In Petersburg, I busied myself studying the European book catalogs of the Academy’s Asian Museum, updating and preparing for my own benefit, an index begun by Fraehn in 1845 on Islamic manuscripts. I also worked in the Academy’s archives in order to collect materials on the Baskurt and Nogay history. I also wrote the results of the first Turkistan trip. Those were published in the Russian Archeological Society’s Eastern Branch Zapiski. Barthold promised me that he would find a way to have me admitted into the Petersburg University School of Oriental Studies even if I could not pass the high school exams, and he would employ me in the International Central Asia Researches Committee, which he had founded, and he would send me to Europe to study the Islamic works in their libraries. Thus, I would be working in Germany, Austria, Paris and London between 1914 and 1917. Because of the war, those plans could not be realized, but caused me to dream and plan for that ideal future. Meaning, I would become an Orientalist working on the Turks and Islamic culture. I told myself, “Why would I not learn English and Latin sufficiently to read Orientalist Howorth’s English work on our history, Orientalist Fraehn’s Latin work, again on our history?” This was the definite decision I made during 1914.
My learning of Ibn-haldun’s philosophy—
That winter, I spent quite a bit of time on Manas and the Arab philosopher Ibn-Haldun. That scholar’s six volume history and the Turkish translation of his Introduction [Mukaddime] were in my maternal uncle’s library, next to the work of Ibn-al-Asir’s Islamic history source. My maternal uncle had me not only give me homework from Ibn-al-Asir, but also from Ibn-Haldun, then he would examine me. Since Ibn-Haldun’s philosophical work Introduction was widely used in the introduction of Mercani’s Vafiyat ul-Eslaf published in Kazan, the contents were known to me in general outlines via my father and my maternal uncle, though my maternal uncle told me: “do not to worry about it at this time; you will not understand it.” The reasoning was that I had not yet been introduced to Social issues yet. That year, when I was reading Professor Karayev’s social studies book, my adviser Professor Khwostov gave me the task of summarizing Ibn-Haldun’s thoughts on social matters since I knew Arabic. I prepared a paper from that book, on the importance of nationality in organization of governance, to present it to the Kazan University Archeology Society. At the time, Yusuf Akcura wanted articles from me in order publish them in theTurk Yurdu journal. I modified it for the Turkish readers and sent it to him. Akcura had it printed in the journal Bilgi being published under the administration of Tevfik Rustu and Celal Sahir (1914, number 7). I learned of that only after my return from Germany to Istanbul during June of 1925. When I arrived in Istanbul, I met a gentleman named Muallim M. Cevdet. Later we became friends, and he had a large library. He whisperd a few words into mey ear: “Please do not mention my name, when your paper on Ibn-Haldun is discussed.” I asked: “what happened?” He stated: “when your paper was published, I wrote in the journal Tedrisat-I Iptidaiye Mecmuasi we were then publishing, two retorts criticizing your ideas. Now, the ideas you advanced have appleal; mine are bankrupt.” I read my own article, as well as those of M. Cevdet bey. I was against theocracy, Cevdet Bey was in favor of it and he stated that: “what is the Northern author Zeki Velidi looking for in our government administration of the Turks living in Turkiye?” criticizing me severely. The ideas I advanced in this article were as follows:
“Theocracy is a nuisance for the Turks; Theocracy is not the essence of Islamic society; when we are joining the Western world, Islam must fall in line as well; Turks always separated Islam from sovereignty; Among the Mongols and the Turks there is nothing that is bound in religion. Cengiz’s yasa period opened a new vista in Islam. This application (Yasaq-I Osmani and the tamga system) also left its mark in Turkiye as well as in the Islamic world. Religion and administration must be completely separate. The statement of the Kur’an must be modified by the regulations of the Professorane world. An Eastern people have nothing different from the Westerners as a human society. The efforts of Egyptian Mufti Muhammed Abdu; the Turk Mahmut Esat, Russian Musa Carulah’s efforts in Reforming Islam and making it the bases of contemporary Professorate laws are empty matters. The primary reason for the Central Asian societies becoming prisoners of Russia is their discarding the Cengiz yasa by turning to sharia. The ruler of Bukhara (during the last quarter of the 18th century), the Mangit Sah Murat Bey had become a Moslem dervis, and he was killing those who were no longer performing namaz. When Ibn-Haldun wrote his grand history, great events had taken place in Turk history. He spoke with Temur in Damascus. His first contacts with Turk tribes began at that occasion. He wrote a separate book and he recorded his impressions; Temur managed his country with Yasa and Tuzuk.”
On 1 February 1930, I was invited to the Cankaya Kosk. At Ataturk’s table, scholarly matters were discussed in addition to the political ones. Ataturk addressed the Siirt Deputy Mahmut Bey, asked him: “kindly bring the Professor’s article.” A little later, Mahmut Bey brought the Bilgi journal from Ataturk’s library. I noticed that Ataturk had read that article very carefully. Now, he had Mahmut Bey read it. At one point in the article, he asked me to explain what I meant by stating: “with the genius of Cengiz’s mind, extremely regular military administration removed Iran’s bureaucratic methods,” and added: “I believe there is an error there.” I immediately responded with “you are very correct, sir; I surmise, when Yusuf Bey was rendering my language into Ottoman, he utilized bureaucratic instead of theocratic methods, and changed that foreign word into ‘kirtasiye.’” Ataturk: “I thought so, too, because, in other places, you mention theocracy, and wrote against the Caliphate.” In that gathering, the owner of the said journal, Tevfik Rustu, Celal Bayar, Yusuf Akcura, Afet Hanim and many others were present. Yusuf Bey confessed that he inserted the word kirtasiye/bureaucracy. I was filled with admiration for Ataturk for his depth of attention. He then addressed me: “as you see, we read your writings prior to your arrival; you had sent a good message ahead of you.” That also testified to the fact that Ataturk had read the criticism written by M. Cevdet. This compliment paid me by Ataturk did not yield good results for me. Because, Professor Semseddin Gunaltay was of one mind with M. Cevdet during 1914, and he had published his thoughts when my article was published. Yusuf Akcura later detailed to me how Gunaltay’s facial expressions were spoilt while Ataturk was praising my work. Regardless, I was pleased to learn that that article I wrote while I was studying Ibn-Haldun during the winter of 1912-1913 was read seriously by Turkish men of ideas and politics. Later on I saw that, my same article was praised by Professor Ziyaeddin Fahri, in a work he wrote about Ibn-Haldun in 1922, much like that was done by Ataturk that night. Even the American Professor F. Rosenthal also touched upon my thoughts on Ibn-Haldun, in his 1961 critical English translation of Mukaddime.
While I was studying the manuscripts in Bukhara libraries during the winter of 1913, I realized that those scholars working on historical philosophy and social sciences were not confined to Mediterranean and Spain, much like Ibn-Haldun, and the idea was already in the hands of Temur in the very early 14th century. The referenced work was by Sems Ici, who wrote basically the same principles as Ibn-Haldun, and expounded the same thoughts without even knowing Ibn-Haldun. It was written at the time of Temur [d.1405], by his order, on historical philosophy and devoted to Turk law and administrative systems, and presented to Temur. I only found that work after my arrival in Istanbul, in the Yenicami library. I had mentioned that work to Ataturk during the said dinner, in which Yasa was utilized instead of Sheria and the results of mathematical sciences in the place of religion were stressed. Ataturk responded with: “a remarkable Turk this Temur.” In 1951, I presented that work to the XXII. International Orientalist Congress held in Istanbul. Professor Rosenthal of Yale has published a research comment of that work.
My second scholarly trip to Turkistan—
Ibrahim Akcurin was foremost among my friends, who were happy to learn of my second scholarly trip, sponsored by the Russian Academy of Sciences. His name is mentioned in several places in this Memoir, and he was the representative for as well as related to the industrialist Akcurins of Simbirsk province. Even though he was more advanced from me, he regarded me as his contemporary. He had learned Uygur. When I was in Petersburg, he happened to be there as well, and sent me an invitation in Uygur. He had invited me to the Grand Hotel for dinner. He wished me success and accompanied me to the train station. Upon arrival in Bukhara, I met with Prime Minister Nasrullah Qusbeg, because, I was going to spend most of time in Bukhara. He had dictated letters of recommendations to the Governors of various administrative divisions, to render me aid. Wherever I arrived, I noticed that those letters were already there. When I reached Qarsi, they assumed I was a high-level official of the Tsar, and placed me in the Elcihane, which was the equivalent of the Foreign Ministry Guest House. I was entertained in grand style, and also provided a host next to me. When I arrived in Sherisebz, the Governor (Bey) of this province was addressing me in Russian and having his words translated to me, even though he knew I was a Moslem Turk. I told him this was redundant, and I was not going to speak in Russian. He was pleased. In May, I saw in Qarsi market a medicinal compound being wrapped into pages written in the old Turkish. I asked for the rest of the book. He was tearing the pages from a volume. That book turned out to be one seventh of the Kur’an, in Turkish translation. I bought it for twenty Bukhara ‘Pul.’ This was one of the oldest examples of Turk-Islam period, dating back to the 10th century. Orientalists Barthold and Salemann wrote on this topic. Later on, 14th century copies written in Iran under the Ilkhans and in Altin-Ordu [Golden Horde] were discovered in Istanbul. Later on, I published a piece on these in English. After completing my research in Bukhara Khanate, and returned to Tashkent, Assistant Governor General A.A. Semenov offered me a large sum of money for me to sell this fragment to him. I responded with: “I bought it for the Academy of Sciences; I will give it to them.” Later on I learned that Semenov wrote praises about me to Barthold. Perhaps he wanted to know if I had a money weakness. Probably he had a good collection of manuscripts, spending a lot of money for that. Professor Semenov passed away recently, after working in the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan and publishing important works on the Iranian past of Turkistan. Other high level official Russians who were interested in scholarship were then living in Samarkand; engineer Kastalsky and Viatkin. They had collected very valuable works. Another volume I bought in Qarsi was written in the beginning of the 16th century, a large work on the social and cultural life of Timurid Herat, written by one Mahmud Vasfi. Providing the smallest details of the life and environment of Alisir Navai, this work serves as an endless source for the scholars studying social and cultural topics. That book, also containing many pornographic stories, was published by the Russian Academy of Sciences. In Sehrisebz, I copied the inscriptions off the Timurid era buildings. I wrote the details of specifications of those inscriptions. Even though the Russians had militarily occupied Bukhara fifty years ago, none of these structures, constituting the largest architectural monuments of Turkistan, were yet photographed. After many of the monuments became ruined, they woke-up. It was the Austrian Cohn Wiener who first published those images.
My trip to Eastern Bukhara—
When I arrived in Guzar at the beginning of June, Governor Seyyit Ekrem Tore, who was the uncle of the Emir, met me with great respect. He was unhappy with his nephew Emir Alim. Mustafa Mirahor, a member of his entourage, was from the Qavcin tribe. And he did not like the Mangit, on account of the Mangit spoiling the city folk Tajiks. Seyyit Ekrem Tore invited me to stay, be a teacher and teach Russian to his sons. His palace had a few good manuscripts. His grandfather Emir Nasrullah (1828-1860) had the British officers Conoly and Stoddard killed, and Russians had a portrait of his grandfather made; he asked that I send it to him. Later on, I sent him the work of Xanikov that included the said picture. He did not like the Russians. On my way to Serasya, at Baysun, referenced as Cidali Baysun in our dastan Alpamis, and the home of Kungrats, the Bey of the said tribe had me eat six different types of pilav in one day. In extreme heat, I almost drowned without being able to digest them. At Tupelenderya River, as we crossed, I killed a wild boar that attacked me, and scared my horse, with my pistol. The boar was biting into my boot, the stirrup saved me. I had read that there were plenty of boars here. The Baysun guide I had with me stopped everybody we encountered on the way, and told everyone with exaggeration the event as if I killed a lion. Ishaq Bey was an enlightened young man as governor of Serasya, gave me an excellent collection of manuscripts from the old Turk Sufis and Ahmet Yesevi, which I had not seen until that day. Since it was a present for me, I did not give it to the Academy. Now, it is lost. I wish I had passed it on. In Dusanbe, today the capital of the Tajik Republic, the former Prime Minister of the Emir of Bukhara Evliyaqul Qusbegi was the Governor General. He wrote poetry under the nom de plume Huseyni, and published them. I did not know anything about all this. He personally read his poetry to me, most of which were in Persian. He introduced me to some of his close friends with: “even though he has a Russian education, he remained a Moslem.” I went to a village named Hazret-I Mevlana near Dusanbe. This was the burial site of a Grand Sufi of Turkistan, Yaqub Carhi, and the population was considered to be Mongol during the Timurid times; now as well. In 1555, this place was visited by the Turk sailor Seydi Ali Reis. Dusanbe (Suman, by the old name) was a center of Buddhizm during the 7th and 8th centuries. I did not encounter any sign of those days. The ethnography of the Turk Laqay and Qarlik was never studied, so I went to a few places to collect language and folklore samples. Since they were the remnant of the old Ephtalites, their literature, customs and traditions were genuine interest to me.
My having been robbed at the Lakays—
I told the issue to Evliya Kus Begi. He aided me and I went to the place of the emlakdar, meaning Kaymakam, provincial district administrator. I was going to the location known as Koktas, where the Lakay Beys lived. A special tent was erected for me, inside the gardens completely surrounded by high wall. I was inviting the Lakay and Qarluq; I was recording the old legends and old dastans. I went to the room of the Kaymakam to retrieve some item from my jacket; I discovered that my wallet, with all the money in it was gone. I informed the Kaymakam. Five hundred fityfive Russian Rubles and several hundred Bukhara Tenke, adding up to approximately eight hundred Russian Rubles were stolen. Kaymakam announced that all the doors to the walled garden, perhaps several hectares in size, locked and everyone inside was now under detention. Since the amount stolen added-up to approximately four thousand Bukhara Tenke, it was as much as the total annual tax amount of this region. Kaymakam immediately sent a messenger Governor General Evliyaqul Kusbegi, advising him of the foregoing. The Governor General wrote back that, if the said amount is not found immediately, that total was going to be extracted from the residents as an additional tax. Having all of the people present in the gardens of the seat of government including the prominent individuals of the Qarluk and Lakay in custody immediately became an issue. Many were forced to swear on the Kur’an that they had not stolen the money. This caused great excitement. The tribal leaders went to the Kaymakam and stated: “this man’s money was perhaps not stolen; he only feigned that it was. If his money was stolen, he would have been depressed. Perhaps he only wishes to extract money from our tribe.” An Imam by the name of Haci Ali spoke for all the people: “given that this person confesses to be a Moslem, we swore we did not steal his money. He ought to swear on Kur’an that his money is stolen.” I responded that I was not going to swear because of eight hundred Rubles; and if it is not recovered, I will not be amenable for an additional tax for the purpose. This increased the suspicion of those present. But, the Kaymakam resorted to other means to find the truth; some of the suspects were tortured in the Bukhara style. As a result, it transpired that one of the servants had taken the money. He confessed. Humor of everybody returned. The Ozbeks present stated: “if it was us, we would have sworn for a single Bukhara Pul; he was reluctant to, even though he had lost four thousand Tenke and did not show any remorse. To the contrary, he forgave it” and showed their sympathy toward me.
The same individual invited me to the mountains, to the high pastures of Koktas to a feast. I mounted my hose to go with them. As I approached the gate, the mounted leaders of the tribe addressed me: “Sir, we have many thieves; leave that money to the Kaymakam in front of everybody.” I agreed, and in front of the assembled, I gave the money to the Kaymakam. We thus went to the mountains. It transpired that, even while we were with the Kaymakam, they had sent an advance man, had sheep slaughtered, and prepared a meal. They also had plenty of kimiz. We spoke pleasantly. I stayed there another two to three days and collected dastans. They asked me about world politics. The rumors that there was going to be a war between Germany and the Russians had reached them. Except, they were curious which side the Caliph (meaning, Turkiye) was going to take. I was truly amazed they were so curious about politics. I told them what I knew. When I left them, they accompanied me, just like a cavalry battalion all the way to the Kaymakam.
In my life, I experienced many a strange event. This is one of them. This thievery in Koktas helped me eight years later during the time of national liberation movement. At the time of the rebellion against the Soviets, these Qarluks and the Lakay kept Enver Pasa in custody, in the home of Ibrahim Bey, in which I had been, with the suspicion that he might be a false person. In the days when the Pasa was in custody (January 1922), I was in the place called Taldi, in the region of Guzar of Bukhara, with the Korbasi Cebbar. At the time, representatives arrived from the Lakay to Cabbar Bey. Their intent was to establish contact with the partizans in the direction of Qarsi and Guzar. One of those in the party recognized me and told the money stealing event. He told Cabbar Bey that “this man was a hight official of the Tsar, and was a friend of the deceased Evliyakul Kusbegi. Four thousand Tenke of his money was stolen; he did not bat an eye. He was our guest, he told us that there would be war, Turks would join in with the Germans and the Tsar would lose. Whatever he told us, turned out to be true.” I held conversations with them. I listened to what they told me about Enver Pasa. I also added: “I confirm that Enver, who is your prisoner in Koktas, is the famed Enver Pasa of Turkiye. Go trust him, and serve him.” They left. A few days later an officer, by the name of Halil Bey, who was in the entourage of the Pasa, arrived. He informed that pasa was no longer in custody. Of course, his release was not only the result of the word the Lakay carried. However, the fact that Lakay served him was definitely a result of my words. Their representatives who arrived in Kabul during 1923 openly stated that fact. As a result of what the Lakay said about me, my credit grew in the eyes of Cabbar Bey.
Results of my trip—
After I returned from Koktas (at the end of June 1914), Evliya Kusbeg expressed his sympathy to me, stating: “good thing the money was found; if not, that would have caused an issue between Bukhara and Petersburg.” At the time, in this land called Eastern Bukhara, I could not find any valuable historical documents. A few literary and religious works and documents on religious foundations were found. I collected very valuable information on historical monuments and ethnographic materials. Along those lines, I collected information on Xuttal Bek Horses, as they were mentioned in the Chinese records predating the birth of Jesus, in the seventh and eighth century Arab records and contemporary Iranian chronicles. These are myths on the stallions that emerged from the lake and hid in the caves. It transpired that those myths were still alive around Lake Cildi and among the Turkmen and the Qarluk living near Karatekin. I was able record them all. Marco Polo mentions those horses, too.
Whan I arrived in Qarsi on 14 July, I learned that war was announced between the Germans and the Russians. Even though I was within the age bracket to be mobilized, since I was officially sent from Petersburg, I was in no hurry. I continued working in Bukhara. I obtained a document from the Russian Consulate in Bukhara (Kagan) confirming this. Like everybody else, I wanted Turkiye to join the Germans against the Russians. We spoke quite a bit on these issues with the young Bukharans. Nasrullah Kusbeg took me to the Emir’s palace and showed me some books, but insisted I not tell anyone anything on this topic or write about it. He also gave me some money. He made pilav with his own hands in a corner of the government guesthouse, and made me wear a hilat. I learned that a book entitled Tarih Yasa was in the hands of the Emir, in Uygur, and I had to return some other time to see it. One of the important works I found in Bukhara was a complete and detailed work on geography written by Kasanli Mahmud bin Veli in the 17th century. It was destroyed when the Soviets bombarded the city in 1920. It contained comprehensive information on the iska system in Zarafshan and Kashkadarya regions, and I published the notes I took from it in the Zapiski of the Russian Arheological Society (V. XXIII). During 1964, when I was a guest of the Pakistan Historical Society, I learned that this manuscript was found, and being kept in the library of the Ozbek Academy of Sciences. The Ozbek government photographed this work and presented it to the Pakistan Historical Society in four large volumes. I stayed there a few more days and studied this work. Apart from all that, I also discovered several volumes on the history of Bukhara and Khorasan, previously unknown, in the 17th century. One of those was the volume by an Ozbek named Imami, written in the 17th century in Bukhara, entitled Hanlar Tarihi or Hanname, a collection of the old Turk dastans. I wrote a German language paper on the Persian language version of that book discovered in Istanbul during 1948, and read it to the Congress of Orientalist in Cambridge during 1954. It was published in Holland. This trip, much like the earlier one, was very beneficial, but was cut short due to the war having begun. In 1912, I was invited to take up a Turk History teaching position in Ufa at the Osmaniye medrese, but I had asked for an extension. This year, I went there and had them and had them certify it officially. I returned to the village for a short rest. Due to the war atmosphere, and the possibility of being called into the army, I returned to the village from the high pastures where I had gone to drink kimiz. Shortly afterward, I left for Petersburg. Upon arrival, I gave my report to the Academy of Sciences and the International Central Asian Research Committee.
My work in the milieu of the Orientalists in Petersburg—
This report was published in the Zapiski of the Russian Archeological Society Eastern Branch, just like the previous one. Barthold and Radloff were very happy with this trip. Barthold informed the Academy of Sciences: “Velidov’s trip is a proof that those materials that are about to be completely lost can be retrieved by a native citizen who enjoys a complete trust of his people.” Barthold used to invite me to the meetings of the Orientalists living in Petersburg. In that manner, I joined the meetings of the Tsarist Archeological and Geography Society and the Orientalist “Radloff Circle.” Barthold’s Temur’s Indian Expedition was at press, I was making the corrections. I helped him with the reading of the sources while he was writing the life of Ulughbek. I had seen a work on Temur’s expedition to Syria, Damascus and Anatolia (Rum), written by Sihabettin Munsi, for a few hours. The owner did not want to show this work to the Russians, even though I worked hard, I could not obtain it. That year, my working with Barthold was very beneficial.
At the time, I was working on the second volume of my book Turk History. I was concentrating on the resurrection of the Turks against the Russians, history of Russian methods of economic pressure in response, especially the history of the Baskurt and Nogay revolts. Barthold asked me to give a briefing about my work to the Radloff Circle. I indicated that I would only be very happy to do so. On 12 December 1914 I presented my details: “I am learning the history of the Turk tribes living on the other side and to the North of the Caspian Sea since the 16th century, who are today prisoners of the Russians, on the bases of today’s conditions. To that end, I am studying the laws of the steppe tribes and those of the Baskurt, issues of land ownership among the Kazak, Kirgiz and Taranci, from those who collected the documents, such as Scerbina, Kuznetsov, Rumiantsov, Skryplev, and Preplatcekov. I am reading those from the already published forty volumes, and the larger portion of that information is still in the archives of the Immigration Bureau in hand-written notes. I took the method of learning today and working backward, and wished to learn from them on the social conditions of the steppe life and ethnography.” These issues were discussed in detail. I was told they would help me, and advised that I should work in the Tsarist Geography Society, in the committee working to draw the map of the tribes living under the Russian administration. I had already compiled such information on the Baskurt. Afterward, I worked privately in the ethnography department of the Russian Geography Society, especially with Professor Samoylovic. This work, lasting four or five months was especially beneficial to me. I continued doing the same after my arrival in Petersburg during the fall of 1916. I also studied the papers in the archive of the Academy of Sciences on the Baskurt, Kazak, and Nogay. I had already sent the plan of my second volume to Ramsted, whith whom I was in constant contact. He gave me that report in 1937 when I was a guest in his home in Helsinki, which made me very happy. But the volume entitled Introduction to Turk History Volume II on the Turk ethnography, though ready for the printer, is still not published.
Barthold spent quite an effort to save me from going into the army. He worked hard to have me appointed as a lecturer in the Eastern Languages School operating under the protection of the Tsarina. He introduced me to General Pisarev, who was running the school, who was appointed by the Tsarina. This person, for whatever reason showed interest, invited me to his home several times. As a result of that meeting, I met several Russian families living in Petersburg who had an affinity toward the East. I attended some balls. Famed Cokan Velihan had established a wide circle of friends in Petersburg that included Dostoyevsky and his environment. I noticed that, I could do the same if I were to be appointed a lecturer in the Eastern Languages School. There were individuals who had a sincere interest and affection among them toward the East. However, the appointment was not valid, until it was verified by the Tsarina. With the encouragement of Barthold, I journeyed to Kazan and took the exam to become a Russian teacher at the non-Russian schools. My old friend Ashmarin’s help ensured quick results. Since I was preparing for the task for a long time, it was easy. However, since I was not appointed as a teacher, the diploma was useless. Barthold did not at all like to fight for the Tsar, and stated that my becoming cannon fodder was not worthy of me. But the efforts of Barthold, who had lost a number of his students at the front during the first months of the war, and of Samaylovich, bore no fruit. I was inducted into the Army. Fifteen days after I settled into the barracks as a soldier, a law was passed to exempt the teachers of the non-Russian schools. I returned to Ufa, obtained a document showing I was exempt from the army service, and began teaching. In that school, I was instructing Turk History and the History of Turkish Literature. I had some very valuable students, who were later of great help in my political life. I was still continuing to prepare for the high school exams. But, I was not telling anyone that I was, as I knew not what the result would be. My fellow countryman by the name of Abdullah Ismeti did not pass the exams on his first try, which caused gossip. Those individuals, who are determined to pass them, may do so even after five tries. I was taking lessons from a high school teacher by the name of Lavrov and his wife. The Latin language was difficult for me, even though I had started it in Kazan. Despite that, I had translated Ch. Fraehn’s articles from Latin into Russian on the history of the Baskurt and the Hazar, which he took from Ibn-Fadlan. Lavrov had checked the translations.
III
1916-1918
POLITICAL LIFE
I published my history book in Russian, in the Records of the Turkistan Archeological Society series. I re-inserted the section on Eastern Turks, which was taken out by the publisher Idrisov after he stated “it does not concern us Tatars,” replete with images, also containing new information on the history of Ferghana Hans during the 18th century. While in Ufa, I was following the land cases on behalf of my uruk Elciktemir on the Kuzen ogullari, at the agricultural administration archives. These legal cases went back at least a century. My uruk had detailed me to follow the details of this complex case. During the war, I worked on political issues quite a bit. First of all, there were some groups of Social Democrats and Social Revolutionaries here. My friend Omer Terigulov was a member of the first, and others were members of the latter. Via their channels, I was receiving and reading a lot of banned publications against the Tsarist government. Through these publications, I was also learning the currents developing among Russian Revolutionaries living outside Russia. There were offers for me to join some of the revolutionary parties. I did not join, believing those could manage themselves without me, and was leery of active politics. Besides, at the time, I was only interested in theoretical socialism. One of the Kazak Sultans, Selimgerey Canturin, owned a house in Ufa. He lived in Petersburg during winter. We held some political discussions in his house during the winter. I had some contact with the political movements in Turkistan. One of the reasons for that were the publications of a Hungarian scholar and that of the Russian Vice-Governor of Ferghana. The Russian translation of Hungarian scholar Vambery’s publications on Central Asia, especially during the 1905 Revolution, on the political movements of the Moslems in the Russian Empire, had an influence on me. When he died in 1913, I wrote an article, which was published in the journal Mektep in Kazan, and in Turk Yurdu in Turkiye. I had met Nalivkin, the Governor of Ferghana, in Samara, via Alihan Bukeyhanov. The Governor knew Turkish and Persian well, and he was a historian studying our history from primary documents. He published a work on the history of Kokand Hans in French. He also had a volume on “The Natives in the past and Now” (meaning Turkistan), a very good book written with affection published in 1908. His wife published an important study under the title “Condition of Native (Ozbek) Women.” Despite the fact that Nalivkin was a soldier, having risen to the rank of governor, he was a member of the Social Democrat Party. He became a member of the Duma as a consequence. When I spoke with him in 1913, he had indicated the necessity of organizing the Moslems. That year during my Ferghana trip, I spoke several times with the Social Revolutionary Vadim Caykin. Our topic was always on the need to organize the Moslems. We agreed that a bi-lingual, in Turkish and in Russian, a newspaper with the title “Voice of Turkistan” needed to be established. I introduced Taskent attorney Ubeydullah Hocayev, teacher Munevver Qari and from Kokand Asurali Zahiri to Vadim Caykin; speaking with each before the introductions. If the newspaper was going to be established, I wrote three items to constitute the ideology to be propounded. My friends and Vadim accepted those, too:
1. The equality, before law and taxes, with the Russians, of all the Native Populations living along the Siberian Railroad and Afghanistan and Iran;
2. Not to allow Russian immigration into the region before the nomadic Moslems are settled and given lands;
3. Proliferation of contemporary education.
Accepting all these, the socialist Caykin began to publish his newspaper in Andican and Ubeydullah Hocayev in Tashkent. I published, under assumed names, in both. I concentrated on the need to establish municipal and provincial administrations in Turkistan. I also participated in the establishment of the Gayret Kutuphanesi in Kokand, which was founded with national and political aims at the end of 1913. Many a time, a room above Surali’s store which specialized in serving a dish named manti, was my abode as well as the venue for political talks, since he spent most of his time in his village.
Apparently, my contacts with the local enlightened people had attracted the attention of the Ferghana Governor during my trip. He, accompanied with the Orientalist Gibbios asked me, in Skobelev, in a very friendly way, if I held political talks during my trip of collecting historical documentation. I derived from that, perhaps I was being shadowed. I informed him I was not involved in political matters and that I believed in the tree items aforementioned, that they are not secret and was going to be discussed in the newspaper to be published in Ozbek during that year. He told me that scholarly work is very important, and it would also serve the needs of my nation as well, and advised me to stay away from secret political activity. He told me those as a friend, not as a Governor. I wondered if this person was a revolutionary. Those were also the advice given me by Alihan Bukeyhanov and by Barthold. When I was a teacher in Ufa, I never forgot those admonitions. I was in favor of studying the political movements, regardless of their color, to the extent possible.
In my opinion, Baskurt could not have a separate policy. Since they were involved in a struggle in land matters against the Russian immigrants alongside the Kazak and the Kirgiz, I believed they needed to be on the Turkistan side in politics as well. In fact, the Katay Baskurt and the Katay-Kipcak who had settled in the Syrdarya delta because of those issues beginning in the 18th century, were keeping that struggle alive. I spent a few days in fall of 1915 with Haydar Mirza Sirtlanov, a prominent Bey descended from their Sultans, and with Sultan Selimgiray Canturin, who was living in his farm in the Kilim village. Ali Asgar Sirtlanov, from the Sirtlanov family was an attorney well known across the Empire and had defended General Stessel who was a hero of the Russo-Japanese war. His brother-in-law Davut, who was a Bey of the Derbend, was killed by Davut Seyh Ali. It was said that Russians had a finger in that event. The late Aliasgar, as well as Selimgerey Canturin, during the 1905-1907 Revolutions, defended territorial autonomy for the Eastern Turk population units---and at the time we all referenced them as Moslems--- and with their encouragement Abrurresid Kadi Ibrahimov published a tract under the name Autonomia. I had seriously personalized that idea, and with the encouragement of Alihan Bukeyhanov, I established contact with Gregori Potanin, the famed Central Asian researcher who favored Siberian autonomy. He was perhaps eighty years old, an officer of the Russian Cossacks, who later entered the world of scholarship. But his scholarship was much like the Hungarian Baratusi Balough who wrote on the history of the Turanists, and Dr. Riza Nur Bey, who wrote twelve volumes on the culture, history, ethnography and dastans of Siberian and Central Asian tribes. Those were penned more for the love of the feeling of scholarship rather than scholarship itself, as they personally entertained affection toward those tribes. Potanin published works stressing that the idea of “Son of God,” appearing in many Slavic and European epics and among the Christians, was originally taken from the Erke cult of the Turks. I read those with pleasure, despite the pessimistic criticism of Barthold. Potanin liked my interest in Siberian autonomy and wrote me letters. It was difficult to read those letters written with his shaking hands, but I liked receiving them and would read those time and again, because, I had earlier read the works of his friend Yadrintsev. I also read those letters to Selimgerey Canturin as well. We would call Canturin “Sultan,” meaning to indicate he was a Prince, because he was descended from the Kazak Hans who fought against the Russian occupation armies during the 18th century, alongside with the Baskurt. In 1915, when I visited him in his farm near the Kilim village, and expressed my ideas about the Siberian autonomy, and the fact that the Eastern Baskurdistan could join such an arrangement, which was earlier under the jurisdiction of Siberian Kocum Hans, his response was “if an opportunity presents itself, that may take place.” Selimgerey Sultan wished me to spend the winters in Petersburg and become acquainted with the preparations of the coming Russian revolution. During a time we spent alone, he indicated that he recognized me as a young man who had the ability to descend into the depths of political life.
My having been sent from Ufa to Petersburg: My work in the Moslem Fraction in the Duma—
Then, some business appeared that would provide me the opportunity to seriously involve myself in politics. The election laws modified by the Tsar allowed five Deputies for the Kazan residents and one for the Azerbaijanis. Other Turks in Turkistan were deprived of the rights to have a representative in the Duma. Among the extant representatives, the Ufa Deputy Kutlukay Mirza Tevkilev was very honorable, honest and knowledgeable, but he was also very old. At the same time, since he was raised within the Russian community, he did not know the problems among the Moslems in detail. The other representative elected from the Ufa province, Ibniyemin Axtiyamov was educated in institutions of higher learning and was an attorney, but since he was stuck into small matters, his work did not yield positive results. Isa Mirza Yenikev was the Orenburg provincial Representative, was earlier a teacher, and he was involved in educational matters. But, since he was very ignorant, very hesitant and a scared person, he could not represent his constituents in anything other than education. The issue of sending someone from Ufa province arose, to help the official Moslem Fraction members, to remain in Petersburg during when the Duma was in session. Kutlukay Tevkilev desired this very much. He was aware of his own shortcomings and he was willing to admit it. Even though several candidates were advanced, it turned out that Tevkilev, Selimgirey Canturin and the late Aliasgar Sirtlanov’s wife Emine Sirtlanova, who had large influence among the enlightened Moslems of Petersburg, as well as the Ufa provincial Council member Omer Terigulov, recommended me. As a result, I was sent to Petersburg at the end of 1915, in order to undertake those tasks at the meeting of the Moslems in Ufa.
My devotion to scholarly career—
Were the efforts underway since 1909 to pass the matriculation exams derailed because of this development? Never. I believed that this political activity was temporary. I immediately sent letters to my teachers, Professor Katanov, Professor Barthold and Professor Bogorodetski, and to my German and Latin teacher Rklitski, with the general content as follows: “Moslem citizens of the Ufa Province gave me a political duty. However, my effort to enter the academe to continue my scholarly efforts will return some day. My new duties are temporary. Your desire to see me occupying a position in scholarship will always be my support. All the help you have extended to date will always keep me beholden to you, to my dedication to an academic career.” Eleven years of political activity later, I arrived in Istanbul and entered that path. In 1930, I went to university of Vienna; I passed the Real Gymnasium and Doctoral exams. After the ‘promotion,’ I was appointed Honorary Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Bonn. On 9 June 1935, I was photographed with the Orientalists of the Oriental Seminar, starting with Professor P. Kahle and O. Spies, I sent that image to Professors Katanov and Bogoredetski with the inscription “I kept my word; my gratitude to you is eternal” as an attachment to my letter in Russian. At that time, Professor Barthold had passed away a long time earlier. It transpired that Professor Katanov had also recently died. I received a note from Professor Bogorodetski, consisting of the word “congratulations.”
Political work in Petersburg—
After arriving in Petersburg at the end of 1915, I rented a room from a prominent Social Democrat Georgian family close to the Tavriceskaya ulitsa where the Moslem Fraction had its quarters, close to the Duma. Selimgerey’s home, who spent his winters in Petersburg, was close-by. Since Kutlukay Mirza spent most of his time there as well, the political issues were generally discussed there. Kutlukay Mirza always told the matters concerning the Moslems under debate in the Duma to the Fraction. Other Tatar members Bayterekov, and Minlialiyev, who were very ignorant, were nowhere to be seen. Those who were later elected to the Duma and joined the Fraction were Ahmet Salihov from Northern Caucasus; Mustafa Cokayev from Turkistan; Ismail Limanov from Crimea. Axtiamov was the official Secretary of the Fraction, though all matters passed onto the hands of Ahmet Salikov who was elected the head of the Bureau. Limanov was the Secretary of the Bureau. Azerbaijanies did not have permanent representatives, but often sent their leaders such as Alimerdan Topcibasi and Halil Hasmemedov to Petersburg, and they participated in the affairs of the Fraction. Even though I was not a lawyer, I physically worked on many a declaration to be made on behalf of the Moslem Fraction. With Mustafa Cokayev, we worked most with Representative Kerensky on the matter of laborers that were to be sent to the war-from from Turkistan. Kerensky was liked by those who were from Turkistan, because his father was an Educational Inspector in Tashkent and he had grown up there, and as a Social Revolutionary speaker who was criticizing the government. Especially Mutafa Cokayev was devoted to him. Mustafa Cokay and I, with Kerensky’s aid, went to the war front twice to inspect the condition of those laborers. N. F. Kerensky is still alive and in February 1958 we met several times at the Hoover Library of Stanford University where he was busily writing the history of his times. We told each other our memories dating back to those times. By chance, the microfilm of Turkestanskie Vedemosti newspaper of the Kerensky period was in the hands of Dr. Richard Pierce of Berkeley [University of California], and we read those with pleasure together, at the Hoover microfilm readers. When Kerensky saw me, his memories of Turkistan were renewed, and he called the ezan in the manner of an Ozbek reciter while we were eating at the Library’s cafeteria. We recalled the days when we were investigating the condition of the laborers from Turkistan at the front during 1916. In his old age, he had become an extreme Russian patriot, and does not wish to hear ‘independence’ talk from us. Let him be; but the time we spent together within the Duma atmosphere in 1916 and the democrat Russia when was he was head of the government during 1917 brought us back together.
The prominent Russians—
I was attending the Duma sessions during the winter of 1915-1916 in order to learn the activities of various parties and groups and to listen to their debates. Kutlukay Mirza took me to feasts prepared by his friends. Once he took me to another that was given by a member of the Duma, and attended by many grand personalities including the head of the Duma and many party officials. It became necessary to rent a long-tailed jacket outfit and a top hat, with some Russian Ministers were also in attendance just like the time in 1954 when I attended a feast at the Buckingham Palace, in the retinue of the Turkish Ambassador Huseyin Ragib Bey, given by the Queen Elizabeth. I sent the photograph to my father taken at that first occasion. My father’s friend and a member of the Second Duma, Sahserif Ahund Metinov, upon seeing me together with Kniaz Kocubey in the picture, a Russian notable whom he knew, wrote me a letter indicating he did not like it. Because, the same Kniaz Kocubey had the Duma reject the projects he was supporting on Baskurt lands and Russian immigrants. I wrote him back, suggesting him not to take the photograph seriously, and added in Persian, which he also knew, a rubai: “If you are able, take your place among the great men; be in the retinue of the Sultans when they drink. Being in the garb of the Moslems is useless when among the infidel; be the Moslem in the garb of the infidel.” It was interesting to learn more about these prominent people, to whom I was first introduced by General Pisarev and by Kutlukay Mirza. But, they had no more business left in them. The only business they knew was gambling, which I did not like a whit. They could not dream that they were about to be buried as a class.
Maxim Gorki—
The milieu that I liked was composed of those who opposed the prominents, most of whom were Socialist, enlightened free-thinkers, especially those who were Social-Revolutionaries. One of those I met from that category was Maxim Gorki. I also met some of the reporters working for the journal Russkii letopisets being published by him and other thinkers. Gorki decided to publish ‘Manuals’ of the cultures of those nations imprisoned by the Russians. Histories of Ukraine, Finn, Armenian, Georgian literatures and histories were being written. Gorki asked me to write the Sbornik of Moslems in Russia. I invested quite a bit of energy into that. For that purpose, I began by reading the Moslem literatures published in Russia and extant in the Petersburg public library, such as Ismail Gasprinsky and in Azerbaijan Hasan Bek Melikov, Fattah Ahundov, and so on, as well as the publications from Turkistan published by the Russians. In that task, the director of the Eastern Branch, the aged Professor Vasili Dimitrovic Smirnov helped me enormously, because, he was also involved in that pursuit from the perspective of the Russians. I also reviewed the works written by Russian Moslems, but not published, with the aid of Smirnov. It turned out to be a large volume. During 1916, I gave Gorki the manuscript that I wrote in Russian. He handed it to Ukrainian Guriyevic, to review the style. Then, the Revolution started. This work was left in the hands of Guriyevic, who was killed while he was Minister of Education in Ukraine.
Working on that volume gave me a chance to understand Gorki very closely and read his works. One Gorki invited me to his summer house in Mostomiaki on Finland Road in Petersburg. He was making very liberal statements on the legal rights of the non-Russians. I also knew Professor Maxim Kovalevsky, who also had such beneficial thoughts about us. In 1905 he had published a volume under the title “In the eyes of the law, the issue of nationality and the legal rights.” A few years back, Duma member Sahserif Metinov gave it to me to read. Maxim Gorki gave me Kovalevsky’s book and some other writings to help me write my book. Professor Kovalevsky was requesting that all the nations imprisoned by the Russians to live their own lives, and advance their own national cultures; to the Armenians, he suggested that instead of dreaming to revive the Big Armenia of the Bagrat period, engaging Azerbaijan in a deathly struggle, and causing a hurly-burly in the civilized world, to advance their own language, religion and culture. He thus gained the affection of the Caucasian Moslems. In his volume, Professor Kovalevsky wrote to specify that the “Big Russia,” reaching from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific could no longer be governed by the ideology of Ivan the Terrible, that it was a lie that Caucasus, Turkistan, Urals and the Altais joining her in a civilized way, and that the rights could only be applied to the Russians after they are fully provided to the nationalities. For the Russia that did not allow a right to live, personality and progress in peace, he concluded his work with the words of St. Augustine: quid sunt regna sine justia, nisi magna latricinia (governance without justice is like banditry on a road in large scale). I had also concluded my Manual of the Russian Moslems’ Literature with those words of Maxim Kovalevsky. Maxim Gorki also wrote a good introduction to my book. The sborniks of the Finns and the Armenians were published, but mine was not. But, a lot of the contents found their way into my Today’s Turkistan and the Recent Past. But the sbornik also contained Crimea, Caucasia, and Kazan, meaning it had a wider reach.
When Gorki read what I wrote on the influences operating on Musa Carullah Bigiyev, besides the Russian and Western scholars, such as Andalusian Ebu-Bekir Arabi (d. 1148), and Ibrahim Satibi (d. 1388), and the Indian thinker Nimetullah Dihlevi (d. 1774), he stated that he did not know of cultural connections to such distant countries the Tatars had.
During 1915-1916 while I worked on political issues in Petersburg, I continued my contacts with the Russian Orientalists I already knew. I worked especially in the Asian Museum, and the Imperial Geography Society. I also spent some enjoyable time with the crowd of Moslem intellectuals and students gathered in Petersburg. We met with the university students mostly at the home of Emine Sirtlanoglu, widow of the late Aliasgar Sirtlanov, and at the Petersburg Moslems Benevolent Society. Among those youths we were friends with and worked with at the time of the Revolution were Mustafa Cokayoglu, Ilyas Alkin, from Azerbaijan Ali Ekber Topcubasi, from the Turkmen Kakacan Berdiyev, from the Kazaks Isa Kackinbay, from the Tatars Sultanbek Mamliyev, Mustafa Sahkulu. Apart from them, capable intellectuals from among the political Moslems also joined us. Leading them was from Azerbaijan, Alimerdan Topcibasi and the Kazak Alihan Bukeyhan. I must mention them because they helped me understand the issues of the Moslem Turks of Turkistan. Russians losing the war gave birth to the beginnings of a Revolutionary and reformist atmosphere in the country. The retired Georgian officer in which I rented a room, even though he was among the notables, he was very close to the Georgian Social Democrats like Tserelli and Cixiedne. We were learning the preparations of the Revolution from primary sources. Then, the big Revolution arrived.
Revolution of 1917—
My homeowner host Georgian, during the night of 16 February, indicated that action may take place next morning. The house was directly across the military barracks Preobrajenskaya Kazarma. My window overlooked it. I was wondering if gunshots would be heard, and if the Government would know about it ahead of time, and would they expel the soldiers. But, I did not imagine that the revolt would start inside these barracks.
I woke early in the morning. A little later, armed soldiers began exiting in groups contrary to military discipline. I watched them with my head between my hands, leaning on the windowsill. That meant the revolt of the soldiers billeted to the barracks. I began crying, thinking: “my God, please open a path for redemption of my people.” I got dressed and when I wanted to go out into the street, the doorkeeper stated: “do not go out, they are firing.” Despite that, I went out. I went toward the Fraction Bureau of which I was a member. The soldiers were carrying their weapons in an irregular manner, sometimes firing, were going somewhere. Even in Russia, I was in the habit of writing my memoirs, even if sporadically. What I wrote then, I no longer have. But, Alimcan Ibrahim of Kazan somehow got hold of them and quoted me in his The Great October Revolution (p. 21):
“When the Revolution started, I left my house and went to the Moslem Fraction. The door was closed. When I rang the bell insistently, they opened it. When I entered, I noticed that the Moslem Deputies had played cards all night. All the rooms were stuffed with cigarette smoke. When I told them that ‘the Revolution had started and you are gambling here,’ Ibniyemin Axtiamov responded with: ‘what Revolution; it is only a putsch by the soldiers. Tomorrow Protopov will demonstrate that.’ His friend attorney Necib Kurbanaliyev repeated the same words and reprimanded me. I turned to Ahmet Salihov who regarded himself a Revolutionary Social Democrat, but did not see a revolutionary belief in him. I could not convince them that we needed to discuss together what we needed to do as a whole in Revolutionary conditions, I decided to act alone.”
After leaving the Fraction, cussing, I rang the doorbell of my friend Mustafa Cokayev, who was living a story below the Fraction offices. He was asleep as well. I could not convince him to get on the streets before he ate his breakfast. I left alone. It had not been an hour yet, but the events were snowballing. A little later I saw that the overcoats of higher ranking police officers were hung on the telegraph poles, and various generals were brought to the Crimean Place (Tavricheskiy Dvorets) in trucks, and were imprisoned. Among them was general Pisarev whom I knew, as the Director of the Eastern Languages School, and Kniaz Kocubey were also present. Revolutionary workers threw snow, mixed with soil, in their faces. This Kocubey was descended from the brother of Albanian Kocu Bey who became famous with his tract and labeled Ottoman Montesquieu. The ancestor of this Kocubey, the brother of the aforementioned, betrayed the Turks and offering his services to the Tsar, converted. He was built quite stoutly, large and had a booming voice. I was introduced to him at a feast by our Deputy Kutlukay Mirza Tefkilev. Since I had read Kocu Bey Tract from Professor Smirnov, he had shown interest in my person. When I saw this person in that condition, receiving such insults, I felt sorry. Perhaps he was killed that day. Gunshot sounds were being heard everywhere. Despite that, I went back to the Fraction building, collected my friend Cokayoglu and the lawyer Sahahmedov; we spent the day in the streets. When the weapon selling stores were broken into, I was given a pistol as well as a rifle. I kept the pistol. But, it was not necessary to use it. We ate something somewhere. We watched the battles between the police and the Tsarist officals and the Revolutionaries until the evening. Toward the evening, papers began appearing the direction of the Revolution. I regarded myself lucky that I had observed with my own eyes the beginning of the events from the source, the Preobrajenskaya Kazarma.
During the first week of the Revolution, Moslem political representatives started arriving from Kazan, Crimea, Caucasus and Kazakistan. Everyone was desirous for a general Conference of all Russian Moslems to meet, and stressed that to the Fraction. But, everyone had different ideas as to on what bases invitations would be issued, and what the working principles were going to be. Even in the first meeting of the Fraction, the head and the most active member Ahmet Salikov, Axtiamov, Ismail Limanov and Cokayoglu advanced the idea that Russia ought to be a single democratic republic; myself and Selimgerey Canturin insisted that it must be a confederation of republics. I went to Helsingfors, capital of Finland, in order to prepare and write my thoughts on the congress, until the representatives arrived. I prepared this plan in four or five days, as to how the Russian Moslems were going to meet, based on respective populations, in a spirit of equality.
There, I met with Veli Molla Hakimov, who is still the Imam in Helsinki. It transpired that someone from my village was a soldier stationed in the Russian garrison there. When Veli Molla asked him if he knew Zeki Velidi, he responded with: “how would I not know him; we call him Ahmedheki. He is a bandit; he has two cigarettes in his mouth, on either corner, puffing on them. He places a hundred Ruble note into his handkerchief pocket, he will not mind anyone, and will walk in mid street. Now that the Tsar’s affairs are on the decline, his day arrived. He will take back our forests and pastures that were stolen from us. Everyone amongst us is saying, if anything will take place, he will do it.” Both of us laughed at that description heartily. Because, this was a Baskurt villagers response, which are fed-up with the Tsar’s oppression and it was typical; it was also personally encouraging. When I returned to Petersburg, I found Alimerdan Topcibasi from Azerbaijan, Sadri Maksudi, and Seyidgerey Alkin from Kazan and Alihan Bukeyhan from Kazakistan had arrived. Although they were members of the Russian Kadet (Constitutional Democrat) Party, both Topcibasi and Bukeyhan were intending to resign. Sadi Maksudi and some others were resolved to remain faithful to the Kadetsists and others directly to the Kadet Party.
Kadets and Turkiye—
While attending the Party Congress of the Cadets (March 25), Maksudi Bey unwarily announced that Russian Moslems would remain loyal to the Party, and continued attending the proceedings even after the War Minister was announcing his plans, though he did not vote on those plans, to continue the war, occupying Istanbul and the straights, putting an end to independent Turkiye. All that drew a harsh criticism from all the Moslem representatives present in Petersburg in the newspapers Russkaya Volia and Delo Naroda (28 March). Sadri Bey’s stated that military occupation of Istanbul would hurt Moslems; his words reported in Russkaya Volia that thirty million Moslems wanting to see the war to continue until the victory, and “Our not wanting to see the destruction of Turkiye does not mean we are not Russian patriots” caused an enormous excitement. Those who signed the letter of protest against Sadri Bey began first of all with Ahmet Salikov and I; later, Seyidgerey Alkine, Selimgerey Canturin, descendent of Seyh Samil Zahid Samil, from Crimea Badaninski, from Kazan Ayaz Ishaki, Musa Carullah, from among the former deputies, Kelimullah Hasanov’s names were present. On the other hand, Sadri Bey was beholden to me, because of the words I said to the younger people, who were giving fiery speeches in the building of the Petersburg Moslem Benevolent Society, to calm them down: “Maksudi made those statements due to his mistaken belief that Kadet Party is going to be the dominant political organization in Russia. Otherwise, he also knows that thirty million Moslems did not announce their fidelity to the Kadet Party, nor did they give their consent for Sadri Bey to make that declaration, and they do not wish to continue the war.” On the other hand, he never forgave me for signing the aforementioned protest, like the Chief of the Fraction Salikov. Sadri Bey was fighting seriously to prevent Russia from being subdivided into autonomous republics from the first day of the Revolution and with fanaticism. We recommended that it was necessary for the Moslems stay away from any political party which rejected the idea of federalism, and those who wanted the war to continue.
Preparation for all Russia Moslem Conference—
The Fraction Bureau held a wide meeting at the Petersburg Moslem Benevolent Society building which was on the street near Katerina Church on 27 March, to discuss how many members and individuals were going to be invited to the congress to be held in Moscow, and what was going to be discussed. Salikov was chairing the meeting. I recommended that approximately six hundred members be invited, in proportion to their population numbers, from all Moslem tribes and groups; to support that, I also gave information on the statistics of Russian Moslems and ethnography. I read the plan I wrote in Helsinki. But, Salikov and author Ayaz Ishaki and some others feared that the federation idea was going to be accepted if that came to pass. They stated that they did not want to deal with ignorant and unwary people; that we can invite people from Kazan, more than half can be those. They tried to shut me up. I told them, if that is the case, I would write to all Islamic groups, and inform them of the current proceedings. That day and night I worked without stopping and wrote the said letters. In those lines, I wrote to Mehmet Emin Resulzade in Baku Azerbaijan, asked him to send representatives to the Moscow and Tashkent Congresses, and to include Turkistan, Kazakistan and Baskurt autonomous republics into their program. On 28 March, I left for Tashkent to organize the Baskurt, Kazak and the Ozbeks. It was most disheartening to see the enlightened not wanting to make use of the Revolution and even acting against the radical ideas. During the meeting taking place at the Moslem Benevolent Society, Lutfi Ishak from the Tatars, Sultanbek Mamliev from the Tatars and the medical student Isa Kackinbayev of the Kazaks supported me stoutly. Many others were aginst me in an advanced manner. Ahmet Salikov, as the Cief of the Fraction Bureau, chose to take drastic actions against me. In those days, because the travellers arriving in Petersburg increased many times, a new rule was instituted. Accordingly, it was necessary to show an official document showing that the putative traveller was in pursuit of important business to the railroad administration to obtain railroad tickets. Salikov forbade the issuance of such a document from the Fraction Bureau. Deputy Axtiamov supported him. But, I bought the ticket to Tashkent from Tsarkoe Selo. If they knew I was going to do that, they would have written to the railroad administration prevent it.
On the way, I chanced upon Baskurt intellectual Sefer Ali Idilbayev. I had him write letters to his sons, who were officers and university students, to be transmitted to everywhere. Also, I found Ali Bukeyhan, who was appointed as the acting Governor of the Turgay Province, and asked him to pass the word for sufficient number of Kazak delegates be present at the Moscow Congress. All this was done in half a day. I arrived in Tashkent on April Four. We immediately worked on all those who would attend the congress to meet there. The important meeting for us was the Turkistan National Executive Committee. This National Congress was necessary to participate with the Russians and all other nationalities. As a member of the Fraction Bureau, I had the authority to organize this. I took precautions to pass the Federation idea at the All Turkistan and the Moslem Congresses. A few days later, Mustafa Cokayoglu and attorney Sahiahmedov also arrived from Petersburg. Cokayoglu was attached to the Kadets and Sahiahmedov to the Social Democrats and as such they were nowhere near the federation idea. However, they did not undertake any action to offend me either. The Russian newspapers wanted articles from both supporting the anti-federation position; neither would do it. Cokayoglu joined us quietly when the peoples’ opinion went with the federation idea.
Fights with the two congresses in Tashkent—
The thought that the decisions to be made at the Executive Committee as well as the Moslem Congress was going to be influential at the Russian Moslems Congress gave us thought. Because of that, we were involved in heavy fighting, and it would become necessary to go against our friends who would be against us. I was in a very difficult fight with the former mayor of Tashkent, and a ledear of the Kadets, Professor Malletsky. Author from Samarkand, and muftu Mahmud Hoca Behbudi and SRs, especially my old friend Vadim Caykin and the Orientalist Lev Zimin supported me. Though the Kadets were able to deceive the enlightened, those Ozbek, Kazak and Turkmen arriving from their villages were very stout headed and remained alert against the Kadets. Mahmud Hoca Behbubi’s clear talks with them was influential in obtaining that result, and we turned all those arriving from the region in favor of federation. Unitarism, meaning Russia be the only republic idea was defeated.
But, at this congress, the most important issue concerned the governance of Turkistan provinces and cities and the people’s representation in the local councils (zemstvo). Most of the Russian enlightened were members of the Kadets. Their leader was the aforementioned Malletskiy. He was very cunning and viewed the local nationalities with suspicion, as he was a Russian imperialist nationalist. He was named to head the National Congress. The plans of the Kadets were written on mimeographed papers. They desired to divide the municipality administration into Russian and local (tuzemny) and only allow the Russian side the governance powers. They also desired to elect representatives for the Turkistan-wide council from the Russian municipalities, reduce the number of local participants and local women. During the 13 April meeting, Malletskiy spoke at length proposing his faction’s agenda, and produced a resolution at the end. To that, I rose to present the plan I brought and my resolution. I spoke in Turkish first, then in Russian. This was something the Russian Kadets did not expect. That was because, a few years earlier, I had learned the previous years’ publications of the Russians on the Turkistan municipality and zemstvos. They had translated into Russian and published in several volumes the British governance system in use in India, meaning the laws allowing the rule of the occupying minority on the local majority, and their justifications. I brought those books to the 14 April meeting. I stated: “Turkistan governance system will mirror that of the Russian administrative principles. There is no need to be afraid of a Turkistani majority in Turkistan. Local women will participate just like the Russian women. There is no danger or objection to this. I showed, by examples the reasoning, the non-applicability of the British Laws meant for India to Turkistan. Malletskiy and the Social Democrat Dorrer had deceived the only attorney from the Ozbeks, Tasbulak Bek Narbutabekov and from the Kazaks, Mustafa Cokayoglu. Even though they did not dare to take the rostrum to speak against me, the conducted propaganda among the Moslem delegates to the tune of “having two councils in old and new cities means autonomy; we do not have educated people to represent us, because of that we are going to be smaller in number. If amongst us Russian education is spread, then our numbers in the national council will increase.” But, both I and Mahmud Hoca Behbudi stated that it is wrong to think that in the Turkistan parliament only Russian will be spoken. Turkish and Russian must and will be equal before the law. I was sorry that I was going against my old friend Mustafa Cokayoglu. As president of the Congress, Malletskiy re-introduced his ideas and views on the 15 April meeting. I again countered him. Malletskiy again rose: “the local populations being the majority will make the governance more difficult for the future, as much as it was in the past; this is a reality.” In response, I stated: “now it is the era of independence. Nobody can take away the four principles (open, equal, direct, and unisex) of election methods from those nations imprisoned by the Russians under any guise. The claims that the governance will pass to the hands of the ignorant is baseless, because the educational requirement will take care of that. You had the British volumes, originally written to control India as a colony, translated into Russian. Instead, it would have yielded better results to translate into Turkish and Russian the works showing how equal laws benefited both parties and aided them to live in happiness in colonies.” An excitement started; when SR Vadim Caykin and the Orientalist Zimin supported me vehemently, nobody was listening to Malletskiy. Making use of his position as the head of the congress, Malletskiy left the issue without a resolution. Malletskiy fortified his case with a series of articles published in Turkestanskie Vedomosti. On the other hand my speech and Behbudi’s speech were summarized in the 16 and 26 April issues. I and Hoca Behbudi explained the details to the Heading Committee of the General Congress of the Turkistan Moslems on 16 April. We advanced the thought that if the Kadets were to propose any means of preventing the proportional representation, the National Moslem Congress must vehemently protest this. We went back to the General National Congress, and repeated our views. As a result, the majority of the delegates and the SRs voted to affirm that the zemstvos are not separate for Russians and proportional representation was the principle. In other words there would be only one representative council for everybody, and education was necessary to be elected.
Turkistan National Congress and autonomy of Turkistan—
During those days, I became a member of the Tashkent SR Party. That helped in this struggle. Mustafa Cokayoglu had obtained a position in agricultural department of the Sir-Darya administration with the aid of the Kadets. He was leaning toward them. On the other hand Sencer Isfendiyarov from the Kazaks was included in the Social Democrats and attorney Sirali Lapin was in the Monarchists. Keeping the damage of joining Russian parties before us, we held meetings of five to six people, in order to join these within a Turkistan National Party. But, we could not agree on social topics. On the other hand, agreeing that our joining together was outside those topics, we prepared to propose a Turkistan National Council. On 16 April, Congress of Turkistan Moslems commenced, but there was no program. I wrote that personally during the night of 15 April and gave it to Turkestanskie Vedomosti. It was published on 16 April, and everybody accepted it as written. At the time, a delegation was sent by the Kadet L’vov government, as a Temporary Governance Committee of Turkistan. From among the Moslems, General Abdulaziz, Sadri Maksudi and from the Kazaks Mehmetcan Tinisbaev had joined it. Sadri Maksudi Bey was going to be in charge of Moslem medrese and religions foundations. The Chief of the Party was Kadet Scepkin. This person congratulated the Moslem Congress in session. We were presiding over the congress in rotation as members of the presidium. I was the rapporteur on governance of state and administrative affairs, and I proved the federation ideas in detail with historical evidence. Mahmud Hoca Behbudi and the Kazak engineers Mehmet Tinisbayev supported the idea. Sadri Maksudi Bey rose and spoke against the federation idea. His attitude, speaking as a member of the government was not appreciated. Vadim Caykin, who arrived as a guest, better yet as my invited gusest, vehemently defended the federation idea. Finally, that principle was accepted. I was also the rapporteur in the affairs of the national governance and the zemstvo. The idea that local administrations would be proportionally elected according to the population numbers of residents was also accepted. I had prepared the by-laws for the Turkistan Central National Council. That, too, was accepted and was immediately printed. At this time, I must specify that I personally wrote as well as presented the following: The Congress Agenda, published in the Turkestanskie Vedomosti; Report on the General Russian State Administration; Report on Turkistan National Administration and zemstvo; By-Laws of the Turkistan Central Council. This is a reality. Because, the influence of the Kadets on the local educated was complete. Because of that, they were rejecting the federation idea, and the single parliament and zemstvo in Turkistan. Ninety percent of those attending the Congress did not know any Russian. Sadri Maksudi bey and Kebir Bekir, who spoke on behalf of Tatars, a Misher merchant from Kerki, and others, were vehemently against the federation; they supported a single Democratic Russian Republic. Under those conditions, intellectuals such as Munevver Kari, Ubeydullah Kocayev did not accept federation in the beginning, regarding it a ‘figment of imagination.’ This matter was positively a result only because Mahmud Hoca Behbudi and Abidjan Mahmudov of Khokand’s unconditional support of me. By-Laws of the Turkistan Central Council were accepted because I wrote it and it was the only one in existence. It was already published during the second day of the discussions. This publication was undertaken by Abidjan Mahmudov (Cataq) of Khokand. He also supported me just like Behbudi. Another influential friend who supported me was Asur Ali Zahiri, also of Khokand. From the Turkmen Berdi Haci; from the Kazak Tinisbayev and Abdurrahman Urazayev did the same. Without them, the decision that federation was necessary for the administration of Russia would have never passed. Because, from one end the Turkistan Temporary Administration under the leadersip of Scepkin, and his Moslem members Devletsin and Maksudi, worked with all their might to prevent the passage. On the other, the Kazan intellectuals gathered around Kebir Bekir of the Vakit newspaper of Orenburg, and stood firm against the federation idea.
Federative system and the inclusion of Moslem representatives into governance organs—
In addition, even Ahmet Salihov was sending telegrams to Mustafa Cokayoglu in order to thwart my efforts. This decision, federative administration of Turkistan idea was agreed upon only because of the influence of Behbudi, Abidcan Cataq and Abdurrahman Urazayev on the uneducated or partially educated Ozbek and Kazak delegates. Turkistan Temporary Administration member Kazak engineer Mehmetcan Tanisbayev, in contrast to his friends General Devletsin and Maksudi supported the federation idea and congratulated the Congress for reaching that conclusion. Acceptance of the federative Russia principle by both Congresses caused some of the enlightened to change their stances, especially among those who had earlier supported the unitary Russia idea because they were under the influence of their Russian friends, especially the Kadets. At the same time, those who came over to the federative Russia camp began making statements in the meetings that they had no difference of opinion with those who arrived from the villages whom earlier they regarded as ignorant. Those who insisted on attacking the federation point of view were losing credibility in the eyes of the local populations. When Sadri Maksudi stated on 16 April, in an interview he gave to Birjeviya Vedemosti, “for the Sarts, autonomy is beyond the call of duty,” caused a negative backlash against him. Lasting close to a week, Turkistan Moslem Congress took place in a mature atmosphere, unexpected by many, and especially by the Kadets, and showed the maturity of the Turkistan people. This Congress elected twelve individuals to present and defend the matters concerning the Moslems of Turkistan at the Moscow Congress of the All Russia Moslems. Also, Turkistan Moslems Central Council was established. I was elected to both organs. Mustafa Cokayoglu was elected President of Turkistan Moslems Central Council, I was the Secretary. Munevver Kari, Abidjan Mahmud, Mahmud Hoca Behbudi, Ubeydullah Hoca and others were members. I wrote the By-Laws for the Branches to be opened in Cities and Towns. That was accepted by the administrative organ and was printed in four pages. Tashkent Committee was established under the direction of Munevver Kari and Sadreddin Han. Khokand and Samarkand Branches were established by Cokayoglu and me, by journeying to those cities, in a few days’ time. I began publishing a newspaper Kenges, as the Central Council’s propagandist of ideas. The Lead Articles of this newspaper, published without a signature, were written by me and Munevver Kari. The Turkistan Temporary Administration Committee of the Kadets did not stay long and returned to Moscow. Their Moslem members left even earlier. Kazak engineer Mehmetcan Tinisbayev, who was a member of the reconstituted Temporary Turkistan Administration Committee by the Kerensky government, was thinking entirely like us. With his endeavors and the support of the SR representatives, a parallel Turkistan National Advisory Committee was established right next to the governmental Administration Committee. To that, Cokayoglu, attorney Narbutabekov and myself were sent as representatives. Apart from all that Cokayoglu and I were elected to the Turkistan Land Matters Committee. In summary, I was called to duty well beyond my weight as a result of these congresses. My friend Cokayoglu was a bureau director in the administration of the Sir-Darya Province. The Governor of that Province was our old friend Orientalist and former Duma member Nalivkin. At the time he was an old man, of sixty-six years of age, he invited me several times to the meetings of the Sir-Darya Provincial Administrative Council. Those were intense working days, and they were sweet. When the SRs joined in with other Russian groups on the issue of proportioning the food sent from Moscow to Tashkent residents, I resigned from the SRs. I relayed my regrets to my old friends to Caykin and Zimin.
My participation in the Moscow Congress—
All twelve representatives journeyed together to the General Congress of Russian Moslems in Moscow. We reached Moscow on 7 May, to the opening day of the Congress. We had succeeded in attracting representatives even from among the Baskurt and Kazak-Kirgiz, in proportion to their populations. From Baskurtistan alone, fifty representatives arrived. Even towns were being represented. On the other side, Ahmet Salihov, Sakir Mehmetyarov and Ayaz Ishaki brought a crowded delegation of Tatars, believing they would be against federalism. But, when they realized that the arriving Azerbaijan and Crimean representatives were, much like the crowded Turkistani delegates on the side of Federation, they began cussing me and Mehmet Emin Resulzade. When I realized that federation idea was going to win, I felt at peace. The Moscow Conference, much different than the Tashkent gathering, was in the hands of those who favored federation. In the Tashkent conference, there was sufficient number of unitarists inserted into the leadership; in the Moscow conference, to represent the Central Council, Ali Merdan Bey Topcibasi was elected. He, along with Mehmed Emin Resulzade, the Crimean Cafer Seyid Ahmet, from the Kazaks Cihansah Dostmuhammed, gave powerful speeches in favor of federalism and won the day. It was not necessary for me to work and fight as intensively as I did at the Tashkent conference. My presentation consisted of the future of the Turks living under Russian rule, on history, ethnography and statistics and how to use that information; on the ethnic organization of the Russian Moslems and the importance of that on political life. Ali Merdan Topcibasi, who was presiding, expressed his happiness my speech created, came to the lectern and shook my hand. I later saw a report on my speech published in the August issue of the German journal Der Neue Orient praising it as a scientific work. Ali Merdan Bey published a paper in Paris ten years later, reminding the readers of that speech. That speech constituted the bases of my views and program for which I fought until today. Autonomy and federation idea passed with two hundred seventy one against to four hundred forty six votes in favor. Russian Moslems Central Council (IKOMUS) was formed. A total of twelve members were appointed, including attorney Ubeydullah Hoca, attorney Cihansah Dostmuhammedoglu, me, attorney Velithan Tanacoglu, and the woman writer from the Kazaks Akkagit Dostcankizi. Delegates from Kazan rejected the proclamations on land matters stating that was an issue of the Kazaks and Baskurts. The Kazan Tatars considered the Congress of the Russian Moslems to be a platform only to discuss religious matters, education of the muftu, and Seyhulislam. As a result, Baskurts decided to convene a conference among them to discuss autonomy and land matters in Orenburg, gaining the agreement of the Kazaks, appointed a committee comprising Sait Mirasoglu, Allahberdi Caferoglu and Zeki Velidi [Togan] to bring that about. The German author G. von Mende, in his work on the national struggle of the Russian Moslems, gave misleading information on the Role of the Baskurts, based on the completely wrong information supplied by the Kazan Tatars. According to him, Kazan Tatars left the Congress as they fell into a minority position. Baskurts and Azeris constituted the primary elements of the majority present in this gathering, and there was no reason that would cause them to leave the conference. On the issue of autonomy, a letter was presented to the Azerbaijan representatives urging fortitude. Since the records of the Moscow conference, some six hundred pages, were published only in Turkish, and did not appear in Russian or in any other language, plenty of wrong writings appeared on the event. G. von Mende’s aforementioned work is the primary culprit. Professor B. Spuler (in Der Islam, 1949, P. 186) and the Polish author in America, Professor Zenkovsky (Panturkism and Islam in Russia, 1961, Pp. 196-197) made statements that were of flattering nature to me, expressing the opinion that the idea of landed autonomy for the Baskurts was forwarded only by me, that, according to the latter author, I was the only person advancing scientific arguments, and therefore I must be regarded as a promising Orientalist offering much for the future. However, in the Moscow Conference, I did not advance the idea of autonomy for the Baskurts. At the time, I was only defending the autonomy of the Turkistan. In the Volga basin, I defended the civil autonomy for the native population where there was a dense Russian population. I was of the opinion that, at a later time, it may be possible to join the Eastern lands (which later was termed as “Little Baskurdistan”) where the Turk populations were in the majority, in Turkistan and Kazakistan. In the Congress records, my words were published as such. On the other hand, Zenkovsky reminded the readers of the congratulatory visit of the Russian Kadet representatives, and offered his opinion that if the proposals of the Kazan Tatars were agreed upon, it would have been better, and wrote that in our autonomy proposals there were elements in our and Kazak program leading to expelling the Russian and Ukrainian populations from our lands. All that, perhaps, is a result brought about under the influence of the Slavic solidarity idea propounded by the Polish author. The Baskurt who participated in the Moscow Conference wanted to solve the extant problems faced by the Baskurt in the revolutionary atmosphere, and for the purpose appointed me to a committee. In the Moscow conference that was the only decision passed involving me in the Baskurt affairs. On my way back to Tashkent, I stopped at Orenburg and we established the Baskurt National Council. In the 19 May issue of the newspaper Vakit, we published an address to the people announcing the formation of the Baskurt Central Council, and that the first meeting of the first Kurultay in Orenburg was going to take place on 20 July. We began publishing a newspaper named Baskurt. I wrote the first article in the first issue without a signature. In that article I stressed that the Baskurt were serving the function of a bridge between Turkistan and the Volga and that Baskurts establishing autonomy would, in the future, convince the Kazan Tatars to join the emancipation movement in the East. That article was liked by Moslems who were aware, especially by the likes of Kazan scholar Rizaeddin Fahrettin and poet Zakir Rami. But the chief author of the aforementioned Vakit newspaper was a poisonous opponent of autonomy. This person had published an article claiming that the roads of Turkistan and Edil basin were separate, and that my speaking at Tashkent one day and in Orenburg the next, and my consultations with the Ozbek and Kazak one day and with the Baskurt and the Tatars the next, wishing to create a large political movement was like steering two different boats with my two feet. One of the authors of the same newspaper, in the 23 May issue, published an article proposing to disposing of the Baskurt name altogether and forcing the Baskurt to adopt the Tatar designation. These were bitter indications that, in addition to the Russians, we were going to face obstacles from amongst us, and we would need to expend energy and time to overcome. We spoke on these with Kazak intellectuals present in Orenburg. I visited Rizaeddin Fahrettin twice with the hope that he would use his influence on the Tatars. He responded that he regarded our movement as sacred, but since he was now aged, there was not much he could do, but he had issued his last testament to his sons for them to support and aid the Baskurt autonomy. This was a gain for me. I was confident that among the Tatars there would be those who would support us, and left for Tashkent.
Fights with unitarism and recidivism in Tashkent—
Until the opening of the Baskurt Kurultay on 20 July, I worked in Tashkent, even though the Baskurt Central Council placed the burden of organizing our lands onto me. However, without the autonomy matter has been settled in Turkistan, it would not find any traction in Baskurdistan and Kazakistan. First of all, Alihan Bukeyhan and Mustafa Cokayoglu, who were members of the Russian Kadet Party, were very apprehensive. Among the Ozbek, those who girded their loins to realize that autonomy result were author Mahmud Hoca Behbudi, Asur Ali and Abid Mahmud Cataq from Khokand. Munevver Qari, even though he was hesitant at times, he would not contradict Mahmud Hoca and me. I was either travelling to other cities to hold meetings in the company of Behbudi, and the young Ozbek poet Colpan, Tashkent author Talipcan, Nogaykorganli Tahir from the Tatars and Hakim-zade of Samarkand; or, invite the intellectuals from other branches to Turkistan Central Council. The Kadet Party in Tashkent, which was the preeminent enemy of autonomy, was losing influence. As a result of the serious consultations until the beginning of July, the idea of autonomy was gaining ground everywhere. That also was an indication that we could be included in the elections to the Russian Founding Parliament, around a national plan. The task of establishing the Turkistan Central Council was loaded onto my back; in addition, I was also serving as the chief author of the Kenges newspaper as the propagator of ideas. Kazaks were gathering around the Birlik Tugu newspaper, being managed by Mustafa Cokayoglu and Sultanbek Hocaey. Among the Ozbeks, there were no individuals who knew Russian and who could undertake a publication venture in the contemporary sense. The only university graduate Ozbek, who called himself Sart, Tasbulatbek Narbutabekov who was involved in politics. He was not inclined to publish. Munevver Qari, who was helping, had trained youngsters who only spoke Turkish. Among them there were those who seriously who gave of themselves freely. Abdullah Battal, the author from Kazan was a believer in landed autonomy. He arrived in Tashkent and worked in the Central Council for a spell. Kebir Bekir, a reporter for the Vakit newspaper in Orenburg, who had arrived in April during the Turkistan Congress and expended serious efforts against autonomy. But later, he changed his mind, siding with the autonomy idea he remained in Turkistan. Heeding our request, Azerbaijan Musavat Party sent us two Azeris. They worked very positively. The primary issue at hand was this: to enter the Russian Founding Parliament as a unified and organized Turkistan and Eastern Turk group. Because, from one end, the SR’s were losing influence in the esteem of the local population, because they had sided with the Russian immigrants; this was helping the Bolsheviks, who were attracting the youth who were inclining to the leftist views. Sencer Isfendiyar and Nezir Torekul, from among those I knew, were like that. On the other, a strong Ulama Party was established, by equating those of us who wanted national autonomy with those of the SRs which was attracting the right leaning individuals to that Party under the leadership of Russian former Samarkand governor Lykosin to the monarchist circles. Sirali Lapin, an aged Kazak, serving as their attorney was making the circumstances dangerous. The establishment of parties on the left of this recidivist ulama group was a heavy burden. Munevver Qari, Behbudi and Bukhara Jadids were against not only the Kadets, but also against socialism. However, Nizamhocayev from the Ozbeks and Kulbey Tugusov from the Kazaks were in favor of leftist socialism. I was aware of my heavy responsibility as the director in charge of organizational matters of the Central Council to establish the potential political parties which were yet to be founded, and to prevent them from being taking over by those who did not have good intentions. I was being told: “political parties are established all by themselves; that cannot be done by agreement and by order.” I usually responded with: “we cannot do it without prior agreement and order; we must do so, prior to the Russian Founding Parliament opens.”
Fights with the Russian Parties at the Turkistan National Committee—
Since I had learned socialism dating back to 1911, and somewhat personalized it, I had welcomed SR member Kerensky’s appointment to lead the government. I also liked the appointment of Nalivkin as Governor of Sir-Darya province, whom I personally knew since 1913, as an Orientalist, and went to him in person to congratulate him on his appointment. I was expecting the Socialists to win the next elections, was happy about that imagined prospect and believed that would help my nation, too. The Kadets sent from Petersburg as the Turkistan Temporary Administration soon lost their credibility. They returned to Russia, including Sadri Maksudi and Aziz Devletsin. Turkistan Committee took another shape under the leadership of Sir-Darya Governor Nalivkin with the participation of political parties and other entities, turned into a coalition more-or-less. Former member of the Committee, Sendrikov, and Skopskiy and among the Moslems, Muhammedcan Tinisbayev protected their seats. I was very happy that Nalivkin, a socialist, good person and believer of universal application of justice, was appointed to the position corresponding to the old Turkistan Governor General. I congratulated him once again for this. I was telling Nalivkin that the Turkistan natives needed to be conscripted into the army assign them into police duties and railroad labor whenever I could. He was receptive, and appointed several Moslems into important positions in the police administration.
I believed that socialism would be difficult to apply without revolutionary methods. I also sided with the farmers and peasants, not to touch their private property, but redirect socialism toward heavy industry and means of transportation. For those reasons, I joined the SR party in April and resigned the next month, I was leaning toward the left wing which was beginning to be discerned within it. I invited the Moslem intellectuals who wanted to establish Political Parties, but did not know where to start, to the Regina Hotel for the evening of 9 June. I announced that though I was personally in favor of establishing a Socialist Party, I felt it is necessary for all of us remaining a single body under the title of Moslem Parties, at least until the elections for the Russian Founding Parliament are concluded. However, as soon as we arrived at the Russian Founding Parliament, it was necessary for us to establish our political parties, and necessary for us to prepare for that eventuality from today. It was required of us to establish two parties in Turkistan, one populated by progressive intellectuals who did not accept socialism, the other, socialists. It was desirable to avoid fragmenting further, but it would be better for us to agree on a joint agenda and work program today. The meeting agreed to these proposals, and posited the idea we refrain from entangling ourselves with economic issues and other separating matters until the elections to the Russian Founding Parliament were concluded. At the same time, we decided to establish contacts with the SRs, Social Democrat Bolshevik and others who were not socialists but those our enlightened could get along with, in order to learn them all properly.
Ubeydullah Hoca and I were going to maintain contacts with the SRs; Nizam Hoca was going to do the same with the Social Democrats. At one point, I intended to return to the SRs, but just at that period some events took place that would regulate my contacts with the Russian Socialist parties during the Russian Revolution period, when I was applying to the Tashkent SR party. Those events were: Our fights with the Russian political parties in the division of foodstuffs arriving from Russia among the Moslem and Russian populations of Turkistan, and the democratic election rights of the Turkistan populations.
Back in April, foodstuff distribution had become an issue while the Moslem Congress was taking place in parallel with the Turkistan Soviet Workers and Soldiers Congress. No foodstuffs were arriving from Russia, and since the local wheat had run out, the population faced a complete famine. For food distribution, a joint committee was formed. I was also included in the membership, nominated by the Moslem Council. In that committee, the Russian Parties agreed with the Jewish Bund Party to distribute the arriving food to the Europeans, while allocating very little to the ‘old town’ meaning the natives, or nothing for them at all. Ubeydullah Hocayev and the Kazak attorney Abdurrahman Urazayev participated in severe fights. Social Democrat labor chief Persin, who I later learned was a member of the Bolsheviks, made the statement: “the locals are going to disappear anyway, the grain arriving from Russia will not save them” as well as other reckless words. As recorded in Turar Ruskilov’s published book, the Bolshevik Tabolin, who was very active in Tashkent at the time, made similar statements. When Persin made that statement, I decided to establish contact with them and seriously learn their thoughts and ideas. Because, ration and railroad laborers were in his hands; our commission was only generating words. It was finally understood that Persin was using the Social Democrats and doing all this in order to popularize the Bolsheviks among the “Europeans.” Even though our friends, the SRs knew this, they were not telling anything to us. I immediately withdrew my application to the SRs. I announced to my friends that we would not join any Russian Socialist Party, and immediately after the establishment of the Founding Parliament, we would establish the Turkistan Socialist Party. They were already in that frame of mind. I never fought with Persin, but spoke with him several times. These contacts continued until the end of July. It was understood that, even though some SRs were viewing us as the future owners of Turkistan, Bolsheviks did not even consider any active role for the native population in the emancipation of Turkistan. According to the Bolsheviks, independent Turkistan was going to be established only under their ‘guidance’ and remain as the Eastern Branch of the Socialist Dictatorship. They were offering the natives only a chance to ‘join’ them. At that time, their numbers were low, but all were Russians. They were thinking of parliamentary system in Turkistan only as Workers Soviet Dictatorship. Even though they were not specifying it openly, there was no doubt they were against the parliament system. They saw themselves as “internationalist” however, it was easily discerned that they were Russian socialist dictators when one spoke with them. For us, that result did not allow further discussion with them. However, I had read Lenin’s Against the Current, and liked his positive ideas on the nationalist issues. I even found the writings of SR leader Viktor Cernov who published his criticisms of Lenin, who had just returned to Russia, in the newspaper Delo Naroda. On the other hand, our contacts with Persin, Tabolin, Kolesov, et al., during that summer on matters of life-and-death clearly showed that their words were sweet but their intentions and actions were bad, and we ought not to believe the sweet words of their leaders in order to trust their local organizations. The Menshevik Party was represented in our meetings by the Jewish Dr. Fitterman, or the Jewish Social Democrat Bund representative Broyda. Mansirov, from Social Democrats was a good person; he too, like me, thought that collaborating with the Bolsheviks would mean sacrificing his existence. Then, there was the Ukrainian Pavlovicenko, who supported the idea of autonomous Turkistan, perhaps because he was Ukrainian, but he had no influence on his party. The majority of the Mensheviks regarded ‘internationalism’ to be against national issues, therefore their view toward us was identical to those of the Kadets.
Single election law, and fight for the single Turkistan Parliament—
The second most important issue was our dispute with the Russians on the application of the election law in Turkistan. Russians proposed two Duma’s for Turkistan at the “Krayevoye Scovescaniye”; one for the Russians and the other for the natives, despite the vehement opposition of Behbudi, I and other enlightened Moslems, and though that idea had earlier been defeated at the National Executive Committee Conference. Nalivkin did not support us fully, even though he was against any decision that was against the Moslems, from his position as the Governor General. We sent a telegram to the Kerensky Government, asking them to inform the Governor General that they accepted our position. On 20 June a telegram arrived from the Kerensky government containing four sections, specifying “you must resolve that issue among yourselves,” and the matter caught fire. At the suggestion of Pavlicenko I visited the Workers and Soldiers Soviet, to find more supporters. I observed that Menshevik Broyda and Bolshevik Tabolin giving speeches with the content: “Giving the National Parliament to the hands of the Sarts (City Ozbeks) would result in a catastrophe, observe the ulama.” It was obvious that the majority of the native Soviets were going to vote against us. In both the National Executive Committees and the Turkistan Moslem Congress, decisions were recorded that the members of the Turkistan Parliament and the municipal council members were going to be elected according to the proportional principle. Despite that, Kadets and the Social Democrats were straining to bring about a dual Duma, and to physically leave the transportation and industrial sectors in the hands of the Russians, and to reduce the role of the Moslems to governing only the Moslem sections of the municipalities. During those days, the fact that the conservative ulama having been jointly acting with the Russian monarchists was a ‘proof’ they were waving, and even wished to see the ulama danger becoming more prominent. They were even fanning the flames clandestinely, too. When the aforementioned 20 June telegram arrived, Nalivkin convened the National Council. From the Turkistan Moslem Council, Ubeydullah Hoca, Narbutabekov and I went. Cokayoglu abstained in order not to get into a heated argument with the Kadets. Narbutabekov was leaning toward the ideas of the Kadets and the Mensheviks. While I was defending our case, I specified: “exaggerating the activities of the ulama would become demagogy; majority of those who dwell on that topic wish to belittle the Moslem Council, and wish to strengthen the ulama position. However, the ulama do not know contemporary organization. Even if they could win in the cities, with the aid of their Russian friends, they cannot in the provinces and in the elections to the Russian Founding Parliament. Their time has passed.” Immediately, those opposing [our proposal] attacked me. One of them (perhaps Fitterman) implying that Cokayoglu and Narbutabekov’s leanings toward them “even though the Turkistan intellectuals are with us, this Baskurt is always opposing us.” In response, Ubeydullah Hoca and the member of the Temporray Administration Kazak engineer Muhammedcan Tinisbayev gave very good replies. Tinisbayev stated: “in this gathering, we are not investigating the origins of those who carry Russian names, to see if they are Velikirus, Ukrainian or Jewish. Why are you attempting to introduce tribal differences among us? We, too, have differences between political parties as you have; not differences in tribes. In terms of nationalities we are all members of the same nation. Even though I am from Yedisu Province, I am of the same opinion as Velidov. Along with the Moslem intellectuals, I want to see the application of the election law without any change, on the proportional basis.” After Tinisbayev, Narbutabekov rose and explained that he had the same thoughts with us. That caused a complete unity among the Moslem front, the resolution passed to apply the election laws to Turkistan without change. That was of course relayed to Petersburg, and the government announced the elections between 16-30 July in Turkistan.
This was, especially for me, a big victory. Even though none of that mattered when the Bolsheviks took the administration, for the time it was a great benefit. Ubeydullah Hoca and I translated the related decision of the Turkistan Temporary Administration into Turkish, and had it published in the Arabic alphabet in the official Turkistanskiya Vedemosti newspaper. This became the first ever Turkish article printed in the Arabic alphabet in that official Russian newspaper.
In this issue the SR Party’s credit was raised among the Moslems due to their support of the Moslem position. We firmly decided to establish a Radical Party, including the Jadids, as well as a Socialist party, immediately after the elections to the Founding Parliament was concluded, and began preparations. I busied myself with the writing of the Socialist Party program. We understood the nature of the Russian parties completely as a result of the fights on foodstuff distribution and the application of the election law to Turkistan. For me, personally, this was a big lesson, and an experience that served me throughout the revolutionary years.
How was Governor General, Social Democrat Nalivkin was deceived?—
I learned the true desires of the Bolsheviks here. The meaning of their approaches to command centers, artisan societies, and their attempts at using us for their ends was becoming clear. During the last week of June, the Congress of Turkistan Social Democrat Party took place. With the encouragement of Mansirov, I attended some of the sessions. From his article published in the Turkistanskiya Vedemosti newspaper, it was apparent that Governor General Nalivkin was sliding to the left. He was talking about “local proletariat.” Now, he visited the Menshevik Congress, and congratulated them in the name of the Social-Democrat Fraction of the former State Duma. In the name of the Laborers and Artisans Organization, Bolshevik Tabolin spoke of the necessity of cooperation, to include the Bolsheviks. Mansirov spoke of the impossibility of cooperating with the Bolsheviks, and the necessity of expelling them from the Social Democrat Party. Despite that, the said congress decided to cooperate with the Bolsheviks.
Shortly after that event, I went to see Nalivkin. I stated that if they would not expel the Bolsheviks from administrative organs, in the end the administration would pass into their hands; and cooperation with the Bolsheviks would mean dissolution of all other political parties, and that would ruin them. He responded that Tobolin is only a left leaning Social Democrat, and he was not afraid of him. When I told him that the Jewish socialists such as Broyda and Fitterman were actually Zionists than socialists and that it was a mistake to include Broyda into the committee then being formed to investigate the uprising in Khiva, under a Turkmen adventurist by the name of Han Juneid, his only response was to finger his long beard. Only, when I was taking my leave, he stated: “believe me that I believe that it is beneficial to be discussing these matters with you.” I knew Brodya a copy of Tabolin, and my words about them had some influence, that there is a strong argument against him made the newspapers. But, Nalivkin still named him to the exploratory committee believing he was Social Democrat; however, their only aim was to topple the democratic Kerensky government. I was convinced that Nalivkin was going to sink the democracy of Turkistan with his opportunism. That was realized. When the Bolsheviks took over the administration in October, escaped and fearing he was going to be killed by Tabolin and Kolesov in whom he earlier trusted, he hid for a period, and then he committed suicide with a pistol on the grave of his wife whom I had known very well. Thus the story of this opportunist socialist soviet Governor General acquired importance in the world. Later on we observed that, wherever the Bolsheviks found an opportunist with any influence, they would first flatter him, cause him to favor the Bolsheviks, and then they would eliminate him.
Pleasant memories of the first revolutionary months—
The first months of the Russian Revolution were beautiful. We had friends and we believed in each other cordially and sincerely. Many of the time, the ideas I expressed would later appear as articles or as poetry. Colpan had written our fights on the election law as a magnificent poem. I had an attorney friend from among the Kazaks, Sirkbay Akayev. He believed that the lower Sir-Darya basin could be populated jointly with the Kazaks and the Ozbeks, and convert the region as the administrative center of Turkistan. He published the text of my speech on the civilization and history of the old Cend and new City Oghuz in the newspaper Birlik Tugu, with my permission as his own. I know that, the said article was the reason for the formation of the city named Kizil-Orda, as the administrative center of Kazakistan in the city location called Akmescit-Perovski. In Khokand, we began publishing a cultural journal called Yurt, with my friend Asurali Zahir. In 1920, I saw the positive influence of a paper I published in that journal earlier, when the President of the Bukhara Republic Mirza Abdulkadir Muhiddinov was repeating the contents in a gathering of friend from memory. As a summary: Whatever I did, a positive result would ensue. One could easily see the positive results of letting the free will work freely in Turkistan was yielding positive results. In May, The Executive Committee of the Moslem Union (IKOMUS), working in Petersburg, had replaced the former Moslem Fraction of the state Duma, when the Moscow Congress of the Congress of Russian Moslems elected the new members. I would now be drawing my salary from this IKOMUS; instead I chose to draw it from the Turkistan Moslem Council. About the middle of July, I received a letter from my teacher friends from Ufa: “wherever you are working, we believe your efforts will return beneficial results; your friends here will continue to send your salary as a member of the Fraction Bureau from here.” At the time, Selimgiray Canturin, who had returned from Petersburg sent me approximately one thousand Russian Rubles for two months’ salary. My friend Ubeydullah Hoca, as an attorney, specified that: “perhaps, for elections, a requirement to own property may be placed into the regulations. Buy a place.” I bought a gardened house in the Ahengeran basin of Tashkent, at a beautiful place above Abliq, facing the snowcapped Catqal Mountains. I could not visit the house in 1917, but the fighting youths arriving from Baskurdistan to participate in the Basmachi Movement stayed there for months. I too, spent a few days there then, where the views were excellent and the place had plenty of water as well as fruits. In the municipal elections, a list of candidates was drawn for Tashkent, and I was in it for City Council membership. Professor Malletskiy, since he was interested in archeology, was the leader of the Kadets, and was my opponent. He was not only my opponent but also my enemy, but our personal relations were good; sometimes we even joked. One day, at a meeting, we both observed an Ozbek woman conducting political propaganda. I told him: “see, we are in the fifth month of the Revolution. The Ozbek woman who you claimed would destroy civilization by participation in the elections is now on stage, and she will elect me to the Municipality and the Russian Founding Parliament instead of you.” He responded with: “we shall see.” We laughed. Every day of this revolutionary period was equal to years of the past. One day I was at the home of my friend Professor Lev Zimin for dinner. He wanted to lure me into re-joining the SR Party. I stated that: “it is no longer necessary to join the Russian Parties. You, too, state that the natives cannot form political parties; take a look, they are being formed. A few months of revolution aided us in progress that could have been only obtained in generations.”
The first Baskurt Kurultay in Orenburg—
I arrived in Orenburg in order to participate in the first Congress of the Baskurt. When I reached Orenburg, the Congress was in session. Even though I was the Director of the Organizational Branch of the Baskurt Central Council, I could not organize the congress since I was in Tashkent. However, since I had written both the by-laws of the Turkistan National Council as well as the Baskurt National Council, my fellow workers were friends of one mind, and even though I was absent, the matters were progressing excellently. Upon arriving in Orenbug, I noticed that my friends Sait Miras and Abdullah Berdi Caferoglu had already obtained the previously set objectives in the by-laws concerning the formation of Tubek Councils in towns. They already collected dues and organized the task of selecting members from a wide-spread region for participation from everywhere. I praised them. The Kazaks were also holding their first Congress in Orenburg, almost parallel to ours, during 20-25 July. Both Congresses congratulated each other, and the decisions made in each were in harmony with the other. I was the Rapporteur in the Turkistan Congress as well as in the Baskurt one on the issue of Governance of State and Agricultural Issues. Here, the decision “the Baskurt joining in with the wide-spread Eastern and South-Eastern Turks to obtain joint autonomy” was accepted unanimously and with applause. The reconstitution of the old Baskurt Army was also agreed upon. From the Argayas province, there was a family by the name of Kurbanaliyev. They owned rich lands. They opposed me, because the report I read specified that the large lands needed to be redistributed immediately, but his position was not adopted. The representative of this family, Abdulhay Kurbanali, known to be conservative and an enemy of progress, made opposing statements alone. He specified that, before else, it was necessary to include the defense of the religion as a primary plank in the Central Committee Plan. He brought in a university student by the name of Serif Manatov; he had him elected into the Baskurt Central Council Board of Directors. I did not take on the Presidency of the Congress, since I was going to be working in Tashkent, but undertook the task of working on organization. We chose attorney Yunus Bikhov, but since he could not attend during those months, Serif Manatov attempted to fill in for him. He was a nationalist youth. While he was studying psychoneurology in Petersburg, he went to Turkiye when the Balkan War started. After the war, he went to Switzerland, and met with Lenin there. He had an adventurist character; there was no stability in his activities. Even though he was leaning to the Left, he agreed to become the representative of the extreme Rightist and recidivist Kurbanaliyev. He did not convey trust and since he did not possess a talent for organization, we were not happy that he was inserted amongst us. My friends Sait and Allahberdi shared my view on this. He could not do anything. His Russian was very weak. All the projects and writings of responsibility were falling on me.
The Kazak leader Alihan Bukeyhan was the Governor of Turgay Province. He had not yet left the Kadet Party. Because of that, the Kazak Congress did not definitively announce autonomy, but sided with it in principle. However, since the Orenburg and the Russian Cossacks had the idea of announcing their autonomy, they congratulated our announcement of autonomy. That was a good support for us, because, they too, just like the Baskurt, had also decided to establish their own army.
The Baskurt Congress gave us the authority to contact others who had the autonomy idea, such as the Azeris and the Ukrainians, and also appointed me and a university student by the name of Osman Kuvatov, an intellectual named Ildirhan Mutin to visit Petersburg to settle the Baskurt problems dating back generations, in discussion with the Kerensky Government. These issues involved Baskurt land law, Baskurt capital being collected since the time of the Tsars, and the Baskurt Army buildings in Orenburg, parks, gardens and Caravansarays. I was already invited to Moscow to the IKOMUS meeting as a member of the Turkistan representatives. Even though Osman Kuvatov was a very young medical student, he completely understood the issues of the Baskurt land law. In the instructions given to us, there were items concerning the laws of 9 November 1906, 19 November 1910, 20 May 1911 the modification and cancellation of the temporary Russian immigration, as well as the return of the immigrants sent from the Western Provinces, and their replacement with the Tatars who were left in the midst of Russia.
On the way, I stopped in Kazan and met with the leaders of the Kazan Turk Congress that was scheduled to end on 31 July, and asked them not to oppose the autonomy of Baskurdistan even if they were to be against autonomy for themselves. In these talks held in the home of Zahit Bey, grandson of Seyh Samil, the famed Northern Caucasian hero, the Kazan leaders, especially Sadri Maksudi did not even consider our request.
My becoming of Health Minister—
We arrived in Petrograd. We participated in the IKOMUS sessions. I read in the Russian language newspaper Izvestiya being published by that organ, that I was to be taken into the Kerensky Government as the health Minister, and wondered about it. Because, I had not received any advance information on this matter. I thought that, Ahmet Salikov and his friends were attempting to remove me from the task of organizing the Eastern Turks, with the excuse of assigning me ‘big tasks.’ Ismail Lemanov from Crimea, as a friend, stated that that may be the real cause. We spoke with the Agricultural Minister Cernov. He was the true leader and theoretician of the Social Revolutionaries. In the words of the Bobi Tore, the Han of the Eastern Kazak-Kirgiz in the 18th century: ”if he were to speak, he is a clear speaker with no ends to his words; but he can speak for a few days and cannot solve the problems of a tokli (one year old sheep)” he was a theoretician and did not understand the matters of practicality. He spoke on his theories rather than on our problems. Despite all that, he gave an order favorable to us on the issue of the Caravansaray. The Orenburg Governor, General Perovskiy had the said Caravansaray built 1825-1855 in Orenburg, when the Baskurt Army was an independent unit of the Russian army, for the Baskurt arriving in this city. It has a large park and a mosque. That general had it built it in the style of Central Asia, in keeping with the request of the Baskurt. For the construction, money was collected from all corners of the Baskurt lands, and as a national building, it was put into service after a large ceremony. In the eyes of our population reclaiming it had an enormous influence. This was going to be regarded as the beginning of the return of Baskurt property that had been earlier confiscated. In the application we submitted to the government, that fact also was stated, and Cernov listened to the contents carefully when the contents were read aloud.
When Victor Cernov was our guest in 1918 in Orenburg, he stated jocularly: “so, this is the Caravansaray Velidov asked to be returned by travelling all the way to Petersburg; had I know that I was going to be a guest of the Baskurt one day, I would have included several other buildings.” When both of us were guests of the Czechoslovak Legions in Prague during 1929 and the meeting organized by the legion, he repeated that story, as well as in Paris later on, his memoirs of the Caravansaray. He was a jocular and nice person. He was the author of the book entitled Constructive Socialism, written to replace Das Kapital by the SRs. He was also the Chief Author of Delo Naroda, the most influential newspaper in Russia at the time.
My talks with the famed Plexanov—
During our trip to Petrograd, I also visited Plexanov who the SR did not like. I obtained explanations on some of the points in the works he published. The old man Plexanov gladly provided those explanations, and put down the Bolsheviks with his words. He told stories about the insincerity of Lenin. From Cernov, we were able to obtain an order for the return of buildings back to us. This was a good deed done for us by the SR government.
The Kazak intellectual Cihansah Dostmuhammedov was also in Petrograd, to participate in the IKEMUS sessions. Along with an attorney, who was a stout defender of the autonomy movement, we discovered that the recently published conference record did not contain my and Cihansah’s words confronting the unitarists; even the autonomy of Baskurdistan were not included. Ahmet Salihov and Ayaz Ishaki had been completely routed in the Moscow Conference. Despite that, they had themselves included in the IKOMUS in order to sabotage the decisions that were earlier passed, and Salihov even obtained the Presidency. Ahmet Salihov was an Ossetian Moslem from the Caucasus. He did not know any other language than Russian. He knew of the Russian Moslems as a single entity and regarded it as the Russian Moslems. To him, Pushkin was the poet of the Russians as well as the Russian Moslems.
Federation meant Moslems leaving that culture behind. The Tatar author Ayaz Ishaki, in order to obtain the Kazan leadership over the Russian Moslems, took action with Salikov in every aspect. Both were together after they emigrated. During 1924 in Berlin, Ahmet Salihov wrote an article in the DNI newspaper published by Kerensky on 22 August; on 10 September, Ayaz Ishaki also wrote an article under the title “the abuse of National Feelings.” In those, they stressed with pride, that they fought against their Moslem brothers in the service of the Russian democracy and unitarism. Cihansah spoke severely of them for all the modifications they entered into in the Moscow conference records, calling them falsifiers. I refrained from making any statements as the incident had already taken place. Except that I later had struggles with the individual Sakir Muhammedyarov who actually effected the change. Alimerdan Bey Topcibasi was the person who grieved the exclusion from the record.
Fight with Sayidgiray Alkin—
In the meantime, I saw General Abdulaziz Devletsin, a member of the Turkistan Temporary Administration, who had returned to Petersburg on the pretention of being ill. There I saw attorney Mirza Alkin of Kazan, who had arrived in Petrograd for some business of his. This Seyidgirey Mirza is a member of the Kazan notables, of the past nobility, and held on to his nation and religion. Sehabeddin Mercani praised him for those attributes as well. Mirza had arrived in Petrograd at the beginning of the Revolution (in March) with an extensive plan to show how the Russian Moslems would benefit from the Revolution. But that project was based on uniting all the Moslems under a theocratic state and did not reflect reality. Mirza had no idea about the concept of statistics. When that plan was being debated in the Fraction Bureau, I had harshly criticized it. Thus I caused the rejection of his plans, and it turned out, he was in a huff. He revealed all that during these talks. But Abdulaliz regarded me in the right, and made statements I could not foresee earlier: “Zeki Bey and his friends know the ways and means how this nation will benefit from this Revolution better than us; because they grew up with their people. When I arrived in Tashkent during the summer, three or four congresses were meeting at the same time. It was difficult to comprehend all the issues altogether. Everything was flowing at the speed of a movie. However, Zeki Bey not only speedily grasped these complex matters, but also arrived at the congresses with reports and prepared resolutions on matters concerning the benefit of the population. I lived in Turkistan for many years, but was not aware for what reason the plans and laws prepared by the English for the administration of India were translated into Russian and published. I had not even seen those volumes. Zeki Bey explained their true contents with mastery at the Krayevoye Scovescaniye and gave a national direction for the future of administration in the debates. In the beginning, I was against unitarism, but now find the plans of the federation supporters more logical. Now, a theocratic state as you propose cannot be established even without land. Velidov is justified in his objections to you.” The words of the General were completely unexpected by me. General Abdulaziz is from the Buri region, his grandfather Adilsah Isan was an Imam and Seyh at the beginning of the last century in Isterlibasi, close to us. His son Devletsah Isan studied in Bukhara wrote works in Turkish and Persian, opened a medrese in the Cibinli village of the Orenburg province. One of his sons, Abdullah Molla, while he was an Imam in Ickin, near Cilebi, somehow got close to Russians, and was appointed to the rank of head of Canton. In order to ingratiate himself to the Russians, he troubled famous poet Akmolla and Zeynullah Isan and caused them to be exiled. That person sent his son Abdulaziz to the Russian military school after completing his education at the medrese; and he became a staff officer. He served in elevated duties under the command of General Kuropatkin in Turkistan. Later he commanded the Asia Branch of the Russian General Staff in Petersburg. He was sent to Syria by the Russian General Staff while Emperor Wilhelm II was visiting Turkiye. The secret report he wrote afterward was published at the time. That book came to our attention in 1917 when all such secret materials were released. His wife was an ignorant Russian woman. In Petrograd he did not mix with the Moslems and no Moslem would visit him at home. Meaning, he grew up and was completely in the service of the Russians. His Islamic knowledge was good. He knew Persian well. Despite all that, he would not involve himself in Moslem affairs. Now, at the time of the Revolution he turned nationalist. Devletsah Isan’s other son, Ahmetsah, lived in the city of Qarsi in Bukhara. He fit himself with a lineage of Seyyid, and took on the honorific title Hoca. In 1921 I was going to meet someone descended from them in Qarsi. Another son of Ahmetsah, Abdulallam was an Imam in the city of Ilek in the Orenburg province, and others in Cibinli. Descended from those, Fatih Molla Devletsin attended the First Baskurt conference and was elected to the “Little Parliament.” He worked actively in the Baskurt Council in Orenburg. On the other hand, descendants of his other son, who placed themselves next to the Bukhara Emir, and called themselves Seyyid and Hoca, appearing as Imam in various locations were constituting a family of extreme opportunists. General Abdulaziz was appointed to the Turkistan Temporary Committee by the Russian Revolutionary government with the aid of the Kadets. Now that he noticed the waning of the Kadet power, he excused himself on the grounds of some ailment, and according to what he told us, he was not intending to return to Turkistan. What I derived from those talks is that the General did not have ‘faith’ in nationalism; only that the path we took began to appear to these group of opportunists as the most vital. I and Osman Kuvatov left that meeting happily. Later on, General Devletsin agreed to take on the task of writing the history of the old Baskurt Army from us as an assignment. Ilyas Alkin, attorney and officer, would arrive a year later in Baskurdistan to join our movement and would bring to me his father’s greetings.
State Council in Moscow—
All of us were going to meet for the Russian State Council during 25-28 August in Moscow. We advanced the idea that it was necessary to explicate the federation idea in that Council, and to stand with the Ukrainians and Byelorussians, and the necessity of having Alimerdan Topcibasi read our statement, who earlier headed our Moscow Congress. After reaching Moscow we spoke with all the delegates arriving, at the school of Azerbaijani wealthy man Asadullayev, and have them agree that Alimerdan Bey must speak for all of us. This upset all the plans laid down by Ahmet Salihov and Ayaz Ishaki. Ishaki, in the IL newpaper he published in Moscow (number 39) wrote the following words about me: “Zeki Velidi gave a long speech in Russian, and stated that we must unite like the Finns and Ukrainians. Take charge of our own affairs. Even though our numbers are small at this time, the future is ours. Let us demand a complete landed autonomy. But the Duma Member (Ibn-Yemin) Ahtiyamov responded with ‘This is not a Baskurt bozkir meeting. We cannot get involved in autonomy matters like the Finns and Ukrainians.’” Ishaki, who related these words in his newspaper, made fun of the issue of autonomy and even with Ukrainians, wrote: “They are intending to create an independent Xoxlandia. Since we are connected with the Russian people throughout history, we cannot enter into that path. As a delegation of four individuals (Sadri Maksudi, Islam Sahmemedov, Ayaz Ishaki and Sakir Muhammedyar) we went to the head of Government Kniaz L’vov and announced that we do not wish to separate like the Malorus (meaning Ukrainians) from you. We wish to be together with you.”
At the Moscow State Council, Topcibasi told the story of the Kirgiz who were thrown to the Chinese border, and the disaster of how eighty-three thousand of them died on the way back. However, he did not neglect to finish his words with the term “ex orient lux” (light arrives from the East), and was not careless in using phrases that would offend others. At this conference all the famed personalities of the Russians, all revolutionaries, Plexanov, Kropatkin, Caykovsky, and others were present. The issue was to take these matters all the way to the Russian Founding Council. Kerensky, General Kornilov all stated that. Bolsheviks, at the time who already experimented with fomenting Revolution, was being represented by Rozanov. His issue was one of tyranny. This was the last time the Moslem intellectuals were all together. Later, everyone dispersed and we never did convene again at the Old Russian level. After this congress, I again returned to Petersburg and followed some of our business. I visited general Devletsin again. He promised to resolve some of our issues present before the Kerensky government.
The second Baskurt Kurultay—
During 28-29 August, the Second Baskurt Kurultay met in Ufa. Those of us, who earlier went to Petrograd and Moscow, managed to be present at the last day. The primary issue during that occasion was the election of delegates to the Russian Founding Council meeting to take place on 23 November 1917. Those Tatars who were in favor of territorial autonomy joined us; but those ‘socialist’ Unitarians, Hadi Atlasi, Zakir Kadiri and others did everything they could to change the outcome in their favor. I was named as a candidate from Ufa, Orenburg and Perm Provinces.
After the Baskurt Congress, the Ufa Moslems Congress took place. At that event, when I was presiding over a session, Sadri Maksudi Bey rose and spoke violently against autonomists. I transferred the presidency of the session to another member, rose and gave my speech that are included in the books of others in Turkiye, for example reported by Huseyin Namik in Turk Yurdu, with falsifications. Others spoke in the same vein. This resulted in the complete rout of Tatar unitarists. The Ufa Provincial Congress turned out to be their grave. All of their propaganda was rendered completely ineffectual. They were not elected to the Founding Council either.
My visit to our village—
I intended to head for Orenburg from there, to undertake Baskurt Central Council matters, and on to the Second Kazak Congress and finally to the Turkistan Moslems Second General Congress to be held in Tashkent in September. I wanted to see my father and maternal uncle, and in very rainy days, riding day and night, I arrived in our village on official postal horses. Nobody was present at home, save for a woman worker. My parents went to see the village of Yilim Karan, about half the distance to Ufa, which I passed on the way to the village, to visit a relative by the name of Imam Cemaleddin Bayis. My brothers went to cut grass to the mountains, far away. I wanted to saddle horses and chase after Yilim Karan. I was told the horses were not in the village, but away at pastures and the forest. It would take two days to find them. In reality, they could not find the horses in a day, who were wondering freely. I wore my village clothes. I went to the home of my paternal uncle Sayahmet’s house. His son, my old friend, went to the mountains to cut grass. The house was full of women. They were all busy beating the cereals behind the house for the purpose, called indir. I went there. What did I see? My apa (‘elder sister’) Mahub, and Muhiye, and Leylibedir of my youth. They are now married. Muhiye was the daughter of my paternal uncle Sayahmed. In our village the traditions of the Miser and Baskurt were different. The Baskurt girls went about without head covering, ride horses, and their behavior was very much like those of the males. This Mulhiye was one of them. There were gossips about her because she rode a horse without a saddle (it was shameful amongst us) just before she got married. On the other hand, Mahub would wrestle with the man she married, and would divorce him if she won the contest. Now she is the wife of a strong man from the Kalgasav village. Leylibedir was the daughter of a Miser tribe who were neighbors of us. We had studied together, as students of my mother, when we were young. I had mentioned that earlier above. Daughters of the Miser tribe stayed away from the boys, and they did not ride horses. Despite that, Mulhiye prevented her from running away from me. I participated in beating of the wheat. At one point, I laid down on the hay. Muhiye caused the bundles of cut wheat, which we called kulte, to fall on me deliberately in an instant. At the moment I was inundated with those kulte, they joked with me stating: “why are you not getting married; if you do not promise to get married, you cannot get out from under these kulte.” We went home, drank tea. Men were few, women were in majority. Everyone in the village was at the fields, or at the forest cutting grass. With these women, elder sisters, maternal aunts and brides, we reminisced, recalling the old days. I took with me some of the young children and went to the cemetery just outside the village. I had carved the headstones, and engraved the Arabic inscriptions on them. I also planted the trees. Every one of them was in place, and they grew. My father made sure they were sustained. Muhiye quickly prepared a meal, and I received all the news about the village, about whose what animal died, or was slaughtered, and how my horse of brunette color, what we called yiren, had broken his leg and had to be put down and other news. It turned out that my horse was buried next to the wheat threshing place behind our house as ‘iziq.’ The horses arrived to pull the carriage that was to take me away. But, all the womenfolk, apa, maternal aunt, daughters-in-law did not want to let me go, and hid the tack. I was very amused looking for that tack. I was very happy to spend a few hours of sweet time with all the siblings and relatives who did not care where I have been, what I did, and who were only truly interested in my health, vitality, and wishing my presence amongst them, in the village that I loved. I left despite the fact that the hour was late. All my thoughts were left behind with my relatives, maternal aunts. It was an important event for me to discover that I was much loved in my village; I was hoping that my nation would love me as much.
Meeting at the Mizakay village and the feasts—
I slept in Utek village where I was educated, in my grandmother’s house. My maternal uncle was visiting a wealthy person and a scholar named Hasan oglu Sabir Hazret in the Mirzakay village. I finally arrived in the Yilim Karan village the second day, late during daylight. It transpired that may parents, and Cemaleddin Molla Basiyev went to Mirzakay village to Sabir Hazret. Our national poet Mecid Gafuri was also from Yilim Karan village. I was a house guest in his home. He was slightly older than I am. He was a student of my maternal uncle and his teacher Zeynullah Isan. In his home, he read many of his poems. Next morning, we went to Mirzakay. When my arrival was heard, several others from neighboring villages also arrived. Those feasts were very sincere and sweet. They also inspired our poet Mecid Gafuri; he recited some of his poems. Today, the Soviets have been printing his works in the hundreds of thousand, and want to show that he is one of them. However, he was only a nationalist. He was raised as a member of a poor family. The speeches he made at the Orenbugh Baskurdistan Congress have left a good legacy. We hear there that my maternal uncle Habibneccar had a dream that our effort to bring autonomy to Baskurdistan was going to succeed. In these parts, the news of the Dream by the Seyh was much more effective than several thousand printed copies of propaganda. Since my maternal uncle had that dream, then, according to my father and Sabir Hazret, this was a done deal. My father represented this is a matter that would be rewarded by God, that I would be sent to heaven for this result alone as a divine reward, and talking about it as if it would happen tomorrow. German poet Geothe’s poem: “the true Moslem speaks of the Heaven such that as if he was there some time ago” was true for my father and Sabir Hazret. Here, we followed the lead of my maternal uncle, listening to his selected verses, performed the namaz plentifully and drank a lot of kimiz. We stayed at the home of the wealthy man named Abdurrahman, who gave his daughter to me in 1908 [sic]. In the morning we left for my maternal uncle’s village, Utek. Sabir Hazret also arrived along with many other persons. The talks there assumed the status of a congress, more important that the one held in Ufa. The gatherings taking place in Mirzakay and Utek did not take the character of an official meeting, but were held as feasts of friends and relatives. Despite that many a good decision was made that were not recorded on paper. From there, I stopped at our village for a single day. There and at Sayran village a lot of individuals gathered. These gatherings were mirroring the Baskurt revolts of the 18th century. Those talks gave me the impression that my nation was embracing the movement with sincerity, and were ready to die for it. I left from the town of Meleviz with the post carriage, running continuously, arrived in Orenburg, and told the circumstances to my friends. I also spoke with the Kazak Alihan Bukeyhan who was attending the Second Kazak Congress. I busied myself for two or three days with the organization of Baskurt Central Council matters, and left for Tashkent. If I recall correctly, I was in Tashkent on 15 September.
City council fights in Tashkent—
I gave information to the Second Turkistan Congress, headed by Ubeydullah Hoca, on the discussions in IKOMUS, State Council, Ufa Congress and the Kazak Congress. Here, also, candidates were named to the Founding Parliament. They also made me a candidate from somewhere, but I forgot the location. Because, I was certain I would be approved from the Baskurt list. It was also agreed that, we would collect donations from the wealthy Moslems for the purpose of conducting preliminary election campaign. I had been disgruntled at Mustafa Cokay’s not showing up at the Krayevoye Scovescaniye discussions of the election law because of his desire not to upset the Kadets. But, now, all was forgotten. Us two friends went to Andican and asked for a donation from a millionaire named Mirkamil. He was very cold. He offered about one hundred lira. We responded with: “when the Bolsheviks arrive you will give all you have.” The guy did not understand, because he did not yet know the existence of the Bolsheviks; he had not heard that money and real estate was going to be confiscated. Two months later, when the Bolsheviks took over Tashkent, they confiscated the money in the banks. This Mirkamil sent word to us demanding to know what the Muslim Council was doing about this, and offered to give the Council ten percent if we could return his money and his cotton bales at the Taskent and Asake railroad stations. Ubeydullah Hoca responded with: “let him have one hundred percent of his property.” When we journeyed to Samarkand with Mustafa, we were unable to reach a beneficial result. Instead of the big wealth owners, the middle level merchants supported us and we collected a goodly amount of money from them. A Jewish millionaire named Poteliahov gave us a large sum.
At that time, Tahkent Municipal meetings took place. Since I was a member, I participated. The ulema and the Russians had the majority, and they were angry. When we lost an issue at the voting, we would leave the meeting. In one of the sessions, another Russian Monarchist was defending the fact that “municipality administration is now established; therefore all other illegal organizations must be abolished.” At that point an ulama member rose, who I knew from earlier but now cannot recall his name, requested that the Moslem Council be included in the list of those organizations to be disbanded. I shouted, from my seat: “Tebbet yeda ebi-leheb.” Because of that, he was severely chastised, and could not continue speaking. This was from a verse in the Kur’an, about an Arab who was a pseudo-Moslem, the enemy of the Prophet Mohammad. It meant: “both hands of Ebu-Leheb dried.” That guy knew what I meant: “you pseudo-Moslem, may your hands be dried.” The reason I shouted those three words, is because he was a person who visited the Moslem Council in the past. After the session, I spoke with several ulama I knew. They were ignorant individuals, and when explained, some would understand. They disparaged his request from the Russians to outlaw a Moslem organization, himself being a Moslem ‘priest.’ In the past, it transpired that he was labeled pseudo-Moslem among his cohort. From that point of view my recitation of the verse was appreciated by some of the ulama.
Our talks with Nalivkin and Kravicenko—
Nalivkin was still at his position. I saw him. He stated: “your projection that ulama would gain the plurality in Tashkent and they would not win elsewhere turned out to be true. But, they will not allow you to work in Tashkent.” I responded with: “After the election of the Founding Parliament, and the establishment of the Turkistan Parliament, we will renew the elections and get rid of them. Nalivkin was under the influence of the Taskent Soviets. He did not want to hear anything against them. I stated that: “the enemy of democracy is not only ulama; it is the Bolsheviks who wish to own them. It would be better if you were to push them aside.” Later, I told the issues to the Turkistan Central Council. The Council sent a telegram to Kerensky, stressing that the Soviets and the labor organizations in the city wanted to use the ulama in order to establish a dictatorship, and to prevent that, an army needed to be sent. Upon receiving that telegram, Kerensky sent an army commander general (or, colonel) Kravicenko from Orenburg to Tashkent. Soviets did everything they could to prevent his arrival. Despite all that, this general arrived in Tashkent at the head of the elements of a military unit on 25 September. Immediately thereafter, he began consultations. He especially talked with the members of the Moslem Council that caused his dispatch. He wanted to know what he needed to do, while facing the threats of the local labor soviets and the rightist municipality. I responded with: “if you wish to take serious precautions, send the leaders of the city soviets and the Bolsheviks, who took over the labor and artisan organizations, to central Russia. At the moment they number only fifteen or twenty. But, if that is neglected, they can become twenty-thousand, and establish a dictatorship over millions of souls. On the issue of the ulama, there is no other remedy than renewing the elections; because, they came to power as a result of the general and official elections. In addition, you must induct volunteers from among the Moslems, and hire a lot of Moslems into the police. If Nalivkin, who is the head, attempts to block your moves against the soviets, it will be necessary to send a telegram to Kerensky, and ask him to remove Nalivkin and appoint someone else. Hesitating to take such drastic measures will result in bad consequences.” While I was speaking, there was nobody else in the gathering besides us. However, afterward, my friend Cokayoglu stated: “What did you do, why did you mix your friend Vladimir Petrovic (meaning Nalivkin) into this; he will now be annoyed at us.” I responded: “in the affairs of the state, private friendships have no place. Nalivkin must get out. Let us send a telegram to Kerensky, and ask for that in no uncertain terms.” Neither Cokayoglu, nor Ubeydullah Hoca was in favor of that. Now that we are in exile, and I met up with Kerensky, he stated that my thoughts on Nalivkin were correct, he allowed Bolsheviks to take over Turkistan due to his opportunism.” I thus understood that, had the Moslem Council requested the removal of Nalivkin by telegram, he would have done it. The errors were not only in Nalivkin, but we were responsible as well. Bolshevik propaganda was rampant among his soldiers; he was afraid to induct Moslems into his military units, either because he did not have the authority, or he was afraid. As a result, work in Tashkent lost its flavor. Without decisive action, the number of those hesitating were increasing, and joining the opposition. Since I knew that without a national army there could not be a national state, I was grieving. That was possible in Baskurdistan. It was possible to convince Kravicenko in the face of the Bolshevik danger. But, my friends did not believe that could be realized. At the beginning of October, Baskurdistan Central Council summoned me by telegram. Provincial Congresses were meeting in preparation for the elections. I needed to defend our causes there. So, I went.
Serif Manatov’s skills—
One of the reasons why my friends summoned me by telegraph was what Serif Manatov has been doing. He was the son of a village Imam from the Yalan Canton, and his formation was known. His name appeared often in the printed press because of his activities in Turkiye. As Ismail Soysallioglu, who knew him in Russia, stated that he was not a traitor, but was an adventurist. He was one of those idealist volunteers who arrived in Turkiye during the Balkan Wars. Other Communists made use of his writings written with the aim of revitalizing the Turk Ocagi ideal, who wanted to blacken his image. After the 1917 Revolution (after the Moscow Congress), he arrived in Baskurt Central Council and expressed his desire to work together. Since the intellectual Baskurt families, such as Bekbov and Kuvatov, were hesitant toward the Baskurt autonomy, we included him amongst us. He was not at all useful in internal organization. Since he lived in Switzerland for years, and knew French and German, we advised him to work on external affairs, and provided him with foreign press materials we sometimes obtained. He worked on establishing contacts with Ukraine, Caucasus, Finland, Bukhara and Khiva. His prerequisite was the acceptance of Baskurdistan as part of Turkistan. Since he was eyeing the Presidency, and it was thought that he joined us with that aim in mind, he fell afoul of Sait Miras, Allahberdi Caferoglu and Hurmetullah Edilbayev, who were working to have the attorney Yunus Bekbov appointed to that position. During the Second Baskurt Congress, he joined in with the most zealot, Monarchist and reactionaries and had himself elected to the Presidency of the Congress, as well as the vice-chairmanship of the Central Committee. I had inserted his name to the list of candidates for the Russian Founding Parliament. But, at the end of the said Conress, while working in Orenburg, his relations with the other members of the Committee were bad; he was reproached for working with the Monarchists even though he himself was a Leftist. He was told he arrived amonst them in order to destroy the unity. His biggest opponent was Hurmetulla Edilbay. He was a graduate of the high-scool, he had read enormously, knew French, had a command of the Western and Russian literature. He had not accepted membership in the Central Committee, due to his humility. But, he was always there. He determined that Serif did not know French, and knew his as a charlatan and a sham. Our working office was a large room of the Caravansaray. Everybody was present there. Hurmetulla would arrive, take a seat by the window, and criticize everyone. He gave a nickname to all his friends who knew Russian literature. He named me Doctor Wagner from Faust, because I was an academic; Raskolnikov to Serif Manatov from Dostoyevsky; as he regarded Allaberdi as lazy, he was Ablomov from Griboyedov. Hurmetulla liked to display Manatov’s ignorance, because he believed Manatov’s literary knowledge was by ear as he picked-up bits and pieces during general conversations, as a result Serif was continually losing respect. Hurmetulla would arrive and ask: “Serif agay is there Eastern influence in Dante’s description of hell?” Another day he would state: “Faust was sincere in his pantheism.” Yet another, he would ask: “Why Nietzsche did take a negative position against the women in his Zarathustra?” Since his comments and questions did not elicit any response from Serif, he exhibited Serif as one who did not speak the truth when he claimed he read them. One day Hurmetulla addressed Manatov: “I was going to call you Raskolnikov; but he would at least carefully count the money he was stealing from the cash register. On the other hand, you seize the money as soon as it is placed before you and stuff it into your pockets, and while escaping quickly, you are caught. What else did you have to do with Kurbanaliyev and Minhac?” Manatov attempted to slap Hurmetullah, but could not succeed. Manatov wanted to leave the Committee; others encouraged his to do so. He did not. Then the others called him two faced, brassy. When I arrived from Tashkent, all these bickerings had reached their peak.
Fights in Baskurdistan for the Russian Founding Parliament elections—
There, there were four groups of people with whom any business was transacted: Kerensky’s Orenburg Governor, Arxangelskiy; Orenburg Russian Cossacks; Moslem Kazaks; and the Orenburg Tatar organization. The Russian Cossacs and the Moslem Kazaks, as they were in favor of autonomy, were our allies. The Russian Governor was our bad enemy. Even though we had secured, when I visited Petersburg, an order from the central government in Petersburg for the return of the 18th century Baskurt Army’s Caravansaray containing national military buildings and gardens to us, and even though General Devletsin was following that matter, they continually delayed that act on the grounds that they had archives being kept there. Tatars had formed a Moslem Committee. They were on the same side with Arxangelskiy. They convened the Orenburg Province Moslems Congress. We participated in that as well. The owner of Vakit newspaper, Fatih Kerimi of the Tatars worked very hard to chop-down our autonomy movement and he spoke at length at that congress. My response to the Orenburg Tatars, explaining and responding to the accusations lasted for four hours. This was the longest speech I gave in my life. The aim of the Tatar unitarists was to cause the Baskurt to ignore the Baskurt list and have them vote for the Tatar list. However, during the elections, many of the Tatar voted for our list. In that fight our most poisonous opponents were Fatih Kerimov, author Burhan Seref and the former Duma Member Kelimullah Hasanov.
The leaders of the Kazakistan, Ahmed Baytursun; from Bukey-Orda, descendent of the Chingiss Han, revered old man Sahingiray Sultan Bukeyhanov; from Tashkent Mustafa Cokayoglu; from Oyil, Cihansah Dostmuhammedov, and others met at the building of the Governorship of Turgay, in the room of Governor Alihan Bukeyhanov at the end of October, beginning of November. I was also present in many of the sessions. These were the days when the Bolsheviks were succeeding in many places, sabotaging the Founding Parliament elections, and the spread of the dictatoriat idea. On 26 October, city of Ufa crossed over to the soviet style. On 28 October Ufa province Moslem (Tatar) Military Council joined the Soviets. Alihan announced that he had definitely left the Kadet Party, in which his name was registered till that time, ant that Kazakistan accepted definitely the idea of autonomy under the name Alas-Orda. Under those conditions, Kazak elders advised me to immerse myself into Baskurt matters, and Cokayoglu to go to Tashkent and not to leave there. The consultation meetings that lasted for two days showed our future path in a definitive manner. We were to remain faithful to Democracy and the Founding Parliament; we were never to accept the Bolsheviks; the country to be established in Ukraine would follow autonomy; at the end of December, Kazakistan and Baskurdistan Congresses were to meet in Orenburg on the same dates; autonomy would be followed in Turkistan. Those Russian circles and political parties that accepted the autonomy of Orenburg, Ural Russian Cossacks, Turkistan, Kazakistan and Baskurdistan were nowhere near agreeing to form a single republic with us, and would actively oppose it. Therefore, we were not to broach the subject.
In honor of the old Baskurt Army era canton Administration of Baskurdistan, we had divided the country into cantons, the equivalent of the Sancak. In each ‘tubek’ (township) committees were formed. They prepared and administered the Founding Council elections. At the elections, we were completely victorious. None of the Tatar intellectuals opposing federation and autonomy were elected. Amongst them, only those who were in favor of landed autonomy and those supporting socialism were elected. I was elected from Ufa, Orenburg and Perm Provinces. I chose to represent the Ufa province.
Announcement of the Baskurdistan Autonomy—
As soon as the Bolsheviks took over the rule in Petersburg, they made a declaration on 2 November as if they were recognizing the independence rights of the nations imprisoned by the Russians. We debated that declaration at the Baskurt Central Council, and did not agree to benefit from it. In response Edict Number 1 (Prikaz no. 1) was printed and distributed widely, stressing that such propaganda ought not believed. Later on, the Soviet literature plentifully used the contents of that edict for their own benefit and against us. It was specified in it that we had sent representatives to autonomous Ukraine and continued: “After the overthrow of the Russian Temporary Government on 25 October, in Russia a citizens war has commenced. We do not accept the Soviets. Because, we desire to have our own rights and laws. We are not going to receive that autonomy from the hands of the Soviets, because we are not going to allow the trampling of our people’s rights and will.” After signing a truce with the Soviets, Lenin personally inquired of that edict from me. I responded with: “Yes, I wrote that edict; but it was the expression of our people and national sovereignty of the time. More importantly, it was our way of announcing our independence, on occasion of the anarchy reigning in Russia; because, none of the Moslems had yet announced their autonomy at the time.” That was the truth. Four days after the publication of that Edict, we announced the formation of Autonomous Baskurdistan on 16 November (on European Calendars, 29 November) and formed the national government. We began forming the kernels of the national army in the Cantons. We elected attorney Yunus Bekhov from amongst us. I was given the tasks of internal affairs and defense. On that occasion we published a declaration addressing the People, indicating we had agreed with the Ukrainians and had sent representatives there. The announcement we sent to Ukraininans and Don Cossacks we reminded them that two hundred ten years earlier we all three had signed an alliance to revolted against Tsar Petro Grozny, Ukrainians under the leadership of Mazepa, Don Cossacs under Bulavin, and the Baskurt at first under Murat Sultan, and later under Ibrahim Sultan. Later on, I discovered that that writing had left a good taste. After Baskurdistan, Crimea; then (old style 11—new style 24 December) Turkistan, and even later, Azerbaijan, and Kazakistan Republics were announced. During the aforementioned consultations with the Kazak leaders, I had prepared three maps. One was large, the other small, of Baskurdistan. The third one was under the title “Union of Autonomous Moslem Eastern Russian Countries.” We had them printed during the declaration of our autonomy. Mr. Bennigsen published that last one as a photograph in his work published in Paris entitled La Presse at le Mouvemant national chez les Musulmans de Russie during 1964. During 1918, we had them reprinted once more in Samara while the governmental representatives of Baskurdistan and Kazakistan were consulting. For me, they are a grand and very important memory. The Turkish General Nuri Congur managed to get hold of a copy when he was in Russia. He presented it to me in Ankara. I also included a copy of the third map, the one printed in Samara in 1921, in my volume Turkistan Tarihi. During the announcement of the autonomy we included the eastern portions of Baskurdistan that had a minimum seventy percent Moslems living there. That area was known as Kici Baskurdistan. We had thought of having the Baskurt and Tatars living in a minority status to move to this Eastern Baskurdistan and to Turkistan. Kucuk Baskurdisan had a land territory of 79,560 square kilometers and had the population of 1,259,059. Seventy two percent of the entire population was Moslem. According to our plans, the center of government for the Baskurt as well as Western Kazaks, and Orenburg Cossacs was going to be established in Orenburg. If, later on Baskurdistan and Western Kazaks merged into a single country, the Russian Cossacks would also join in. Among the Cossacks we had friends who accepted that idea without hesitation. I personally thought that they would get along with us just fine as they were half Turks. This declaration of autonomy caused a great deal of excitement amongst us, and became a topic for our poets Seyirtkirey Magaz and Seyhzade Babic. Among the Baskurt and the Miser living on the East of Urals was living in military administration in the form of cantons until the last quarter of the last century. Therefore, land borders and the known military national idea was naturally understood amongst them. The word canton was taken from Switzerland.
Third Baskurt Kurultay—
We called for the Third Baskurt Kurultay to be held during 20 December 1917 – January 1918 at the Caravansaray, in accordance with the decisions made jointly with the Kazak intellectuals. This Congress was going to serve as the Founding Council of our nation. In reality, most of the Members of our Government were also a member of the Russian Founding Parliament that was due to be opened anytime in Petersburg. But, we thought that the Bolsheviks were not going to allow that Council to work, therefore, we decided not to go and thought we would do more good by working in our homeland. Instead, we opened our Congress on the day the Russian Founding Parliament’s opening day. In order to provide a comfortable working condition, there were volunteers from all over Baskurdistan who wished to ride in on their own horses and bringing their own food to serve as guards. We only saw it fit to have twenty-four guards for a period of ten days. This precaution served us well against the deep hostility of the Tatar Committee and the Arxangelsky who was the Governor only in name. Even though the Kazak Congress had opened before ours, not all their members had yet dispersed. From the Kazaks, Seyit Azim Kidirbayev, and from Khokand, who had announced Autonomy ten days after us, the Foreign Minister Mustafa Cokayev, were present as observers. I was also an observer in the Kazak Congress for a couple of times. Both Congresses exchanged congratulatory messages. In this Congress, Abdulhay Kurbanaliyev and his friend Minhac, from the Baskurts of the Argayas Canton, attempted to form a monarchist group as an option. Serif Manatov, who saw himself as a socialist, was representing that group in our government. Kurbanaliyev wished to make that Manatov the head of the Baskurdistan Government; while we wanted attorney Yunus Bekov. Kurbanaliyev displayed an outstanding fur-coat to the public, and presented it to Manatov. However, the Tokurcan Canton Baskurts presented me with a race-horse with an historical saddle on it; in addition to silver tea-set with Arabic inscriptions inscribed in silver and gold, plus a handbag with gold writing on it, on behalf of the overwhelming majority of the Congress. I understood that the tray of the tea-set, containing nice poems on the reverse was prepared long before I was given news of it. These were most excellent and sincere rewards given to me in the name of my nation. The saddle was ornamented by agates in every direction; the tops of the reins were tooled with golden and silver. I carried the handbag with me often. In the end, the soldiers of aide-de-camp Muhliya were forced to sell it upon arriving in Iran. For me, becoming a leader in the Baskurt movement was a matter that came later, meaning I never thought that I would become such a leader. If the Soviets had not taken over Turkistan, I would have been between Orenburg and Taskent working. As a result, this Congress rendered the Baskurt Autonomy legal. Offical Government was formed. Yunus Bekov became the President; I was undertaking the Internal and Defense Ministry duties. From among the officers, Emir Karamis was my deputy at the Defense. Among the other members, Ildirhan Mutin (Treasury); from the Tatars, Abdullah Edhemov (Education); Ayitbayev (Agriculture) were the other Ministers. The Defense Department was known as Baskurt Military Administration (Baskiskoye Voyskovoye Upravleniye) as it was also known as it did in the old Baskurt Army. The Congress resolved to form the National Baskurt Army. On January 198, a group of our officers, Muhtar Karamis, Abdullah Miras, Abdullah Idilbay, Umran Magazov, and Britz from among the Polish and his two friends purchased an amount of weapons from the Cossac Government, and were assigned to form the first Baskurt regiment at the locality of Baymak. We did not have the money to establish the governmental organization, pay salaries to the bureaucrats, and to feed the Regiment. For that reason, we started collecting taxes. The Tsar had outlawed the consumption of raki during the General War [WWI]. A lot of raki was then warehoused at the Samakin raki factory [brewery] in the Usergen Canton. It was decided to occupy that factory and sell the raki to the Russians. All the Russian villagers on this side, even from Orenburg Cossack villages, ran over there with tea-pots, bottles, buckets, damacana and barrels. It was sold at a low price. The proceeds were approximately half a million Russian Rubles. That was sent to the Provinces as bureaucratic salary. Events took place at the factory; Russians drank the spirit and were rolling on the ground. Realizing that they would not be satisfied to drink with glasses some placed their mouths to the barrel taps and drank in that way. One climbed on top of the large barrel, several meters tall, as he was drunk, fell into the barrel and drowned. The Baskurt soldiers, fearing the raki would not be sold in that barrel if the occurrence was heard, did not tell the event to anyone. They retrieved the body of the drunk and now dead Russian’s body and buried him. Baskurt did not drink raki and vodka. Perhaps some Baskurt may have obtained some from the Russians and imbibed. But, none of the Baskurt arrived at the factory to purchase any, and none of the Baskurt soldiers touch their tongues to the drink. The drunken Russians were falling onto the roads, and sometimes had their horses drink the raki. Later on, they had stated that: “nobody gave us such a magnificent feast like Velidov.” At the time, taxes were being collected from the Cantons, and we were able to meet the Army needs. The people were undertaking every sacrifice for the army. Only from the Burcen Canton enough money was collected to suffice for the Regiment’s food for quite some time. But, every passing day, the Bolsheviks progressed. In the middle of this, the matter of Serif Manatov came to the fore. He was sad that he was not appointed to an important position by the Congress. The fact that he was presented a fur-coat by the recidivists was being thrown at his face at every opportunity. He was completely isolated. Now, he rose to attend the Russian Founding Parliament, on the grounds that he was a member. Hurmetullah told him: “you are not going to the Founding Parliament; you are going to help your friend Lenin in order to destroy democracy. They must be happy that you have represented the Monarchists amongst us, and worked to collapse us from within.” The Central Committee and the Government told him: “do whatever you wish alone.” No authority was conferred on him to represent Baskurdistan. He went as such and entered our opponent Communist Mollanur Vahidov’s Committee.
Occupation of Orenburg by the Bolsheviks and the arrest of Baskurdistan Government Members—
Only the Orenburg Cossacks, under the command of General Dutov, were responding to the Bolsheviks who had been holding the Ufa and Samara Provinces for the past two-and-a-half months. From among the Cossacks, an officer by the name of Kasirin and his family turned Communist, and took the Verxneuralskit region, right behind the Baskurt territory, under their influence. Since many influential Cossacks in Orenburg were also communicating with the Soviets secretly, it was impossible for the city to defend itself. We did not participate, because our Regiment was not ready and it was not a straight affair. Finally, the Soviets occupied Orenburg on 18 January (1918) by the European calendar Soviets adopted at the beginning of the year. Governor of Turgay Province Alihan Bukeyhan and other Kazak intellectuals escaped to Eastern Kazakistan, to Semipalatinsk. We remained in Orenburg. If they would not touch the Regiment we were training and to our autonomy, we were prepared to move to Baymak and administer our country from there. The arriving Bolsheviks, beginning with their Chief, Zwilling, were treating us gently. We were told: “as long as you are not against the Soviet Government as an autonomous entity, but subject to the Soviets in external affairs, you can govern your country.” We were also informed that we did not have to accept Communist Party Doctrines, and they wrote us in that manner as well. They allowed me to visit the regiment we were forming, to convince them of these conditions. I and Allahberdi Caferoglu went there. Officers arrived into the Kadirsah village in the Usergen Canton. Thinking that we could not journey to the Chinese border like the Kazaks, and believing that Soviets would reach there as well, we sent a telegram to Moscow on 27 January, in the name of the Regiment, we announced that we accepted the sovereignty of the Soviets as long as we had autonomy in our internal affairs. Communist S. Tipiyev, who wrote the Revolutionary history in Baskurdistan, insists that we sent telegrams to Moscow full of threats. All those are lies. We were not in any position to threaten anyone. I wished patience and thoughtful action to our troops, we returned to Orenburg, hoping we could see them once again with the permission of the Soviets. Zwilling seemed very happy. They invited us several times to their Council meetings. In those meetings, the former Duma Member Kelimullah Hasanov and Burhan Seref had taken their places as if they were old friends of the Bolsheviks and behaving as if they were prosecuting us. Five days passed. During the evening of 3 February, we were arrested. Those imprisoning us were Tatar soldiers, and apparently they showed us fake arrest warrants. When we reached the prison, the Director stated: “we have not received an order indicating they will be imprisoned. We will keep them here temporarily.” No attention was paid to our request that we be released. Later we learned what the procedure involved: “Soviet permission is granted to the Moslem Military Committee in the city; those Baskurts arrested by them, may be kept here.” Orenburg Province Soviet Committee published that decision in the Orenburg Izvestia newspaper on 4 February. Allaberdi Cafer, Seyit Miras, and alltoger eight of us were imprisoned. Two days later, I was interrogated. However, the prosecution folder contained only two articles written by two Tatar intellectuals, Kamil Kerimov and Ibrahim Bekcentayev, in the Cossac newspaper Kazacya Pravda, accusing me of being a Baskurt Counterrevolutionary, a Monarchist and a recidivist capitalist. Soviets knew that all that was printed were lies. The Bolsevik officials there got so used to killing individuals by firing squad, a very ugly woman secretary came to the Commissar and asked: “Kstenke ctolli yego,” meaning “are they going to be placed before the wall?” The Commisar with a great deal of dignity stated: “Pogodi,” meaning, “stop and wait.” He returned me to the prison. All of a sudden, all this business became very complicated, because, the word of our imprisonment caused much anxiety. Our troops in Baymak occupied the Russian gold mine, took away three hundred kilograms of silver, one hundred thirty-six kilograms of gold, much food and ammunition and sent a telegram to Moscow requesting our release. In response, the Russians in Orsk decided to completely decimate our Regiment. A Commissar by the name of Baranov invited a military representative group from Baymak, under the pretense of talks, with a friendly letter hand carried via trusted individuals. When the representative group arrived at the named location for the promised talks, the Red Soldiers hidden in the surrounding area jumped out and arrested all. They were killed by a firing squad that night. Among them were our most valuable officers, Umran Magazov and Abdullah Idilbayev were thus killed in a lowly manner. Immediately afterward, Red Soldiers were sent to Baymak from everywhere, but the Regimental Commander Emir Karamis and the poet Habibullah Abidov did not go to the named place for talks as a precaution. Instead, they summoned the Baskurt Regiment troops and attacked the Russians who arrived to kill them all. Several Russians were killed in the fighting, and the Red Russians ran away to Orsk’iy. When the Russians arrived with an even larger force, the officers disbanded the Regiment fearing that not doing so would cause the Soviets might kill the members of the Baskurt Government. The leaders hid themselves accompanied by a few troopers, in the mountainous lands of the Burcen. We had already bought the jail guardians either with presents, or they were leaning to our side to begin with. As a result I was receiving regular news from the outside and sending out messages in code. At that point, news arrived that Emir Karamis was collecting volunteers, and was preparing to attack Orenburg in collaboration with the Cossacks. One day, I was separated from the large room in which we were all housed, and I was taken alone to a distinguished room. In the jail, I was occupied with the arrangement of the Nogay dastans, and to complete my volume on the History of the Nogays that I had started writing in 1915 in Petersburg. One day, a Tatar youth arrived by the name of Muhammed Tahirov. He brought me food, writing paper, and a wristwatch. He was previously my student at Kazan, but became a Communist and he was assigned by the Moslem Military Council in Kazan and sent him to work with the Soviets to destroy the Baskurt Government in Orenburg. He entered my room in the prison and said: “Master, we only jailed you to scare you, and to change your mind about Baskurt Autonomy. But now the matter became enlarged; we are trying to save you, but we are unable. Now you have become an enemy of the Soviets, because, on the mountains, volunteer Baskurt units are established. They are keeping you here as a hostage.” He began crying. Later on someone named Rahimov wrote a big volume, in Russian, The History of the Formation of the Republic of Baskurdistan. In it, the contacts about us are detailed, taking place between the Tatar Military Committee and the Orenburg Soviets. That indicated what Muhammed Tahirov told me then was true. I continued writing my history of the Nogay, thinking whatever may happen, let it. I sent word to the Baskurt elders that excitement and anxiety would not help us; yet the excitement did not abate. From all locations telegrams were sent to Moscow and Orenburg Provincial Committee, with the message being “release the prisoners.” Even special envoys were sent and all that was making our circumstances more and more dangerous by every passing day.
One day (probably 27 March), the guard informed me that Orenburg Provincial Committee and Zwilling was going to come and visit me. He advised that I place the books I had under the bed, because a new order arrived to take away all my books and pens. Zwilling arrived, accused me of organizing volunteer military units in the mountains from my cell in the jail, and told me it was necessary for me to send an order to disarm them all in a week, or else I would be executed. I responded with: “what value is there in an order sent from the jail? First release me, and then I will send the order.” He said: “it is your business,” and left. After that, the regime became very harsh. They took all my papers, books and writing papers. Every ten or fifteen minutes someone was coming to observe me from the small window in the door.
Our escape from the prison—
During the night of 3 to 4 April, noise started suddenly. The Cossacks attacked Orenburg, and the troopers sent by Emir Karamis participated in the attack. Until the morning they broke the prison doors and released all the Cossacks and the Baskurts. But, they could not enter my room, and could not find the key. They made quite a bit of loud noises, shouts. I heard a few Baskurt words. But, I was in an internal room, secured with steel doors and heavy locks. The attackers left without dislodging the doors and without reaching me. After the attackers left, the Director of the Prison arrived with the key he did not wish to provide them. He stated: “you leave now as well, but do not tell anyone who released you.” Later it was discovered that the Director of the Prison told the Baskurt Troopers that he was not given the key, and it was impossible to open the door. The Troopers responded with: “if you do not find the key and release Velidov, we will return and kill you.” Therefore, the Director went and found the key, and released me from the select room in which I was imprisoned. The Director personally told me all this four months later, after the Soviets escaped from Orenburg.
Even though it was beginning of April, I still had on the winter clothing I had when I was jailed, and was wearing felt boots. Since the snow was melting one could not walk in the puddles with those boots. If anyone paid a bit of attention, from the clothes I was wearing one could tell that I was a prison escapee. I was walking. Bullets were flying everywhere around me. One even went through my clothing. Every place was in flames started by the falling artillery shells. Some homes were burning. Many a dead body littered the streets. I was jumping over them. Then, somebody said “stoy” meaning “stop,” and approached me. He said: “you are hereby arrested,” and took me to a narrow street. This was a Red Soldier. He was not speaking to me; he was quiet. We walked father. On the way he said: “do not be afraid.” He finally took me to a house near the Sakmar River railroad bridge. There I saw Sait Miras who escaped before me. It transpired that this house belonged to the family of one of the famed Tatar authors, Cemaleddin Velidi, and the Soldier who brought me was a family member. Our friends had sent two others, but they could not find me. This youth did find and brought me. The author Cemaleddin Velidi was one of the Tatars in favor of landed autonomy. The books he wrote on the cultural life of the Tatars, in Russian, are utilized by the European Orientalists who are interested in the contemporary history of Turk communities. I never was able to sit down and talk with this precious person, and he was not at his home; probably was not even in Orenburg.
During those days, I also saw a friend who had arrived from Tashkent. We learned the news of Nalivkin hiding in the garden of one of the native Turks, then going over to the Russian Cemetery and committing suicide; the escape of Mustafa Cokayoglu and other members of the Khokand National Government to Kazakistan, and may other pieces of news from that person. He was immediately returning to Turkistan, intending to take back the news that we were beginning a guerilla war. We spoke all this, but we did not have time to even eat together; I asked them to send a young colleague to Ufa by rail, and announce to the friends that they need to gather in Ufa on April 7 and 8. Somehow, we needed to find a horse-drawn sleigh to escape from the city; it was found. While we were crossing the streets, artillery shells were still flying overhead. Streets were full of dead bodies. But, the rifle fire had stopped; that meant, the Cossacks and the Baskurts who arrived with them had withdrawn from these sections. Those who arrived to release us, when they could not find me, were saddened. When I reached the town of Kargali, I found one of them, and sent word to their Chief, Emir Karamis “I am free, come to Ufa.” Without stopping there, changing the horse-drawn sleigh arrived in the Baskurt village of Omer on the banks of Toq River. I slept the night in the home one someone I knew. I am hoping that this person is still alive. With his aid, and his beautiful horses, I arrived in Abdullina rail station via a winding series of roads, and very secretly. I departed from this person half a kilometer before reaching the station.
I was going to Ufa. We met at the home of one friend, who could travel by rail, to decide what we were going to do next. We called that meeting “Ufu Yiyini” (Ufa meeting) which was to constitute a milestone in the history of the Baskurdistan National Movement.
Ufa meetings—
I was wearing the clothes of a laborer. I participated in the ‘Soviet’ meeting of the rail road laborers. They were discussing the fact that some stations were requesting locomotives, and they wanted to decide if those requests were going to be honored by them. In short, it was a period of full anarchy; nobody was listening to anybody. The distance to Ufa could have been traversed in a few hours, but it took an entire day. And I managed to do that by taking different trains I encountered by chance, arriving in Ufa on 7 April. Our brave officer Emir Karamis also arrived by train from Orenburg that night. The Baskurt youth I sent him with the message “I am free, come to Ufa” found him in the village of Muraptal, and Karamis immediately followed me from Tokurgan. He was not alone; he brought with him a portion of the gold obtained from Baymak for the army.
Again, on the same day we arrived in Ufa, we learned completely by chance, that a Tatar intellectual by the name of Salah Atnagulov also arrived in Ufa, on his was to Orenburg, sent by Stalin to invite me to Moscow. He was also carrying a letter from the Tatar Communist leader Molla Nur Vahidov. It turned out that the Communist Party began an action to establish Moslem Autonomous states, and Stalin issued orders to have me taken out of prison and brought to Moscow. Even though I did not trust him completely, I spoke with Salah. It turned out, many compliments and much promise were issued. Before I gave my negative response, we continued our task of discussions amongst us. We decided the following: “Soviet policies are all based on lies. There might be good persons amongst those in the Center, but those working in the provinces, with whom we are supposed to collaborate, are all chauvinist Russian nationalists and traitors. Dictatorship is being handed to them. By the time an order arrives from Moscow, the business is completed. Despite our telegram offering our submission, they created the disaster at Baymak. Those prisoners who were to be released on the orders of Stalin were to be taken to Moscow to be executed on April 4. Good thing we obtained our freedom. Now, we are not going to him. We are going to establish a guerilla organization in the mountains. We are going to meet with the representatives of the Kazakistan (Alas-Orda) on 15 May. Now, we will send a man to Semipalat, we are going to request their arrival in the home of the author Abdullah Ismeti’s father in Kostanay. Mollacan Halikoglu will journey to Kostanay via Troytsk, to await us. If we were to agree with the Kazaks in Kostanay, we will let the world know of the conditions in Turkistan, Kazakistan and Baskurdistan via Japan. We will also send representatives to Golca and to Far East to Vladivostok. Our guerilla center is going to be temporarily in Tamyan Katay, in and around Ahmet village. Two troopers from the retinue of Emir will travel via two different roads to Yolaman Molla in Tamyan, who has been appointed handle the organizational matters, and take to him news and shapirographs [duplicating machines]. Emir Karamis and I will leave Ufa on 9 April, and reach Ahmet village via Katay.” These are the summary of decisions we made in two days. I saw Salah Atnagulov once again, and told him: “At the moment, I am unable to visit Moscow. I had to escape from the prison. Even though I believe what Moscow is stating, I do not believe we can come to terms with the local Communists.” I also placed before him a published announcement from the Provincial Commissar, brought from Orenburg by those arriving after us. It stated that: “Validov jumped over the dead body of our valuable friend Zwilling; he will be caught.” After showing him that, I added: “I wish success to those friends who are now in Moscow and those who collaborate with them.” Of course, I did not inform him of what we were going to do, and where we were going.
What happened to us in the city of Katay—
After we sent one of or friends to Semipalat by train, and the two chosen Troopers to Mias and Beloretski, I and Emir left by a horse drawn sleigh the night of 9 April on the snow that was not yet melting, and arrived in the aforementioned Yilim Karan village, and from there Mirzakay village. Snow started melting everywhere. We travelled mostly at night. We saw Cemalettin Bayisev and Mecit Gafuri, and reached the home of Sabir Hazret Hasanoglu. He obtained the clothes of mountain Baskurts, provided horses and sent us on to the mine at Samov, in the land of the Katay Baskurt lands. We were going to continue on to Tamyan-Tungevir Canton, to the Ahmet village from there. But, our horses could not cross the River, ten kilometers from the Hudaybergen village, as the ice on that water was thawing. We sent back the man accompanying us, with the horses. In the forest, Emir and I tightly tied the gold we were carrying to our belts. The total amount was not much, but it was very necessary to send a representative man to Japan. Emir was a friend of my youth. He was from the Makar village, seven kilometers from my village in the uplands. His family was descended from the notables of the 19th century, the noted Baskurt officer Yusuf Mayor Karamisev. Karmis Ogullari were very brave and very idealist youths. They had two brothers, officers, named Muhrat and Gani. Another of their brothers Gerey Karamisev was working on our civil matters with devotion. He had a hunchback. Emir was very skilled in playing the flute called Quray, the Baskurt national musical instrument. In this forest, the reed used to make Quray, in Latin, heraclium sibiricum, was plentiful. Emir would always collect those reeds, drill four holes from the top, and one from the reverse, and play. I could not find that reed in the Altai Mountains, and in the Turkish forests. It was only found in some botanical gardens, and in museums. The melting snow was causing us to sing, and rendering us unusually tired. We were very wet. We chanced upon a Baskurt, with his ax. He was on his way to chop trees. We asked if the village was close. He responded: “very close, behind that hill” (minav tubenin arqahinda, yap yagin). But, though we walked for hours and could not climb the hill yet. In history, the Turk tribes are so used to crossing the continents, they always show the distances as being very close. A Kazan Tatar, referring to a Kazak, who gave him directions with his chin, stating: “minav Cogecek” meaning ‘this is the way to the Cogecek city’ pointing to a settlement on the Chinese border, stated: “I walked three months under the beard of that Kazak Turk.” It was so among the Anatolian Sejuk Turks as well. Celaleddin Rumi one stated that “if someone asked for directions, do you know the meaning of the response ‘Isbu?’ It means ‘may Tengri give you courage and strength, it is very far.’” After three or four hours we saw that Baskurt with an ax, we were able to reach the top of that hill, and were able to spot the village from the distance. We were exhausted by the time we reached the village.
The teacher in that village was married to the daughter of my mother’s sister. We stayed with them. But a policeman working at the Samov mine, which was very close to this village, saw us and informed the Communist Commissar working there as ‘suspicious persons.’ The Commissar ordered that policeman to bring us in. The policeman was going to take us to the Commissar. We said, “We will go, but let us eat some food first.” We left the gold and the paper money we were carrying with us to my sister, who was the wife of the teacher. Because, if we were searched, and the money was found, would have been in a pickle. A little later, another policeman arrived. The previous policeman was Baskurt; this one was A Russian. They took us to the Commissariat. We were interrogated. We had agreed on the responses we were going to provide. “What are you doing in this season, walking in the melting snow? Are you prison escapees?” We told him we arrived on horseback, but since the horses could not cross the River close to the village, we walked the rest of the way. In summary, everything went well. They placed us in detention, on the second floor of a house. There, something extraordinary happened. The mine guard holding us with his rifle was a man from my village by the name of Temirali. He recognized me and Emir, as soon as we crossed the threshold. But, he did not divulge anything to the Russians. This Temirali was a horse thief. Since he could not live in our village because of that, I knew that he had left in the direction of this Katay region. He became a Red Police, now he was guarding us. He said to me: “this Commissar will save you; if he will not, I will have you escape from here.” A little later, another Baskurt arrived from another village. He told us in a low voice that the Teacher prepared horses for us to ride, when we were able to leave. He added: “your arrival here is the equivalent of the sky falling to the ground. What is this strange happening? Even if the Commissar does not release you, we will set this house on fire; we also have gunpowder. Be certain, we will let you escape.”
But, a little later the Commissar called us again. He said: “you are free to go.” We did not let him know at all that we also spoke Russian. He knew a little Baskurt. We left the mine building. We were directed to the place where the horses were ready, behaving as if we were going back to the Hudayberdi village. But, on the way, they changed direction. During the night, the snowy road was frozen. At first, they traversed slowly. The Teacher returned what we left in his house. Later, we ran with a couple of individuals, in full moon, and did not stop anywhere. By the next morning, we arrived at Sermen Koy, the River Ak Edil (in Russian, Belaya). Even though the snow was melting in the plains, the snow here was hard. There was ice on the River. There was the danger of ice crashing through. We gave back the horses to the individual who brought us here, and we walked over the River on the ice. We arrived in the Sigay village, and slept. While we did, the ice on the River thawed. In the afternoon, Red Soldiers arrived on the other bank, but could not cross the River since the ice was melted. A few months later we learned that the Commissar at the Samov mine telephoned the Uzen mine, and reported that two suspicious persons crossed their locality. But, they could not catch us. Toward the evening, we reached the Ahmet village.
Our activity in Tamyan and formation of guerilla units—
What we sent from Ufa, by two different Troopers, arrived at their destination, to the hands of Yolaman Molla, which I chose to name him thus to protect his identity, believing he is still alive. Since the Molla had relatives in the village, was, as if he was at his home. He thought that, if our presence was known, he needed advanced information. For the purpose, he appointed lookouts from villagers he knew personally, to detect the arrival of anyone sent by Kasirin, meaning Verxneuralsk. The activities of the enemy were going to reach him, and us, from desolate roads, and we were to pull aside to avoid detection. The duplication machines were placed in a hut (alaciq) in the forest. We were journeying to the Canton Administration at night, which was not too far, typing them on wax paper to duplicate our messages. We hand-wrote the Turkish versions. Our archive was the attic of the mosque. First of all, we printed a lot of “calling you” messages. We wrote the condition of the Eastern Russian Moslems, in Russian, if they were going to foreign countries. Some of our friends were stopping over here for a long time. And here also, we heard that the Baskurt policeman at the Samov Commissariat understood what happened. He hit his head with his fists, stating “I did not know” and claimed that he would now serve us. Actually, that policeman and Temirali later joined our guerilla organization and served well. The Baskurt people were very united. They would not let a syllable escape their mouths. One day, early news arrived. Twenty-five Red Soldiers were arriving, spent the night in a certain village. Emir Karamis was at another location, organizing. Yolaman Mola, in whose home we were staying said to me: “walk in this direction. There you will find a tar cauldron. Someone is working there. Stay at that location. When the Russian leave, we will send horses and retrieve you. That year, winter lasted a long time. I walked far, snow was falling, all around was white. Because it was snowing, my footprints were being covered over. I found the said tar cauldron, and someone was actually working there. He was collecting pine tree resin, roots and veins and beech tree dust. He told me to “stand in the forest, nobody will see you. I, too, hid in the forest just like that.” It turned out that, he thought I was a bandit who escaped from prison. He was a bandit himself in the past, was sentenced in absentia, and lived in the forests and mountains for a long period. Occasionally he was taking a deep breath, and singing a bandit song “these leafy forests hid so many individuals and saved their lives.” By noon, someone arrived, found me, told me that the Reds have left. He had brought the horse of the Imam who arrived from a neighboring village to see me. When the man working the cauldron noticed that, he realized I was not a bandit. In addition, the man who came after me said something to him. I arrived at the village and understood that the Reds were not aware of us. The Police Director of the Canton, who later became head of the Baskurt government, Musa Murtazin had arrived. Emir went with him. I was not happy that Emir was away. On the way to the village, a pine branch broke under the weight of the snow, hit me on the shoulder and wounded me. I was bleeding. The Molla who was sent to retrieve me heated a skewer on the fire, pressed it on the location of the wound, and placed a piece of burnt felt on it. This method of curing wounds is known as “daglamak” in historical record, and it was not forgotten. Yolaman Molla stated: “I know, it will hurt, but that will also cure you in one day.” I responded with: “since we have entered this path. It matters not; I will endure.” I recited to him the poem of by Hoca Hafiz “if you have not stepped onto the Arabian dersets with the intention of performing Hajj, do not be concerned with muganlay thorns ravaging your feet.” It turned out that Yolaman Molla knew well of the Hoca Hafiz, as he had studied in the medrese of Mollakay Abdullah Isan, who was keeping alive the culture of Bukhara culture along the Sakmar River. He immediately completed the rest of the poem from his memory: “Yusuf, who has been lost, will return to Ken’an, do not be sorry; someday the hut of worry will become a rose garden, do not be sorry; Even though the roads are dangerous, and the aim is not well known, but those individuals who have no boundaries for their aims do not need busy roads; do not worry.” Yolaman Mola stated: “One seeks horoscope answers from Hoca Hafiz. One opens his book, and points to a page.” He stated that Hoca hafiz gave me my answer. “He specified the truth” he said. We embraced with Yolaman Molla. In the morning, my wound got better. Molla cut my hair which was becoming too long to hide. But the razor made of regular iron was so bad, it was uprooting every hair on my head. Getting a haircut was worse in pain than having my wound cauterized. Molla told me to endure, and, he stated in the Russian he did not know well: “Ey Kazak, be patient, you will become an Ataman [Kazak ruler].” He was a very sweet man; there was nothing he could not do. He was working the duplication machine as well. His wife was an excellent cook. However, Mola beat this woman occasionally; but he also knew how to caress her. Geothe’s poem “I know well who is a skilled man; he will beat a woman first, then he will comb her hair by his hands” was written as if to fit Yolaman Molla. There were times when the woman had tears in her eyes when he brought food to the table; but she never complained of the Molla. As a summary, his woman was just like Molla himself. Molla was just like our security director here. He had men and organization in every quarter, but his appearance was very humble. My fiancée, Nefise, from my earliest days was living in the Abcelil village, closeby. Molla asked me if I wanted to visit. I responded with: “if her father Haci Mehmet Molla sees me, he will not hide his joy, and the people will discern that, and become suspicious.” He stated: “you are right; at the moment nobody is aware of your presence here. Let it stay that way.” In sum, we were able to establish the kernels of our guerilla units from among the Tamyan, Tungevir, Karagay, Kipcakand Burcen, under the protection of his excellent organization skills. According to Emir, who was a little boaster, we now had fifty-seven small units. The amount of leaflets duplicated and distributed by the Molla was countless. We had brought a sufficient amount of paper. I stayed there for approximately two weeks, till the end of April. It was necessary for me to be present at Kostanay, in order to organize Yalan Canton on 15 May. I left Emir Karamis to continue with his work organizing in these regions, and I left for Cilebi region. As a precaution, Molla gave me an unpretentious looking but a very good running horse. I was wearing a complete Tungevir baskurt village outfit.
Activities among the Tungatar and Yalan ulus—
About that time, one of the Baskurt intellectuals Talha Rasulev arrived. We were going to send him to other countries. Some day he was going to become my brother-in-law. Together we went to his ulus Tungatar via Cilebi, Yalan and Kostanay. At the Tulek village, we met with an educated person by the name of Adilsah, the owner of the gold mine. If we could arrange a meeting with the Kazaks in Kostanay, Talha was going to Japan, or to one of their Diplomatic Missions in the Far East. We took with us all the writings we produced at the Ahmet village. Adilsah was a very generous and he liked to help other people. Because of that, all the villagers and the poor liked him very much. He was rendering serious aid to our national movement. He had enough formation to represent our nation in any set of circumstances, anywhere, with honor. He also knew Russian well. He had read some. He gave a goodly sum of gold money for external relations. He allocated horses for our trip. We stayed in the Tungatar village, where Talha was from. Tunqatar (tun-qatar) means night guard soldiers. Apparently that was their duty during the time of the old Hans. They were among the old notables. The famous Seyh Zeynullah Isan was also from this village. There were other respected soldiers and scholars raised in this village. Talha’s father, who was also the brother of the aforementioned Seyh, was the military ahund of all Moslem soldiers during the Russo-Japanese war in Manchuria. When the war ended in 1905, I had journeyed to this village with my father to visit him. He drank a little. He also used to put a little snuff under his tongue. He knew that it was against the sharia to perform namaz with snuff in his mouth. Once I noticed that he spat while leading the namaz, I asked my father: “what happened to the namaz?” He told me that it was no longer namaz, and renewed his namaz. When this was relayed to the ahund, he was not surprised, and responded with: “yes, sometimes I perform namaz without ablutions, but I am the only responsible party before God. Your worship is intact and accepted. Since your son noticed my fauly, of course you must renew your worship.” As a result, they had laughed. My father was accommodating under such conditions. Our relative Ehil Molla imbibed a lot of hydromel, he would lead the namaz under the influence, but my father would not object. Isa ahund also liked me. But, he had already passed on. I recalled him, and with respect I read a Fatiha from the Kur’an, in my mind. Talha was the Governor of of this Tamyan Katay Canton. He had brought in good horses, and we journeyed to the West, to the high pastures of Uytas Mountains, very far from the village. In the suddenly warming weather, we raced horses almost to the death. The weather was really warm. Even though it was a little early for that, several times we swam in the village’s small lake with Talha and his brothers. We were hearing that Red patrols were traversing the land. Since our nation was all allied and together, we felt ourselves completely secure, and were occupying ourselves with horse races.
I left Talha in his village to follow me a day later and to meet me at the home of Musa Kelimulla Hadisoglu at Yalan, I pressed on with the youth provided me as a guide. I visited some of my acquaintances at Cubarkol and Toktibay Baskurt villages as well as Atciter Miser Turk villages. I reached Musa Kelim Hadisoglu’s home in four days. I think the name of the village was Ilyas.
There, a very strange event took place. There were many saddled horses and carriages at the entrance of the house. When Musa Kelim saw me from his window arriving in a carriage, he came out. Without extending his hand and coolly informed me: “there are many visitors; among them your opponents. Now, it is not appropriate if you do not enter the house; they are eating their meal.” I responded with: “let me sit at a place near the entry door. You might tell your guests I am from Kubagus village.” He did as I asked. I was wearing the outfit of the Tungevir uruk Baskurts; I did not carry my glasses during secret voyages. I was only asked simple questions such as why I had arrived and I answered. After the meal, the namaz period arrived. We all performed as a congregation. Afterward, all dispersed. Only those who knew me remained. When all leaving were away from the door, all began laughing out loud, and they were happy to see me. They embraced and patted me. Musa Kelim’s old mother came out as well and caressed my head. I was told: “now that nobody knows you are here, stay for a few days.” Musa Kelim was a very active, very trustworthy community leader. He knew cooperative business well; he also knew Russian; he would read newspapers and journals. His culture and knowledge was fine. He had participated in our congresses. We sent a horseman to invite a member of the army, Staff Officer (Stabs Kapiten) Captain Alimcan Tagan, who was the Governor of this Canton. That Tagan, later, Dr. Tagan, until he passed away in 1948 while he was a Lecturer in Turkish at the Hamburg University, was to remain my colleague for the rest of his life. He had studied to be a Russian teacher, and then joined the army, rose to the rank of Staff Officer Captain. He had participated in our congresses, became a governor of this Canton, later commander of 3rd Regiment of our national Army, and even later commander of our 2nd Division. After the failure of our national movement, he went to Manchuria and worked there, crossed over to Japan, learned Japanese, made friends. He was sent to Hungary by the Hungarian Ambassador, completed the Debrezen Agricultural School and the School of Economics in Budapest becoming a doctor of economics. He published many articles in Hungarian and French on the Soviet Treasury and the ethnography of Baskurts. He became the Curator of the Eastern Department, Budapest Museum of Ethnography. As such he collected and brought materials from Turkiye. He conducted wide-scale research on the Southern Turk communities. He was very skilled in photography and film matters, and collected thousands of photographs on the life of the Turks, on their types and physical civilization. He travelled quite a bit with me in Europe, and the Swiss Alps. Finally, when the Reds entered Hungary in 1944, he withdrew into Germany; he sought refuge in the work-rooms of my friend Professor Schaade. It was that friend who slowly entered the room, while quoting touching sentences from Lermontov’s Ismail Bey: “Allow me to still run my black mane horse on these Bozkir; allow me to take a look at this life and freedom a little closer. In my heart regarded dead, signs of inspiration are beginning; that inspiration is turning the ruins of gloom, trouble and love into a field of poetry.” He was now embracing me tightly and pressing his thick mustachio onto my cheeks kissing me with respect and love. My friends in this village who just discovered my escape from jail to the mountains wanted me to stay for a long time. I told them that I needed to be in Kostanay on 15 May. We enjoyed such sweet and beautiful talks. According to our decisions, Tagan was to start organizing a guerilla unit here. However, he already had! I was told to go on to the Kostanay meeting without delay, the next day. On the return, you can stay here as long as you would like. In the morning, while I was leaving with Musa Kelim’s horses and carriage, I was told: “be careful; on your way is Minhac; do not stop at his village. Reportedly he is boasting ‘I will kill Zeki with this pistol.’ Take a pistol with you.” I was thus given a very good pistol of Musa Kelim. This Minhac was a wealthy villager who earlier served the Tsar in an administrative capacity as a soldier. He was in agreement with the group of Kurbanaliev and the Monarchist Russians and became a frightful life deadening opponent of the Baskurt autonomy movement. He participated in our last year’s congress as an opponent of autonomy. Now he joined the Reds, invited aggressive Russian village Communists to his village and wanted to ambush and kill Alimcan Tagan with them, to destroy the Canton administration of the Autonomy Government. Alimcan heard that piece of intelligence, and prepared for the anticipated attack with his brother Semseddin, the official in charge of telegraph, by fortifying a corner of their house with brick and rendering that place as a strong point. When the attack came suddenly, he defended his wife and children using that strong point, wounding several of the attackers and forcing them to withdraw. Because of all that, I was told we were going to Troytskiy via a complex series of routes, away from the village where Minhac lived.
The Kostanay meeting—
Apparently, Talha did not get on the road immediately. I stayed there for two days, and he was still not present. I told Tagan that if Talha arrived today or tomorrow, send him after me. If he does not arrive tomorrow, let him wait for me here. I stated that I wanted him to meet with the Kazaks in Kostanay, since he was going to be our and the Kazak representative to the Japanese Mission. At Trotski, I arrived in the home of Tungevur Baskurt, Muhammed Halife. He was a spiritual descendent of Seyh Zenullah. When I was a little boy, my father and I stayed at his house visiting this town. Looking at my clothes, he thought of me a Baskurt of his own lands. He informed me that I would be staying in the guest room in the servants’ quarters in the garden. A short while later he returned, when we talked, he understood who I was, and became scared. He informed me that Russian handbills were printed announcing that I must be apprehended and killed, and advised me to seek a certain other caliph of another Seyh, because “a lot of Commissars and such were visiting him, therefore I could not stay there.” But, it was apparent that he was sending me away in sorrow. In response, I wrote the poems from our Dede Korkut Dastan, from the mouth of Tulek, a very scared bozkir Don Quixote, on his writing desk. A short while later he arrived in the home of the other caliph where I was, and apologized once again. My friend, and later a member of the Baskurt Government Member, and our representative in Moscow, Mollacan Xalikoglu found me in the home of that caliph. We were going to journey to Kostanay together. He was sent word ahead of time. He was of Tatar origin, but became a central load-bearing column of Baskurt autonomy movement. After we escaped our lands in 1923, he remained on our lands and endured much from the Soviets, and finally was executed in 1937. I also personally read the announcement printed by the Orenburg Governorate, pasted on walls that “I jumped over the dead body of Zwilling, and escaped from prison, therefore I must be killed.” Despite that, since I believed I would not be recognized in this outfit I was then wearing, we journeyed with Mollacan, but in different cars of the train, to Kostanay. We stayed at the home of my friend, author Abdullah Ismeti’s family. Two individuals from among the Kazaks had already arrived, a day earlier than us. We completed our talks in one day. The decisions made concerned the methods of letting the Japanese and the outside world know of our plight. The Kazaks, meaning the Alas-Orda government was going to contact with the outside world via Golca and Cugecek, and we would send a man to Japan. We also agreed on the details of the guerilla warfare in the direction of Tashkent and Ferghana. This Kostanay meeting was decided during the first hour of our escape from prison, speaking with an individual arriving from Tashkent, within a few minutes. Men were sent from Ufa and Semipalat as well as from Orenburg. And, they, too arrived in Kostanay just in time. When the ideas and aims are the same, then there is no need to discuss the matters at length. After our agreements, we immediately left for Troitsky. Mollacan remained in Troitskiy. I went to Yalan Canton, with the horses of still waiting for me at Troitsky. We passed the dangerous places at night. This time, we arrived that the home of Alimcan Tagan at the Tanriqul town, which was the seat of the Canton. Talha Resulov was also there. Musa Kelim met us there as well. We gave the documents, gold and paper money to Talha and sent him that day, or the day after to the Cumlek railroad station. We charged him with the duty of contacting the Japanese representatives at Vladivostok; if that did not bring a result, for him to cross to Japan and let the world know of the plight of the Eastern Moslems in Russia.
The uprising of the Czechoslovakian Legions, and the re-establishment of the Baskurt Government—
That night, on 27 May, a great event took place. The Czechoslovakian Legions revolted against the Soviets in Ciliabinsk, and took over the railroad between that city and Omsk in one night. These were the armies who left the Austrian side and joined the Russians during the World War. They were going to return to their homeland with their arms. The Tsarist Government had placed them in the direction of the Ural Mountains and in Siberia, on the railroads and military trains. After the Bolshevik Revolution, when the Germans came to terms with the Russians over of their homelands, they had become the enemy of the Russians, and revolted against the Russians. That news reached us form Ciliabinsk, as well as by Talha who returned from the Cumlek Railroad Station. That meant the removal of the Soviet danger for us. Because of that we thought we would join them with our guerilla units, form our own army, and expel the Bolsheviks from our lands. Since we believed that result, it became a day of celebrations. We celebrated the event that night. The Tagan family had a skilled quray player, they brought him. There was mead and kimiz. Talha and Musa Kelim and Alimcan Tagan were masters of the Baskurt national dances; they rose and danced continually. I was not far behind; I did not leave my turn to anyone else. After this “scene des quatre derviches tournons,” which laster several hours, we slept a little. In the morning, I left for Ciliabinsk. We ordered Talha to continue on his journey. Doctor Tagan was going to organize his guerilla unit for three days and join me in Ciliabinsk. I ran on horseback, changing our horses at the Miser village of Atciter, with those of my friends’ horses, traversed a distance of one hundred twenty five kilometers in one day. I reached the Headquarters of the Czechoslovakian Legions on the morning of 29 May at the Ciliabinsk Railroad Station.
If one looks at the map, it will become apparent that all the travels I undertook from 4 April to that day, from Orenburg to Ufa; later to the mountains, and then here, adds up to two thousand kilometers. Of that total, only five hundred kilometers was in a train, the remainder on horseback. But the bother of the trips were not even felt. All these events took place during a very short period of time. During the time of the big revolutions, we constituted two or three guerilla organizations. We held the Ufa and Kostanay Congresses; now, we were joining the Czechoslovakian uprising. At Ciliabinsk, the Czechoslovakian Headquarters was constituted only of several train cars. It was encircled with trains full of troops. I entered into the presence of the Legion Chief and the head of the movement, Bogdan Paylo. I introduced myself as a member of the Baskurt Government, escaped from the Bolsheviks in Orenburg. Even though I was wearing a strange village outfit, and sporting a beard, he believed me without hesitation. A little later, his friends, Dr. Pateydel and Dr. Hirs arrived. Bogdan Pavlo introduced me; they were members of the revolutionary council. I alse introduced myself to them, and indicated we were prepared to establish a Baskurt Army, and that we possessed guerilla organizations in Burcen, Turgevir, Katay and yalan Cantons. I asked for ammunition. They told me that they would provide all our necessities, and allocate a house in the city center to be used as our governmental quarters. I was amazed that they believed me without hesitation, and even allocating a house. But, seven years after that day, when I visited the independent Czechoslovakian State, I found Dr. Pateydel as the Head of the Parliament, and Bogdan Pavlo as a Member of the Parliament and Minister of Internal Affairs. We were their guests. It transpired that they had joined the Czechoslovakian national socialists even before the First World War of 1914. At that time, I asked them how it was that they had shown me trust, and treated me as if they have known me from earlier times at the 1918 Ciliabinsk Train Station. Dr. Pateydel indicated: “a few hours before your arrival, A Baskurt came to see us, and stated ‘our Chief Validov has escaped from prison; now he is constitution guerilla organizations in the mountains; he will come and find you.’ A short while later, you arrived; a person speaking the Russian of the enlightened and wearing the outfit of an escapee was of course going to be Validov. Because of that, we did not hesitate.” Bogdan Pavlo added: “His bright eyes, decisive and self-confident movements did not leave any doubt that he was Validov.”
I took my leave, and in the company of a Czechoslovakian officer went to see the house allocated to us; I took possession of the keys. By sending telegrams, calling on the phone and via horse-mounted messengers we collected the spread-out friends. We began mobilization preparations with Captain Tagan, Lieutenant Arif Muhammedyarov, who joined us at the night of the second day; and with the aid of the Polish Moslem, who recently passed away in Ankara, Ismail Muhliya, and the Tatar Osman Terigulov named officers. On 1 June, we had printed the partial mobilization orders, and sent them to the Baskurt townships in the Ciliabinsk Province, in the name of the Baskurt Government. Volunteers began arriving from everywhere. We armed all, and with the permission of the Russian Army General Xanjinin, we obtained an ammunition depot.
Death of Minhac—
About this time, another event took place. While attacking the Yalan Canton Administration building in collaboration with the Reds, the Monarchist Minhac was killed in the ensuing firefight. They brought me the pistol he was going to use to kill me. Two individuals from Tagan’s guerilla unit, a young officer by the name of Arif Muhammedyar, and the Trooper Haris Sisenbayoglu, shouldered their rifles, mounted their horses and began riding to defend the Yalan Canton Center at Tenriqul, when they heard of the attack. On the way, the Baskurts of a village informed them that Minhac and a Red soldier were in a carriage, attempting to escape toward the Cumlek railroad station, and it is possible to catch them on the way. Those two informed other members of their unit and chased after Minhac, who responded by pistol and rifle fire. But, one of the horses pulling the carriage got hit. Minhac and the Red soldier took refuge behind a wall, and continued to fire on these two soldiers. In the ensuing firefight, he and his Red companion were killed. This Minhac became one of the sacrifices from within our nation on the way toward our autonomy. Perhaps the Kurbanaliev faction heard of this incident, believing the Baskurt Government was not a joke, therefore immediately stopped their negative efforts to sabotage the mobilization orders. Lame and old, Ubeydullah Isan and Kurbanaliev himself brought kimiz in leather containers, with additional gifts, found me and apologized. He stated that he would also give his officer son to my command. Minhac’s death thus closed the doors onto any other internal response against our efforts. Some of this enmity was based on the animosity between Cardakli Abdulhakim Hazret, who was an ancestor of the Kurbanogullari, and Seyh Zeynullah of Trotysk. Abdulhakim Hazret was subject to Isterlibas Isans on my ancestral side. Both groups had many followers. The Russians could have used all that; but the Minhac event stopped all that even before starting.
Re-formation of the Baskurdistan Government and our national army—
We announced the re-formation of national Baskurt government with an edict to our people on 7 June. But, we had no money to hand, or buildings for other departments. All members of the Government wore military uniforms. The aforementioned ammunition dump was the seat of the Government. In the rooms we set aside for sleeping quarters, there were no bedsteads, bedding; the office rooms did not contain desks, chairs. The members of the government were sleeping on the floor, wrapped in our great-coats, without taking-off our boots. The documents of each governmental department were kept in separate wooden boxes. However, none of that affected our positive attitude. But, I will relate an extraordinary event.
Niyaz Maksudov—
Velid Ahund Maksudoglu, the owner of a medrese in the village of Kirmiskali along the River Ak Edil, had a son by the name of Niyaz. This son went to Turkiye and studied at the Beirut American College. He was related to me from my maternal grandmother’s side. He had learned English, advanced his knowledge of Arabic, entered the American cultural circles, and he was very happy about all this. He always wrote that in his letters. All that also gave me the idea that I should do likewise, go to Beirut and enter the American College. However, after lengthy thinking, I decided to stay in Russia to complete my education. Niyaz Maksudi returned to Russia when the Revolution took place. We had met at Troytsk, immediately prior to the Czechoslovak uprising. I gave him information on our activities, and our work toward establishing a Moslem state in the Ural Mountains and in Kazakistan. Since he knew English, I asked him to work with us as an educated person who knew the world. Now, on 5 June, he was in Ciliabinsk, to journey to Omsk with the aid of the American Delegation in Siberia. I now repeated my offer to him that I had made earlier at Trotsk. He took one look at our quarters and humble office boxes. He stated: “I do not know anything about all this business; I am on my way to America.” He left with his wife, on his way to Eastern Siberia. He was a doorkeeper in New York for years, and later served as an Imam. Finally, the Americans sent him to Munich, as an adviser to the Institute for Learning Russia, which the Americans had established in Munich during 1954. In a letter he wrote to his fellow and friend, Ahmet Emir Han, there were some statements about us: “They did not even have beds, they were eating by sitting on the floor. After I left Ciliabinsk, I learned that Velidi and his friends were succeeding, wanted to return to Ciliabinsk. But the Americans did not at all wish to help the Moslems organize in the Russian East. An officer of Velidi found me in Omsk and repeated their invitation. I did not go. I did not believe anything would come of the Russian Moslems. This is a matter of faith; I do not have any. Perhaps the majority of Tatars were just like that.” Later on, when I arrived in Munich, we had talks at length. He always mingled with the White Russians. He asked me to call him Maksudov, instead of Maksudi. He was knowledgeable. When I visited America in 1957, I met his family, and observing that he had not given his offspring a notion of homeland, I was happy I did not go to Beirut.
The first Regiments—
What we accomplished by faith, in our poor conditions, was boosting the morale of my colleagues. Everybody was working around the clock. A little later, we organized all the Governmental and military offices. We immediately began the task of collecting taxes. The partial mobilization was completely successful. At that time, we had called in only two birthdates from two ulus (volost). All of them, without exception reported in. Secret Bolshevik agents were exerting extra efforts to propagandize among our soldiers. In return, our soldiers were killing those agents whenever they caught them. Because of that, the Communist Russians stayed away from Baskurt Military barracks.
We did not have sufficient number of officers. We added a few Russian Officers into the Baskurt Army. We began organizing the Second Infantry Division. Some skeptics, stated: “You do not even have a single battalion. You should have been content to establish one Regiment total, but you are making plans for a Divison.” I responded with: “Not only one Division; but two Divisions; plus two brigades and independent technical detachments as well.” All those were realized in short order. We also had higher ranking Officers as well. However, they were left in Western Baskurdistan, under the rule of the Soviets. Alimcan Tagan and Terigulov were busy establishing the Third Baskurt Infantry Regiment in the region of Zlataust. We did not have any other ammunition than what the Czechoslovaks gave us. We inducted the mobilized youths in the formation of the Second Infantry Regiment. Emir Karamis and Musa Murtazin had the task of organizing the First Infantry Regiment at the Tamyan Canton. We appointed Haris Toymakayev, a Tatar Officer from Southern Baskurdistan, as the Commander of the Second Infantry Regiment. We summoned the Baskurdistan Government Members who were hiding from the Soviets; many arrived. We established the National Government. Seyyit Miras was the temporary head of government’ Abdullah Edhem, Abdulhak Abidov, Seyit Giray Magazov, Mollacan Halikov and I became members of the government. I took upon myself the duty of War Ministry. I appointed the aforementioned Arif Muhammediyarov as my aide-de-camp. In July, we began the establishment of a militia [police], under the command of Baskurt officer Ahmet Biyisev. This militia organization was to shadow the Bolshevik units, and also act as the police force. This organization performed its assigned tasks successfully. They dismantled the secret cells left behind everywhere by the Soviets.
Military Movements—
It had not yet been a week since we began forming the Regiment. We sent two battalions to Argayas Canton, on the line with Yekaterinburg, to help the Czechoslovaks. The day after we received the first action reports of these units, I got into a car driven by a Czechoslovak officer, along with Seyit Giray Magazov, and went to the front. Very hot shooting war was taking place at a location known as Kuyes. This was eight kilometers away from the village of my friend Abdulkadir Inan. I and Seyit Giray, grabbed a rifle each, and participated in the fighting. Finally, the Bolsheviks withdrew toward Yekaterineburg, to Tubuk railroad station. Our units collected important amount of weapons and ammunition. Some of the withdrawing units apparently thought that they could hide in the reeds surrounding the lake near Kuyes, and continue fighting until sunset. But, none of them could survive; they all died. Stories of comradeship between the Czechoslovaks and the Baskurts fighting together were written beautifully by the Czechoslovak officer Josef Urba, and published in the official newspaper of the Czechoslovak Legion, Narodni Osvobozeni in installments. In 1929, when I visited Praha, those installments were read and translated for me. This battle at Kuyes began a new life for me, the military life.
After that fighting, an extreme Red by the name of Maxim was found dead. Apparently he was a blood-thirsty person. He had invaded the homes of Baskurts, and plundered them. When I was notified of his death, I ordered a squad of troops to his village and protect his home. Next morning, we searched his house and found the material belongings he plundered. There were many furs, rugs, gold and silver engraved saddles and reins, amulets decorated with jewels, belts, gold and silver jewelry belonging to Baskurt women. I called in the housekeepers of the neighboring villages, had them take possession of these looted materials, ordered them to be returned to their legal owners. When the villagers discovered that, they were very happy. I was happy as well. Because, with this act, we sincerely believed that we were beginning to retrieve what belonged to us that were looted by the Russians since the 17th century. I did not know at the time that, in a few years, all the property and lands of our people were going to be taken away through kolkhozes and the Virgin Lands Program.
I learned the Russia-wide importance of the fighting we did in Kuyes, from one of the Communist Magnates, Preobrajenskiy in 1920. He was the primary executioner of the Tsar Nikolay. He informed me that: “The execution of Nikolay during those very days was caused by the Czechoslovak and the Baskurt units moving toward Yekaterinburg.” In actuality, Yekaterinburg was ninety kilometers away from us during that fighting period. Czechoslovaks wanted to move toward that city. We were not planning to send our units there, but the Reds thought we were. Apparently, according to what Preobrajenskiy told me, when the Czechoslovaks joined with the Baskurts and began to move for the liberation of Yekaterinburg, the Reds decided to immediately close the book on the Tsar who was in Jail in Yekaterinburg. From the Kuyes fighting, I returned to Ciliabinsk. On 1 July, Czechoslovaks and the Baskurts very badly routed the Reds at the Turgayak railroad station. I and Captain Tagan arrived there during the night. We gained a large quantity of ammunition. We allocated that lot to the First and the Third Infantry Regiments being formed.
Fighting with the Kasirins—
About that time, two Orenburg Cossacks, bothers Nikolay and Ivan Kasirin gained notoriety as Reds. They were going to ignore the uprising of the Czechoslovaks, Nikolay would keep the Orenburg branch of their business and Ivan would handle the Verxneuralsk and Edilbasi (Beloretsk), all their iron mines and other mineral factories; if they were to be pressed, they would escape to Taskent via Kazakistan to join the Reds there. When Zlataust was rid of the Reds, I sent Alimcan Tagan, Abdullah Gambarov and Osman Terigulov there to constitute the third Regiment on 8 July. A little later, I joined them. Ivan Kasirin and Bluxer, when they realized the Baskurts were very seriously joining that movement, they concentrated all the Red units at Edilbasi. But our officer Emir Karamis began gathering all guerilla units in that region and forming the First Infantry and Second Cavalry Regiments, and further they heard the formation of guerilla units in Kazakistan, they abandoned the idea of withdrawing to Tashkent. They moved west toward Sterlitamak and established their headquarters in the Makar village, seven kilometers from the village where I was born. They were committing extreme atrocities in the Southern Ural Baskurt villages, including breaking the beehives and using the honey to grease their cartwheel axles. When they noticed that the Baskurt were collaborating with the anti-Soviet Cossacks, their atrocities increased.
When the Kasirins left their factory in Edilbasi, our officers redoubled their efforts to establish the First Infantry and Second Cavalry Regiments. On 3 July, I left the Miyas Railroad Station toward Edilbasi in a truck. Emir had settled in a two story house. That night, there was a meeting at the lover floor. A noise emanated from the upper floor of the building next to us. We ascended there. It turned out that the Chief of the anti-Soviet Cossacks, Annikov sent his officers in trucks to take possession of the ammunition left behind by the Reds at Sermen village. Both of the officers were drunk; they had jumped from the top of their truck directly into the room where I was going to sleep, through the open window. Our Troopers of the Guard Company, who were present at the upper floor of the house, thought they were Red Soldiers; so, the drunken officers were caught, disarmed, beaten and jailed in a dark room. Emir Karamis was going to let them go in the morning. Before doing so, he sent a cavalry unit ahead, in order to stop them. In that manner, he obtained the ammunition they were carrying with skill. And the cavalry unit sent ahead behaved just like the Reds, and freed the Cossacks. That matter was handled so beautifully, the said officer still believed, several months later, it was the Reds who took away the ammunition. In similar ways, our units obtained large amounts of weapons from the Reds chucked out of Miyas, Belorets, Uzen, Kagi and Evjen mines. Those weapons outfitted our Regiments that were far away from the railroad. The formation of the First Cavalry Regiment was completed very speedily, in the Tamyan Katay and Burcen Cantons, due to the heavy excitement of the populace. Of one the commanders of that Regiment, Ismail Seripov, in his memoirs to be referenced below, stated: “everywhere, Baskurts aged 18 to 60 wanted to register themselves for the Regiments, in tears.”
That was true. Lieutenant Musa Murtazin was a member of the Tamyan uruk and he was assigned the task of constituting that Regiment. Later, he was promoted to Colonel, and was assigned the Command of a Division. In 1920, he was the President of the Baskurdistan. He completed the Red Staff and Command Course. Along the way, he wrote the history of the Baskurt army and published it in 1926. Later, the Bolsheviks executed him. Murtazin provided a detailed description of the constitution of the First Regiment.
About that time, I arrived in Tungevir to visit a guerilla unit that had not yet joined the Regiment, accompanied by a company of cavalry. I had sent a letter to my future father-in-law, Haci Mehmet Molla Yaqsimbetoglu, asked him if he could bring his family and my fiancée Nefise, to the West of Abcelil village, where our military unit would be crossing on the way to our mission objective. He sent word with a man to the Sigay village where I was, informing me that Abcelil was occupied by the Red Cossacks, therefore they could not. In order to express my sorrow in not being able to see her, I sent Nefise a partial poem written by one of our old poets: “I was happy because I was going to see you, and I was leaving behind sorrow and longing slowly; When the breeze brought a little of flower fragrance, now all I could do is to scream like a nightingale.” I was able to visit Abcelil, in order to get married, only a year later. I left Sigay village, accompanied by the Cavalry Company toward Celiabinsk. We did not stop at Ahun village, because the Tatar residents there were against Baskurdistan Autonomy and they sided with the Red Russians in Verxne Ural, fearing we might cause them harm. But the Tatars of Imangul gave us a magnificent welcome when they heard our arrival. From the neighboring villages, and even from the Tatars of the Ahun village, a lot of visitors also showed-up for the occasion. The cheering at that event indicated the love of independence of our people was very fresh. From there, we reached the Kozak-Baskurts at the region of Cubarkol. Since they had joined the Orenburg Cossack military units, we thought they might also have Kasirinists among them. They informed us that, if necessary, their units could join the Baskurt Army, treating us well. In that manner, we returned to Celiabinsk, some two hundred kilometers form Sigay, excited from the cheers we received in the villages, in two-and-a-half days. Husameddin of Cubarkol Baskurts could not finish telling of those days, when he was in his nineties in Istanbul. Those weapons gained at the Turgayak railroad station were used to form the Third Infantry Regiment at Zlataust; the munitions gained at Tamyan Katay, from Kasirin, was due to the ingenuity of Emir Karamis, who was instrumental in the formation of the First Infantry Regiment. Kasirins fleeing to the West, and the Tepter Ucali Tatars, as well as the Cubarkul Baskurt Cossacks joining us, gained us the entire Eastern Baskurt lands in two weeks. All these were completed with the selflessness and mastery of our officers Tagan, Karamis, Murtazin and Ismail Seripov. I had all that information printed as a declaration, and had it distributed to Western Baskurts, who were under the administration of the Soviets. That declaration, in the language of the old, was known as Fetihname (declaration of conquest).
Two or three days after our return to Celiabinsk, representatives from Tungatar Baskurts arrived to inform us that Kasirins were fleeing to the West in fear. Those arriving also brought me tiriz, an envelope made from the bark of beach-tree, containing dried fruit pulp of strawberry known as Qaq. Inside it, there were the words to a song, wrapped in a cloth: “beautiful girl is collecting strawberries; carrying her basket on her writs; making fruit pulp from those strawberries; to present them to her friend.”
Our contacts with the Western Siberia and Alas Orda governments—
On 2 July, one of our officers and member of the government, Abdulhak Abidov was sent to see Colonel Grisin Almazov, President of the Western Siberian Democratic Government at Omsk. We requested ammunition, money and other details for the infantry and cavalry regiments we were forming. Soviets published the letters I wrote to Grisin Almazov. In those, concerning the administration style, I stated: “the administration of Baskurdistan will be democratic; except, without committees.” The intent was centralized democracy, without extended debates. What we wanted was, in the parlance of our current day, “guided democracy.” The Soviet historians, while publishing my letters in the Red Archive, thought I meant ‘without Soviets.’ A few days later, I also arrived in Omsk, in the company of another member of our government, Seyit Giray Magazov. On the way, the bombs and weapons hidden in the Second Class carriage exploded. We disembarked, walked away and watched the spectacle. A train sent from Omsk collected us. We met with Grisin Almozon that very day; he accepted all of our requests, provided we accept the strategic primacy of the Siberian Government Command. The General was happy with my efforts in establishing an army during the past month, and issued an edict describing and appreciating all that. He also wanted to confer the rank of Colonel on to me by the Western Siberia Government. I declined specifying that since I was not educated in a military institution and have not earned that rank. My friend Seyid Giray magaz insisted much that I accept. He would be travelling to Semipalatisnk, to Kazakistan’s national government Alas-Orda and participate in the during 18-21 July conference we originally proposed. We wrote the conference agenda, and prepared the draft of the treaty to be signed in Omsk. When he reached Alas-Orda, Alihan Bukeyhan and Khokand Autonomous Turkistan Government’s former President Muhammedcan Tinisbaev were already gathered. This was the first Congress between Alas-Orda, Khokand Autonomous Republic and Baskurdistan. In our joint discussion we dealt with the issues pertaining to the Germans who occupied Ukraine, who wanted to contact the Kazak Leadership, but we were not to get close to them. Instead, we suggested contacting the representatives of the Japanese Missions in Siberia and Golca, who were allies of the Russians, and to leave our national struggle within Russian borders. These ideas were also accepted by the Alas-Orda. Two years later (in 1920), our two item agreement with the Alas-Orda fell into the hands of the Soviets, among the documents of Muhammedcan Tungacin, an intellectual of the Astrakhan Kazaks. The fact that we left our national struggle within the Russian borders was met with approval by the Soviets, meaning the Soviets were also true Russian Nationalists just like the Tsarist Russian officials, a fact told me personally by Cicerin. Seyid Giray Magaz, who knew how to write very beautiful poems in the Kazak dialect, received much respect in the center of the Kazakistan; in the newspaper Alas-Orda, he published a poem honoring me and the activities of the Baskurts, praising us. He brought with him the agreement written in Turkish, and signed, to Celiabinks with him.
Our relocation to Orenburg and the cleaning of Southern Urals from the Reds—
The Reds were forced to evacuate Ufa on 6 July and Orenburg on 8 July. The latter city was in the hands of the Cossack Ataman Dutov. The Baskurdistan Government and the military units of the Baskurts originally established in Celiabinks immediately transferred to Orenburg by train. We settled in the Caravansaray, which was the property of the Baskurts in the old days, and the surrounding gardens. Seyitazim Kidirbayev was the Kazakistan Government representative in the Western regions. Thus, there were three governments in Orenburg: the Government of the Cossacks; Baskurdistan Government and the Representative of the Western Kazaks. The administration of the Orenburg city was in the hands of the Cossacs. We immediately established civil administrative apparatus everywhere in Baskurdistan. We opened a Military Academy. While we were moving to Orenburg, we let intellectuals Fethulkadir Suleyman and Taki Ismeti to lead the education and publication administration matters in Celiabinsk. Fethulkadir is my friend Professor Abdulkadir Inan, who is now living in Ankara. He was then the Chief writer of the newspaper Baskurt being published there. That newspaper continued to be published even after we left. We established contact with the Russian Founding Parliament (Komuc) in Samara. We divided our regiments we brought from Celiabinsk into three: One portion went to Aktube, which was still in the hands of the Reds; the other two were sent to Orsk front and the third, for cleaning of the Southern Urals. They liquidated the Kasirins. The First Infantry and the Second Cavalry regiments were ordered to Orenburg by land route. They liquidated the Reds in the Ural Russian factories and townships.
Our meeting the Kasirins once again—
While Bluxer and Ivan Kasirin were in Makar, near my village of Kuzen, Nikolay, who had escaped from Orenburg, arrived there as well. On 8 July, there were serious battles near my village and Makar. Makar was the village of Emir Karamis. He, his brothers and my relative Bayishev commanded the Baskurt military units fighting the Kasirins. In the Russian village of Petrovsk, five kilometers from my village, there was heavy fighting during 11-12 August. I travelled on the evening of 9 August by car, accompanied by three body-guards, from Orenburg, arrived in Meleviz; from there, using the horses brought from the Second regiment I arrived in my village and participated in the battles. Reds were escaping. I and one of our officers detached ourselves from our military units, watched the pitiful escape of the Kasirins through the bridge on Gigen River, through our binoculars from a place known as Yukeli. We did not fire on them, because they would have returned fire. Later, our Troopers also caught up with us. The Kasirins escaped leaving a majority of their ammunition on that bridge on horseback and on foot. Two years afterward, when we established peace with the Reds and arrived in Moscow, I saw Nikolay Kasirin. Even though we fought him that much, I discovered he was not a bad person. When I told him my observing his escape from Gigen, he listened to me calmly. The defeated Reds were escaping to Krasnoufimsk and Perm in the Urals. They were leaving their baggage behind, and our units were chasing them closely, causing them casualties. Especially Bayisev and his friends cut of their rear-guard at the Cilim and Sim Rivers. Between 15-18 August, Alimcan Tagan and Abdullah Gambarov, with the Third Baskurt Regiment, caught them at the Iglino railroad station, and after three days of fighting, decimated them. However, the Bolsheviks later related their defeat, in their War of Citizens in the Urals as if it was their victory against the Third Baskurt Regiment.
Death of Emir Karamis—
Emir Karamis, who was so instrumental in cleaning out the Reds from the Urals, commanding the Second Baskurt Regiment, fell during that battle. This was a huge loss for our army. Because of that loss, the poets in Baskurdistan wrote many a dirge. Among them, Seyhzade Babic wrote: “What happened to us today, why our emotions are upset; a huge brave has died; who is that brave man? He was Emir.” From the Baskurt soldiers who became prisoners to the Germans in 1943, I learned that that dirge was still being repeated among the people. Emir was a few years younger than I. But I knew him from a very young age, because his father was a friend of my father. Baskurdistan Government assigned his brother Gerey Karamisev to construct a suitable grave-site for him.
Baskurdistan and the Samara Government—
Ismail Seripov, a battalion commander during the cleaning of the Southern Urals, arrived in Istanbul in 1921 as a member of the Vrangel Army. In 1924, he prepared a comprehensive report on the Baskurt Army’s activities against the Reds, their history, replete with maps and plans, and presented it to Recep Peker who was the Minister of Defense in Ankara. I was only able to read that much later. It was an excellent work. We were not on very good terms with Dutov, who was on the side of the Tsar. He was acting against us with the recidivist Russian generals, especially acting in unison with General Xanjin who was not happy with us. We were collaborating with the Socialists he did not like, especially with the Samara Founding Assembly Government (Komuc). Dutov did not recognize this Samara Government as the true Russian Government, which was constituted mainly by the SRs. On the other hand we regarded them as such. Samara Government was providing us with money for feeding our army, ad ammunition. They even channeled through us what they were providing to the Kazakistan Government’s military, through the Baskurdistan Military Council. I was the head of that organization. Ataman Tolstov, the Chief of the Ural Cossacks, and especially Ataman Kargin was with us; meaning, they were supporting the Samara Government. When that government was established, the friendship telegrams we sent each other, mine and Ataman Tolstov’s with the Samara Government War Minister General Galkin were published by the Soviets. In return, we sent our member of Government Mollacan Halikov as our representative to Samara.
Organizational Matters in Orenburg—
As soon as we arrived in Orenburg, we immersed ourselves into organizational matters. These were the domain of Governmental Head attorney Yunus Bekbov and Professor Kolayev. The Third Baskurt General Convention meeting in December 1917 had elected a pre-parliement made-up of twenty-two individuals. We were finally able to convene them in Orenburg. They issued decisions especially on legal, agriculture, and forest departmental matters. Our business was being conducted with such mutual trust; there was no need for me to walk over to the Pre-parliament building to participate. I was undertaking internal affairs and military matters. I was told: “you work; we will undertake whatever is left-over.” It was a cordial, very cordial trust.
Members of the Turkistan National Government, established In Khokand but dispersed by the Soviets in February, Ubeydullah Hocayev; Poet Abdulhamid Suleyman (Colpan); Abdulhamid Arifov, who later was appointed War Minister in Bukhara; and a Taskent intellectual named Mir Muhsin; several Khivans and Bukharans were with me as well. Abdulhamid Arifov worked at the External Affairs; Abdulhamid Suleyman was my secretary.
The first organization we established successfully, in connection with the Samara government, Ural Cossacs, and Kazakistan was an intelligence organization. The centers of operation for that organization was Uralsk (Teke), Xan-Orda in Astrakhan; Guriyev (Uysuk); Omsk in Western Siberia; under the Soviet administration, Orsk, Aktube and Tashkent where we had representatives. It was established very speedily. Arifov was the Director.
From among our national poets, Seyid Giray Magaz; Seyhzade Babic; Ozbek poet Abdulhamid Suleyman; young author from among the Kazaks Berimcan and an intellectual Kazak girl established brances in those cities, and provided extremely valuable information to Orenburg. The activities of the Kazak girl and poet Seyhzade Babic’s activities are interesting enough to fill novels. For example, Djangeldin, who was sent to establish the Soviet government in Kazakistan completely believed that girl and told all the inside Moscow information to her. Ali Ahmet Umitbayev, whose father was a Baskurt historian (1841-1907), was sent to Baku to collect information from Azerbaijan and activities of Turkiye there via Guryev-Petrovsk; a friend of his was sent to Turkmenistan. Through those vehicles, we learned of the SR uprising in Turkmenistan on 11 July in Askabad; the embarkation of British soldiers in Turkmenistan and Baku; and even the arrival of some British troops in Fort Alexandrovski. We also knew of the Turkish Army entering Azerbaijan. We had learned of the conditions in Bukhara and Khiva, due to the organization of the Kazak girl. General Dutov’s intelligence organization was very weak. Orientalist Vladimir Minorsky, who later became a Persian Professor at the University of London, left his post as the Russian Council in Iran, arrived in Orenburg via Bukhara. We spoke, but since I was non-Russian, he did not tell me anything. Except, General Dutov’s Deputy, General Akulin told me everything Minorsky held back from me in great detail. News was arriving constantly from Tashkent via Kazakistan. As a summary: Orenburg was our intelligence center from Semipalatinsk in the East to Astrakhan in the West, Bukhara in the South and Omsk in the North. We were receiving good information from that region. If the Reds in Aktube rose, Tashkent would have burnt and their ashes would have flown into the skies. We had sent the War Prisoner Turkish Officer Omer Bey and Bukharan Abdulhamid Arifov and a third person to Tashkent, to the Basmachi in Ferghana, to Alas-Orda and Bukhara to establish contacts.
Our contacts with Bukhara and Khiva—
At the end of July, an incident took place. Osman Hoca, who was the head of the Central Council after the Bukhara Revolution, along with Feyzullah Hoca, who was the Head of the Executive Committee of the same government, were arrested by Dutov’s security officers and placed into detention in the Orenburg prison as suspected Bolshevik spies. These two told the Dutov government that they were personally known to me; and the Dutov government let me know of this a little later. I had them released from the prison and invited them to the Caravansaray. Both had commercial offices in the Moscow of old; they were young merchants and leaders in Bukhara. We obtained sufficient information from them on Bukharan affairs. Both wanted to reach Moscow, and went to Kazan which at the time was freed from the Reds. As a result of our talks with those two individuals, I decided to send Abdullah Ilyasov from Saynon, close to my village, and a couple of other individuals as a high-level delegation to Bukhara. We proposed that Bukhara soldiers could cut the rail-line between Aral Sea (Qazali) and Akmescit (Perovsk), and occupy the railway stations; if necessary, we would send our officers from Aktube front. Emir did not choose to give an audience to our delegation, had his Kusbegi (Prime Minister) speak with them. He sent word that he was loyal to whoever was in charge in Moscow, regarding that group as the legitimate government, and that he will honor the treaties he signed with the Russians, and would not participate in any uprising. Abdullah Ilyasov completed his mission skillfully and retuned. The results were nothing. Meaning, the Bukharan Emir told us he was nothing. So, I wrote a letter to Mahmud Hoca Behbudi, stressing the nothingness of the Emir included a poem in Persian, the poet of which I did not know at the time: “these people, who wonder in the hands of fate, are oxen and donkeys walking without a halter. The man who drove the donkey died; but these donkeys are still carrying their burdens on their back because of their donkeyness and ignorance.” The Emir could have cut the railroad with a very small force or even by encouraging the Kazak tribes. He did not; he could not, and found his punishment two years later. Our armies were under the command of the Orenburg Cossack Colonel Makhin. He was a very valuable person, and my personal friend. If we could take Aktube, then we would have moved on to Tashkent. But, since this city received ammunition from Tashkent and Astrakhan over the Caspian Sea (meaning from Moscow) we could never conquer it. An adventurist Kazak by the name of Amangeldi Imanov, a Kazak intellectual who converted into Christianity and even served as a priest for a spell, Djangeldin, and the Chieftain of the Adak Kazak Tevbeniyaz were ensuring the arrival of munitions in Aktube. Those supplies could have been cut by the Khiva Han in an instant, if there was an open-eyed government. We sent a Baskurt intellectual Hurmetullah Idilbayev and a Tatar from Orenburg, a merchant by the name of Zakir to Khiva, asked him to keep an eye on the Ural Province.
The Western part of Kazakistan (Alas-Orda) had a different administration as Western Alas Orda. It was centered in Cimbiti. They were headed by my very close friends who shared my ideas, attorney Cihansah Dostmuhammedov and Dr. Halil Dostmuhammedov. We let them know of our initiative, and invited them to join us in this venture by sending men to Khiva. Hurmetullah did what we asked, but the Khan of Khiva was a very cowardly personality, and even though he personally spoke with the Han, there was a practical result, because, the Turkmen, under Han Juneyd, was causing unrest within the khanate. Hurmetullah used the city of Kongrat as a center, keeping in touch with the Han of Khiva at one end and Han Cuneyd at the other; did some work, but, due to the misadministration of Kihiva Han, noting was gained. He could only send information to us. The Hurmetullah, whose name is prominent here, was studying law. He knew the Russian literature, and had read Turgenev, Belinskiy, Herzen, and Chadayev. He even had read some of the works by the German materialist Ludvig Bucher in Russian translation. Because of that, we likened him to a character in Turgenev’s works, and called him Bazarov. He did not like Slavovists idealists. He had also fit himself a moral code as a result of his readings. Baskurt people had not any political contacts with the Khiva since their uprising against Peter the Terrible and his daughter Elizabeth. We contacted them, regarding that move as a national duty. Because of that, we sent our valuable intellectual Hurmetullah as a representative. The failure of that initiative did not cause us any frustration.
Monarchist attempts at causing mischief in the Baskurt Army—
Among the Orenburg Cossacks, three sub-divisions appeared as extreme rightists, centralists and leftists. We were with the centrists. We Baskurts were a single united front without splinters. General Dutov and the General Xandjin in Ciliabinsk did not like the Baskurt Government; they wanted to insert mischief amongst us. After the Baskurt army moved from Ciliabinsk to Orenburg, General Xanjin was left without a serious support. Threfore, he came to terms with Imam Abdulhay Kurbanaliyev from the Barin-Tabin uruk, a wealthy man of the Midyak village, whose name has been mentioned already. They wanted to take advantage of the fact that majority of the Baskurt units at the Tashkent front were from Argayas Canton, they sent secret aganets to them, attempting to provoke them with: “Zeki Velidi wishes to send you to Tashkent. Do not obey him. We will bring you to your own country, to Western Siberia.” In the month of August, a parade of Baskurt soldiers held at the Caravansaray gardens. Since I knew of the Kurbanaliyev propaganda among the Argayas soldiers, I ordered them to be placed at the very back. During the ceremony, when their ranks arrived at the location where I was, twenty-three of the extremists from among them attempted to attack me with their bayonets by dispersing those in front of them. Other soldiers immediately disarmed them. The soldiers of the First Infantry Regiment were about to kill those. I had them stop, had them arrested, and had the parade continue. Those arrested, told all the details in their interrogation: Abdulhay Kurbanaliev wanted to revenge his friend Minhac who was killed by our officers in May; he wanted to take them away from the Tashkent front and transfer them to Western Siberia; he spoke with the recidivist Monarchist Orenburg Tatar Veli Molla Huseyinov, having also called on the soldiers who were from his own region of Muhammedkul; and that the sons of the prominent Tatar of Orenburg Gani Bay Huseinov knew of the plot. I forgave these twenty-three soldiers. They all served quietly and with devotion in other fronts. Later we learned that when the Soviets had heard of this event during the parade, they exaggerated the proceedings and aggrandized the happenings in their minds believing there was a mass uprising against Velidov, in favor of the Soviets. So wrote their newspapers. Just the opposite, these Argayas soldiers were the biggest enemy of the Soviets, and the Kurbanali supporters were in favor of the Tsar. After that event, I sent a letter to Ubeydullah Isan, father of Abdulhay, asking him to invite his son to fairness. He responded as he did three months ago when he arrived in Ciliabinsk that he could not have Abdulhay listen to him; and that he gave his other son to us for duty and that the second son would serve with us loyally. In truth the second son Harun served in the national Army till the end, until he fell in one of the battles. Abdulhay threw himself to the lap of Admiral Kolchak, who was our enemy, and withdrew to Far East in the retinue of Ataman Semenov, and spent the rest of his life in Japan. He became the Imam of Tokyo Islamic Community, he built a mosque and established a school, became the Director. He established a press, and published useful works in Turkish. He wrote a letter to the Commander of the Third Infantry Regiment Alimcan Tagan, who, like himself came to Japan, and later to Europe, to Hungary, for him to give me his letter, reminiscing about the old times. Probably, Abdulhay’s activities constitute the only negative aspect of the Baskurt Movement. Today, his family lives in Tokyo; one of his daughters is in America, another daughter is in Turkiye. They all grew-up studying in Russian and English. Russians took Abdulhay prisoner in Tezin, and took him to Russia. Nowehere else in our country there was another movement similar to Kurbanali movement. The twenty-three Baskurt involved in his mischief later served with selflessness.
The attractive aspects of working within the National Army—
Our relations with Kazakistan enlarged while surrounding the city of Orsk. The attorney Azimbek Berimcanov from them came to us, and asked us to help them with the establishment of the Kazak National Army in the Turgay Province. We sent one of our Officers, Abdulhak Abidov and others. They worked very beneficially in the city of Turgay, establishing Kazak National Units. The ammunition of the Kazak units was being supplied by the Baskurt War Administration. The weapons supplied by the Samara Government for the Kazaks were being sent to us for transfer. We wanted to form a single Baskurt-Kazak Corps constituted by combining the separate Divisions. We were going to appoint General Isbulatov as the commander, one of our officers who had risen in the Tsarist Army. This general would also journey to Samara with me. My relations with the Samara Government Member Vedeniyapin were very friendly. I went to Samara several times for the purpose of obtaining military equipment. Vedeniyapin and Minister of War General Galkin were aiding us in the establishment of this Corps. I and general Isbulatov used to stay at the hotel allocated for the officers of the Samara Government.
One day, the soldiers guarding the door caught and brought the famed Kazan Tatar theatrical artist Abdullah Kariev under the charge of insulting the Baskurt soldiers. As soon as he saw me in military uniform, along with other officers, he told me: “you became a military commander, and chose the art of killing people. You are declaring mobilization. For God’s sake, give all that up; leave all that to the Russians.” He was not joking while he stated those words. Our Army Commander General Isbulatov was also present. He regarded those words as interference in his own affairs. He became very angry, and asked Abdullah Kariev, who had had not him known personally: “are you one of the Vayisovs?” Vayisovs were the group opposing the Kazan military duties. A French woman, Mme. Chantal Quelquejay published their history. Kariev responded: “no, I am not.” The General was from a mixed family of Tatars or Tatar-Baskurts, and he stated: “in that case, you are not a Vayist; you are a pacifist. Since the Kazan residents and the Cuvash have been under the administration of the Russians for centuries, they regard military affairs as the business of the Russians. Because of that, our majority is against the establishment of a National Army and landed autonomy; they regard religion and education as their primary focus. If we had inducted you into the service of the army, I would have you thrown into jail, since you have the same constitution to conduct propaganda for that purpose.” I added, addressing Kariev: “do not repeat such mindless words; you are free to go.” After Kariev left, the General addressed me: “it is very appropriate for us to begin forming a Corps from the Baskurt and Kazak tribes who have not lost their military bearing. They do not possess separative ideas.” A month after that incident, in Ufa, when the Russian State Council met, and Colonel Biglov and other Tatar officers opposed the formation of a National Corps, General Isbulatov stated: “this is what I meant at Samara. Among the Kazan residents, this duality exists even where there ought not be any opposition to the principle. They regard us as fools.” The Baskurt National Autonomy was in reality the joint business of the Baskurts and the Tatars. Tatars were joining the Army according to their proportion and willingly. So did the educational and administrative personnel. Among them a minority were opposing, as pacifists, just like Abdulla Kariev, stating that administration, economics is now the business of the Russians. But that was sufficient for the Tatars who claimed there was no unity in looking to the future.
I was still a bachelor. The military affairs were attracting me. I was living in the quarters allocated to the soldiers in the Caravansaray. It seemed to me, I was going to spend the rest of my life as a soldier. Our Troopers liked me. I had constituted the Guard Battalion from the offspring of the Baskurt families and friends I knew. Their Commander was Abdurresit Bekbayev. He was a Miser from the Xavalin region. His wife was from Litva Tatars. She could not join her husband in Baskurdistan. He had a handsome son, studying in high school. In exile, during 1929, when I arrived in Vilnius, I met his wife and their son. She showed me the letters in Russian her husband wrote, elucidating the Baskurt Army. Tears began filling my eyes when I read, in general how closely the Baskurt soldiers were devoted to me. I learned more of our military from the memoirs of Ismail Serif, and Bekbayev, and the excitement presented by Demidov, the Deputy to the Commander of First Infantry Regiment Russian Colonel Yemelyanov; also from the Cossack General Akilin, a prominent Cossack, what he wrote after the Soviets dispersed the Orenburg Cossack forces and the Baskurt Army. General Akulin was General Dutov’s Deputy. In 1919, when the Orenburg Cossacks were dispersed, Dutov withdrew to the Chinese border, to Xingjiang [Uyghur], whereas Akulin withdrew to the West, with his Ural-Cossacks to Ukraine. Akulin, in his history of fighting between the Orenburg Cossacks against the Soviets, published during 1947 in Shanghai, and in the émigré Cossack journals, he spoke highly of us. He stated: “among the Orenburg Cossacks the propaganda about not fighting outside one’s borders influenced their thinking. Among the Baskurts, if such propaganda was undertaken among them, there was no discernible result to that end. In general the Baskurts proved they were good soldiers. Despite the revolutions, they were able to maintain their traditional discipline originally found in their blood, they were obeying their leaders.”
In Orenburg, we were involved in educational matters as much as the military affairs. We opened schools for training teachers, nurses, telegraph, telephone, Military Academy and military courses. On those matters, the Baskurt Colonel, who was earlier working in the Tsarist Army, Akculpanov, Hasan Ahmerov, Alimcan Tagan worked selflessly. From the Tatars, General Isbulatov, Colonel Bekmeyov, Terigulov brothers and Ilyas Alkin, Yanbukhtin, Canisev, Suyundukov, joined our army and worked with all their might. Those Tatar Mirzas who belonged to our army first came to Bukhara with us, and some of them arrived with us in Turkiye. Thus, what the French Leon Cahun had written concerning “among the Turks, army always provided the means for national unity’’ was fully realized. The Tatar author Fatih Kerimi, who was earlier seriously inimical to us, worked in the teacher Training schools. The former Duma member Ibniyemin Ahtiyamov, who I had mentioned was very much against us, also accepted a duty with us. The great Tatar scholar Rizaeddin Fathrettin’s sons worked for our newspapers and printers. His eldest son Abrurrahmam Fahreddinov was the Chief Writer at the Baskurdistan newspaper. Those Russians and some Poles who worked in our army as officers seriously accepted Baskurt autonomy, and sincerely were helping us. Among them, Colonel Yemiliyanov and his Deputy Chief of Staff Officer Colonel Feotdorov, and from among the Poles Colonel Britz, who had been working in our army since 1917, are recalled especially. In mid-August (1918), I journeyed to Ufa and inspected our Third Regiment. The long speech I gave to the Tatars who did not join in with the Baskurt Army whose troops were quartered in the “Wooden Barracks,” but were serving the Russians, left a positive impression on the Ufa Moslems. Everybody was with us. The fact that, now, forty years later, those Baskurt and Tatars who are living in Istanbul can verbatim repeat that speech to me is an indication. We got along well with the Russians who helped us, because they aid was important for us. Extreme chauvinism existed among the Russians only in the Soviet period. That was not the case earlier. Our tolerant policies left a good impression on all levels of society who wanted to live together, including on those Russians who wanted to provide their rights to non-Russians. One example: “during the early part of 1924, when I was travelling with my friend Abdulkadir Inan, by train from Paris to Berlin, we were transferring our books and belonging from one train to another in Brussels. A railroad worker came to me, addressed me as ‘Gospodin Velidov.’ It turned out that he had worked in our military administration, later had joined the Denikin Army, and finally ended up in Belgium. His name was Demidov. He personally carried my belongings and placed them in our carriage. He recalled the old days, and cried; embraced me time and again and cried. His friend, a Captain, communicated with me for years; he would send me presents on my birthdays, and wrote his memoirs. At the time, our primary enemy was Communism and mischief against national independence. Because of that, Bolshevik agents could never enter into our army.
Consultations in Samara and Ufa—
There were very serious consultations between 30 August - 4 September, among the Baskurdistan, Kazak and the Former Turkistan Governments in Orenburg and Samara. This was regarded as the Second Consultation amongst Baskurdistan, Alas-Orda and the overthrown Kokand Governments. The first meeting was held in Semipalat during July. Here, from Alas-Orda, Alihan Bukeyhan, Ahmet Baytursunov, Mir Yakup Dulat, and many other Members; From Khokand government, Head of Government Muhammedcan Tinisbayev and Minister of Exterior Affairs, Mustafa Cokay, Ubeydullah Hocayev and many other individuals participated. Decisions were made to establish “South-East Moslem Countries Federation;” establishing a Corps composed of the Baskurt and Kazak Armies; a proposal to be made to the Siberian, Samara, Ural and Orenburg Cossacks to establish a wide-ranging Eastern Russian Federation. After these consultations we left in the train cars allocated to the Government of Baskurdistan to participate in the Russian State Solidarity Conference that was due to start on 8 September. In Ufa, we all stayed in the Sibir Hotel. The representatives of SR, SD, KD and other parties and the representatives of the newly established governments in the East, as well as the respective Generals were participating. On many issues, we moved in unison with the SRs and the Samara Government. In this Congress, also specified in the history of the Russian Revolution, a coalition government was formed under the administration of General Boldirev, only to be finally destroyed by Admiral Kolcak. Besides, the rightist parties and Monarchist Generals did not hold back in openly expressing their own dictatorial tendencies and ridiculing democracy. In that Congress, we devoted our efforts to the matters concerning the Moslem Turks. We held consultations with the educated Tatars in the same Sibir hotel. Among them, author Ayaz Ishaki, Colonel former Duma Member Ekrem Biglov and the officer Iskender Ismuhammedov were severely against autonomy and the formation of an independent corps. They were content to concentrate on the religious and educational affairs of the Russian Moslems, wanted those administrations established for the purpose to continue. They also advocated the formation of a new organization within the Siberian Was Ministry to undertake the Islamic Affairs of the Islamic military units under the title “Asian Branch,” and the transfer of all the administration of Tatar, Baskurt, Kazak and Central Asian Moslem units to that Asian Branch.
I explained my thoughts and beliefs on the fate of the Eastern Turks most clearly and comprehensively, during the first years of the Russian Revolution, on the evening of 8 September during those consultations, and on 9 September addressing the Tatar officers invited by the Baskurt Regimental officers at the Wooden Barracks. I was influenced in those by my belief that the educated distinguished persons in the Volga and Turkistan region could bring the projected results to life. There were many hesitations, doubts among the educated during the 1917 May Congress in Moscow, at the Congresses convened in Tashkent and Orenburg, and Ufa and Kazan at the Congresses of Eastern Turk Tribes that year during summer and fall. Now, those educated Kazaks and the majority of Tatars translating Alihan Bukeyhan are siding with autonomy and national army, and those who had been hesitating fell into a small minority.
The most interesting talks took place in the building constructed on the orders of the Tsarina Katerina, in the Sobranye meaning Moslem Spiritual Board, with the participation of Yusuf Akcura Bey. Yusuf Akcura was related to the Akcura industrialists of the Simbir province, having studied political science in Istanbul and Paris, had wide-ranging political activities in Kazan and Petersburg during the 1905-1907 Revolutions. Later on he was appointed Professor of contemporary political history in the Turkish universities, and was trusted by Ataturk as a scholar and thinker. Later on, he was the Chairman of the Turkish History Association. He was elected a Deputy to the National Assembly. He desired to participate in the 1917 Revolution as well, but he was only able to journey from Moscow to Ufa, and became a guest to his old friend Mufti Alimcan Barudi at this Moslem Spiritual Board as a representative of the Turkish Red Crescent Society. Alihan Bukeyhan, Mehmet Tinisbay, Mustafa Cokay and I spoke of the matters discussed at the Samara conference on the issue of the founding a South-West Moslem Countries Federation with Yusuf Akcura and invited him, as he is fluent in French, to undertake the External Relations matters of the Federative Moslem National Governments. These talks took place at the Sobranya building on 12 September, and in response Yusuf Akcura stressed the fact that since he is a citizen of Turkiye, it was impossible for him to take part in our political activities. He also stressed the fact that, the name of the proposed federation ought to be Federation of Eastern Turks. Alihan responded with the fact that, until the Russians grew used to our national movements, and not label it Panturkist, it would suffice for the name to remain Federation of Eastern Russian Moslems. Later on, when we spoke of this Ufa consultations, he remembered those talks with affection. We arranged a kimiz feast for our guests from Turkistan, Kazakistan and Kazan. We had that kimiz from the Kandirakol from the Dim River basin. This was a place where the best horse herds of the Baskurt are raised. According to the myth, a young warrior by the name of Zayatubek fell in love with a girl named Suvsulu. These herds were given to the girl as a dowry, and she emerged from the lake. Their kimiz was said to be exceptional. After we left Ufa, we never saw the individuals, including Ali Bukeyhan, ever again. I left Ufa without waiting for the conclusion of the State Consultative Council. Even though we travelled with Dutov, in the same carriage, since coolness had entered into our relations, we did not speak on the way.
We always showed that we were collaborating with the socialists in all Russia-wide affairs. At the time, we were establishing the Erk Socialist Party, according to the principles of nationality and socialism. According to our plans, this party would apply to all of Eastern Turks. Those Kazaks who were to the Left of Alihan; from the Ozbeks, Nizam Hoca, poet Colpan; from Bukhara, Abdulhamid Arifov were also among the founders of this party. With the initiative of the group representing this party, the Baskurdistan Government passed a law regulating land matters. This law was based on the principles of Socialism. We had accomplished that in collaboration with our Minister of Agriculture Halil Emirov. It was discussed comprehensively by the pre-parliament and announced on 20 September. That law is now being mentioned in the Baskurdistan histories.
Occupation of Orsk—
At the time, despite the competition among the generals and the Russian political parties, there was some movement in the war front. On 27 September, Orsk was taken from the Reds. They left their entire ammunition stock in Orsk, and escaped to Aktube. Two Tatar law students, by the name of Suleyman Sultanaliyev and Mir Seyit Sultanaliyev, were leading the Baskurt military units occupying the city of Orsk. The nationalist educated who had been in the hands of the Reds, and thus liberated, welcomed the Baskurt units with flags in their hands. Among them, two female students, Gulsum Muzafferova and Safiye Muzafferova joined us. Gulsum served in the Baskurt regiments like a male officer; later she arrived in Germany and completed her education. From there he came to Turkiye, raised a son who became an officer, and moved to New York. Now we learn that she passed away. This Gulsum, and from the Kazaks, Akkagit were new type of educated from among the Eastern Turks. When Orsk was occupied, the collaboration between Baskurdistan and Kazakistan became more frequent. Reds had ambushed the Tatar intellectual Abdullah Sarukin, along with his fifty bodyguards and killed them all. Their intellectuals in Orsk (now, the Soviet historians belittling them as Tatar SRs) caught the Soviet administrators Nurimanov, Sefiyev and Seahi, along with their retinues, and killed them, and came to us. The poet Seyhzade Babic gave life to those events in his poems. Those events turned the educated Tatar, who had been cool toward us up to that date, in favor of us. We had sent propagandist to the interior of Russia, to attract the Tatars who were left isolated there, to emigrate into Eastern portions of Baskurdistan and distributed writings. From everywhere acceptances to that invitation were received. From Buguuslan Sancak, hundreds of Tatar families emigrated into Baskurdistan. With that, Baskurdistan autonomy was no longer confined to Baskurdistan, and became a national movement of the Tatars as well. Our official newspaper was being published in a middle language that was understood by both the Baskurts and the Tatars. General Isbulatov was one of the personalities who most appreciated the interest and unity from the Baskurts and Kazaks toward the formation of a national army. He announced that the despoiling propaganda conducted by the aforementioned Tatar unitarists Abdullah Kariev, Ayaz Ishaki, Ekrem Beglov, especially in the army, was not to be tolerated. It was a pleasant pastime to listen to his wife, who was very nationalistic, arguing with the Tatar unitarists.
Those Tatar educated who were working in our country had personalized the Baskurdistan movement, from among them, Seyhullah Alkin, after we left Baskurdistan in 1920, seriously participated in the struggle with the Soviets, and finally when every other possibility was exhausted, he hung himself in front of the Caravansaray mosque, regarded as the Baskurdistan monument to freedom. This was an expression of great misery beginning to appear in Baskurdistan. A portion of the Turk intellectuals were going to stay home, another portion was to go with us to participate in the uprising in the East, in Turkistan. That was so. But, it was impossible to tell those openly who were going to stay behind. This was a disaster. Seyhullah Alkin was one of those. On the other hand, Haris Iglikov, who was one of those going from Sterlitamak to Turkistan, told him that “your name is not on the list of those going to Turkistan; you stay with Mirzabulatov.” Reportedly he cried, stating: “why did not Zeki Agay himself tell me all this?” Suleyman Mirzabulatov was one of those who stated that if the Soviets were to kill the Moslems in Baskurdistan, he would respond with his own life. But when the uprising of Mirzabulatov met with failure, his friend Seyhullah Alkin ended his own life, and to stress that he was doing it in the name of his nation and religion, he carried that out in the Caravansaray mosque. Seyhullah Alkin was descended from the Tumen Tatar Mirzas near Ufa. Alqin meant “Alqa-oglu” and that tribe is mentioned in Mahmut Kasgari. That means that is a tribe known for a long time. These Tumen Tatars were also supporting the Baskurt uprising in the 18th century. One of that lineage, a young officer by the name of Hudayarov, had arrived in Bukhara in 1921 in the group headed by Suyundukov to join the Basmachi Movement. His friends left the Sehrisebz Soviet garrison to join us. But, since Hudayarov was very ill during those days, he was admitted into the Military Hospital. He committed suicide in the hospital, because he could not join us with the rest of his friends. This Hudayarov was sent to me to by Suyundukov to collect information several times, when I was with the Basmaci at a place known as Talkislak. He was very idealistic and a very handsome youth.
Condition of the Third Regiment—
Even though we took Orsk, Reds were not late in taking advantage of the differences between the General and the Democratic Parties. As a result, Kazan once again fell into their hands. We could not expel them from Aktube. In a line north of the Zlataust and Samara, the Red activity began to increase. This was a very heavy load for our Third Regiment. This Regiment was going to transfer to Orenburg, then to Aktube. If that plan was carried out, the road to Tashkent would have opened. That was not to be. Our Regiment could not leave the Samara-Zlaust railroad. In Ufa, during the State Consultation meetings, there were two battalions from this Regiment in the city. This Regiment was in control of the city. We sent the first battalion to Sizran, against the Reds who were beginning to move, at the request of the Samara Government, under the command of Colonel Terigulov and his second-in-command Harun Kurbanali. That was so, because the Russian units were very loose. The Samara Government no longer trusted them, and the only support was from the Baskurt Army; but, in Samara there was a single battalion from the Baskurt Army. Finally, that battalion withdrew in row-boats, to the left bank of Zulfu, calling the name of Allah, under the command of Harun. That withdrawal took place after the Russian units withdrew under the command of Colonel Kappel, along with the Czechoslovakian units from Sizran and the Zulfe Bridge near Samara. The right side of the Zulfu Bridge was given to the Baskurt battalion. On 7 September, the Baskurts left Samara. After that, the Regiment, under the personal command of Colonel Tagan, along with Colonel Kappel and his units protected the Bugulme line, and within that, fought very heavy battles with the Reds in a village named Turkgeldi. The Hungarians and the Chuvas, who were in the service of the Reds fought valiantly. In Samara as well as, here the White Russians were loose. A certain amount of French troops, brought from Siberia joined the fighting with two artillery pieces. They endeavored to reconcile the Baskurt with the Reds. Even today, I still cannot understand why they wanted to do that. In the memoirs of General Janine, Commander of the French Forces in Siberia, this murderous act is not explained. The French logic was such that they stated to the Russians: “you are all Russians; one side Red the other White; reconcile.” The Baskurt Regiment completely defeated the Hungarians and the Cuvas in this battle which lasted for seven days. The Third Regiment had two component ski units. They excelled in chasing the Reds. In 1920, while we were escaping Moscow to Turkistan, we arrived in the city of Penza. On that day, the official newspaper Penzinskaya Pravda had published the memoirs of a Red officer concerning that battle. In those memoirs, that officer stated: “at the Bugulme front, the beating we received from the Baskurts we can never forget.” A Red officer was killed in the fighting. In his personal belongings, Tagan found the jewelry of a Baskurt woman, along with an old sword with a silver scabbard and golden embroidery on it; he sent them on to me. I transferred them to the Treasury, to be displayed at the Ethnography Museum we were then establishing and collecting materials for the purpose. At the very end of this battle which we won convincingly, the labor battalions sent from Moscow arrived, forced the French to withdraw along with Kappel’s units. That required the Third Regiment to withdraw to Ufa, then to the East of Ufa. Except, this Regiment was undefeated in all battles. Tagan, in his report stated: “the business of the French, even if symbolic, it is not an aid. They showed how to escape from the Reds to the Russian units of Kappel. Given that they wish us to reconcile with the Reds, why did they come here [to fight]?”
The withdrawal of the Third Regiment resulted in a personal tragedy for me, in that my personal library was lost. That library was being transferred from Ufa to Orenburg inside seventeen wooden boxes along with the baggage of the Third Regiment. While they were at the Kineli railroad station, the Reds occupied the station. Later, those books fell into the hands of the Czechoslovaks. But, when Siberia changed hands again, fell into the hands of the Reds once more. As a result, that library was given to the Irkutsk University. In that library, which was collected with care, there were Turkish language newspapers, especially a collection of the Tercuman newspaper being published in Crimea since 1883. Some of the manuscripts and historical documents in Persian that I had collected in Central Asia were returned to me after signing a peace agreement with the Soviets. All of my printed books and my archive were lost. I heard from a Russian scholar who visited Cambridge University in 1954 to attend the Orientalist Conference that a large part of my belongings were also at the Irkutsk University.
Souring of our business—
Baskurdistan Government was forced to take drastic action, when the events began favoring the Soviets, by Samara and Ufa falling to them. On 17 November the Pre-Parliament met and debated the circumstances, decided to move the civil administration, printing presses and publications to the township of Times in Eastern Baskurdistan from Orenburg. These actions were speedily carried-out. All institutions and even the publications and printing presses were transferred to Times. I was advocating the continuation of our struggle with the Soviets, removing the Reds from the Aktube front, joining with the Kazak military organization and encouraging the local forces to rise-up against the Reds. However, the Aktube front was maintaining its harshness; increase in the number of those believing the propaganda of the Red agent Cangeldin among the Ural Provincial Kazaks; the efforts of the Generals in Siberia to transforming the administrative philosophy into a dictatorship being supported by the forces of the allies (French, English, and America) who had influence in the area, began spreading propaganda that could diminish the morale. Actually, the belief in Russian Founding Parliament, meaning democracy was strong; but the bad interference by the allies was wide and devastating. French, English, American and Japanese military representatives arrived in Omsk from Vladivostok. The allied generals supported the Russian generals in Siberia. The one most contrary was the chief of the Yedisu Cossacks, Ivanov-Rinov. He was a ruthless tyrant who massacred the Kirgiz and the Kazaks in the 1916 uprising against the Tsar. This Monarchist had voiced most support for the dictatorship of Kolcak at the Ufa State Conferrals. None of us, meaning the Eastern Turks went over to shake his hand. As disclosed by the memoirs of the French General Janin published in France, and the retinue of the American General Graves (B. M. Unterbyar and S. G. Kindall) published under the title 1918-1920 Siberian Expedition, these delegations did not know what to do when they arrived. They were not given a certain plan of action. Because of that, the results were negative as it also happened with the activities of the Americans against the Chinese National Government in 1948-1949.
When, on 18 November Admiral Kolchak announced himself High Commissioner of Russia, meaning Dictator, with the help of these foreign missions, all business was turned upside-down. As first item of business, he acted against Komuc. On 21 November he announced that he abolished the Kazak and Baskurt governments and disbanded the Baskurt-Kazak Corps. General Dutov was Kolchak’s right-hand man. He began to apply Kolchak’s orders gradually, began reducing the flow of ammunition supply. Dictator Kolchak’s sudden and drastic actions began to apply to our Third Regiment along the Samara-Zlataust railroad, separated from us with the Russian units. Because of the Kurban Bayrami, we exchanged congratulations with the Third Regiment via telegraph. After that, Kolchak cut our communications with that Regiment. A portion of the Regiment was left in the Russian town of Levze under the command of Tagan; another portion in the Satkins factory, under the command of Harun Korbanaliev. They were ordered to disarm, but they disobeyed and fought back for two weeks. Kolchak did not provide food and ordered them to return to their villages. Tagan and Harun Kurbanali sent reports indicating if it was winter and there was a thick layer of snow on the ground, he would have defied the order and joined the main Baskurt Army. Kolchak’s behavior toward our Third Regiment, who had bravely and successfully fought against the Reds, showed us how he would behave in case our other units fell into his hands. We distributed that information to our army as an order. At that point, General Isbulatov who was the Commander of our Corps gave a petition to our Government indicating: “in such sensitive circumstances, the Commander must have initiative. I cannot see that ability in myself. The Command of the Army must be given to Velidov.” The Government appointed me to the Command of the Army on 22 November. At that point there was a need to prepare for: the victory of Komuc in Western Siberia and the Urals, and the removal of the Aktube front and serious fighting with the Reds; on the other, in case that front dissolved, finding a way to reconcile with the Reds. In order for democracy to win, it was necessary to remove General Dutov in collaboration of democracy-supporting groups among the Orenburg and Ural Cossacks. If this could be done, then Komuc could be reconstituted, Reds could be thrown to the other bank of Volga. Due to our good intelligence apparatus, we knew that the Red postion in the East was very thin. But, since the White generals, even though they did not have good relations among them, were together against Komuc and us, we could see that business was souring. Under those circumstances, it was necessary to negotiate with the Soviets immediately, without hesitation. We crossed government members Mollacan Halikov and Giray Karamisov through the front, for them to reach Moscow. I gave letters addressed to author Maxim Gorki, with whom I had good relations in the past, and artist Chaliapin, introducing him. Mollacan was going to conduct his negotiations with the Soviets through these individuals. But, Mollacan and Giray could not journey to Moscow, and sent the letters I wrote via the hand of someone else, and they returned. Orenburg Cossack Generals were prepared to withdraw to the Chinese border through Kazakistan, at the head of the units loyal to them. We did not have the thought of moving our population or abandoning them. We thought, whatever we were going to face, we decided to face it with our people.
Precautions taken under critical conditions—
Despite all that, we never gave up the idea of breaking through the Aktube front in collaboration with Alas-Orda and joining with the Turkistan forces. In the Turgat region, Abdulhak Abidov from us and from the Kazaks Azimbek Bercanov were working with all their might. Our contacts with the Alas-Orda were being carried out on horseback, since communication via the train had become difficult. However, events were progressing with enormous speed. We were left between four different emenies; Samara and Aktube Reds, Dutov and Kolchak. It was necessary to protect ourselves from untrustworthy elements in our midst. Salah Atnagulov and Serif Manatov had earlier worked in the national front, and later went to Moscow and worked with Stalin and Mollanur Vahidov, even though they were not communists. Now they arrived, having escaped from the Volga Basin Reds, and volunteered to work for us in the national front once more. We gave them duties, not in the political sphere, but in educational matters. In this critical period, we distanced such elements from us. We sent Salah Atnagulov to Moscow, to test the waters in case we were forced to come to terms with the Soviets. After he left, we heard that he did not follow our instructions and followed his own business. We gave some money and sent Serif Manatov to Azerbaijan for contacts, via Guryev and Petrovsk to Baku. He later crossed over to Turkiye. Since he was a volunteer in the Balkan Wars of 1911-1912 in Turkiye, he obviously knew the Turkish dialect well. But, his crossing over to Turkiye was not in his instructions. The members of the Founding Parliament and Komuc Members were arriving in Baskurdistan. Along those was Mustafa Cokayoglu, who later represented Turkistan in Europe, and the leader of the SRs Vadim Caykin were with me. One day, the Agriculture Minister in the Kerensky Government, leader of the Russian SRs and their theoretician Viktor Chernov; Foreign Minister of the Samara Komuc Government Vedeniyapin, and my other SR grandees arrived in horse-drawn sleighs from the direction of Yekaternburg while I was inspecting the front in the vicinity of Sterlitamak. I hosted them well in Kizilmescit. I brought them with me to Orenburg. They were on their way to Moscow, or, if necessary, to Europe. A little later, I sent them to Uralsk, under the protection of my good guards. If Dutov caught them, they would have been killed. They left for Astrakhan via Bukey-Orda. They lived in Soviet Russia for a spell under-cover. Four months later, I saw them in Moscow. Later on, I saw Chernov in Paris and Prag. He was a person I respected when he was the Chief Writer of the newspaper Delo Naroda. When he arrived in Baskurdistan, he was my ‘Seyh.’ After he published his big volume entitled Constructive Socialism, I cooled off of him. Because, in that work, there was no consequence; only contrasts. Baskurdistan governmental organization and the discipline of our army left a very good impression on Chernov and his comrades. Becase, while every other place was in decline, only we had strength and regulation. Chernov mentioned all that in some of his published pieces in Europe. When they arrived in Orenburg, our work toward saving democracy was advancing. I inspected the Baskurt units on the Aktube Front twice, on 6 and 25 November. The morale of the Troopers was excellent. The Commander in this Front was Colonel Makhin. He was a representative of democrat Orenburg Cossacks and opponent of would be Dictator, General Dutov. There were also Ataman Kargin and representatives from the Ural Cossacks present. The precautions to be taken against Dutov were decided. This involved establishing a joint government constituted by me, Seyit Azim Kidirbayev from Kazakistan and the Orenburg Cossack Ataman Kargin; appointing Colonel Makhin as Commander in Chief. Our first meeting was scheduled for 1-2 December night at the Orenburg Caravansaray. Since Dutov had no authority in the Baskurt section of the city, the meeting took place in peace. Mustafa Cokayoglu and Vadim Caykin were present at this meeting and they accepted positions in this allied (Kazakistan, Baskurdistan and the Cossacks) government. But, a First Lieutenant from among the Celiabi Tatar merchants, who was inserted amongst us by Dutov, had informed the General. He escaped in an armored car to the Cossack units loyal to him; he took positions in the streets with those units. Makhin was not in favor of spilling blood. Thus, the best laid plans over a month came to naught in a few hours. Cokayoglu, who had undertaken the task of Foreign Affairs, was desirous of going to foreign countries. We sent him and his wife to Guriev, on their way to Baku. All night long, we collected all of our units at the railroad station which was under our control, took away all of the rolling-stock, and by noon 2 December, we left Orenburg, settled in the railroad stations between Sakmarsk and Orsk. The four hundred kilometer Front between Orenburg and Ufa was being held only by the Baskurt Army. We constituted our headquarters in the mansion of a wealthy German origin farmer, who was an Orengurg grandee, by the name of Schott.
Meetings at Yarmolevka and the decisions taken—
I must mention three events that took place during the first half of December, causing a change in the front:
1. In Tashkent, the prisoner of war Turkish Officer Kazim Bey was working with the enemy of the British, Mevlevi Berekatullah of India who was descended from an independence minded lineage. Since their enemy was the British, they had prevented the Moslems from joining activities against the Soviets (the Osipov movement). They had sent a letter to the Baskurt Government, advising us to come to terms with the Soviets. While we were in Yarmolayevka, our representatives we had sent to Taskent, and an Ozbek we had known, brought a new letter from Kazim Bey and Bereketullah. They wrote that the Turkish Army occupied Baku and would cross over to the East of the Caspian Sea, to Turkistan; then the British would withdraw from Ashkabat; the Afghans were fighting the British, but they would need to obtain weapons from the Soviets. Therefore, figting against the Soviets would be going against Turkiye, Afghanistan and the independence movement of India. Letters from the members of the known Turkistan leadership, and from the educated Azerbaijanis living in Tashkent were also appended that spoke of the same conditions. Later on, Bereketullah, who finally died in Europe, came to visit us after we signed a truce with the Soviets, and was our guest in Sterlitamak. Kazim Bey returned to Turkiye. With him, we published a journal in Istanbul during 1926-1928 with the title Yeni Turkistan. He published his memoirs in the Istanbul newspapers. He passed away here not long ago. Their comprehensive news on the affairs of Turkiye, Caucasus, India and Afghanistan was new to us. It also influenced some of our friends in coming to terms with the Soviets.
2. The second event was our reading of writings General Kolchak and the French General Janin sent to Dutov. At the time, communications between Orenburg and Omsk and Celiabinsk was being carried out via Baskurdistan, since Ufa was in the hands of the Reds. Colonel Yemilyanov, who had earlier worked for the Baskurdistan Army was journeying in horse-drawn sleighs, in the company of allied officers, from Celiabinsk to Orenburg. They were ambushed at night with the excuse that the sleighs were late due to heavy snow. We read the papers and returned them in their bags. In order to read those documents, we travelled eighty kilometers at night, arrived at the village of Tavlikay, and read them. Those documents contained definitive orders to disband Baskurdistan and Kazakistan Armies, to arrest me and other Baskurt leaders and render us to a Military Court for trial. In another document, there were ideas expressed against the Moslem autonomy, meaning against Baskurdistan, Alas-Orda and Turkistan. The Germans had not yet left Ukraine. The Allies in Siberia were avoiding the Eastern Turks with the fear that the Turks and Germans would be influential on the Moslems to the East of the Caspian Sea, given that the Turks had occupied Baku. They knew of the activities of Kazim Bey and Mevlevi Berekatullah and their propaganda. Possibly, the representatives of Allies in Western Siberia asked for serious precautions taken against the Kazak and Baskurt Moslem Armies. Those were what we learned as a result of the night ambush in Tavlikay.
When I arrived in Kizil Mescit, I was informed that General Dutov in Orenburg wanted to converse with me via the Army telegraph. The General was attempting to subdue me with his words of civility and friendship. He was inviting me and our head of government Yunus Bekov to Orenburg or any other suitable place in order to discuss the ‘critical conditions.’ He was behaving as if he was not aware of the organization we had made against him during the night of 1 December. I responded with: “what are you talking about you shameless cad? Who are you fooling?” I ended the communication with a well-known Russian sentence of Profanity.
3. The third event was the arrival of news and representatives from the other end of Kazakistan, from Alas-Orda. From the Kazaks, Azimbek Bericanov, author Muhtar Avezov and some others arrived in Yarmolayevka. They were telling us the necessity of settling our differences with the Soviet given the negative attitude Kolchak and the allies displayed toward national and military organizations. Later on, Azimbek went to Germany and studied there. Upon his return to his country, he was killed by the Soviets. Muhtar Avezov, when he reached the age of sixty, was made a member of the Kazak Academy of Sciences and his jubilee as a Soviet author was celebrated with much extravagance. When they arrived, I gathered all the officers of the Baskurt Regiment and gave them a grand feast in the salons of Schott in Yarmolayevka. This was the grandest military feast organized since the establishment of our republic. Everyone spoke with sincerity. I gave a speech, describing the conditions in Orenburg and Siberia, plans of Kolchak. Even though the Red Front was only forty kilometers away, the morale of the officers and the Troops were excellent. National songs were sang, dances exhibited. Animals of the mansion owner were slaughtered, the beer, wine, champagne, aged salami, cheese and all else were presented to the Troopers, since, when we leave, the Reds were going to occupy this region with the contents going to them. Ismail Seripov, an officer of the First Infantry Regiment, who was present at that event, wrote a comprehensive report for the acting Minister of Defense Recep Peker –which had been mentioned earlier-- in Turkiye after his arrival. He included vivid details of the Yermolayevka festival.
There were still optimistic persons in Russia, despite the fact that Kolchak’s Dictatorship was being established and everything was racing toward a desperate end. An officer by the name of Kondratiyev, from the retinue of Avksentiyev, President of Founding Parliament (Komuc), which was dispersed by Kolchak in Yekaterinburg, used to perform the duties of a liaison officer between our governments. For a spell, we had appointed him an ‘aide-de-camp’ to Captain Tagan, undertaking organizational matters of the Second Infantry Regiment. He was, probably, a member of the SR circles. He told us: “the Dictatorship of Kolchak will not last long. After that, all business will be left to us again. Do not be hasty about negotiating with the Soviets.” I trusted him very much. He had helped us greatly in obtaining arms for us from the Komuc government. Now, he helped us obtain the weapons secreted away by Komuc at the Usulka factory, which had not yet been discovered by the Reds. I took his suggestion to the Army and Government leadership. Everyone agreed on the senselessness of continuing the fighting with the hope of Kolchak’s fall, and the low morale of the Russian people, and the impossibility of bringing about reform with half measures. Kondratiyev took our greetings and went back to the hidden members of Komuc.
IV Collaboration with the Soviets for fifteen months (1919-1920)
Decision to make peace with the Soviets and the continuation of the battles—
During the secret consultations we conducted with the representatives of the Kazaks, we discussed all aspects of what we were going to agree concerning our relations with the Soviets. If Orenburg was to fall into the hands of the Soviets, we even agreed to meet in that city and journey to Moscow together. We sent to Alas-Orda our Yirmati Canton Chief Abdullah Ilyas. We sent Abdulhamid Arifov to carry the news to the Turkistan Organization. He later became the War Minister of the Bukhara Government. On 15 December, we sent Mollacan Halikov, a member of our government, and Hayrettin Saidov to the committee running the City of Ufa with an Official Document. The Soviet Commander was in no hurry to negotiate with those two. On 23 January 1919, news arrived that the allies recognized the Soviets and were not going to meddle in the internal affairs of the Soviets and that they were prepared to convene with the Soviets on the Istanbul islands. All this caused excitement amongst us. In order to speed the negotiations, we sent another representative group. In the recent years, the letter I wrote and read by Mollacan Halikov, carrying my signature, containing the Baskurt Peace Conditions, was published in the Soviet press. These conditions were only: “in internal and economic matters, complete autonomy; the army, though subject to the Soviet High Command, to maintain full autonomy in internal affairs; Communism is not to be compulsory.” The chief of Ufa Communists, Eltsin, was nowhere near accepting these conditions. That, despite the fact that the Red Army Command was very afraid of the Baskurt Army units, and the fact that Lenin and Stalin had accepted our conditions, gave the order of acceptance of our conditions by telephone. To them, the only condition was our acceptance of fighting against the White Armies. In the History of Baskurdistan written by the chronicler Tipeev, it is written that, since the Allies recognized the Soviets on 23 January, the Soviet press published the secret edict issued by the Baskurt Military administration (signed by me) as distributed to the Baskurt Army personnel on 11 February. In that it was stated: “The Allies have terminated the fighting against the Reds. Therefore, everybody is on their own. They will no longer support us with money or munitions. Kolchak, Dutov and Denikin sent representatives to the Prince Islands [in the Sea of Marmara—Istanbul]. As a result, the Baskurt Government sent the Deputy Head of the Government Doctor Kulayev, Abdurresit Bekbabov, Hayrettin Saidoz, Karligacov, Mollacan Halikov to negotiate peace with the Soviet Fifth Army Commander.” Even though the negotiations with the Soviets began on 22 November, due to the strict discipline in the Baskurt Army and the close support among the Government Members, these provisions only raised the suspicion among the Cossack and Czechoslovak circles, but they had not obtained and documentary evidence. We had asked for arms and ammunition on 16 January from the Czechoslovaks, sending Lieutenant Canishev and Hidayet Saadiyev. Despite the objections of Kolchak and the Dutov, they sent us arms and ammunition. First, Second, Fourth and Sixth regiments were going to join the Soviets. Only the Third Regiment in Zlaust was going to remain on the side of Kolchak.
In the intervening three months, between these preparations and our sending representatives on 22 November, until our joining the Soviets on 18 February, we had fought with the Reds and caused them significant losses. I personally participated in those battles. On 15 December we transferred our Army Headquarters to the Kananikolsk factory from Yermolayevsk, and stayed there until we joined the Soviets. In the Yoldibay village, near Kizil Mescit, a cavalry Regiment of the Reds was completely ran-over during a night ambush. Those Reds who managed to survive ran way in their nightgowns, barefoot, over the snow. I personally participated in the battles that took place in the vicinity of Yermolayevka, my own village Kuzen, and Salih and Makar regions. Once I was wounded while I was going to Isimbay, now a petroleum source, to join First Cavalry Regiment under the Command of Musa Murtazin, from my left hand and my right thigh. Despite those small wounds, I did not dismount from my horse. Those ambushing Red soldiers, who were firing at us while sitting, were found by our Troopers and killed. There were big battles in the Russian Pokrovsk village (10-12 December) and Ahmer location (15 January 1919). We won those, but since we could no longer obtain ammunition neither from Orenburg, nor from the Czechoslovaks, we were in a dire condition. We were the only ones holding the front between Orenburg and Ufa. A distance of one hundred ninety kilometers between Yermolayevka and Sterlitamak was being held by seven hundred of our Troopers. Then, the Red Firth Army was able to send a concentration of several Regiments to the road between Sterlitamak and Ahmer. We withdrew to Makar from Ahmer. I was in my own village on 24 January. It was necessary to leave my aged mother and father to the Reds. Since I was raised believing in God, worshipping him, I went to our mosque and cried without letting anyone else know; because, the Reds were due to arrive in a few hours, and desecrate this old mosque as well. Afterward, I was never to see my village again.
The Makar village, seven kilometers from mine, was the home of the majority of our high level Army and Governmental personnel as well as the home of the Karamis Ogullari family. We dispersed the Reds who were in the stream-beds, chased them away, for twenty-five kilometers to the Ahmer village with drawn swords in hand. This was the village of my friend of youth, now Battalion Commander, Sahibek Ozbekov. Ilyas Akin, a leader among the Tatar Kazan dignitaries, was the Assistant Chief of Staff [of the Army]. He fought in those battles selflessly, just like a regular Trooper. Thus, we defended an area of several hundred kilometers between Kizil Mescit in the South, my village in the North, Makar and Cilimkaran villages further North until 18 February. Since I knew these regions since my childhood like the back of my hand, we benefited from the topographic advantages strategically. At the time, the poet Seyid Giray Magaz, who was in my retinue, wrote a dastan-format work describing our battles with the Reds, where we were aided by plenty of anti-Bolshevik villagers. The very aged Ethem Molla from the Aliekber village stated: “in your young years, you ran from one of these mountains to the next for suluq (bee-hives) and horse herds; now you are chasing the Reds.”
During these battles, two representatives whose names I forgot arrived from Kazakistan when we were at the Kulguna village at the beginning of February 1919. I think one of them was poet Magcan. He had visited us before; he put on paper his impressions of the Baskurt struggles against Russian invasions in his work Ural. They brought letters from Ahmet Tursun from Turgay, spoke of the necessity of joining the Soviets on the same day as previously decided. According to them, at this time, only the West Kazakistan was going to join the Soviets as the Estern Kazakistan was under the control of Kolchak General Belov. I wrote letters to Ahmet Baytursun and Alihan Bukeyhan. I forgot their contents, but the said letters were later found by the Soviets in the Alas-Orda archives and were published. I stated: “we are preparing to cross over to the Soviet side. We are awaiting the word from our representatives on the acceptance of our conditions from the Soviets. You must know that our crossing over is a necessity, since Kolchak became such an enemy of us. We will remain loyal to our national cause and all the agreements we signed with Alas-Orda Government. As you also know, despite making peace with them, it is not possible to completely trust them. Because of that, some day it may become necessary to separate from them once again, and continue with our struggle. [Raimov, Obrazovanye Baskirskoy Sovetskoy Respubliki, P.2] We told our representatives that we wished Ahmet Baytursun’s participation in our negotiations with the Soviets, as we had informed you earlier. We sent poet Seyit Giray Magaz to Turgay, joining the two Kazak representatives, in order to inform the leadership of the Western Kazakistan orally that our crossing over to the Soviet side is going to take place on 18 February.” We returned to Kakanikolsky on 18 February as we were preparing to cross over to the Soviet side. In that manner, we were able to completely coordinate our crossing over at the same time with the Kazaks. This was very important. Because the Kazaks believed that, if they were to cross over by themselves, as their army structure was weak, they would all be killed. We Baskurts also believed that, if we went to Moscow together with the Kazaks, our negotiating position was going to be stronger. In the words of poet Magcan: “The long Ural Mountains; you stretch between East and West, constituting a border, as much as a border between the sons of light (Turks) and the sons of darkness (Russians). The other side of you is a homeland to blue eyed jinn; this side is the homeland of the Turk bozkir (steppes). The hairy mouthed foreigners now rule over the lands once owned by our ancestors, and the burial sites of our sainted ancestors. They are massacring our youth. Magnificent Ural, you have trained us like our fathers. Turn your neck toward your elder brother (to Kazakistan). The brave sons of the Turks! Join together and do not let the enemy trample over this this land; hang onto the reins of your horses, and defend this place.”
Meanwhile, we were occupied with the establishment of a regular political party, to take our place next to the Communist Party, as an independent national socialist party in order to survive. Especially Ilyas Alkin was working on the related theory. We were establishing the “Erk Socialist Party.” It was going to be equal but separate from the Russian Communist Party. We informed the Kazak leadership and encouraged them to form a Kazak Socialist Party to replace the Alas-Orda which was not socially or economically socialist. Our program was ready. We provided a copy to the Kazaks who arrived. Later on (in 1926) this program was duplicated in mimeograph in Prag. Ilyas Alkin was always long-winded, which prevented us from debating what he wrote on the theory as we did not have time. The shortened version I wrote was accepted. Samoylov, who was the TZK VKP (meaning Russian Communist Party Center) representative in Baskurdistan in 1919-1920 wrote about this party, but spelled the translated word “Erk” not as “Volia” into Russian as intended, but incorrectly as “Volna.”
While we were occupied with the matters of the party program, events were progressing in their own fast pace. Cossacks evacuated Orenburg on 21 January and Orks fell to the Reds. We were about to be surrounded from all corners. Since our harsh responses had not changed along the entire front, they were unable to attack us with small forces. At that time, the worst for us was the isolation of the Third Baskurt Regiment North of the Russian units under the command of Koppel, North of Ufa-Zlataust railroad line. They could bring news to us as individuals in civilian clothes. I ordered Major Tagan to disperse this regiment and send the Troopers home.
Our crossing over to the Soviet Front—
It was not easy to turn all of the Baskurt population and government officialdom suddenly, since their politics and programs were well known by our people and they had been warned against them. In order to protect our secrets from the enemies, the application of our decision to join the Soviets, which had been kept secret from the Army as well, had to be sudden. For example, the announcement was to be made one day, and cross-over to take place the same day. General Akulin wrote that, such a sudden change was impossible for the Orenburg Cossacks; only due to the Baskurt people’s trust in their government, and especially to my person by the Army, this was done in an excellent manner. But, the negotiations stretching into a full month in Ufa were cause for concern. On 8 February, the Army personnel and Baskurdistan Government held an extraordinary joint meeting and decided to send The Baskurdistan Government Head Kulayev and Mollacan Halikov and my aide-de-camp Abdurresit Bekbabov directly to Moscow. Fighting with the Reds had already stopped. Delegations were travelling without obstacles. Only later we learned of the reasons for the delays in negotiations taking place in Ufa. Lenin and Stalin had sent orders to the Fifth Red Army Command and to the Ufa provincial Committee to make it easier for us to cross over, as that would strengthen their Eastern Policies. However, the fear of the Commanders of the Fifth Army from the Baskurt Army and the bigotry of the Ufa civil administration, in addition to the insistence of Samigulov strata of the Tatar Communists who were against any and all national autonomy, that the Baskurt Army be disarmed and the Baskurt Government Members be executed, Lenin and Stalin’s orders were not immediately carried out. Documents pertaining to all this was published by the Soviets. Also, in 1923 Communist Party Congress, Stalin’s question “why did you not execute Velidov at that occasion” and the interlocution with Samigulov was published in Stalin’s corpus (P. 304). The Central Committee sent the famed Mirseyit Sultanaliev from Moscow, as the head of the Moslem Communist Party in Moscow, to Ufa, in order to speed up the process by breaking the deadlock in Ufa. He argued with the Ufa provincial Administration, and had the entire decision transferred to the Headquarters of the Eastern Front in Simbirsk, and to Moscow. He also sent one of the Tatar Communists he personally trusted to us, Alimcan Eminov, along with our representatives. This person was as nationalistic as Sultanaliyev, and the following was the information he brought us: “Do not cross-over until the negotiations are completed. Do not be in a hurry. If you cannot wait, then do not join the Fifth Red Army, but join First Red Army headquartered in Orenburg.” Sultanaliyev’s friendly advice was later heard by the Central Communist Party. He was asked, in 1937, when he was tried before he was executed, if he gave such advice to Velidov. He responded with “yes.” Alimcan Eminov, when he was at our headquarters in Kananikolsk specified that: “the Red Army Commanders are viewing the Baskurts with importance, despite the bigoted Party members, as they are a warrior nation; do not be in a hurry.” It transpired that he also spoke with the Baskurt and Tatar officers in the Army head-to-head. Later on, when I saw him in Moscow, he told me that the idealism and self-confidence he observed in those officers gave him a very good opinion of them. He also indicated that he told all this to the Soviet administrators in Ufa. Meaning, at that time, Among the Tatar and Baskurt nationalists on either side of the White-and-Red- divide, similar, united ideas were in force. On 11 February, the Second extraordinary consultations took place in Kananikols between the Army and the Government. The discussions included the invitation issued by the Allies to Red and White units fighting against each other, and to Bolshevik Denikin, Kolchak, Dutov, Ukrainians and Caucasians, in order for them to unite for an all Russia union, issued on 23 January to meet at the Istanbul islands; precautions taken by Kolchak treating us as an enemy; mild proposals from the Soviets; promises to maintain our autonomy, army. We decided that the time and hour of our entry into the Soviet sphere is to be 18 February morning at ten o’clock. We sent word to that effect, via the Soviet representative Alimcan Eminov, and with our representatives who were travelling with him, to the First and Fifth Red Army Commanders. It was impossible for us to delay that crossing beyond 18 February. Our military discipline was excellent, our military secrets were not leaking to our enemies, to Kolchak. However, they were hearing it somehow. They could have moved in on us before we crossed to the side of the Soviets. We informed our frontline troops two days in advance of our plans; and the read-guard, one day in advance. The Army received the order calmly. I brought the officers together. I told him that, if there are those who do not wish to cross-over, I was not going to force them. I further stated that, to those who did not wish to cross-over, I would provide one month’s salary, horse, food, and send them to the White General of their choice. Among my best friends I liked most, Sahibek Ozbekov, Gani Karamisov, Ismail Seripov and a number of others obtained permission and left. Some of them were acting with emotions of revenge against the Reds, and had reached a point where they could not establish normal contact with them. For example, the Red agents sent to cause mischief in our army were in jail, far away from us. They could have caused us great damage. During a night, Captain Ozbekov drilled a hole in the ice covering the River Yayik and sent them all underneath the ice. He was criticized because he had acted as he knew how. Sahibek was a friend from my youth. He was very handsome, very intelligent, and very brave, but, extremely headstrong. Since he was a very well trained officer, I hoped he would serve as Minister of War. He stubbornly refused. He was created to remain small-hearted. It was a waste of time to attempt to raise him. I gave him jewels when he was leaving us. After leaving it is said that he went to Ukraine via Ural Cossacks and Dagestan, and worked in the Wrangel Army, and died in Crimea, in the battles. His friend Ismail Seripov, who later arrived in Istanbul, told us that Sahibek was very sorry that he left us, and cried over it on many an occasion.
On the morning of 18 February, it was not possible to call out a single military unit, to cross first from one Front to the other, when time came to apply the decision on the ground; because, doing so was being regarded as throwing that unit into the fire. Under those circumstances, I had to begin the crossing myself. I took my orderly, named Ahmetcan, two lower ranking officers, a total of ten; I approached the First Army Front at ten o’clock in the morning, letting the Regiment commander I was arriving. Soviet Officers arrived. When I crossed over, immediately afterward, the First Battalion of the First Infantry Regiment also crossed-over. After that was completed, the Regiment Commander came to me, and I communicated with the First Army Command in Orenburg via the telegraph. The Commander suggested I be present in Orenburg in the morning. On the afternoon of 19 February, I spoke with the First Red Army Commander Gay. He was an Armenian Partisan. The Commander suggested that I visit the front along with some of his officers, to oversee the crossing. I did, and the Regiments crossed–over before my eyes.
We pulled the two-horse drawn sleigh I was riding, to a side. When the units were crossing, I saluted them, barely managing not to cry. The Troopers were crying. After the crossing-over was completed, I put my head on the chest of my orderly, I cried heartily. I had cried during the night of 18-19 as well. Crying with such magnitude perhaps happened twice or thrice in my life. All this was caused by the thoughts of abandoning the ideas of democracy and freedom, letting Tabulin and Kolisof to determine our fate, to be used for unknown causes without personal and national determination, to go to the enemy we fought so hard so long, the darkness of my peoples’ future, and our Troops whom I loved very much. I was certain that, the Soviets were not going to kill us, at least for the sake of their Eastern Policy. However, to break the will and faith of our people who believed that we would realize our freedom democratically, and to do that by my person, was a heavier burden than anything that would drive a person to suicide. After our First and Second Infantry Regiments crossed-over, I and our Deputy Chief-of-Staff, Ilyas Alkin, left for Moscow, via Orenburg. Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Infantry and Second Cavalry Regiments and the technical units crossed-over after we left.
Our national poet Seyhzade Babic had crossed over with the technical units, and described in his poem written during that time how the Troopers were shaken with the image of a dark future, indicating this was the worst event they had experienced in their lives and in the history of the Baskurts. In his opinion, if Zeki Velidi was not heading the change of front event, the entire army would have committed suicide as a single person. I learned of those poems, only five months later, after the Reds killed Seyhzade and his friends when he was bringing our archives. He wrote his poem as if he knew he was going to die after crossing over to the Red world. Because, with his poem, he also wrote a personal letter addressed to me, which he gave to a friend of his at the Times township with the admonition that his friend give it to me. In his letter, he was damning Kolchak and Dutov for forcing us to change our front.
Journey to Moscow—
Upon arriving in Orenburg with Ilyas Alkin, the First Army Commander Gay had us meet with the Kazakistan representatives who had also arrived. He informed us we could travel to Moscow together, and he would allocate us a train carriage for the purpose. The Kazak delegation was small in numbers and headed by the famed Kazak author Ahmet Baytursun and Karaldioglu (Karaldin). When Commander Gay asked if we had coordinated our simultaneous arrival to be on the same day, we responded in the positive and told him that this peace concerned not only the Baskurt, but all of us. The Red Commander and the officers did not do anything to show disrespect. Apparently, they had received orders from Moscow to that effect. At the time, the secret police (GPU) and espionage apparatus of the Bolsheviks had not yet developed. Nobody was listening to what we were discussing amongst ourselves, or following us to determine who we visited in Orenburg. Apparently, their attitude toward us was different than toward those Russian Cossacks who gave themselves up to them. In Moscow, they hosted us at Hotel Metropol. I spoke with Stalin and Trotsky first. Stalin wrote an article published in Pravda, on 2 March, on the occasion of our crossing, on the topic of ‘Our Future Business in the East.’ In his own words, he spoke of “some thirty million Tatar, Baskurt, Kirgiz, Ozbek, Turkmen, Tacik and representative of middle ages and civilizations joining the Soviet Union, and the consequences to be thought about the Islamic people of the East.” That article is printed in his corpus. We thus realized were on solid ground in Moscow. When we spoke with Stalin in his Nationalities Commissariat Office, he explained to us the topic at length. He feigned that he had always deeply trusted me, stated that it was an accident that I had been with the Whites, that I was a true Revolutionary, that it would have been better if I had heeded his invitation to join him in 1918. We spoke with him practically every day. In many of those talks, he wanted to get information on influential individuals I personally knew and the degree of my friendship with them. I did not let him know that I knew why he was asking me those questions. The Moscow streets were clogged with snow; cars could not go through. He was travelling on a motorcycle. One day, we were travelling together on the seats of his motorcycle. Summer had arrived. Because of the high snow drifts still clogging the way, though they were melting, it became necessary to dismount from the motorcycles. He pointed to those snow drifts and stated: “our Soviet heights.” He was deprecating himself. Another day, he was taking me to another place on his motorcycle. Something was thrown down from the high buildings, wrapped in a piece of paper. He joked: “in the past, they used to throw these things during the night; now, because the Commissar of Nationalities and an honorable representative of the Eastern People are crossing, they are honoring us by throwing it during daylight.” It transpired that, when in the winter colds the central heating system and toilets froze, they would wrap the feces in a paper and throw it outside. Stalin also made fun of Tatars and the Caucasians working for him in his own retinue. He would pay me compliments with the words found among the Armenians and Georgians, in the Eastern style. When he put together “An honorable Representative of the East” with “Nationalities Commissar” in the same sentence, it caught my attention and caused a disgusting reaction in me. In sum, Stalin wanted to win me over. When I was relating all that to my friend Ahmet Baytursun, I stated that: “all this may be taking place not only against Kolchak, but for further future as well.” One day, he introduced me to Ordzhonikidze and Kamaney. I found Kamaney to be more sincere. Another day, Stalin had me have a talk with Piatakov, the chief of the labor union. It transpired that he [Stalin] desired to stress the difference between his thinking and others in the matter of nationalities. Our talks with Trotsky were always short and pertained to military matters. We were going to talk with Lenin. Sultanaliyev informed us that, after his experience of facing an assassination attempt, he was very careful about meeting with people outside the Party.
At that time, the second congress of Comintern was taking place (2-6 March) in Moscow. Lenin was truly busy. Many representatives had arrived from outside countries. But, Stalin called to tell me Lenin was going to see me, and that I could bring two friends. I brought with me our Government Head Doctor Kulayev. He had arrived that day from Simbirsk Eastern Front Command Peace Talks. Kulayev was a Baskurt who had fallen into the hands of Russian missionaries when he was a child; he had become accustomed to the Christian society and had converted. His real name was Mehmet Ali. We used to address him as Mehmet Ali Aga. He also wanted us to call him in that manner. But, he signed official documents as Mistislav Kulayev. He had studied medicine at Kazan University. He was a good doctor. After these events, he left politics, went to Kazan and became a Professor. It is possible he is still alive. He was an honorable person. Even if he was no longer a Moslem, he was devoted to being a Baskurt and Turk. He was sensitive toward Russian cruel nature and their shamelessness. He had read the Russian publications of Siberian Turks. We went to the presence of Lenin together. We thought that we were going to be searched for weapons. There was no such control. Lenin rose from his chair behind his desk, and extended his hand. His desktop had compartments facing him to hold papers and such. While Lenin was speaking, this elevated segment was hiding his hands. He was writing the names of those from the East, when he heard them. But, I thought, he has a pistol behind that elevation as well. He asked Doctor Kulayev: “while your friend’s name is Ahmet Zeki, why is your name Mistislav?” Kulayev answered: “I am a Christian Baskurt.” Lenin this time asked: “did you not distance yourself from your people by changing your religion? Would it not be better not to deal with changing religion and pay no heed to religion at all?” Kulayev could not answer that. He was actually embarrassed. Lenin told us that the Ninth Russian Communist Party Congress was in session while at the same time the congress of all the other communist parties from around the world was also taking place and that the crossing of the Baskurt to the Soviet side was a good opportunity to discuss nationality and Eastern matters in these congresses. He further stated that he was hopeful of future peaceful cooperation, and addressing me, “I have an article on the problems of Turkistan and India. Please read it. I will call you and we can debate the contents.” We left Lenin with a good impression. But probably two days after our meeting (19 March), while he was debating with Bukharin on the nationalities issues, he stressed the importance of coming to terms with bourgeois nations as tactical steps to be taken. “Was it not necessary to sign a treaty with the nationalist whose name was ‘Pigheaded’ (Svinhavud), who slaughtered laborers in Finland, as we smiled at his face? And was it not necessary to do the same with the Baskurt Government yesterday?” Lenin added: “Bukharin insists that in the Communist Party Program, there cannot be a place for the rights of nationalities; the proletariat cannot be sub-divided into nations; for the tribes of Indus, Bushmen, and Hotanto, there cannot be a law. None of these demand autonomy. But, Bukharin forgot a small point; these are Baskurt. In Russia, there are no Bushmen or Hotanto. But there are Baskurt, Kirgiz and other tribal units, and we are obliged to treat them gently. We are obligated to grant them their national rights. Perhaps someday they can raise mature, organized proletariat. Perhaps they can conduct their own revolution in their own countries as we are doing today. But, now, we must manage with what we have. To those tribes, like the Kirgiz and the Sarts, who are living under their Imams, we cannot tell to throw away their Imams. That would be interfering in their internal affairs. We are obligated to create the conditions that would aid them to undertake the revolution on their own.” These words of Lenin were later published in his corpus in English, French and German. From those points, that day we learned that Lenin and his friends regarded our peace treaty as a temporary intermediate step, though they publicly saw us as friends, in actuality regarded us as Imams and mollas among the Ozbeks and the bourgeois capitalists in Finland to be removed someday, meaning they intended to raise a new generation of communists and hand the administration to them. But, we did not tell anyone that we learned all this from that speech. When Stalin had me and Ahmet Baytursun meet with the labor union chief Piatakov once again, he instructed us “to discuss the matters of how you can establish the labor union in the East (Profsoyuz).” But I perfectly understaood the fact that he wanted us to realize how different and negative Bukharin and Piatakov thought from himself and Lenin toward nationalities and small nations, wished us to present himself and Lenin as the protectors of small nations. We spoke with Piatakov on what we did back in 1917 in Taskent about our activities on local labor union (Profsoyuz). When he responded that in a labor union, nationality cannot constitute the basis of the organization, there can only be a single Profsoyuz, arguments started on the nationality issue. I asked him why he was not objecting to the Jewish Bund. As a result of these disputes, these men left a negative impression on us. To us, compared to them, Lenin and Stalin appeared much more positive. Eltsen, who prevented an understanding in our negotiations in Ufa, was such a bigoted Communist. On 23 March, a sixteen point treaty concerning the Baskurt Army was signed between Lenin, Stalin, Vladirmiski, Enikidze, Dr. Kulayev, I, Bekbabov and Abdullah Edhemov, indicating Baskurdistan was an autonomous Republic, that the Baskurt Army was going to be independent in internal affairs, composed of two divisions, one of four cavalry regiments and the other, three regiments of infantry, but would report to the Red Army headquarters; another four item treaty concerning the economic administration, was published in the official Soviet newspapers. In the draft we wrote, there was an item concerning the immigrants arriving in Baskurdisan, due to the World War I from other provinces, would not have election rights. Lenin and Stalin insisted on the exclusion of that item. While we were discussing this matter with Stalin, supposedly secretly, Stalin stated that there was no need to include that item in the treaty which would replace the constitution: “you can cut them all, that that would be all (vyrej’te ikh).” When I heard that statement from Stalin, I recoiled, and believed that day that Stalin was a grand provocateur. I told him: “ comrade Yosef Vissaryonovic, let alone cutting them, even if their noses bleed, Eltsins in Ufa and Orenburg will scream that Baskurts are killing the Christians and raise holy hell; it is better for us not to touch those immigranst, and we will not. But, in the treaty we must stress that they are temporary immigrants therefore they have no election rights in our country, and we need to specify that in our treaty. Because, they number in the tens of thousands, they have the capability to tilt the population proportions and the election results.” But Stalin would not accept any of this. Our delegation members could not also understand the fact that that item was necessary. They did not wish to insist, and that item was discarded. I was convinced, without a doubt, that Stalin would suggest to those immigrants that Baskurts would deprive them of all their legal rights and only the Soviet government was protecting their legal rights. That was so. A year later, Stalin secretly distributed arms to them.
The conditions getting worse in the Eastern front—
In the meantime, regrettable events took place in Baskurdistan. On 21 February, Baskurdistan General Congress met at Times, and elected a Soviet style “Revolutionary Committee” (Revkom) was elected. I was a member, as was Ilyas Alkin, and other nationalist, other non-Communist Baskurts and Tatars. At the same time, Kolchak had arrived at the “Congress of Orenburg Province Cossacks, in the city of Troytsk. At that gathering, the Cossacks accused Kolchak of issuing superfluous orders to disarm the Baskurt Army and the Baskurt Government, which had ruined the Front. He accepted the blame in the matter of the Baskurts, and promised to repair all those consequences. He issued an appeal that he allowed the re-formation of the Baskurt Government and the modernization of the Baskurt Army. At the time, I learned all that from the publications emanating from Kolchak’s Siberia, and from Musa Murtazin. Nobody believed those words of Kolcak except the recidivist Abdulhay Kurbanaliyev and their ilk. Therefore, a Kolchak ally government, because there were no supporters, could not be formed.
At the time, the disagreements between the Fifth Red Army and the Baskurt army units who had crossed over to the Soviet side caused some of the Baskurt units crossing back to the Kolchak side. The commander of the First Red Army was an Armenian Partisan and an enemy of the Moslems. The Commander of the Twentieth Division, which was occupying the region of Kizilmescit, was also a bigoted Russian. The Commander of the Third Brigade, Zelenko, component of that Division, was a bandit. They were unable to sleep in peace, because the Baskurt Army was not disarmed. Because of that, they demanded partial disarming of the First and the Fourth Regiments. I was away from the Government, in Moscow. The Command in Times accepted that demand and those Troopers were sent to Sterlitamak.
The disarming of the Baskurts allowed the Red Russians to plunder Baskurt villages. They also caught a lot of the Tatar and Baskurt intellectuals and killed them. At the top of that list are our national poet Seyhzade Babic and author Abdulhay Erkebay. The government at Times was withdrawing to Sterlitamak, to avoid an attack by Kolchak forces. At the time, Seyhzade and his friends were transferring our excellent and rich printing press and the government archives. Reds caught them in Calayir iron factory and killed them savagely. Seyhzade was a beloved national poet. He had written volumes in Tatar and Baskurt, some of which were printed. He had given life to our 1917 national movement in his works. He also had dastan works which he had not yet completed. All of them were lost. Abdulhay Erkebay was from the Saljut tribe, he had written very good poems. The national Baskurt movement was given life in the poems of these two poets, and in the pen of Sayit Giray Magaz, in literary journals and poetic journals. But the majority of their works were not yet published. All were destroyed by the Soviets.
When these despicable events were heard, our First Cavalry Regiment, protecting the border right next to Kolchak, crossed over to the Kolchak side without hesitation. The Commander of the First Cavalry Regiment, Musa Murtazin, was extremely brave and a little too fiery. He had removed and chased away the White Cossack units from the Abdulcelil region of Eastern Baskurdistan on three different occasions, turned over the protection of the area to the Smolensk Regiment of the Reds every time. That Regiment could not hold-out against the Cossacks in any of the occasions, they withdrew, and while doing so, plundered the Baskurt villages. When Murtazin heard the partial disarming of the First and the Fourth Regiments at Kizilmescit, and the plundering, he immediately turned his weapons against the Reds, joined the Belov Army of the Kolchak, and severely defeated the Red Smolensk Regiment. Soviet Army deduced that they could not hold along the Ural (Yayik) River under these conditions. The Command Headquarters gave the order to the Smolensk Regiment and the Third Red Brigade to withdraw toward Western Ural Mountains. They withdrew in a hurry. A lot of their ammunition fell into the hands of Murtazin.
The fact that a large part of our Army passing over to the Whites was a surprise for me, but also an unexpected development for my friends as well, who were in Moscow during that period. I was informed that a military motorcar was awaiting me at the entrance to the Metropol Hotel. I was told we were going to Kremlin. Lenin had called for me. Stalin was there as well. A little later, Trotsky arrived as well. They told the circumstances to him as well that I had not heard previously. I stated: “your commanders there are bum bandits, or bigot chauvinists; Armenian Tasnak bandit Gay has no other thought but to take revenge from the Moslems. Of course they attempted to disarm our Troops. Otherwise Murtazin would not have attempted to do what he did. He is a very close friend. All these matters can be sorted out; there is no need for fuss. It is necessary for me to be present there.” They all saw that appropriate. In the company of Abrurresit Bekbabov and Abdullah Ethemov, we arrived in Samara. It transpired that the Baskurt Government had left the township of Times in mid-March. They had moved to the Muraq village in the Yeti Urug Canton; then settled at the Muraptal village some ninety kilometers from Orenburg. The Government showed wisdom and did not disarm the Guard Units. We learned all of this when we arrived in the Buzavlik area. While we were there, a relative of Murtazin brought Murtazin’s reasoning orally. From one end, he decided that the Kolchak policies needed to be streamlined. As mentioned above, at the Troysk Cossack Congress, Kolchak had invited the trusted individuals and confessed he had done wrong to the Baskurt Government and the Army. He promised he would rectify his errors from their foundations. From the other end, the Reds had begun regarding the Baskurts as the enemy, plundering the people and disarming the Baskurt units where they were in minority. They also killed individuals just for the sport of it. The killing of our poet in Calayir caused the cup to flow-over. Murtazin and his friends began speaking with the Whites and changed their Front. I immediately sent an aid-de-camp to the Baskurt Government settled in the Muraptal township, requested a list of everything plundered by the Red Army from Baskurdistan. The Government successfully completed that list. Whatever was taken from wherever, and what was destroyed, were listed above the village headmen seals and signatures, in such a short period which showed the trust and influence of our government over the population. The condition of the Reds was bad; they were withdrawing.
My talks with Frunze—
I spoke with Frunze, in his capacity as the Commander of the South-West Branch of the Red Eastern front established in Simbirsk. We spoke when we were both in Samara. Since the conditions were critical, he was interested in me. We took our meals together. The First Red Army was worn-out. The Ural Cossacks were attacking Buzavliq. The First Red Army was asking for permission to withdraw from Orenburg to settle in Samara. The Baskurt Government in Muraptal, in order not to fall into the hands of the Kolchak Army, wanted to withdraw to a more secure place, to Samara. Frunze was harried. He was hesitating between withdrawing and not withdrawing. I advised him not to. Kolchak did not have a force sufficient to re-occupy Volga basin: “I secretly sent a messenger o Murtazin. He crossed over to the Kolchak side only because of the idiocy of your Red Army Commanders; you need to change the likes of bandits Gay, Zelenko.” I asked Frunze to transfer the Baskurt Army to the Turkistan Front, if he was successful against Kolchak. He happily agreed to do that. But, he had a big problem. The Commander in Chief of the entire Red Army, latish Vatsetis and Trotski wanted to transfer the headquarters of the South-West arm to the West of Volga. We, on the other hand, wanted to move our Baskurt Government and the Army to Samara or Sizran and with minimal reogragization, their participation in the Eastern Front. Trotski and Vatsetis were disbelieving us. They had ordered our government to further West, to the city of Saransk. Many arguments took place and we were forced to agree to that order. Moscow was ordering Frunze not to send me East of Samara. But, Frunze had believed in me. At the end of April, I returned to Buzavliq. Our government had moved to the Totsk (Toq) township nearby. I consulted with Frunze and established a Baskurdistan Representative Committee, in order to re-gather the Baskurt Troopers who have been sent home by the Second and the Fifth Red Army component Divisional and Brigade Commands, under the pretense of them being disarmed and needed to be protected. I wanted them to go to the Saransk Government. With my heart aching, I arrived in Saransk, along with the Baskurt Government being relocated. I went to Moscow, saw Stalin. This person no longer had the pride he had displayed a few weeks earlier. I personally handed the lists of plundered belongings of the Baskurts by the Red Army to Lenin, and the disastrous consequences, as prepared by the Baskurt Government. We will touch upon that report later. I obtained the ammunition needed in order to rearrange the Army and sent it to Saransk at the beginning of March.
Our life in Saransk—
We endeavored extensively to reconstitute our worn-out army in Saransk, which today is the capital of Mari Republic. The reorganization of First, Second Infantry and First and Second Cavalry Regiments continued normally. There were meetings, entertainment, weddings. There was a gathering because of the wedding of Ismail Muhlia and Afife hanim who are now living in Ankara with their university graduate offspring. In a photograph taken at that occasion, twelve individuals performed important duties in the Government and in the Army. I was often travelling to Moscow to consult with Trotski and to Samara to speak with Frunze on military matters. I had tasked Colonel Hasan Ahmerov with the duty of affecting mobilization in the Belebey Sancak. I personally oversaw that activity. Kulayev had resigned from his post as Head of Government. We appointed Haris Yumagulov as the next Head. I remained Minister of War. Yumagulov was from the Kemelik Baskurts. He had studied Agricultural Engineering and he was a fiery youth. He and his elder brother, Cihangir Yumagulov, were among the educated who had been supporting the Baskurdistan autonomy from the very beginning. We believed that the Baskurts and Tatars needed to have a joint literary language, and we were printing our publications in that middle language; Haris Yumagulov had the idea of making the Baskurt dialect the literary language. During the First Baskurt Congress in 1917, when there were demonstrations in Orenburg, flags embroidered with Baskurt words were unfurled by Yumagul and his friends. When we entered into an open struggle against the Soviets in 1918, they had remained on the Soviet side. Haris also had joined the Communist Party at the time. Stalin sent him to us as a representative of the Central Committee. When he arrived in Saransk, he joked with: “Moscow sent me to my home as an ambassador,” because, he was first among all the nationalists. Central Committee had sent along with Haris, a Russian Communist by the name of Zaretski in order to ‘enlighten’ us and call us to the ‘true path.’ Toward the end of May, when I was in Moscow, I worked to have our army to be stationed in the Eastern Front under the Command of Frunze and I spoke many times with Lenin, Stalin, Mme. Stasova, Trotski and Vasetis. But, I felt that, the more I insisted, the more suspicion I was causing. Frunze sent a telegram to Lenin on 16 June, requesting the deployment of the Baskurt Army to the Eastern Front. Lenin’s response was to issue the order for our Army to be deployed to the Eastern Front on 23 June. That order was published in the Soviet archival materials. Finally, Vatsetis had that order remanded. Meanwhile, I got to know, closely, the Foreign Affairs Commissar Cicerin, and the Education Commissar Lunacharski as well as the Economics Commissar (Head of the Economic Council) Rykov. I regarded those three individuals and Frunze as persons one could work with. Lenin and Stalin were close to us because of their interest in nationalities. However, their trust and their view of the circumstances were tied to conditions. Trotsky, Vatsites, Kamanev and Bukharin, to us, were international Communists. Later on, I realized I had correctly classified all these individuals during my contacts of three months. Stalin had presented the Eastern Turks as primitive tribes, a remnant of the middle Ages, in his article published on 2 March 1919. His opinions about the Moslems were not much different than what we already had observed among the Armenians and Georgians. He regarded himself as the scholar of Eastern problem. Lenin confessed that he did not know anything about the East, and he would fall under the influence of others. His relations with us showed a wide fluctuation from one day to the next.
Lenin’s wireless order to Turkistan—
One day, Lenin called me to the telephone. He asked me to visit with him about the article he had earlier given me, as mentioned before, to discuss the matters of Central Asia. I had already written my observations on that writing. He read what I wrote carefully and out-loud. The writing he had given me was written by the aforementioned Indian grandee Mevlevi Bereketullah and the Yusupov named Tatar Communist, on the relations with Central Asia. In their writing they stated that: Kur’an was amenable to communism, and a Kur’anic approach to communism would be beneficial; it was necessary to include Afghanistan, Eastern Iran and Eastern Turkistan to any Central Asian state to be established; a serious contact with India is necessary by that state; and it was possible to expel the British from India with the aid of the Moslem Central Asian tribes. I displayed the absurdities and unreal facts. There is no relation between the Kur’an and communism that it is impossible to attract Moslems to communism via that comparison; if it is necessary to establish an Islamic state in Central Asia, entering Afghanistan and Eastern Iran would backfire; liberation of India is not such a simple matter to be settled by military intervention as claimed by the authors. I explained, in detail what needed to be done in Central Asia was to remove the signs of Russian imperialism of the Tsarist period, to replace it with nationalities as opposed to religion, which would advance the cause. In that writing I also stressed that, the statues of General Kauffman erected in Tashkent and Belovodsk in the Cu basin of Yedisu needed to be removed; the return of the lands to the natives that were confiscated as a result of the 1916 uprising and distributed to the Russian immigrants; in the state institutions, proportional employment of the natives and Russian residents; necessity of formation of native military units. In addition, as a practical matter, I advised the formation of a Turkistan Extraordinary Commission comprised of three Moslems and two Russians, and task them to oversee the proposals mentioned above, to include the natives in the postal service, telegraph administration and industry. My writing had eleven points, and had the format of a request. Lenin liked very much all what I thus presented. He, too, regarded the proposals of the two authors absurd, and mine as practical (delovoy). Lenin made fun of Yusupov’s extremely detailed arguments which claimed that all future conflicts could be democratically resolved, with his own observation that “these are founding parliament absurdities.” Meaning, Lenin’s own approach to parliamentarianism was very sarcastic. He picked up his pen, we structured the sentences together. He was a dictator, but not despotic. He relayed some of his provisions, including the removal of the said statues, to the Soviet Administration in Tashkent via radio on 12 July. Tashkent Official Soviet newspaper printed the news that was relayed via radio that all matters pertaining to the population was going to be handled according to the population proportions, the treatment of the native population was going to be just, and a Turkistan Extraordinary Commission (Turk Komisiya) was going to be established in the center (Moscow) for the purpose of executing these matters. Member of the Tashkent Soviet government, Tabolin, who was in Moscow at that moment, saw this parallel party Central Committee as an influence on Lenin by Zeki Velidi and the Indian Bereketullah, instead of their own initiative, and his comments detailed in his telegram on these matters was published in the Tashkent Russian newspapers Izvestia, and in Istirakiyun in Turkish. A portion of those measures were carried-out. I think the statue of Kaufman’s was removed along those lines. But, the Tashkent local Russian administration, just like the cases in Ufa and Orenburg, did not obey the population proportion principle while hiring officials. Nor did they apply all the other measures. To the aforementioned Turk Komisiya, Turar Riskilov, Ozbek Nizam Hocayev, and from the Tatars, Mir Seyit Sultanaliyev’s appointment as Moslem Members was proposed by me and accepted by Lenin; the Tashkent Russian Communists had those appointments derailed as well. During one of our consultation sessions with Lenin, very sincerely stated: “as you see, we are experiencing difficulties in the application of orders sent via radio. You had me write that order, but nobody was found among the natives who could work to apply those provisions. To have the Russian imperialism expunged by Russian hands, and apply pressure on them to do so via Moslem military units is also impossible. Comrade Tabolin represents communism in Turkistan. But, he is not able to understand that Soviet regime can succeed in your country without the Russian colonizers; nor does anyone else. For the time being, let us establish the Turk Komisiya; let them go and work; one may assume that this matter will be resolved gradually.” What Lenin really meant was: “it is not our intention to establish a separate country for you; instead to establish the Soviet regime. Do I need to do that by forming a Moslem army to suppress the Russian proletariat there for the purpose of having them carry the orders you had me write? If you were to raise a generation of educated to carry-out the objectives of socialism, and revolutionary native military units, then all this can be done. But, that, too, will take time.”
The matter of the Erk Socialist Party—
In Sarenski, we had the capability of working on the establishment of the Erk Socialist Party that would collaborate with the communists, to complete the program and consult with the center for the purpose. I spoke many times on this matter in Moscow with the Communist Party Politburo members Jaroslavski and Mme. Stasova. They supported the formation of national socialist and communist parties like the Erk party we were establishing. They sent Zaretski to Saranski in order to learn of our efforts. Zaretski saw our efforts even more radical than the Communist Party since we were proposing to completely nationalize the economic activity, and leave the national legal system completely free. Later we learned that Zaretski wrote a report, indicating our economic principles were not at all confined to bourgeois values and much closer to communism; that this party must be officially established and be included in Communism.
