THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

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THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND
With the nineteenth century, some spiritual stirs began to emerge
in Volga-Ural region in favour of modernisation. Thus, local social identity
began to engage in a sophisticated transformation process. This
transformation emerged as a part of Ceditçilik reform movement and
was attained thanks to the efforts of well-educated intellectual circles.
In this process, the enterprises to learn the history of the region
and to say new ideas had a particular role. In this regard, the prominent
cleric, thinker, historian and educationalist Shihabeddin Merjani
(1818-1889) took the first step. He went beyond the traditional
history teaching concentrated on Volga Bulgarians and highlighted
the periods of Golden Horde Empire and Kazan Khanate. Then, he
established a link between Volga-Ural region and Central Asia and
located his own nation’s history with the general Turkish history
perspective for the first time. According to him, as a result of the mix
of native Bulgarian and Kipchak elements with outsider Mongol-Tatar
elements, the fundamentals of a new society and culture had been
formed. The tradition of patriotism on this basis stemmed from the
“Tatar” self-consciousness. 371
In this way, he brought about for his society a new and broader
point of view transcending the frontiers of Volga-Ural region. He
invited his contemporaries to look beyond the period under Russian
control and to be proud of their historical legacy crystallised under the
name “Tatar”. Against the usage of “Bulgarian”, he proposed the name
“Tatar”. He asserted that “Tatar” name should be used with dignity
against Russian derogatory propaganda. In Kazan’ın ve Bulgar’ın Ahvali
Konusunda Faydalanılan Haberler (Volume I: 1885, Volume II: 1900),
he spoke against his contemporaries who refused to use the name
“Tatar”: “Oh poor! You say that you are not a Tatar. However, you are
also not an Arab, Tajik or Nogai; not a Chinese, Russian, French or
German! If you are not a Tatar, then tell, who are you?” 372
Merjani’s point of view significantly affected the intellectuals of
Volga-Ural region, especially the reformist Ceditçiler. Between 1890 and
1923, several history works championing the “pro-Tatar” point of view
were introduced by the intellectuals of Kazan. Some of these historians
are Fahreddin, G. Ahmerov, M. Remzi, G. Zebiri, H. Atlasi, K. Bikkulov and
371 See: Shamiloglu, U., ”The Formation of a Tatar Historical Consciousness: Shihabuddin
Marcani and Image of the Golden Horde”, Central Asian Survey, 1990, 9
(2), pp. 39-49.
372 Mercani, Sh., Müstafadi-l exbar fi ehval-i Kazan ve Bulgar [1885; 1900], Ya. G.
Abdullin and E. N. Hayrullin (edt.), Tatarstan Kitap Neşriyatı, Kazan 1989, p. 44.