History of the turkish diaspora in Kazakhstan: history and modernity

Kazakhstan is one of the most multi-ethnic countries in the world. In our country there are more than 100 ethnic groups, each of which has characteristic features of spiritual and material culture. It should be remembered that during the existence of the Soviet state, the term «diaspora» was practically not used and there  were almost no scientific developments in this direction. Only after the collapse of the USSR the phenomenon of the diaspora began to attract the close attention of historians, ethnographers, politicians, representatives of various religious faiths. The article is devoted to the study of the history of the Turkish Diaspora in  the Republic of Kazakhstan, the basic historical stages of its formation and development, as well as to the key aspects of national policy in Soviet and modern times. In addition, the historiographical analysis of the problem studied is conducted. The article discusses the activities of the Turkish national cultural center and the  role of the Assembly of people of Kazakhstan. 

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a polyethnic country, where peacefully coexist representatives of more than 130 nationalities. In this regard, such concepts as interethnic and interfaith tolerance and mutual respect are emphasized in all the strategic documents and the speeches of the Leader of the nation NursultanNazarbayev. Favorable ethnic and cultural linkages and relationships are key aspects in the life of our state [1; 15].

The national policy of the Soviet government, creation of a new people without history and the past, provoked violent ethnic processes in the twentieth century. Unfortunately, forced deportations, political repression, arbitrary of authorities, became a heavy heritage of many peoples.

The Turkish Diaspora is quite noticeable among the multinational population of Kazakhstan. According to the Agency for statistics, as of January 1, 2014 105 thousand Turks lived in the Republic of Kazakhstan   (9 largest ethnic groups) [2; 34]. The study of this problem still has «white spots». Soviet historiography (until the collapse of the USSR) did not go beyond the rigid ideological framework in the evaluation of either political or social, economic or cultural history of the USSR. For a number of reasons, neither historians nor political  and economic scientists,  could not  conduct full  and objective study of these  processes even  after «perestroika».

ChinghizAitmatov was the first writer who began to speak and write of deported Turks in the late 1980ies. In the early 1990-ies, this problem was mainly reported in the proceedings of various conferences. In  particular, in 1992 New York hosted an international conference of Turkic peoples «The Present and Future of the Turkic Peoples», where the Chairman of the Turkish national cultural center «Turkia» T.A.Kurgaev read the report «About the Akhyska Turks: history and problems» [3; 15].

In 1994, in Almaty the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a conference on the theme: «The Akhyska Turks: history, present and future», dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the deportation of the people [3; 16].

In 1994 scientist N. F. Bugai and the publishing house «ROSS» published the collection of materials under the title «The Turks from Meskheti: a long way to rehabilitation» [4].

In 1998, under the auspices of the «Year of national unity and national history» and the 75th anniversary of  the  formation  of  the  Turkish  Republic,  a  conference  was  organized.  Among the  speakers were

T.A. Kurdaev, Ambassador extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Turkey in Kazakhstan Kurtulush Tashkent, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan ManashKozybayev, President of the Federation of the Turks of the CIS MaksutIzzat and others [3; 6].

In 2003 «Arys» public fund for the heritage of repressed intelligentsia of Kazakhstan published an encyclopedic reference book «Peoples of Kazakhstan» which contained the information about the history and culture of the 125 ethnic groups in the country. There are materials on the Turkish Diaspora, particularly history, demography, settlement area, life, customs, etc. [5].

A detailed study of this problem is the subject of the dissertation of Gabdullina A.Zh. on the theme «Socio-cultural development of the Turkish Diaspora in Kazakhstan (1944–2000.)», defended in Almaty in 2004 [6]. The author, using previously classified and unavailable archival materials, analyzes the sociodemographic characteristics, living conditions and economic activities of the Akhyska Turks, as well as makes a comparative view of socio-political and cultural life of the Ahyska Turks in Kazakhstan in Soviet and modern times.

The emergence of the Turkish Diaspora in Kazakhstan has its roots deep in the past. The first stage of the deportation of the Turks took place from 1937 to 1939, when the Azeris, Kurds, Armenians living in the border regions of the USSR were evicted to Kazakhstan [7; 307].

The second phase of deportation of the Turks was during the great Patriotic war. In 1944, July 31 the Resolution of the State defense Committee came out under a signature stamp «top secret» , where the government of Kazakhstan was recommended to resettle 40 thousand people from Georgia in the Republic       [8; 186-187].

In 1944, November 14 the leadership of the Union decided to evict the Turks and the Kurds. In accordance with the decree of the State Committee of defense of the USSR from the edge of the 5 regions of Georgia (Akhaltsikhe, Akhalkalaki, Adigeni, Aspindza and Bogdanovka) hemshins, Turks, Kurds with a population of 91 095  people  were  deported  and  sent  to  special  settlements  in  Kazakhstan  and  Central  Asia [8; 189, 190].

6300 Turkish families (27833 people ) were distributed to Kazakhstan [8; 195].

The reasons for the deportation of these peoples are different. The main reason was «in possibility support for the Turks of Turkey after its probable entry into the war with the USSR» [6; 38]. In the opinion of  the researcher Yunusov A. the main reason  was the desire  of local  authorities to  get  rid  of the Muslims  [9; 49].

The road to Kazakhstan was very painful and difficult: overcrowded carriages, the severe winter, hunger and disease.

In Kazakhstan the deported Turks were settled in the southern regions: South Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata, Kzyl-Orda, Dzhambul and Taldy-Kurgan regions [3; 28]. According to the general rules, the special settlers were obliged within three days to report to the commandant's office of the NKVD about all the changes in  the family. Immediately upon arrival special lists were made, which contained information about persons arrived and their future place of work. Men and women of working age were sent to hard physical work. Difficult acclimatisation and infectious diseases (malaria, typhoid, dysentery, etc.) were the principal causes of high mortality. Families died out entirely [3; 20].

Only after the death of Stalin the condition of many deported peoples changed. By the mid-1950-ies, a partial rehabilitation began. According to the legislative documents of the CPSU Central Committee on Ju-  ly 5, 1954 «About the withdrawal of certain restrictions in the legal status of special settlers» [10; 146] and  on 29 June 1955 «On measures to strengthen mass-political work among the special settlers» [10; 241] there was a change in the socio-legal status of the deported. These documents caused a great political and labor enthusiasm among the special settlers. They began to participate more actively in political and economic life of groups. Due to these, the number of leader production among them increased, while the number of violations of labor discipline and rules of a socialist cohabitation decreased.

The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 28 April 1956 «On lifting special settlement restrictions from the Crimean Tatars, Balkars, Turks-citizens of USSR, Kurds, hemshils and their families, evicted during the great Patriotic war», decided: «to remove from the register of the special settlements and release from under administrative supervision of the Ministry of internal Affairs of the USSR the Crimean Tatars, Balkars, Turks-citizens of USSR, Kurds, hemshils and their families who were evicted to special settlement during the great Patriotic war. To establish that the removal of restrictions on special settlement from the persons listed in article one of this Decree shall not entail the return of property confiscated during the eviction, and that they do not have the right to return to places from where they were evicted»     [3; 92, 93].

That is, according to this Decree, the rehabilitation was not accompanied by social rehabilitation, and was limited to the withdrawal of charges and dismissal of the case.

The decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on October 31, 1957 «On the rehabilitation of Azerbaijanis» expelled in 1944 from Georgia allowed to move to Azerbaijan permanently. So many special settlers from Georgia, in particular 24 034 Turk called themselves or were registered as Azerbaijanis. This allowed them to move to Azerbaijan as Azerbaijanis and to be closer to their homeland [9; 51].

After Kazakhstan gained its independence, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N. A. Nazarbaev, addressing the Assembly of peoples of Kazakhstan, noticed that the problem of the return to Meskheti (a region of Georgia bordering Turkey) was raised by the Turks, who were displaced to Kazakhstan during the war. Later in his speech, the President said: «Fulfilling the request of the leaders of the Turkish community,   I sent a letter to the Georgian leadership, in which proposed to consider the possibility of moving of several hundred Meskhetian families to their historical homeland. Have to say the answer came quickly: Georgia agreed to accept immigrants, but not all, and only a few dozen families. When announced this reply to the Turkish community, they found it offensive. Thanking me for caring, the elders stated that they intend to continue to live and work in Kazakhstan» [1; 215].

An interesting aspect for us is the demographic characteristics of the Turkish Diaspora in Kazakhstan. It should be noted that the number of Akhyska Turks from 1939 to 2016 has increased significantly.

According to the materials of all-Union population census of 1939, 6093507 people lived in the Kazakh SSR, including the Kazakhs – 2313674, the Russians – 2993128, among other nationalities there were only 523 persons of Turkish nationality [11; 134].

The results of the Soviet census of 1959 in the Kazakh SSR showed that the population was 9309847 people, including the Kazakhs – 2794966, the Russians – 3974229 [12; 8] and the number of the Turks – increased to 9916 [12; 10].

Thus, according to the census of 1970, the number of the Turks was 18397 people, including urban population – 2573, rural – 15942 [13; 341]. In 1979, the total number of the Turkish population was already 25820 people, including urban population – 4982, rural – 20838 [14; 9].

The last all-Union census of 1989 showed that the total number of the Turks – 49567, among them urban population – 8942, rural population – 40622 [14; 11]. In 1999, the total population of the Turks amounted 75933 person, urban population – 17422, rural population – 58511 [15; 8].

That is, for 1999 compared with 1970 growth of the Turkish population was 57536 people. The surge was associated not only with fertility. The Preface of the first volume of the statistical collection «National composition of population of the Republic of Kazakhstan.The results of the population census of 1999 in the Republic of Kazakhstan» states that the results of the 1970 census, in accordance with the order then showed the number of present population, while the census of 1979 and subsequent ones showed the number of the permanent population. When conducting the 1999 census nationality was recorded according to the respondents’ answers. The nationality of children was determined by their parents. This fact can explain that the number of the Turks in the last national census of 1999 increased substantially. In addition, statistics show that the majority of the Turkish population lived in rural areas.

The results of the national census of 2009 in the Republic of Kazakhstan showed that the number of the Turks reached 97000 [16; 7], while according to official data of Agency on statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan their number reached 105000 in 2014.According to unofficial data, 180 – 200 thousand Turks live in the Republic today, many of them still cannot recover their nationality in the passports that were forcibly changed in Soviet times. For example, the memories of Mussadine Demetradze: «I was born in 1923 in the village Selo of Adygeysky region, Georgian SSR in a family of peasants. At that time we didn't have surnames. The name of the father was written instead. I am Mussadin Seifatogly, and my father is Seifat Shakirogly. In 1931, after the death of my parents my brother and I were sent to the district orphanage. They said our last name was Demetradze.  I was surprised and tried to explain that my father's name was Seifat,  but no one listened, and recorded Demetradze. And in 1937 we «received» our nationality. At that time we were not taught the Turkish language, and studied Azerbaijani. And soon we became Azerbaijanis by nationality, while the last name remained Georgian. And I am the Turk from Meskheti. My children are still

Demetradze and Azerbaijanis by nationality. The document can not be changed. But I was evicted as the Turk, nobody read my passport» [3; 58]. And there are a lot of such cases.

Thus, the dynamics of the population and area of settlement of the Turks from 1930-ies and to this day, has undergone major changes. As a result of national policy in the USSR, manifested in particular in the «closure» problem of the Turks, their numbers were deliberately underestimated.

In 1993 the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On rehabilitation of victims of political repressions» was adopted. This law was enacted to restore fairness to people, victims of mass political repressions and rehabilitation of all the victims of these repressions. According to article 3 of the Law all the special settlers were declared rehabilitated [17].

Today the Turkish Diaspora lives compactly on the territory of southern Kazakhstan. They live the community and it is their main core, which allowed them not to assimilate, but to preserve their ethnic and cultural identity.

In the 1990-ies, they had difficulties but, nevertheless, they quickly managed to navigate the rails of market economy. Practicing traditional forms of agriculture – viticulture, horticulture, vegetable growing, they opened farms. Some of them went into business, others into science and culture. The correspondent of the political magazine «Continent T» Alexey Ikonnikov noticed: «In everyday life and in any business community live concentrated and support each other. Family and human relations within the diaspora are of great value, though the Turks cannot be called closed in communication with representatives of other nationalities. It should be noted that the new generation of Akhyska Turks is already the indigenous Kazakhs. The values of Kazakhstan's multinational society are natural for them. And these people, of course, will have a good future in Kazakhstan [18; 30, 31].

In the late 1980-ies and early 1990-ies, there was a significant process of democratic transformation of the Soviet society. Normative documents, regulating creation and activity of public associations on grounds of ethnicity in democratic and legal basis were first adopted. In particular, on 14 April 1989 Decree «On the procedure of formation and activity of Amateur organizations of the public» was adopted in the Kazakh SSR [19]. This document contributed to the birth of the first national-cultural centers in Kazakhstan.

On 2 February 1991 the Cultural center of the Turks of the USSR «Turkia» was organised by the representatives of the Turkish Diaspora in Alma-Ata. By March 15, 1996 it was renamed «The Society of the Turks of Kazakhstan «Turkia». Its regional and district branches were opened in places of compact residence of the Turkish Diaspora in the following cities and towns: Shymkent, Merke, Taraz, Talgar, Kaskelen, Issyk, Lenger, Sairam, Turgen [20; 2].

The main objectives of the Society of the Turks of Kazakhstan «Turkia» are as follows:

• participation in the implementation of cultural-educational activity among persons of the Turkish nationality on the study of history, the preservation and development of language, culture, revival of the progressive national customs and traditions of the Turkish people;
• promote the opening of schools and classes with education of children in the Turkish language;
• training of national staff (teachers, critics, writers, journalists);
• promotion of Turkish professional musical theater and folk ensemble in the Republic of  Kazakh-  stan [21].

The  society  of  the  Turks  of  Kazakhstan  «Turkia»  publishes  the  Republican  Turkish  newspaper «Ahyska» in the Kazakh, Turkish and Russian languages. The newspaper gives the information about the socio-cultural events, news, politics, sports, memories. The newspaper is distributed in all regions of Kazakhstan, densely populated by the Turkish Diaspora. The revival and preservation of culture in all its spheres through mass communication, expansion of information exchange with the Turkish Diaspora of other States is one of the objectives of the Society of the Turks of Kazakhstan «Turkia» [22; 3].

For solution of urgent problems in the field of culture, education and improving the socio-economic situation of the Diaspora 10 committees of the Society of the Turks of Kazakhstan «Turkia» , the committee of elders, committee on language and culture, sports, education, women, youth, etc. were established

The main purpose of the Committee on language and culture is the revival and development of national traditions, culture, language and religion of the people. Informing society about their activities is conducted through cooperation and creating their own media of various kinds. The spread of material about the national-cultural centers of the Republic can contribute to the formation of national consciousness of people, including socio-cultural tolerance. The society of the Turks of Kazakhstan «Turkia» in the city of Almaty familiarizes the representatives of other nationalities and ethnic groups with the history, culture and art of the Turks through the media.

For years of existence of this centre a number of feature and documentary films were made. «Sweet spring» feature film tells the story of the Turkish people living in Kazakhstan. In 2002, the Kazakh central television organized the shooting of a documentary story about the life and culture of the Turkish Diaspora in Kazakhstan [23].

In general, it should be noticed that the idea of creating national centres as one of the types of public associations in Kazakhstan is aimed at restoration of everything lost during the negative national policy, the desire to revive the national and cultural values of the part of the people. These people have their own public education  but, for many reasons, live on the territory of Kazakhstan.

The strategy of the Assembly of the people of Kazakhstan, created on the initiative of the President

1. Nazarbayev in 1995, promotes the development and implementation of the state national policy and also aims to improve the activity of the Assembly as an institution of the state policy in the sphere of interethnic relations. Speaking at the XXII session, devoted to the 20th anniversary of the Assembly our President
2. Nazarbayev said: «In our country, every ethnic group is an important and harmonious part of the Kazakhstan society. Its representatives are given all the opportunity to satisfy their spiritual needs, to preserve the identity, to realize themselves by participating in the construction of our Kazakhstani state» [24; 5].

Thus, the Akhyska Turks forcibly deported to Kazakhstan in the first half of the twentieth century, found a new Homeland here. Today Kazakhstan is home to numerous Turkish Diaspora actively seeking to study and preserve their ethnic culture, close contacts with the culture of the Kazakh people and the development of cultural and humanitarian ties of Kazakhstan and Turkey. The link in the Kazakh-Turkish relations is the Society of the Turks of Kazakhstan, whose activities are aimed at mutually beneficial assistance and support of the culture in favor of the ethnic groups. Reality shows that in a democratic society, national communities through various forms of public organizations and national-cultural associations may take independent decisions related to the continuity of culture, including the revival, preservation and use of their language.

The study of the traditions, achievements of the national culture, understanding of ethnic specificity in the sphere of folk art, customs and traditions, propaganda of this knowledge has a certain impact on the national consciousness of the peoples of Kazakhstan. It is the presence of its specific culture that makes a community of people a certain ethnic group and its diaspora is succeeded in mutual enrichment of the Republic’s spiritual life and culture.

References

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