Akhmet Baytursinuli
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Ahmet Baitursynuly ( kk, Ахмет Байтұрсынұлы, ,
romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
: ''Ahmed Baitūrsynūly'';
Russified Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
: Ахмет Байтурсынов) ( 5 September 1872 — 8 December 1937) was a Kazakh intellectual who worked in the fields of
politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studie ...
,
poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...
,
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
and
education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...
. Baitursynuly reformed the
Kazakh alphabet Kazakh, Qazaq or Kazakhstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kazakhstan *Kazakhs, an ethnic group *Kazakh language *The Kazakh Khanate *Kazakh cuisine *Qazakh Rayon, Azerbaijan *Qazax, Azerbaijan *Kazakh Uyezd, administrative distr ...
. In 1912, he excluded all the purely Arabic letters not used in the
Kazakh language The Kazakh or simply Qazaq (Latin: or , Cyrillic: or , Arabic Script: or , , ) is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia by Kazakhs. It is closely related to Nogai, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak. It is the official langua ...
and added letters specific to the Kazakh language. The new alphabet, named ''Tote jazu'' (meaning ''straight writing''), is still used by Kazakhs living in China, Afghanistan, and in Iran. Baitursynov also developed the basics of Kazakh and the scientific terminology for the definition of Kazakh grammar. In 1937, he was executed by a firing squad during the
Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...
.


Early life, education

Ahmet Baitursynuly was born to a
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Kazakh family in what is today
Kostanay Region Kostanay Region ( kk, Қостанай облысы, translit=Qostanai oblysy; russian: Костанайская область, translit=Kostanayskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. Its administrative center is the city of Kostanay. The pop ...
,
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
and was educated at the
Orenburg Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the border with Kazakhst ...
Teachers' School. After graduating in 1895, Baitursynov held teaching positions in a number of cities in Kazakhstan, including
Aktobe Aktobe ( kz, Ақтөбе, Aqtöbe; russian: Актобе, Aktobe) is a city on the Ilek River in Kazakhstan. It is the administrative center of Aktobe Region. In 2020, it had a population of 500,757 people. Aktobe is located in the west of Ka ...
,
Kostanay Kostanay ( kz, Қостанай, Qostanai ) is a city located on the Tobol River in northern Kazakhstan. It was known as Nikolayevsk (russian: Николаевск) until 1895 and then as Kustanay (russian: Кустанай) until 1997. Kostanay ...
and Karkaralinsk. When Ahmet was 13 years old, the police officers led by Colonel Yakovlev came to the village and staged a pogrom. Ahmet's father, Baitursyn Shoshak-uly, and three of Ahmet's brothers beat up Colonel Yakovlev. As a punishment, they were sent by Russian authorities to Siberia for 15 years. Ahmet obtained literacy in Kazakh, Persian,
Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...
, and
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
from the village
mullahs Mullah (; ) is an honorific title for Shia and Sunni Muslim clergy or a Muslim mosque leader. The term is also sometimes used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and sharia law. The title has also been used in some Mi ...
. In his teenage years, he was sent to the Turgai Russian-Kazakh School by his relatives to learn more
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
. After graduating from there, Ahmet moved to Orenburg to continue his education by attending a four-year teacher's school, founded by Kazakh intellectual
Ibrahim Altynsarin Ybyrai (Ibrahim) Altynsarin ( kz, Ыбырай Алтынсарин, ''Ybyraı Altynsarın''; Russian: ''Ибрай Алтынсарин'', 1841–1889) was a major figure in pre-Soviet Kazakh history. He was the most prominent Kazakh educator ...
. In Orenburg, Ahmet faced financial difficulties, but still graduated from school in 1895. The same year of his graduation, he published his first article, "Kirgizskie primety i poslovitsy" ("Kazakh Superstitions and Proverbs") in a regional newspaper. Ahmet taught at the village schools in the Aktyubinsk, Kostanay and Karkaraly regions. While working as a teacher in a Russian-Kazakh school in the Kostanay region, Ahmet lived in a house near a Russian forester, whose daughter, Alexandra Ivanovna, fell in love and married him. Their marriage was committed in a Muslim mosque in the village of Auliyekol. Ivanovna converted to Islam, and changed her name to Badrisafa Muhammetsadikova Baitursynova. They lived in
Kostanay Kostanay ( kz, Қостанай, Qostanai ) is a city located on the Tobol River in northern Kazakhstan. It was known as Nikolayevsk (russian: Николаевск) until 1895 and then as Kustanay (russian: Кустанай) until 1997. Kostanay ...
, where he worked as a teacher in a Russian-Kazakh school. The following year, Ahmet and his wife moved to Omsk, then to Karkaralinsk, where they stayed until 1909.


Political activity


Activism, imprisonment (1905-1909)

In 1905, he collaborated with other Kazakhs to form the Kazakh wing of the Constitutional Democrat Party. Baitursynov was one of the authors of the Karkaraly Petition, which advocated to stop the expropriation of land from the Kazakhs, suspend the flow of immigrants, and to establish popular zemstvos. In 1907, he was first imprisoned for criticizing the Tsarist administration, and then in 1909 again for 8 months without a trial in the Semipalatinsk prison. His involvement in politics probably led to him being exiled from the
Steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...
regions. After being exiled, Baitursynov moved to
Orenburg Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the border with Kazakhst ...
. All-Russian Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1919 On August 27, the political protests by B against the decision to join the Kostanay district in the
Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk ( rus, Челя́бинск, p=tɕɪˈlʲæbʲɪnsk, a=Ru-Chelyabinsk.ogg; ba, Силәбе, ''Siläbe'') is the administrative center and largest city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the seventh-largest city in Russia, with a ...
region became the basis for the return of Kostanay district to Kazakhstan. It was 1920. He was a member of the Kazakh ASSR government, formed in August 1920 – 1921, and served as the Commissioner of Population of the Kazakh ASSR in 1920–1921. In 1922 he worked as the Academic Center at the Regional People's Commissariat, the Scientific and Literary Commission of the People's Commissariat of Commerce in 1922–1925, and the Chairman of the Research Society for the Kazakh Region. Baitursynov was a member of various public services and at the same time he did not even enjoy his favorite teacher work. From 1921 to 1925 he lectured in
Orenburg Orenburg (russian: Оренбу́рг, ), formerly known as Chkalov (1938–1957), is the administrative center of Orenburg Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Ural River, southeast of Moscow. Orenburg is also very close to the border with Kazakhst ...
, in 1926–1928 at the Kazakh Institute of National Education in
Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...
, taught Kazakh language and literature, history of culture. In 1928, due to the opening of the Kazakh State Pedagogical Institute in Almaty, he was transferred to the post of professor at the invitation of the rector. On June 2, 1929, together with 43 Alash movement activists, he was arrested in
Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of ...
and sent to the Butyrskiy detention center in Moscow for investigation by the end of this year. In the 1930s, in the 1930s, the People's Commissars of the USSR, On April 4, Baitursynov was sentenced to death. This decision has been changed several times: in January 1931, ten years later, in 1932, in November, to be deported to Arkhangelsk for 3 years. 1926 Member of the Presidium of the First Turkological Congress - Ahmed Baitursynov, held in Baku In May 1933, the rest of the time due to poor health allowed to spend with the family (his wife and daughter), who are being driven out of Western Siberia. In 1934, with the help of Gorky's wife EP Peshkova, Baitursynov was released early and returned to Almaty. There is no permanent job here, and short-term employment in various institutions. August 8, 1937, was again arrested and shot two months later, on December 8. The first book of the Baytursynuly - "The forty example" was published in 1909, the beginning of the whole generation. In his work, he concealed and humiliated the Russian colonial forces, the country's stagnant state. Baytursynuly is an interesting form of an example genre, idea of concept, socios of the toxic language. and it helped to awaken consciousness. The poet's civic dreams, poems and poems were published in a separate book called the Masa (1911). The main idea of Massa is to read publicly, to call for art education, to preach the culture, and to work. The poet urged the people to overcome such deficiencies as darkness, indifference, and marching. Upgrading Abai's educational and critical traditions, Baitursynov's 20th century. upgraded Kazakh literature to revolutionary-democratic level. Baitursynov also translated Kazakh poems AS Pushkin, LY Lermontov, F.Volter, SN Nadson. These translations are Baitursynov's themes, ideologically artistic works. She was anxious about the future of the country, and she became a spiritual leader of the Kazakh youth with a multifaceted work of wisdom.


Exile (1911-1917)

During his exile, he wrote articles for ''
Ay Qap ''Ay Qap'' (آی قاپ, ''Айқап, Aıqap'' in modern scripts) was a Kazakh journal of opinion and debate published in Troitsk from January 1911 until September 1915 under the editorship of Mūhammedjan Seralin.Alihan Bökeyhan, and Mirjaqıp Dulatulı, a poet and a writer, founded a Kazakh newspaper named '' Qazaq'' in Orenburg where Baitursynov served as the chief editor. The newspaper ran until the spring of 1918. During that time, he published "Qyryq Mysal" ("Forty Proverbs"). His other significant publication as well was a Kazakh translation of
Ivan Krylov Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (russian: Ива́н Андре́евич Крыло́в; 13 February 1769 – 21 November 1844) is Russia's best-known fabulist and probably the most epigrammatic of all Russian authors. Formerly a dramatist and journali ...
's fables.


Alash Orda (1917-1919)

During the
Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
occurred, Baitursynov returned to the steppes and began to work with the members of
Alash Orda The Alash Autonomy ( kk, Алаш Автономиясы; Alaş Avtonomiasy, italic=no, ; russian: Алашская автономия, italic=no, ) was a Kazakh provisional government, or proto-state, located mainly in Central Asia, and partly ...
. With them, he sought for the Kazakhs to have an independent state. At the two Pan-Kyrgyz congresses in Orenburg, he participated in the creation of the Alash party and was one of the organizers and leaders of
Alash Autonomy The Alash Autonomy ( kk, Алаш Автономиясы; Alaş Avtonomiasy, italic=no, ; russian: Алашская автономия, italic=no, ) was a Kazakh provisional government, or proto-state, located mainly in Central Asia, and partly ...
. At the end of that year, Baitursynov was elected to the Constituent Assembly from the Turgai constituency. On 4 April 1919, he was granted amnesty by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. After that, Baitursynov sided with the Soviet government and joined the Bolshevik Communist Party. From 1919, he served as a Member of the Committee of Deputies of the Constituent Assembly and as Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Kazakh Krai, as well as Commissioner of Enlightenment. In these capacities, he helped to reform education and to establish the first university in KazakSSR.


Later life, execution

In June 1929, he was reminded of political activity and arrested by the NKVD, and sent to prison in Kyzyl-Orda, as in tsarist times again with
Mirjaqip Dulatuli Mirjaqyp Dulatuly ( kk, Міржақып Дулатұлы, ''Mırjaqyp Dulatūly''; Russian: Миржакып Дулатов (1885–1935), also known as Mir Yakub Dulatov, was a Kazakh poet, writer and one of leaders of Kazakh nationalist Alas ...
, and then was sent to the Arkhangelsk region. His wife, Baitursynova and her adopted daughter Sholpan were sent to Tomsk. In 1934, at the request of E. Peshkova (wife of Maxim Gorky), who worked on the Red Cross Commission, Baitursynov was released. He reunited with his family who already had three adopted children in Alma-Ata. In October 1937, Baitursynov was arrested again for the last time for hiding "bourgeois nationalist sentiments". Two months later, on the 8th of December, he was executed. This resulted in an outcry, which was quickly and bloodily silenced.


Legacy

To this day, Baitursynov is held in great regard in Kazakhstan, but is viewed as somewhat tragic figure, signifying the extent of the numbers of authors, poets and thinkers who have perished due to the
Soviet repressions Throughout the history of the Soviet Union, tens of millions of people suffered political repression, which was an instrument of the state since the October Revolution. It culminated during the History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), Stalin era ...
. The
Baitursynov Home Museum Akhmet Baitursynov Home Museum ( Russian: Дом-музей Байтурсынова, '' tr. dom muzei baitursynova'') is a memorial museum of Akhmet Baitursynov in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Museum is located in the house where he lived in 1934–1937. ...
in honor of Baitursynov was established in one of his former residences in Alma-Ata, and a number of streets were renamed in his memory across Kazakhstan. A statue of him is also to be found in the town of Kostenay. Baitursynov's work is also part of the curriculum for high school education system of Kazakhstan. Another of Baitursynov's significant accomplishments was his adaptation of
Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and th ...
for the
Kazakh alphabet Kazakh, Qazaq or Kazakhstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kazakhstan *Kazakhs, an ethnic group *Kazakh language *The Kazakh Khanate *Kazakh cuisine *Qazakh Rayon, Azerbaijan *Qazax, Azerbaijan *Kazakh Uyezd, administrative distr ...
. In 2021, UNESCO included Akhmet Baitursynov on the list of UNESCO anniversaries for 2022–2023 in honor of the 150th anniversary of his birth. In November 2022, a monument to Akhmet Baitursynov was unveiled. The solemn ceremony was attended by President
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev ( kk, Қасым-Жомарт Кемелұлы Тоқаев, Qasym-Jomart Kemelūly Toqaev ; born 17 May 1953) is a Kazakh politician and diplomat who is currently serving as the President of Kazakhstan since 12 J ...
, relatives of the scientist and representatives of the creative intelligentsia. On December 30, 2022, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the great scientist-turkologist, publicist, prominent statesman Akhmet Baitursynov, a monument and a park were opened in
Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
.


References

*
The Geography of Civilizations: A Spatial Analysis of the Kazakh Intelligentsia's activities, From the Mid-Nineteenth to the Early Twentieth Century
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baitursynov, Akhmet 1873 births 1937 deaths People from Kostanay Region People from Turgay Oblast (Russian Empire) Bolsheviks Russian Constituent Assembly members All-Russian Central Executive Committee members Kazakh-language poets Kazakh-language writers Kazakhstani poets Kazakhstani journalists 20th-century poets 20th-century male writers 20th-century Kazakhstani writers Kazakhstani male writers Great Purge victims from Kazakhstan Soviet rehabilitations