THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY 81
corps composed of 27 infantry divisions to fight against Kenesary
Kasymov movement. 118 Again according to the archival documents,
every year between 1840 and 1845, military corps were sent to the
Kazak steppes to put an end to the Kenesary movement. However,
at the end of the “onerous”, “burdensome” and “fruitless” attempts
and experiences, the Russian administration felt the necessity to
change the tactics. In 1845, the Tsarist Russia took decision to build
the castles of Ural and Orenburg. Russian government soon began to
see benefits of the castle, such as keeping the rioters suppressed and
away from the boundaries, being protected from the next attacks of
the Kazaks, and so on. Thus, in 1847, Russia built another castle on
the right bank of Syr Derya, by the valley Rayim tract. 119
Sabyr Attokurov, another Kyrgyz historian, in his book Kyrgyzdar
XIX kylymda (Kyrgyzs in the 19 th Century) has a chapter named “The
Struggle of the Kyrgyzs with Kenesary Kasymov”. Although the title
of the chapter seemed problematic, the author concluded saying that
“the bloody battle in the years 1846-47 should not be evaluated as
the Kazak-Kyrgyz war”. 120
Another Kyrgyz historian Janibek Jakypbekov, in his work entitled
Some Problems of the Kyrgyz Historiography, criticized Ryskul Joldoshev’s
article “The Narration on Ormon Khan. Historical Analysis” for
evaluating Kenesary as an enemy, for the subjective analysis and for
not utilizing the works of Kazak and Kyrgyz scholars on this subject 121 .
Jakypbekov draws attention to the necessity of a new perspective
to this topic, and of reaching the conclusion after an extensive and
in-depth research as well as reading the works of the Kazak scholars.
Jakypbekov has a broader perspective by stating that Kenesary
ought to be considered as an important personality of his era, bearing
118 Mazhitov, Sattar. “İstoriya kolonizatsii Kazakstana v kontekste vneshney politiki Rossiyskoy
imperii v pervoy polovine XIX veka” (History of Colonization of Kazakstan in the
Context of Foreign Policies of Russian Empire in the First Half of the 19 th Century), İstoriya
kolonizatsii Kazahstana v 20-60-h godah XIX-veka (History of Colonization of Kazakstan
in 1820s-1860s of the 19 th Century), ed. Galiyev-Majitov, Almaty, 2009, pp. 292-293.
119 Mazhitov, Sattar. “İstoriya kolonizatsii Kazakstana v kontekste vneshney politiki Rossiyskoy
imperii v pervoy polovine XIX veka” (History of Colonization of Kazakstan in the
Context of Foreign Policies of Russian Empire in the First Half of the 19 th Century), İstoriya
kolonizatsii Kazahstana v 20-60-h godah XIX-veka (History of Colonization of Kazakstan
in 1820s-1860s of the 19 th Century), ed. Galiyev-Majitov, Almaty, 2009, p. 293.
120 Attokurov, Sabyr. Kyrgyzdar XIX kylymda (The Kyrgyzs in the 19 th Century). Bishkek,
2003, p. 93.
121 There is a possibility that the state of being the 5 th -generation-grandchild of Ormon Khan
might have influenced viewpoints and analysis of Ryskul Joldoshev.