the bulk of security forces entered the scene. Around 22:00 (10 pm) the city center was clear and there were no protesters in the streets. This was the end of the riots in Alma-Ata.

 

Controversial publications (Russkaya Mysl/ Русская мысль) published on the 18th December that "the demonstrators were handed out vodka, hashish and 'nationalist' leaflets from trucks"; this assertion, if true, would be an indication of serious foreign involvement, but it cannot be easily crosschecked and confirmed.

 

It was easy for the TASS (ТАСС) news agency to put the blame on 'nationalist elements'; quite unfortunately, they did not understand that, by repeating their customary jargon, they simply offered venues to their enemies, i.e. the rascals of the Anglo-Saxon cholera. They failed to understand that the adjective 'nationalist' had totally different connotations in their ideological language and in the treacherous, mendacious and filthy language of the criminal diplomats of NATO and EU member states. TASS certainly stated the true nature of the extremist and radical students who were overwhelmingly rejected by the Kazakh society in its entirety: 'hooligans', 'parasites', 'antisocial persons'. But the duplicitous news agencies of the Western simply disregarded these terms, did not mention any of them, and focused on the term 'nationalist', portraying these rascals as 'patriots'.

 

On 18th December 1986, TASS reported the following: "Last night and this afternoon in Alma-Ata, a group of student youth, incited by nationalist elements, took to the streets, expressing disapproval of the decision of the recently held plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. Hooligans, parasitic elements, and other antisocial persons took advantage of the current situation, thus carrying out illegal acts against law enforcement officers, setting fire to a grocery store and severl personal cars, and insulting the citizens of the city. Meetings held at plants, factories, universities, other labor collectives, as well as in the Communist Party and the Komsomol offices of the city and of the surrounding regions, approved the decisions of the plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, condemned the unjustified actions of the group of students, and supported decisive measures against the hooligans in order to restore full order in the city. The actions taken in this direction are backed by the workers. They actively participate in the events held by the Soviet and party bodies. All the companies, institutions, educational institutions, shops, public services, and the public transport are working normally".

 

The last phase of the Jeltoqsan riots took place in the northeastern Kazakh city of Karaganda. On the 19th December, when everything was calm  in Alma-Ata, around 100 people gathered in Gagarin Square (Площадь Гагарина); from there they advanced to Sovetsky Avenue {: Советский проспект, which is currently named Buhar Zhyrau Avenue (проспект Бухар-Жырау), after the great Kazakh poet Bukhar-zhirau Kalmakanov, who lived in the 17th-18th c.} where they were soon dispersed or arrested by the police. On the 20th December, around 300 students gathered in the square near the Communist Party regional committee, but were soon scattered and apprehended by the Cadets of the school of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

 

In Karaganda, as it happened in Alma-Ata, several students were expelled from the universities or brought to criminal responsibility; in the capital of the Kazakh SSR, there were two dead (a policeman and a student). According to data published in Kazakhstan, more than 1700 people received serious bodily injuries; 99 people were convicted under criminal procedure and many among them were condemned to forced labor; two persons were sentenced to death, and among them the 20-year old student Qairat Ryskulbekov (Кайрат Ногайбаевич Рыскулбеков), who later died in prison only to be posthumously rehabilitated (1992) and also declared a Hero of Kazakhstan (by decree of Nursultan Nazarbayev; 9th December 1996). Futhermore, 8500 people were detained by law enforcement forces, whereas 5324 people were interrogated by the prosecutor's office, and 850 people by the KGB. Around 900 people were subjected to administrative penalties (arrests, fines), 1400 people were warned, 319 people were dismissed, and 309 students were expelled from various educational institutions. About 1400 people received Komsomol and party penalties.

 

When it comes to USSR law enforcement agencies and their tactics at the time of perestroika, the Jeltoqsan riots were very useful for the Soviet administrative machine; they served as a pattern for all identical events. Similar tactics applied to every case that would be considered as of the same nature: first, the authorities did nothing for prevention and they allowed the events to grow; then they used only insignificant forces to suppress the protesters. They thus incited passions and then they applied rather severe measures. Over the years, this tactics failed, as they provenly contributed only to an even greater aggravation of the situation.

 

Imitating the aforementioned report of the TASS news agency, a resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU, adopted in early 1987, described the Jeltoqsan riots as "a manifestation of Kazakh nationalism". Gradually, the Communist jargon fell in desuetude and the derogatory references to nationalism became scarce. Following the appointment of Nazarbayev as First Secretary of the Communist Party (22nd June 1989), a group of deputies of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR, headed by the writer Mukhtar Shakhanov (Мухтар Шаханов; born in 1942), applied (14th November 1989) to the Central Committee of the CPSU with a request to remove the wording "manifestation of Kazakh nationalism", and the wording was canceled.

 

It was normal for the Soviet authorities back in 1987 to search for a scapegoat; the December 1986 events were therefore 'interpreted' as eventually masterminded by Kunaev or even spearheaded by his followers, and that is why Dinmukhamed Kunaev was removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU; on 26th June 1987, he was also removed from the Central Committee of the CPSU. In a rather theatrical move, Gorbachev initiated an investigation against Kunaev and gave to Vladimir Kalinichenko (Владимир Иванович Калиниченко; born in 1947), the investigator for especially important cases of the USSR General Prosecutor's Office, the task to find discrediting facts for bringing charges against Kunaev, but this was not possible. These developments played into the game of the Western mainstream media which flooded their uninformed, naive and unsuspicious readers with nonsensical distortions and misinterpretations. In addition, a defamation campaign against Kunaev was launched and he was under unofficial house arrest, which was canceled only in 1990 after the death of his wife Zukhra Sharipovna. But as I already stated, he was widely honored during his last years (1991-1993) and also posthumously.

 

Exactly five years after these events, on 16th December 1991, Kazakhstan declared its independence, being the last of the Soviet republics to do so. It was normal for the Kazakh statesmen, academics, politicians and intellectuals to contribute to their nation building and to the establishment of their national education by expanding extensively on the History of the Kazakh Nation, highlighting their cultural identity and underscoring every expression of their national integrity. That is why during the 31 years of their existence as a modern state, Kazakhs viewed in the Jeltoqsan riots a latent form of identitarian consciousness. It is within this context that, last December, President Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev (Касым-Жомарт Кемелевич Токаев / Қасым-Жомарт Кемелұлы Тоқаев; born in 1953) stated (17th December 2021) the following: "35 years ago, our youth opposed the dictates of the union center. The protests of 1986 demonstrated the desire of the people for freedom and sovereignty. The heroism of the participants in the December events, which became a harbinger of Independence, is forever inscribed in the history of our statehood". About:

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дінмұхамед_Ахметұлы_Қонаев

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кунаев,_Динмухамед_Ахмедович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinmukhamed_Kunaev#First_Secretary

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Колбин,_Геннадий_Васильевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennady_Kolbin

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Период_застоя

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Era_of_Stagnation

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Желтоқсан_көтерілісі

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Декабрьские_события_в_Алма-Ате

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeltoqsan

http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/4078/1/Cummings__Political-elite-Kazakhstan.pdf

https://www.meloman.kz/kazahstan-politika-i-publicistika/kunaev-d-o-moem-vremeni-ot-stalina-do-gorbacheva.html

http://bibliotekar.kz/o-moem-vremeni-dinmuhamed-kunaev

(Read the excerpt here: http://bibliotekar.kz/o-moem-vremeni-dinmuhamed-kunaev/chast-pervaja-predislovie-avtora.html)

Н. А. Зенькович, 1985- 1991: Что это было? https://www.libex.ru/detail/book393745.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Лобов,_Владимир_Николаевич

https://dpr.ru/pravo/pravo_1_15.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20130421025222/http://gregos.narod.ru/DOCS/MGU3.htm (or http://gregos.narod.ru/DOCS/MGU3.htm)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Русская_мысль_(журнал)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qairat_Rysqulbekov

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Нұрсұлтан_Әбішұлы_Назарбаев

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Назарбаев,_Нурсултан_Абишевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursultan_Nazarbayev#Rise_to_power

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma-Ata_Protocol

Токаев высказался о 35-й годовщине декабрьских событий

https://news.mail.ru/politics/49263124/

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wikiұхтар_Шаханов

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шаханов,_Мухтар

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukhtar_Shakhanov

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/03/15/soviet-party-ex-official-investigated/0e58b18d-c9c9-454f-b743-30ab5b960e21/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Токаев,_Касым-Жомарт_Кемелевич

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Қасым-Жомарт_Кемелұлы_Тоқаев

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassym-Jomart_Tokayev

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/kak-obychnaya-potasovka-na-tancploschadke-v-kazahstane-pererosla-v-pogromy-vo-vremya-sssr-583499800162021618-6377573588768939617/

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/kto-iz-kazahov-stal-generalom-v-sssr-3431467980054717456-5612985019569230210/?user_session_id=379a0762c8714f

 

 

XIX. Kazakhstan in Transition

a- The rise of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the greatest Turkic Statesman after Kemal Ataturk

If President Tokayev represents the present and the future of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev is the absolute and unique embodiment of the transition from the Kazakh SSR to the Republic of Kazakhstan. For almost four decades, Independent Kazakhstan's first president determined almost every single important development that took place in the vast country. The formation of the first modern Kazakh state was not an easy task, as it hinged on many parameters. One must definitely admit that, compared with the other states in the wider region of Caucasus, Caspian Sea, and Central Asia, Kazakhstan effectively outperformed all the neighbors; the Central Asiatic 'giant' and Eurasia's pivotal state, although incomparably less experienced than the Russian Federation in terms of academic, economic and diplomatic elites, state tradition, and imperial governance, eclipsed Moscow. This may eventually sound as an overstatement to some, but the historical truth is that Kazakhstan did not undergo the terribly humiliating decomposition and the existential threat that Yeltsin's Russia faced in the 1990s.

 

In spite of several decades of Marxism-Leninism, the Kazakh hordes (or zhuz) survived as a crucial socio-behavioral element of the Kazakh society and played a determinant role in the transition period; to an important degree, they shaped the socio-economic and political developments. For example, investigaring the past and present realities of Kazakhstan, a specialist certainly finds it necessary to take into consideration that Nursultan Nazarbayev and his family belong to the Great Horde (which is also known as the Senior Zhuz/Uly Zhuz; see above part IV), and more specifically to the Shaprashty (Шапрашты) tribe. Among the Kazakhs, this tribe is considered as the richest and the most influential. At this point, one has to add that President Tokayev and his family also belong to the Great Horde, but to a different tribe, namely Zhalayir (Жалайыры), which is also associated with a great historical Mongolian tribe. Specialists of Kazakh History consider however Zhalayir as less influential than Shaprashty among the Kazakhs.

 

There is indeed a topographical / geographical factor of the Kazakh hordes, which is directly interconnected with present socioeconomic and political realities. As I stated in part IV, the Great Horde has been known as dwellers of Kazakhstan's southern provinces, whereas the Middle Horde's tribes and clans are the inhabitants of the vast Kazakh steppe; last, the Minor Horde occupied the country's western confines. This historical situation has great consequences on present day issues. But, almost the only fertile lands in Kazakhstan are located in the South, which means that Kazakhs belonging to the Great Horde have traditionally had greater income than the others.

 

On the other hand, the transfer of capital from Almaty to Akmola-Astana-Nursultan was certainly a most remarkable step taken by former president Nazarbayev and the Supreme Council of the Republic on 6th July 1994; however, with the Kazakh elite overwhelmingly consisting of people of the Uly Zhuz, this major change also took the appearance of an interpolation. In a way, it meant that people of the Great Horde moved to the northernmost part of the Middle Horde's territory, also bringing the government there. As a matter of fact, the official transfer of the capital took place on 10th December 1997, but the event was not particularly beneficial to the Orta (Middle) Zhuz.

 

It is also true that the vast lands of the Middle Zhuz were catastrophically misused during the Soviet times, because a significantly large area (18500 km2) around Semipalatinsk (Семипалатинск; currently Semey/ Семей) was selected to be and actually was for several decades the main nuclear test site across the USSR {also known as 'Dvoika' (двойка), i.e. 'deuce'}. This means that shock waves, radiation and sizzling fires generated indeed enormous pollution throughout the country's eastern territory where ca. two million people lived (mainly Kazakhs from the Middle Horde).

 

The dominant role played by the Great Horde in Kazakhstan's economy and politics was reason for resentment by the Kazakhs of the Minor Horde whose ancestral lands encompass the oil-rich provinces of Western Kazakhstan. The Kishi (Minor) Zhuz find it quite unfair that natural resources located in their own traditional lands are more profitable to South Kazakhstan's Uly Zhuz elites that govern the country than to themselves. These factors play always an important role, when discontent happens to be on the rise for some reason.

 

Nursultan Nazarbayev (Нурсултан Абишевич Назарбаев; Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев), son of Alish (1903-1971) and Alzhan (1910-1977) Nazarbayev, was born on 6th July 1940 in the village of Chemolgan (Чемолган) of the Kaskelensky district (Каскеленский район), in the Alma-Ata region. After graduating in 1957 from the Abay Secondary School (in the city of Kaskelen/ Каскелен), he decided to become a metallurgist, because this sector was among the most promising ones during the Khrushchev period. After studying at the Vocational School no 22 at the Dnieper Metallurgical Plant in Dneprodzerzhinsk (Ukraine), he graduated in 1960 and he started working in the construction department of the Kazmetallurgstroy trust in the city of Temirtau (Kazakhstan); he continued at the Karaganda Metallurgical Plant and in 1967, he graduated from the VTUZ (ВТУЗ - Высшее техническое учебное заведение/ Higher technical educational institution) of the said plant. By that time, he had already been married (1962) and he had become the father of two daughters, namely Dariga (1963) and Dinara (1967); the last daughter of the couple, Aliya (the accent is on the last syllable), was born later (1980).


In parallel with his work and studies and after having been a Komsomol (Communist Party youth organization) member since 1962, he was involved in Komsomol work in Temirtau (1969-1973). Subsequently, he was elected as the secretary of the party committee at the Karaganda metallurgical plant (1973-1978); this meant that at the age of 33-38, he was -after the plant director- the no 2 authority in a vast state enterprise that employed more than 30000 workers. In 1978, he was appointed as secretary of the Karaganda regional party committee; one year later, he was elected (at the age of 38) secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. His excellent communication skills, his consummate knowledge of technical and administrative matters, and his fast perception of rising problems were the reasons for which he was selected, although very young, by Dinmukhamed Kunaev for the position of 'prime minister' (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR) as early as 1984. 

 

As a staunch supporter of M. Gorbachev, Nazarbayev remained in his position during Gennady Kolbin's tenure, and in 1989, he was also appointed as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. During the crucial period 1989-1992, he was also elected People's Deputy of the USSR. For about three months (February-April 1990), he was simultaneously Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR. In addition, from 14th July 1990 to 23rd August 1991, he was Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Nazarbayev was close to both, Gorbachev and Yeltsin, who in different moments offered him very top positions in the USSR, but he declined the offers. On 24th April 1990, the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR, in a groundbreaking attempt that could be interpreted as the first stage of secession, created the post of President of the Kazakh SSR, appointing Nazarbayev in the position.

 

Following the failed coup of 19th-22nd August 1991, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev announced his withdrawal from the CPSU. Soon after, on 7th September 1991, the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan decided to dissolve the party, but the 'anti-Gorbachev' group recreated the Communist Party of Kazakhstan in October 1991 (at the so-called 19th Congress of the party). Few months later, on 1st December 1991, in the first nationwide presidential election of the Kazakh SSR, Nazarbayev was the only candidate and got 98.7% of the votes.

 

At the apex of the transition events, the Kazakh SSR was renamed the Republic of Kazakhstan on 10th December 1991, thus practically becoming a fully independent state. Few days later, on 16th December 1991, the Supreme Council of the Kazakh SSR adopted the Law on State Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which was the last SSR to become an independent state. Then automatically, Nursultan Nazarbayev became the first President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In this quality, he signed the Alma-Ata Declaration (Алма-Атинская декларация), which constituted the founding declarations and principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), involving the Agreement on Councils of Heads of State and Government, the Agreement on Strategic Forces, and the Agreement on Armed Forces and Border Troops.

 

The Constitution of Kazakhstan was prepared in the second half of 1992 and adopted on 28th January 1993; although it was a matter of vivid debate and in the process, several opposition parties organized demonstrations, the text was mainly drafted by the 'old Communist guard' and that is why it resulted in a formidable executive power and rather weak legislative and judiciary branches, with the government being mainly accountable to the president. Being the last remnant of the old times, the Supreme Soviet voted to dissolve itself on the 10th December 1993. Nationwide parliamentary elections were held in March 1994, although few extremist parties, such as Jeltoqsan and Azat (financed by the notorious gangster George Soros' outfits / the Soros-Kazakhstan foundation was launched in 1995), boycotted them. Since this repugnant rascal failed to elect his puppets in Kazakhstan's parliament, the ludicrous OSCE observers attempted shamelessly to discredit the elections as 'unfair'!

 

The government of the transition (from 16th December 1991 to 14th October 1994), led by Prime Minister Sergey Tereshchenko (Сергей Александрович Терещенко; of Ukrainian origin; born in 1951 in Primorye, Far Eastern Federal District), was indeed involved in numerous scandals, which -taking into consideration the circumstances- were almost inevitable. Following the mounting pressure during the summer 1994, Nazarbayev (after supporting him for some time) was finally obliged to dismiss him for a much poorer choice, namely Akezhan Kazhegeldin (Акежан Магжанович Кажегельдин; born in 1952 to parents belonging to the Middle Horde), who -after staying in power for three years (October 1994 - October 1997)- decided (or rather was incited by Western diplomats) to challenge Nazarbayev.

 

For this purpose, he was persistently supported by Western institutions amd mass media; following a systematic bribing of many Kazakh businessmen, Kazhegeldin was 'voted' (1998) president of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. As his plot was uncovered, Kazhegeldin had to flee abroad, even more so because he was accused of extraordinary scandals and audacious embezzlement of public money; he tried to found a party and return to Kazakhstan in order to participate in the 1999 elections, but he was barred from entering the country and permanently banned to exile. It was also in the summer 1994 that Nazarbayev suggested the transfer of the capital city to Akmola (in Kazakhstan's northernmost confines), which then was entirely rebuilt and renamed Astana (currently Nursultan).

 

As the corruption spread fast, in March 1995, the Constitutional Court 'decided' that the previous year's parliementary elections were carried out in unlawful manner and should therefore be considered as unconstitutional. This was one of the earliest achievements of the Soros Kazakhstan Foundation. President Nazarbayev had to react fast, firmly and effectively; it was only normal that he promptly dissolved the Supreme Council and started ruling by means of presidential decrees. When enemies of the Kazakh historical tradition, national identity, and cultural integrity intend to bribe morally weak and politically dishonest persons, who do not anymore present and defend their free opinion and standpoint, but -as slaves- function disastrously for their entire nation and country, the form of state is neither republic nor kingdom, but thralldom.

 

On 29th April 1995, following the cancellation of the 1996 presidential elections by the Parliament (General Assembly), a special referendum was held in which the Kazakhs agreed with overwhelming majority (95.5%) to extend Nazarbayev's presidential powers until 2000. After a few months, on 30th August 1995, the constitutional referendum was held and the new Constitution {providing for a bicameral system with the Mazhilis (мажилис; Lower House) and the Senate (Сенат парламента Казахстана; Upper House)} was adopted and supported by 90% of voters. It is noteworthy that Nazarbayev's discourses and speeches of those days contained full evidence of documented knowledge of Western schemes, intrigues, biases, dissimulated plots, and efforts of infiltration; it is not by coincidence that he was recorded stating that "Western schemes do not work in our Eurasiatic expanses".

 

Nazarbayev's dismissal of Kazhegeldin was an early defeat of the obscure Western plotters and conniving businessmen; all the same, this did not mean that they were 'convinced' or that they stopped their efforts. As a matter of fact, the new Prime Minister appointed by Kazakhstan's President was someone who had spent one year as intern student at Chevron (1993-1994); and this is the reason for which he was employed immediately after his return back home, as Minister of Oil and Gas (from October 1994 to March 1997): Nurlan Balgimbayev (Нурлан Утепович Балгимбаев / Нұрлан Өтепұлы Балғымбаев; 1947-2015). Minor Horde member and born in Atyrau (by the Caspian Sea shore at the mouth of Ural River), Balgimbayev was a loyal Prime Minister (1997-1999). He shared indeed with Nazarbayev many identical views; they managed to keep the country far from the notorious IMF and to increase the production of Kazakh Oil. However, he also supported very fervently the sale of 40% of Tengiz oilfields (later known as KazMunayGas / Казмунайгаз) to Chevron. Quite unfortunately, this story cost to Nazarbayev a bad reputation; conventionally known as the 'Kazakhgate', this affair had enormous ramifications.

 

The scandal concerned mainly the US businessman James Giffen (born in 1941), who -back in the 1990s- worked as advisor to the then president Nazarabayev, also having dual citizenship. Giffen had several ties with the USSR and had already tried to penetrate the Soviet Oil market in the 1980s, but at the end, he stood accused for an 80 million US$ bribery assumingly cashed to both, Nazarbayev and Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev. The story started in 2003, when Giffen was arrested, but in the trial he stated that he was acting with the approval of the CIA, which however did not allow anyone to explore the related documentation; that's why at the end, the adventurous businessman-spy was acquitted. All the same, the event would tarnish the image of the newly established independent state, and that is why the Kazakh authorities reacted officially, overwhelmingly denying all allegations.   

 

To ensure stability and guarantee continuity in development, several amendments to the constitution were suggested and ratified on the 7th October 1998; following this development, Nazarbayev issued a decree fixing the presidential election date on 10th January 1999. An old Soviet apparatchik and pro-Communist statesman, who harshly criticized Nazarbayev's shift to free market economy, stood against him: Serikbolsyn Abdildin (Серикболсын Абдильдаевич Абдильдин / Серікболсын Әбділдаұлы Әбділдин; 1937-2019). Nazarbayev was reelected with ca. 80% of the vote. Abdildin, who had held important ministerial and partisan positions in the USSR during the 1980s, used to see in every inadequacy, malfunction, failure and wrongdoing during the implementation of free market economy in Kazakhstan an opportunity for a Communist comeback. He started his opposition in 1994, and as early as 1996 he was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party. It is however noteworthy that he never allowed his opposition to become a matter of national ordeal and descent to chaos. In the 1999 presidential elections, he openly supported a mixed-economic system after the Chinese model, thus shifting from his earlier positions. All the same, after he retired from politics (2010), he continued his criticism of Nazarbayev.

 

A new political party was established as political platform for Nazarbayev; it was named Nur Otan {Нур Отан/ Нұр Отан, i.e. 'Light of the Ancestors'; also known as Amanat (Аманат, i.e. 'Ancestral Will')}. Otan participated in the 1999 legislative elections (10 and 24 October 1999), won 23 seats in the parliament (out of 77), and proved to be ever since Kazakhstan's central political force. An important change occurred few days before the elections; following Nurlan Balgimbayev's resignation (1 October 1999), the former Minister of Foreign Affairs (1994-1999) Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who had served as Deputy Prime Minister for 7 months (since March 1999), was appointed as Prime Minister by the President and endorsed (12 October 1999) by the Parliament. Notably, after the end of his tenure as prime minister (1 October 1999), Nurlan Balgimbayev continued to hold high positions, notably as president of state-owned Oil companies, CEO of joint ventures, and adviser to Nazarbayev.    

 

With Tokayev's appointment as Prime Minister, we are ushered into the present; this is not so because the incumbent President of Kazakhstan served continually as Prime Minister before being appointed first and then elected in his current position. He actually did not; after resigning from his position of Prime Minister (28 January 2002), Tokayev was appointed as Foreign Minister and State Secretary (2002-2007), Chairman of the Senate (2007-2011 and 2013-2019), and Under Secretary-General, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva (2011-2013), thus acquiring a hitherto unknown to any Kazakh statesman experience. The same is also valid for Nazarbayev's 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th terms; today, they still constitute an inalienable part of Kazakhstan's present, not past. About:

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/klany-soyuzy-zhuzy-plemena-i-tolko-odin-prestol-kak-ustroena-sistema-vlasti-v-kazahstane-likbez-ot-istorikov-vostokovedov-6740908698584788010-4125206607244518238/?user_session_id=bb690762c9aa19

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шапрашты

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жалайыры

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalairs

https://respublika.kz.media/archives/52654

https://kulturologia.ru/blogs/070122/52219/

https://www.atomic-energy.ru/Semipalatinskii-poligon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Семей

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semey

https://elbasy.kz/en/capital-kazakhstan-nur-sultan

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Нұрсұлтан_Әбішұлы_Назарбаев

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Назарбаев,_Нурсултан_Абишевич

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nursultan_Nazarbayev

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/尔苏丹·巴耶夫

https://elbasy.kz/en/nursultan-nazarbayev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Алма-Атинская_декларация_(1991)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma-Ata_Protocol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nur-Sultan#Contemporary_era_(1991%E2%80%93present)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Нур-Султан

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Нұр-Сұлтан

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Kazakh_presidential_term_referendum

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Референдум_в_Казахстане_(29_апреля_1995)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Референдум_в_Казахстане_(30_августа_1995)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azat_Civil_Movement_of_Kazakhstan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azat_Republican_Party_of_Kazakhstan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Азат_(партия)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Фонд_Сорос-Казахстан

https://www.soros.kz/ru/

https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/open-society-foundations-kazakhstan

https://twitter.com/sfkazakhstan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeltoqsan_National_Democratic_Party

https://www.neweurasia.info/archive/wh_is_wh/party/8.html

https://rus.azattyq.org/a/30833968.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Терещенко,_Сергей_Александрович

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сергей_Александрович_Терещенко

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akejan_Kajegeldin

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кажегельдин,_Акежан_Магжанович

https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/kazakhstan/Kaz1099b-02.htm#P126_20928

https://www.parlam.kz/ru/mazhilis

https://senate.parlam.kz/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Балгимбаев,_Нурлан_Утепович

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Нұрлан_Өтепұлы_Балғымбаев

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurlan_Balgimbayev

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhgate

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казахгейт

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Giffen

https://ru.crudeaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130604-Chevron20YrsInKazakhstan-ru.pdf.pdf

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Казмунайгаз

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KazMunayGas

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/ҚазМұнайГаз

https://www.kmg.kz/rus/

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Коррупция_в_Казахстане

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тенгизшевройл

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Тенгиз_(нефтегазовое_месторождение)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Абдильдин,_Серикболсын_Абдильдаевич

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Серікболсын_Әбділдаұлы_Әбділдин

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serikbolsyn_Abdildin

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Аманат_(партия)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanat_(political_party)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Kazakh_legislative_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azat_Republican_Party_of_Kazakhstan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alash_National_Freedom_Party

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Kazakhstan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Парламентские_выборы_в_Казахстане_(1999)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Политические_партии_Казахстана

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Политический_кризис_в_Казахстане_(1995)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Парламентские_выборы_в_Казахстане_(1995)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Kazakh_legislative_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Union_of_Kazakhstan_Unity

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokayev_Cabinet

 

b- Nursultan Nazarbayev: major achievements and oversights

Nazarbayev's presidential tenure spans over almost 30 years (1990-2019; he was first elected as President of the SSR of Kazakhstan on 24th April 1990); when it comes to the Republic of Kazakhstan, his five terms proved to often be of different duration each (first term: 1991–1999; second term: 1999–2006; third term: 2006–2011; fourth term: 2011–2015; fifth term: 2015–2019). It goes without saying that Nazarbayev's first term was the most critical one; this is so for various reasons and not only because, truly speaking, those were the formative years of the newly-established republic. First of all, a possible decomposition or disorder (as it happened in Yeltsin's Russia) had to be averted; and Nazarbayev marked a real success in this regard. Even more importantly, he managed to outperform all the other formerly Soviet officials, who ensured the transition period in their respective states.

 

Second, an important vision for the future of the modern nation had to be invented and formulated; in addition, it had to be at the same time, daring and realistic. In this regard, the capital transfer and the construction of one of the world's most dazzling cities was a very wise measure. With the transfer of capital from Almaty to Astana, Nazarbayev made a great shift in the History of the Kazakhs; it was for the first time that the capital of a major (and not tributary or peripheral) Kazakh state was located in the territory of the Middle Horde (see above, part IV). Consequently, this would offer the chance for social emancipation, tribal blending, mixed marriages, and enlargement of the social basis of the new establishment.

 

At the same time, with the futurist-symbolist architecture that the new capital so aesthetically and majestically featured, with the vicinity to Russian Siberia, with the cardinal significance of its geopolitical-geostrategic location, Astana is de facto the epicenter of the New Silk Road and the pinnacle of the New Multipolar World Order. Astana has nothing in common with modern commercial cities like Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, Dubai, Doha or Nairobi; surpassing what Istakhr, Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Ctesiphon, Constantinople, Baghdad, Samarqand, Chang'an (Xi'an), Bukhara, Shiraz, Delhi, Khanbaliq (Beijing), Venice, Isfahan, Genoa and Istanbul may have been in the past, eclipsing what Tokyo, Washington D.C., Paris and London may be in the present, bridging Moscow, Berlin, Ankara and Tehran with Delhi and Beijing, Astana is by definition the correct place for the headquarters of the new international body that will replace the ill-conceived, encumbered and unrepresentative UN.

 

Astana is Nursultan Nazarbayev's most outstanding achievement -not in the sense of an administrative act or an architectural masterpiece but- as a formidable effort to open the Kazakh nation to the rest of the world. Still this world class capital conceals ancient secrets, encapsulates paramount symbolism, and heralds a universal dream come true. Identifying analogies with Ancient Egyptian Arcitecture and Ancient Babylonian Mysteries, Dr. Frank Albo, in his remarkable presentation Astana - Architecture, Myth, and Destiny, provides an outstanding perspective on how the foundation of Kazakhstan's new capital effectively addresses the three most important issues of our time: environmental pollution, religious extremism, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

 

Rightfully named after Independent Kazakhstan's first President's first name Nursultan (since 23 March 2019; Нурсултан - Нұр-Сұлтан), Astana is one of the world's rare cities that have had so many different names throughout their History. Without counting the period of the remarkable Bozok settlement (12th-14th c.), a nearby archaeological place without epigraphic documentation, Astana has been successively named Akmolinsk (Акмолинск /'white grave' in russified Kazakh; 1830-1961), Tselinograd (i.e. the city of the Virgin Lands/ Целиноград; 1961-1992), and Akmola (Акмола/'white grave'; 1992-1998), before becoming the capital city of Kazakhstan (on the 10th December 1997; Астана, i.e. 'capital') and being later renamed Nur-Sultan.

 

In this regard, the dates in the correct sequence were:

6 July 1994: the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan issued the decree "On the transfer of the capital of Kazakhstan".

8 November 1997: the state symbols of Kazakhstan were delivered to Akmola.

10 December 1997: the Kazakh capital was moved to Akmola.

6 May 1998: Akmola was renamed into Astana, following a Presidential Decree.

10 June 1998: Astana was presented as the capital of Kazakhstan internationally.

16 July 1999: Astana was awarded the medal and title "City of Peace" by UNESCO.

 

In the competition for construction of Asia's northernmost capital city, fifty (50) participants from foreign countries and Commonwealth of Independent States countries showed interest. In total, 40 applications were sent. Of these, nine were from Kazakhstan, five from Russia, three from the Czech Republic, two from Belarus, and one from Ukraine, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Italy, and Bulgaria respectively. Teams sent one application from Japan, Latvia, Australia, Uzbekistan, Germany, France, South Korea, USA, Great Britain, Poland and the UAE.

 

The following task was set before the contest participants: "In search of the image of the new center of the city of Akmola, it is necessary to find a solution corresponding to the status of the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan, taking into account natural and climatic factors and national peculiarities". The winner of the competition was the project of the outstanding Japanese architect Kise Kurokawa (Kisho Kurokawa/see links below), who started the construction of the capital in the style of "Hi-tech".

 

The new capital very organically blended into the vast expanses of the steppe space, thus embodying the philosophical concept of the Master Plan, as a symbiotic and metabolic city: "Synthesis of the old city of Akmola and new development of the capital of Astana". Consummate commentators thoughtfully opined about the design that "the methodological inversion of such metabolic architects as Kendzo Tange and Kisyo Kurokawa is to call to realize that there are no 'eternal cities' and therefore it is necessary to concentrate on adapting to changes, and not to try to preserve the 'eternal' samples of urban planning stories".

 

In spite of such outstanding and impressive achievements, several critics have repeatedly attempted to tarnish Nazarbayev's tenure - but only in vain. It goes without saying that no human is perfect and all make mistakes. There were certainly some mistakes that could not be avoided in the formation years of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and this is so because, if these 'errors' did not occur, more catastrophic events could eventually take place. Taking into account the terms of good governance, one has to always keep in mind that sometimes a minor error is made deliberately - only to avoid a worse mistake. In addition, as it is said, "the experience which one gains in making a slight mistake will enable one to avoid a worse mistake".

 

Several people raise the topic of NE Kazakhstan's nuclear pollution, which still puts in jeopardy the life and the health of many people living in parts of the province of Semipalatinsk (currently Semey) and elsewhere. There was located the so-called Dvoika, USSR's main nuclear test site. The first atomic explosion took place on 29th August 1949, whereas the last one occurred on 19th October 1989. For 40 years, 486 tests were carried out and 616 nuclear and thermonuclear charges were blown up; on the other hand, it is true that super-powerful explosions, like those carried out in Novaya Zemlya, did never become a matter of test in Semipalatinsk. All the same, one has to also take into consideration that no less than 224 explosions were officially registered as having caused radioactive clouds that went beyond the boundaries of the test site, throughout the eastern territory of Kazakhstan. The tests stopped, the test site was completely closed (1991), but the problem stays; and the various administrations did not do all that they could have over the past 33 years.

 

The troublesome governmental oversight in this regard has to do with the fact that, during the Soviet times, the area was said to be militarily controlled, but this was not the case. The Soviet state did not use the necessary resources to prevent anyone, who would risk his life by frequenting the radioactively polluted area, from entering the vast (18500 km2) nuclear test site; but this was the mistake of the Soviets. On the contrary, in Independent Kazakhstan, the enduring prevalence of the same mentality and attitude in this regard consisted in a serious disregard for the public health and in a grave governmental omission. Certainly, it would be costly to put barbed wire and construct military watchtowers around an area 600 km long in diameter; but this is what the health of the Kazakhs imposes.

 

The reason for which the entire area must be sealed off to all is purely socioeconomic; poor people make a business out of the radioactive waste, thus endangering their lives and those of many other people. They customarily drive their pick-up cars or trucks deep into this area and pour into the landfill; they extract mined non-ferrous metal from the metal scrap, they dig out launch shafts covered only with earth and they cut out all the available metal from them. In this rather macabre business, some entrepreneurs bring entire teams of hard workers who dig deep in the underground to cut metal there, while inhaling dangerous dust.

 

An entirely different dimension of the problem hinges on the totally unknown diffusion of this disastrous radioactive material: where it was transported, stored and remelted. The problem was first identified by the Kazakh government in 1997; some measures were taken, but it was very late. It is only in the period 2000-2010 that a huge amount of work was systematically carried out at the site for the conservation of galleries and the launch shafts, as well as for the disposal of hazardous waste and the decontamination of the territory.

 

Last, an even more appalling dimension of the problem is that, in spite of the evident danger, there are still some people living there; actually, they deliberately opted for that! As they failed to benefit from the shameful business, they made themselves available as local labor force always ready to saw out the metal in the adits dug there. It may sound as a crazy joke, but it is true: in the immediate vicinity of the landfill, there are about 600 small villages or hamlets, of which many are located on its border or even inside! To add insult to injury, the inhabitants of these settlements have been left to believe that it is 'normal' to graze their cattle directly on the landfill. Furthermore, there are even about a hundred nomadic winter quarters in the area.

 

According to various estimates, the territory of the Semipalatinsk test site has background radiation levels 10 times higher than normal; it is also reported that more than 30000 sheep and 5000 heads of milk-producing cattle are constantly grazing there. Even worse, local sources of water for drinking and household purposes are still in use, whereas vegetables and cereals are cultivated in the wider region. Last, around 8000 people still live in Kurchatov (Курчатов), a town formerly established as a secret Soviet city (variably named as Moscow-400, Semipalatinsk-21 or Terminal Station at the time) to accommodate the military and the scientists serving the test site. Surely Kazakhstan will still pay in the future the presence and function of Soviet Union's main nuclear test site for 40 years on the NE confines of the country.

 

Another effort to tarnish Nazarbayev's tenure has taken the form of constant accusations of nepotism; there has been a long discussion about this undeniable trait of the Nazarbayev years. However, throughout the vast existing documentation about nepotism in Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev's family and its involvement in the socio-economic and political process, also including scandals, mysteries, plots, marriages, offshore businesses, unlawful behavior, and eventually illegal acts, it is difficult to draw a line and separate constructive criticism from vicous lies; it is harsh to discern where trustworthy judgement ends and pernicious propaganda starts out.

 

Viewing things retrospectively, one may come to the conclusion that nepotism was inevitable in the difficult transition years. Many historians, political scientists, and commentators fail to understand that, in reality, Kazakhstan's 1990s correspond to Russia's 2000s – not Russia's 1990s. As I have already pointed out, thanks to the experience, the foresightedness and the dexterity of Independent Kazakhstan's first president, the country did not undergo the traumatic experience that Russians encountered in the 1990s. In this regard, nepotism served Nazarbayev in the 1990s as much as Putin's alliance with the Russian oligarchs served the Russian President in the early 2000s. There were certainly several negative side-effects, but one must also discern that, perhaps without those early stages of Kazakh nepotism, things could have gone out of control at the time and corruption could have permeated nearly every aspect of life and every social stratum in Kazakhstan.

 

For the largest part of the population, it was a period of delusion during which everyone ran after money, whereas many naïve people believed that the mere shift of the national economic setup from a centrally-planned system to a market-based one would make all the people rich. That is why all those austere, self-styled connoiseurs and arbiters, who so eloquently denounce nepotism in Nazarbayev's Kazakhstan, have to imperatively respond to the following question:

- What difference at this point does it make whether a relative of the president or a simple employee of a ministry is bribed?

 

In terms of impartial and fair judgment, it is actually better that the relative of the president is the recipient of the bribe, because in this case, the establishment and the president will surely be aware of the foreign lobbies, governments and organizations that intend to destroy and dismantle the country by means of infiltration, corruption, and subversion (and they are therefore able to prevent this development), whereas in the case of an average local public servant's or businessman's bribery, the pernicious Western (Western European or North American) infiltration attempts go often undetected; in fact, the second occasion is the worst case scenario.  

 

There are two realistic remarks one can make as far as nepotism in Nazarbayev's Kazakhstan is concerned; first, the real problem is not that nepotism existed in the 1990s, but that it became totally unrestrained in the 2000s. In fact, during the 1990s, the entire world was geostrategically unstable and unbalanced; but after August 1999, the crucial developments that took place in Russia offered Kazakhstan a very important, reliable and trustworthy -although at times encumbering- friend and ally: President Putin.  

 

For Kazakhstan, it is of paramount importance to know that stability prevails in the country with which Central Asia's pivot shares the longest continuous international border in the world and the second longest by total length, after the Canada–United States border. In fact, the rise of Putin in Russia was a blessing for Kazakhstan, and this is so because this occurred at a moment China did not weigh much in the world affairs. This means that Kazakhstan could not rely on China in the 1990s as much as it can now, balancing between the main two Euro-Asiatic powerhouses. This highly positive change means that Nazarabayev found himself -in the mddle 2000s- in a different environment, which could offer him the chance to ponder over different ways to curb nepotism; and this is what one could certainly reproach him for not doing.

 

An even more important event took place in 2001 with only positive repercussions on Kazakhstan: the establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan founding a new organisation with deep, mutual security, military, socio-economic, cultural, educational and political cooperation targets on 15th June 2001. This development, viewed retrospectively, was truly the historically most important fact of the year; it was a spectacular reset of the organization Shanghai Five (in which Uzbekistan did not participate), which was launched earlier, in 1996. The SCO Charter was signed on 7th July 2002 (entering in force on 19th September 2003). This crucial event fully demonstrates that Nursultan Nazarbayev always perceived correctly and effectively the chances of Kazakhstan's further improvement and geopolitical-geostrategic upgrade as always depending on the rise and worldwide preponderance of the wider Afro-Eurasiatic landmass.

 

On the face of these developments, one can understand to what reason Nazarbayev's oversight is due; he most probably did not bother to restrict nepotism and limit the negative side-effects, because the system -generally speaking- was rather functioning profitably, and the various cases of apparent dysfunction seemed easy to address. When the weaknesses of the system were exposed, all the Kazakh came to learn in January 2022 about the former premier (2007-2012 - 2014-2016), former chief of staff of the presidential office (2012-2014) and then acting head of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (since 2016) Karim Massimov (born to a family of ethnic Uighurs in 1965; Кәрім Қажымқанұлы Мәсімов / Карим Кажимканович Масимов) that he was a dishonest enemy of the Kazakh nation, a shameless agent of the Jesuit-Zionist US establishment, and a criminal traitor. Then, President Tokayev took the proper measures to address the issue at all levels, namely a) the termination of the riots and the restoration of the public order, b) the correct identification and the well-deserved punishment of the connivers, and c) the elimination of the root causes which offered to Western diplomats, lobbies, and secret services' agents, as well as to their local stooges the chance to prepare their schemes and kick off the stage-managed unrest.

 

It is perhaps inappropriate for a historian to offer a long-term perspective to an event that took place before just 6-7 months, but I will now venture a prediction in this regard; the evil enemies of Kazakhstan, by launching their well-scheduled scheme against the greatest nation of Central Asia, offered President Tokayev a wonderful opportunity to hit two targets with one arrow, namely to address current issues, after the restoration of the order, and to solve chronic problems, i.e. the truly exorbitant nepotism that had grown up over the past three decades. Kazakhstan's courageous and determined President proved to be very successful in this regard.

 

All the same, older Kazakhs were able to then remember that, the previous time Kazakhstan had embarrassing troubles, it was again with a Uighur statesman, namely Ismail Yusupov (1962-1964; see above part XVIII unit c).

 

It is however worthwhile to add here that, after 27 years in leading positions (Prime Minister already in 1984) Nazarbayev failed indeed to timely realize the true, deep meaning of the Mangystau protests in 2011. The facts that followed the strike of some workers in the Ozenmunaigas (Озенмунайгаз/Өзенмұнайгаз) Oil field in the city of Zhanaozen (Жанаозен/Жаңаөзен) in the Western Kazakh region of Mangystau (Мангистау/Маңғыстау) should have been more accurately perceived, thoroughly investigated, and duly comprehended by the Nazarbayev administration (at the very beginning the president's fourth term); it was a meaningful coincidence. Only few months after Nazarbayev triumphant reelection (3rd April 2011), when Tokayev was not in Kazakhstan but in Geneva (Director-General of the U.N. Office) and Massimov was still prime minister, few hundreds of workers protested (16th-17th December 2011) demanding unpaid hazard pay, better working conditions, and salary increase. How dangerous could this situation have possibly been for the country's national security and the stability of the establishment? And yet someone sent policemen who without any reason killed around 15 peaceful workers. If you don't straightforwardly call this absurd act 'sheer stage-management', where do you think you are going to attend the Theatre of the Absurd?  

 

The second realistic remark one can make with respect to nepotism in Nazarbayev's Kazakhstan has to do with the very identity of the critics, the detractors and the adamant defenders of the so-called 'Western values', who incessantly accused Nazarbayev of nepotism; one can shape an accurate and comprehensive opinion, if one spends some time to go through the voluminous literature that filthy Western money produced and circulated worldwide in order to systematically promote premeditated conclusions, biased approaches, bogus researches, historical distortions, systematic disregard of cultural realities, disrespect of every nation's right to self-determination, intentional lies, methodic denigration of targeted statesmen, misinterpretation of all the facts, and falsification of every single incident.

 

The anti-Kazakh hysteria of numerous leading institutions of Western countries is paradigmatically revealed in the following nine cases; everything you can read in the links below is a sophisticated lie that serves an evil purpose:

https://thediplomat.com/2015/07/expo-in-kazakhstan-nepotism-and-corruption-unveiled/

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/23/business/worldbusiness/amid-growing-wealth-nepotism-and-nationalism-in.html

https://www.dw.com/en/dw-exclusive-nazarbayev-family-owns-german-luxury-real-estate/a-60752454

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/20/nursultan-nazarbayev-family-robbed-country-personality-cult-of-ex-kazakh-leader-crumbles

https://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth-f-idAFKBN2JL14Q

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddawkins/2022/01/07/kazakhstans-tycoonsincluding-members-of-nazarbayev-familyshed-billions-as-stocks-plunge/?sh=6e8b22ba4186

https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-net-tightens-around-nazarbayev-clan-as-nephew-arrested

https://thediplomat.com/2022/05/the-richest-get-richer-in-kazakhstan/

 

One could set up the Complete Encyclopedia of Western anti-Kazakh Defamation in one hundred volumes of 1000 pages each; however, the refutation of this excremental production is unnecessary, because similar material has also been produced against all the allies of Kazakhstan, namely Russia, China, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Pakistan, India, etc. Every nation, every country and every state that is not as corrupt, as villainous, as devious, as criminal and as deranged as the leading states of the West gets denigrated in extremis. Then, all that matters in this regard is good and effective insulation against Western infiltrators, embassies, consulates, NGOs, institutes, foundations, so-called 'think-tanks' (i.e. 'jerk tanks'), and any other insidiously instrumental organization.  

 

- So, after all, who are these critics of nepotism in Nazarbayev's Kazakhstan and adamant defenders of the so-called 'Western values'?

 

- Most of those shameful service providers, bogus journalists, pseudo-intellectuals, and disreputable academics happen to be the good friends, the trusted associates, the fine partners, and the secret colleagues of those Western diplomats, agents, businessmen and other potentates who constantly met with, and tried to corrupt, members of Nazarbayev's larger circle of family.

 

There is no such thing as good-will criticism or good intentions critique in the West; everything is adjusted to the criminal and murderous agenda of world dominance and the plan providing for the enslavement of all humans in the immoral, inhuman and evil Western World Order. The sole conclusion is therefore that, during the Nazarbayev years, the only true 'mistake' made was the tolerant attitude toward the Western infiltrators and the naivety towards their intentions. Part of the murderous agenda of the racist West is the diffusion of a fake historical dogma that depicts the West as 'civilized' and the rest of the world as 'barbarian', 'ignorant', 'backward', 'imbecile' or even 'bestial'. The disreputable universities of Western Europe and North America promote historical forgery and systematic falsification against Asia, Africa and Latin America; the mass media denigrate Central, South and Southeast Asia, whereas the cinema industry shamelessly ridicules other cultures and nations.

 

When it comes to Kazakhs, the disreputable Borat TV serial (Borat's Television Programme; English television station Channel 4, aired in August 2004 and repeated in November 2006) and the subsequent movie (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan; a mockumentary black comedy film directed by Larry Charles and starring Sacha Baron Cohen), which was released in 2006, should have been considered very seriously as authentic examples of the Western perception of Kazakhstan and then conclusively identified as a paroxysm of the Western anti-Kazakh racism. Even more so because this ridiculous caricature of character that the Western cinema and television industry preposterously presented as a Kazakh has an absolutely impossible Kazakh name: Borat Margaret Sagdiyev (Борат Маргарет Сагдиев); a matronym (Margaret) is a shame, because it means that the person's mother was a prostitute.

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Борат_(фильм)

Notably about the reaction in Kazakhstan against the disreputable and racist movie:

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Борат_(фильм)#Қазақстанның_фильмге_реакциясы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Шоу_Али_Джи

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Борат_Сагдиев

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Борат

Notably about the reaction in Kazakhstan against the disreputable and racist movie: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Борат#Реакция_на_фильм_в_Казахстане

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat%27s_Television_Programme

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat_Sagdiyev

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat

Shamelessly, the English version of Neo-Nazi Wikipedia does not use the proper term 'reactions', but the Satanic substitute 'reception', which is a lie. The movie was not 'received' but rejected in Kazakhstan and throughout the civilized world of which the West failed to become a part.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat#Reception_in_Kazakhstan

Furthermore, this entry consists in a monstrous falsification:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matronymic

 

Certainly, there were many correct initial reactions from the entire Kazakh society, but the disastrous willingness of part of Kazakhstan's establishment to 'close the affair' fast did not bode well for the interests of the country; it was an impermissible compromise which only emboldened the enemies of the Kazakh nation. Countries that compromise on such issues are states that are customarily exposed to stage-managed events like the Mangystau protests in 2011 and the January 2022 riots in Almaty. The reason for this conclusion is the fact that a nationally uncompromising stance and the subsequent massive close down of NGOs and institutes associated with countries tolerating anti-Kazakh propaganda would make it far more difficult for Western embassies', NGOs' and secret services' stooges (like Massimov) to act unrestrained. The correct official response in this case should be an enduring severance of diplomatic and consular relations with many Western countries.

 

Another example of Western (mainly Anglo-Saxon) contempt addressed to all the states of Central Asia, and not only Kazakhstan, is the derogatory collective term "the stans" for Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Indicatively:   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stans_(disambiguation)

https://carnegieendowment.org/2011/12/28/stans-at-20-pub-46397

https://theobserver-qiaa.org/meet-the-stans-an-introduction-to-the-former-soviet-republics-of-central-asia

https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/03/26/the-stans-want-nothing-to-do-with-vladimir-putins-invasion-of-ukraine

https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/13051/is-it-time-to-stop-calling-central-asia-the-stans

Some people start realizing that the use of the racist, pejorative term must stop being used, but it would be wiser that the concerned states, supported by China, India, Russia, Iran and other countries, issue an ultimatum before severing ties with the Western world.

 

In fact, the Western countries must come to terms with the fact that Kazakhstan did not become independent from the USSR in order to be enslaved by Western states or accept their paranoid dictates. Kazakhstan will not accept the inhuman hysteria of the so-called 'woke ideology', the absurdity of homosexual marriages, the Western moral deviance and socio-behavioral collapse. In this regard, Nur-sultan is at the same wavelength with Beijing, Delhi, Moscow, Ankara, Tehran, Karachi, Tashkent and numerous other Asiatic and African capitals that remain healthy and unaffected by the Jesuit-Zionist contamination of the West.

 

It will take years to uncover the true extent of nepotism in Kazakhstan; I am not quite sure that this will solve the major problems of the Kazakh economy. It is not certain that any state free of nepotism can also escape from corruption. One has therefore to pinpoint that the problem is not whether Dariga Nursultanovna Nazarbayeva (born in 1963; Дарига Нурсултановна Назарбаева/Дариға Нұрсұлтанқызы Назарбаева), Dinara Nursultanovna Kulibaeva (born in 1967; Динара Нурсултановна Кулибаева/Динара Нұрсұлтанқызы Құлыбаева) and Aliya Nursultanovna Nazarbayeva (born in 1980; Алия Нурсултановна Назарбаева/ Әлия Нұрсұлтанқызы Назарбаева) with their respective husbands have accumulated an enormous number of companies and wealth. No one can guarantee that, if all these companies were to be managed by totally unrelated CEOs and directed by fully independent boards of directions, corruption in Kazakhstan would disappear and the productivity would increase.

 

Nepotism, corruption and wealth concentration are only parts of Kazakh economy's problems; one can even describe them as rather peripheral. The country needs a real restructuring of the economy; in this regard, it will be essential for the country to duly leverage its economic potential in order to transform the structure of the economy. Job creation should not be concentrated in low-productivity nontradable services sectors. State-owned enterprises still dominate the economy; this cannot continue. When it comes to economic models, Kazakhstan is nowadays in a far better position than in 1991 or 2001. It is clear that Nur-sultan must follow Beijing's successful model and has to attract a higher volume of foreign direct investment (FDI); in joint ventures with Chinese and Indian businesses, Kazakh companies will be able to better integrate into the regional and wider Asiatic markets. Furthermore, trade relationships outside Central Asia should be actively established and further expanded, notably in South and Southeast Asia. Also, Kazakhstan has to invest more in educational development, technical skills upgrade, human capital enhancement, and poverty reduction, thus enlarging the middle class share of the population.

 

Last, the Kazakh administration and elite must show increased ecological sensitivity in the planning process of economic restructuring; the terrible occurrences that every now and then have been attested in Kazakhstan bear witness to the urgent need of an enormous, social and governmental, task to improve the environmental conditions of the country. One example of such occurrences is the infernal environment in which the inhabitants of Temirtau (180 km SE of Nur-sultan; Темиртау/Теміртау) found themselves on 13th February 2018, in the aftermath of a strong snowfall. Within few hours, a nightmarish coating of black dust settled on the snow, turning it from white to dark gray. It was dangerous to live and impossible to enjoy life there; having had a so long and so glorious past, the Kazakhs do not deserve these conditions of physical existence. About:

https://www.astanamyth.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Albo#Astana:_Architecture,_Myth_&_Destiny

Astana Challenge Trailer / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLHk2Zp-tD8

Astana capital of Kazakhstan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KBw6kZTVLM

http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/30117

https://kbtu.edu.kz/en/students/library-en/library-news/1266-astana-is-the-northernmost-capital-city-in-asia

https://e-history.kz/en/news/show/7144/

https://www.inform.kz/en/capital-s-move-to-astana-one-of-historical-landmarks-in-kazakhstan-s-history_a3476318

https://elbasy.kz/en/capital-kazakhstan-nur-sultan

https://astanatimes.com/2020/07/astana-from-humble-origins-to-national-capital/

https://www.inform.kz/en/capital

Interational Competition for the Master Plan and Design of Astana, Kazakhstan

https://www.kisho.co.jp/page/222.html

New capital cities as tools of development and nation-building: Review of Astana and Egypt’s new administrative capital city

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S209044792100040X

And this is what the paranoid, racist and extremist Australian rascals wrote about Astana, feeling rancor and hysteria, as their otherwise useless city of Sidney was sidestepped by Astana:

https://www.gq.com.au/lifestyle/travel/inside-astana-kazakhstan-the-40-billion-dollar-city/news-story/1a3b7b9ac1c751efb23f827e456385d8

Казахстан, бывший испытательный полигон ядерного оружия в Семипалатинске: что там происходит сейчас

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/kazahstan-byvshij-ispytatelnyj-poligon-yadernogo-oruzhiya-v-semipalatinske-chto-tam-proishodit-sejchas-6740908698584788010-2181943587885839308/?user_session_id=67250962d14bb1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurchatov,_Kazakhstan

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Курчатов_(Россия)

https://elbasy.kz/ru/semya

https://elbasy.kz/kk/otbasy

https://elbasy.kz/en/family

https://elbasy.kz/sites/default/files/2020-12/Nursultan%20Nazarbayev.%20Biography.pdf

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Назарбаева,_Дарига_Нурсултановна

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Дариға_Нұрсұлтанқызы_Назарбаева

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dariga_Nazarbayeva

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Кулибаева,_Динара_Нурсултановна

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Динара_Нұрсұлтанқызы_Құлыбаева

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinara_Kulibaeva

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Назарбаева,_Алия_Нурсултановна

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Әлия_Нұрсұлтанқызы_Назарбаева

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliya_Nazarbayeva

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Акаев,_Айдар_Аскарович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aidar_Akayev

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Российско-казахстанская_граница

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan%E2%80%93Russia_border

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Владимир_Владимирович_Путин

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Путин,_Владимир_Владимирович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wikiәрім_Қажымқанұлы_Мәсімов

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Масимов,_Карим_Кажимканович

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karim_Massimov

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Протесты_в_Казахстане_(2022)

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_жылғы_Қазақстандағы_наразылық_шаралары

https://astanatimes.com/2022/07/717-people-convicted-for-crimes-during-the-january-attacks-prosecutor-general/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Kazakh_unrest

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Протесты_в_Казахстане

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Протесты_в_Мангистауской_области_(2011)

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жаңаөзен_оқиғасы_(2011_жыл)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhanaozen_massacre

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Қазақстан_экономикасы

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Экономика_Казахстана

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Kazakhstan

https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/664531525455037169/pdf/KAZ-SCD-April-2018-FINAL-eng-with-IDU-05012018.pdf

https://astanatimes.com/2022/07/kazakhstan-has-potential-to-attract-new-businesses-says-kazakh-foreign-investors-council-association-chairman/

https://astanatimes.com/2021/10/volume-of-fdi-in-kazakhstan-grows-30-4-percent-in-first-half-of-2021/

https://foreignpolicy.com/sponsored/kazakhstan-aims-to-become-a-destination-for-global-investment/

https://astanatimes.com/2021/12/kazakhstan-attracts-over-us370-billion-in-fdi-since-independence/

https://www.pollutionsolutions-online.com/news/air-clean-up/16/breaking-news/what-caused-the-black-snow-in-kazakhstan/45098

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/chestnye-foto-kak-vyglyadyat-bednye-regiony-kazahstana-6740908698584788010-4908553247889893324/?user_session_id=6b900862c86f5a

https://zen.yandex.ru/media/zagadki_history/syn-pisatelia-proshedshego-voinu-stajirovka-v-kitae-i-rabota-v-mide-chto-interesnogo-bylo-v-jizni-prezidenta-tokaeva-61df13c2d516294f57f50ae4

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/v-kakih-regionah-rossii-prozhivaet-mnogo-kazahov-1709019875470285736-1701290769210346795/?user_session_id=10f0806628a0bd4

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/mir-na-poroge-prodovolstvennogo-krizisa-v-kazahstane-vzleteli-ceny-na-produkty-a-na-polkah-odni-rossijskie-tovary-4167129088794215821-6885061553762795894/?user_session_id=300c0762cc844c

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/pochemu-v-kazahstane-nash-benzin-deshevle-v-poltora-raza-chem-v-rossii-5414213310623582154-9133382144963407571/?user_session_id=dd190862e22271

Статус Назарбаева закрепят в Конституции Казахстана

https://news.mail.ru/politics/51032696/?frommail=1

Сможет ли космодром "Восточный" стать лучшей заменой "Байконура"?

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/smozhet-li-kosmodrom-vostochnyj-stat-luchshej-zamenoj-bajkonura-8721295393965601678-3804247711439516999/?user_session_id=c0de0262d8b0ba

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/uroven-zhizni-v-rossii-i-kazahstane-sravnenie-po-4-kriteriyam-ot-cen-na-produkty-do-dostupnosti-zhilya-1770296732821366657-6765567499831041463/?user_session_id=10f0806628a0bd4

Самые странные традиции казахов: нельзя будить спящего, стричь ногти и подавать руку, прощаясь

https://pulse.mail.ru/article/samye-strannye-tradicii-kazahov-nelzya-budit-spyaschego-strich-nogti-i-podavat-ruku-proschayas-1316393933539350430-6932517752889772451/?user_session_id=6bd00762d0c72b

https://e-history.kz/ru/

https://astanatimes.com/2022/07/sco-remains-a-space-for-stability-and-development-says-kazakh-foreign-minister-in-tashkent/

 

 

Postface

The History of Kazakhstan, as material for education, topic for research, and effort of reconstitution, is not identical with the Kazakh History, i.e. the past of the Kazakhs. The facts and the processes of intellectual, cultural, military and royal assertion are the result of their constituent elements, i.e. the Kazakhs of all three hordes and their royal, spiritual and military leadership throughout the ages. How today's Kazakhs will use the wealth of their National Heritage and how they will continue respecting, preserving and cherishing the values of the Kazakh Genius is a matter of accurate perception, comprehensive conceptualization, exhaustive contextualization and ultimate reconstruction.

 

This topic has been studied to some extent; in his 'Rehabilitation of the Basmachi - a form of the national liberation movement' (Реабилитация басмачества-форма национально-освободительного движения), V. Levitsky (В. Левицкий) writes (in the chapter 'Rehabilitation of the Basmachi in the Central Asian states: ideological conjuncture and political realities'/'Реабилитация басмачества в центральноазиатских государствах: идеологическая конъюнктура и политические реалии') the following (the English translation is mine):

"It seems that the modern elites of Kazakhstan, striving to implement the project of national modernization and maintain ties with Russia, hardly need the rehabilitation of the Basmachi as an additional basis for the "state project". For the rehabilitation of the Basmachi is unlikely to contribute to the strengthening of interethnic peace and harmony, which is so necessary for the country today. On the contrary, the 'spirits of the past', being invoked today, are unlikely to help the movement into the future".

https://zonakz.net/2011/07/26/reabilitaciya-basmachestva-v-central/

 

Very important remark from an astute scholar, and -at the same time- very correct choice for the Kazakh academic, intellectual and political establishment! Kazakhstan does not need today the Basmachi turmoil (see above: part XV) nor the Enver Pasha's paranoia. The Ottoman Empire is irrevocably defunct and the Committee of Union and Progress (İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti/Единение и прогресс/Бірлік және прогресс комитеті) is invariably obsolete. But the Jadid intellectuals (Жәдидшілдік) and their foresightedness have always been prevalent among the Kazakhs.

 

Great nations disappeared from History when they lost the vision that their creative forces pulled together; that is why it is of critical importance that the Kazakh elites, academics, intellectuals and statesmen alike, see the past of their nation is its entirety and perceive the value of their land in its true dimensions. If the Kazakh National Heritage is disregarded for the sake of ideological chimeras or theological delusions of ignorant sheikhs, the Kazakhs will have denied their own identity. Then, it will not take long until Kazakhstan becomes the next Afghanistan; this is exactly what Kazakhstan's worst enemies, i.e. England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the US, plan to bring about (not only in Kazakhstan but in many other countries of the region). This is necessary in their struggle for survival. It is however clear that not a single Kazakh finds the need to destroy his fatherland for the sake of the colonial powers which caused disasters, wars and genocides all over the world, having always been at the antipodes of civilization.  

 

Melting pot of Tengrism, Shamanism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity and Islam, passageway for merchants, mystics, conquerors, erudite scholars and interminable nomads, the Land of Kazakhstan brought together China and Iran, Mongolia and India, Germany and Tibet, Russia and the Pamirs. For two millennia located at the epicenter of the Silk Roads, for many centuries situated at the crossroads of conquerors, for several decades accepted as the litmus paper for the test of all Soviet leaders, Kazakhstan is by definition Oriental, multicultural and secular.

 

Land of tolerance and integrity and not of religious sectarianism, territory of compassion and bravery, and homeland to great Jadid intellectuals like Khalil Dosmukhamedov, Salimgirey Seidkhanovich Dzhantyurin, Saken Seifullin and Zhahansha Dosmukhamedov, Kazakhstan is at the same time a miniature of the vastness and an expanse of the yurt. By selecting the proper elements from their past, by forging the correct strategic alliances for their future, by eliminating all destabilizing forces, dogmas and theories, and by closing down all channels of insidious infiltration, today's Kazakhs have all that it takes to fully justify former President Nazarbayev's vision, validate President Tokayev's aspirations, and bring to the world a hitherto missing example: the Kazakh magnanimity.

 

- Is that too much for today's Kazakhs?

- I don't think so; 'magnanimity' in Kazakh is 'жомарттық' (jomartik).

And the Kazakh President's personal name is ' Жомарт', i.e. 'magnanimous' or 'generous' (Jomart; Kassym-Jomart Tokayev/ Касым-Жомарт Токаев).

This means that he is the correct man in the correct place; in the correct moment.

Quod erat demonstrandum!

 

About:

И. А. Носков & А. М. Маратова, Духовно-творческое наследие Абая Кунанбаева и развитие академической мобильности студенческой молодежи республики казахстан

https://www.elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=45694668

https://www.inform.kz/en/images-from-the-opera-abai-exhibition-to-be-held-in-nur-sultan_a3710364

https://www.trtrussian.com/mnenie/basmachi-geroi-prestupniki-ili-zhertvy-6801269

https://kk.wikipedia.org/wikiұстафа_Кемал_Ататүрік

https://astanatimes.com/2016/08/the-life-of-a-global-nomad-kazakh-conductor-alan-buribayev/

 


No comments:

Post a Comment