THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY 7
PREFACE
Prof. Dr. Ermukhan Bekmakhanov (1915-1966) who has an important
place in the Kazakh historiography in the Soviet period was commemorated
with various scientific events in Kazakhstan in 2015 on the
occasion of his 100th Birth Anniversary. His ideas were discussed.
Books and articles about his life and works were published; documentaries
and drama films were made.
Bekmakhanov, the first Kazakh historian with history education at
graduate and postgraduate levels, has come into prominence with not
only his studies, but also with repressions which he was exposed to
since expressing historical truths.
He was arrested in 1952 and sentenced to 25 years in exile in
Siberia for his doctoral thesis titled “Kazakhstan in the Years of
1920’s-1940’s” about Kenesary Khan (1802-1847) which had carried
out a great rebellion against Tsarist Russia and then publishing it as
a book. The book was banned. After Stalin’s death in 1953 he was
forgiven in 1954 and returned to Kazakhstan. Beginning to work in
his former job again, Bekmakhanov continued his jobs teaching and
researching in the Department of History of Kazakhstan at Kazakh
State University in Almaty until his death on 6 May 1966.
The life and ideas of Bekmakhanov who had made important contributions
to the writing of Kazakh national history have been subject to
many books and articles. However, it is a fact that there are not enough
studies in Turkey about Bekmakhanov and is even unknown among
Turkish historians. When we carried out research on internet search
engines in late 2014, we found no information about him in Turkish.
For this reason we, as the Department of History of Mimar Sinan
Fine Arts University, decided to organize an international symposium
to promote this great historian in Turkey. Our decision was supported
with great pleasure by Professor. Dr. Yalçın Karayağız, the rector
of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Our historian colleagues at L.N.
Gumilev Eurasia University in Astana in Kazakhstan have expressed
that if such a symposium is held, they will be able to participate.
They even said they could come to Istanbul with their own means.
On the other hand, upon our request, the Union of Turkish World
Municipalities agreed to sponsor accomodation expenses of guests
coming from abroad and the printing of the symposium book.
So the international symposium of “The Soviet Historiography and
Questions of Kazakhstan History” on the Occasion of the 100th Birth
Anniversary of the First Kazakh Historian Ermukhan Bekmakhanov
was held in Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Bomonti Campus on