Zeki Velidi Togan (, , ; 1890 – 1970 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

), was a Turkish- Bashkir historian, Turkologist, and leader of the Bashkir revolutionary and liberation movement, doctor of philosophy (1935), professor, honorary doctor of the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

(1967).

Biography

He was born in Kuzyanovo ( Bashkir: Көҙән) village of Sterlitamaksky Uyezd, Ufa Governorate (in present-day Ishimbaysky District,

Bashkortostan Bashkortostan, officially the Republic of Bashkortostan, sometimes also called Bashkiria, is a republic of Russia between the Volga river and the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. The republic borders Perm Krai to the north, Sverdlovsk Oblast ...

). From 1912 to 1915 Velidi taught in the

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

(Qasimiyä), and from 1915 to 1917, he was a member of bureau, supporting

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

deputies at the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

. In 1917, he was elected to the Millət Məjlisi, and with Şərif Manatov, he organized the Bashkir Shuro (Council). During the Bashkir Congress in Orenburg from December 1917, he declared autonomous Bashkiria. However, he was arrested 3 February 1918 by the Soviet forces. In April 1918 he managed to escape and joined the forces confronting the Bolsheviks. In 1918 and 1919 Velidi's Bashkir troops first fought under Ataman Alexander Dutov, then under Admiral Kolchak against

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

forces. After the

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

promised autonomy to Bashkirs, Velidi switched allegiance, fighting with the Bolsheviks. From February 1919 to June 1920, he was chairman of the ''Bashrevkom'' (Bashkir Revolutionary Committee). He attended the Congress of the Peoples of the East held in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

in September 1920, where he became involved in drawing up the statutes of ERK, a Muslim Socialist organisation. However, feeling the Bolsheviks had broken their promises, he became more critical of them when he moved to

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

. In Turkistan, Velidi became a leader of the

Basmachi Movement The Basmachi movement (, derived from ) was an uprising against Imperial Russian and Soviet rule in Central Asia by rebel groups inspired by Islamic beliefs. It has been called "probably the most important movement of opposition to Soviet rul ...

. From 1920 to 1923, he was chairman of the "National Union of Turkistan". In April 1923, he was part of a delegation to the British embassy in

Mashhad Mashhad ( ; ), historically also known as Mashad, Meshhed, or Meshed in English, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. ...

requesting support for the Basmachi, which was met with skepticism by British officials. In 1923 Velidi emigrated, after discovering original manuscripts of Ahmad ibn Fadlan in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. From 1925 Velidi lived in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and was appointed Chair of Turkish History at the

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

in 1927. However, his controversial views criticizing the Turkish History Thesis at the First Turkish Language Congress in 1932, forced him to seek refuge in Vienna, where he gained a

doctor of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

in 1935. Following he became a professor at Bonn University (1935–1937) and

Göttingen University Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

(1938–1939). On the 3 May 1944 protests in support of Nihal Atsız occurred, who was on trial and on the 9 May he was detained together with other Pan-Turkists like Alparslan Türkeş, Nihal Atsız and Reha Oğuz Türkkan. In March 1945 he was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor. During trial he was accused of having been the chair of Gürem, an organization aimed at forming a military alliance with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in order to liberate the Turkic people living in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In 1947 a retrial ended with the release of all defendants. In 1953 he became organizer of the ''İslam Tetkikleri Enstitüsü'' (Institute for Islamic Studies) at

. In 1967, he was given an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the

. At the same time he contributed to the ''Encyclopedia of Turkic Peoples''. His articles about culture, language and history of Turkic peoples have been translated into many languages.

Views

Velidi was a Turkist and advocate for the removal of Persian cultural influence in the Turkic World, becoming influential in promoting this within the Jadidist movement. In his view, the Turkic peoples had become "imprisoned in the civilization of the Iranians," criticising the speech and literature of the people of the cities of

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

Fergana Fergana ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Fargʻona, Фарғона, ), () or Ferghana, also Farghana is a district-level city and the capital of Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan. Fergana is about 320 km east of Tashkent, about 75 km southwest of A ...

and

Khiva Khiva ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Xiva, Хива, ; other names) is a district-level city of approximately 93,000 people in Khorazm Region, Uzbekistan. According to archaeological data, the city was established around 2,500 years ago. In 1997, Khiva celebr ...

for being intermixed with Persian vocabulary. He believed that the Persian influence needed to be removed for Turkic peoples to find their own "national spiritual wealth."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velidi Togan, Zeki 1890 births 1970 deaths People from Ishimbaysky District People from Sterlitamaksky Uyezd Russian Constituent Assembly members 20th-century Turkish historians Turkish Turkologists Historians of Central Asia Khazar studies Pan-Turkists Muslims from the Russian Empire Turkish people of Bashkir descent People of the Russian Civil War Soviet emigrants to Turkey Academic staff of the University of Bonn People convicted in the Racism-Turanism trials

Biography

Views

References

Further reading

External links