Memoirs of Prof Zeki Velidi Togan : National Existence and Cultural Struggles of Turkistan and Other Muslim Eastern Turks

By Paksoy, HB, Ph.D.

Book Id: WPLBN0100002740
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 2.20 MB
Reproduction Date: 12/8/2012

Title:	Memoirs of Prof Zeki Velidi Togan : National Existence and Cultural Struggles of Turkistan and Other Muslim Eastern Turks
Author:	Paksoy, HB, Ph.D.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Political Science, History
Collections:	Authors Community, History
Historic Publication Date:	2012
Publisher:	Create Space

Member Page:	erasmus rotterdamus
Citation APA MLA Chicago Hb Paksoy, Translato, B. P. (2012). Memoirs of Prof Zeki Velidi Togan : National Existence and Cultural Struggles of Turkistan and Other Muslim Eastern Turks. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
2. Language: Togan was fluent in a number of diverse languages (German, Arabic, Russian, Persian, French, and English etc.) and a myriad of Central Asian Turk dialects as there are no such distinctions as “Turkic” and “Turkish,” which were artificially introduced into English and Russian. He not only used these languages and dialects for scholarly purposes, but also for discourse un- der a wide variety of conditions. Consequently, one can easily discern from his expressions that, while recalling an event, Togan has the tendency of remem- bering the proceedings in the “original,” the particular language or dialect in which the transaction took place. For example, if his respondent was a Kazak, he thinks in Kazak dialect, the flavor of which invariably seeps into his writ- ing, recording the incident. He also uses vocabulary from those languages that can have more than one meaning in English. As an additional result, the spell- ings of geographic as well as personal names can vary, even on the same page.

Summary
his work needs to be read as a manual of governance in practice. It does not venture heavily into theory, as it concentrates on how large-scale applications of governance are conducted. In addition, the author was one of those practitioners who interacted and bargained with Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky and the rest of the Soviet and Bolshevik luminaries of his own time for Baskurdistan and Turkistan. It can be read profitably in the context of anti-colonialism, Sub-altern studies, Russian and Soviet studies. He presents the issues on world-wide bases.

Excerpt
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.

Table of Contents
I. Family Origins II. My Scholarly Visit to Turkistan III. 1916-1918 Political Life IV. Collaboration with the Soviets for fifteen months (1919-1920) v. Talks with Lenin VI. Struggles in Turkistan