Mustafa Shokay

Mustafa Shokay
Мұстафа Шоқай
Shokay in 1910
Minister-President of theTurkestan Autonomy
In office 12 December 1917 – 19 February 1918
Preceded by	Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev
Succeeded by	Kichik Ergash
Minister of Foreign Affairs ofTurkestan Autonomy
In office 28 November 1917 – 19 February 1918
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	(1890-12-25)25 December 1890 Akmeshit,Russian Empire(now Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan)
Died	27 December 1941(1941-12-27)(aged 51) Berlin,Nazi Germany
Political party	Alash Party
Spouse	Maria Shokay
Alma mater	Saint Petersburg State University
Profession	Lawyer Politician

Mustafa bek Shokay(25 December 1890 – 27 December 1941) was aKazakhsocial and political activist and ideologue of theTurkestan Autonomy.From 1921, he lived in exile inFrance.

Early life

Mustafa Shokay was born into aMuslimKazakhfamily of aristocrats in the Kazakh town of Ak-Meshit (modernKyzylorda,Kazakhstan). During this period the status of family was evaluated by the number of cattle they possessed, meaning that Mustafa's family was wealthy in their village due to the high number of cattle in their possession. Mustafa's paternal grandfather was the Datkha, which inPersianmeans – "a wish, request, Justice". The Datkha was equal to aSultanand was higher in title than theBey.Mustafa's grandfather was electingPrime Minister– Datkha of Khiva's khan. The Datkha was subordinate only to theKhanand was often tasked with helping him manage theKhanate.The mother of Mustafa was Bakty, an intellectual in her own right and a descendant of the famousBatu Khan.Bakty was well-educated, inKazakh,Arabic,andPersian.Mustafa and his family were from theMiddle Juz(horde) of theKypchak’s tribe, Torgai clan, Shashty popliteal, Boshay knee, Janay popliteal.

Before theOctober Revolutionin 1917 Shokay's Family and about 30 of his relatives lived in one village, which was located in 5 kilometers from the station of Sulu-Tube. They lived in niceyurts,(nomad's houses). Mustafa's father had 2 wives, with Bakty being his second one. Bakty gave birth two 2 sisters and 3 brothers in addition to him. Most of the other children in the Shokay family are undocumented, but sources do mention that Mustafa had an older brother named Nurtaza. Mustafa was the youngest child in their family and was 15 years younger than his Sadyk brothers.

Mustafa's mother taught her children to read and write in childhood, helping them learnKazakh,Arabic,andPersianjust as she did. When he was 5 years old, Mustafa learned to play on thedombra.From childhood he was musically gifted, and had a great ear and formusic.In their village was a localmullah,who was taught to read theQuranand assisted Mustafa in understanding the Islamic Holy Book. Mustafa set himself apart from other students by perfectly memorizing all of thesurafrom the Quran by heart.

At the age of 7, Mustafa's father took him to the urbanized part of Ak-Meshit, where he would study in a Russian school and slowly assimilate into Russian society. While his father was in favor of him receiving a higher education and at least partially assimilating, Mustafa's mother feared that he would forget his Muslim Kazakh roots and forever be Russianized. Moreover, the mullah of Ak-Meshit added to all of this by claiming that the Russians will put him on the cross should Mustafa refuse to give up Islam. Mustafa was initially hesitant to go to the Russian school, but his father was able to effectively persuade him into furthering his education there.

Mustafa started his education in the Russian school, but he became very sick and soon left his studies. In 1902 he was admitted to aTashkentgymnasium and in 1910 he graduated with the school's gold medal. General Samsonov (Alexander Samsonov(1859–1914), aRussian militarycommander duringWorld War I) was against Mustafa receiving the gold medal and insisted that an ethnic Russian student should win. The gold was then handed to Zeprometov, a Russian student in the program. However, the director of the Tashkent gymnasium disagreed and even Zeprometov himself said that Shokay should get the gold medal. After a brief conflict, the medal was given back to Mustafa.

The intentions of Samsonov caused outrage not only within the ranks of the local youth, but also from the Russians. All of the professors and Russianintellectualswere ready tostrike.That strike was provoked by the administration, showing the unfair treatment to the student in favor of the officials. Trying to smooth over the scandal, Samsonov approached Mustafa with a proposal to be an interpreter in his administration, but he refused Samsonov's request and went toSt. Petersburgto enter the university's law faculty (1910–1917).

In 1912 Mustafa's father died and the local villagers asked him to return home at the request of family to replace the post of his father – ajudge.This event caused Mustafa to once again put a hold on his education. He returned to complete the final stage of his education one year later inSt. Petersburg.Towards the end of his education, theStolypinagrarian reform in Kazakhstan occurred, and many Kazakhs became resettled peasants by the Russian imperial administration. Mustafa moved back to Ak-Meshit, where his family remained as one of the few who did not suffer any dramatic effects of theStolypinagrarian reform.

Activities in St. Petersburg

Document from St. Petersburg Imperial University on the admission of Mustafa Shokay to the university's faculty of law

During study in St. Petersburg, Mustafa was trying to protect not only the interest of his countryman, but the whole Kazakh nation. However, on 3 July 1907,Tsar Nikolai IIissued a decree depriving the electoral rights of the indigenous peoples ofSiberiaandCentral Asia.They lost their way with little representation in theState DumaofRussia.But theKazakhpoliticians and intellectuals continued to fight for the interests of the people. Working in the Duma, Shokai met with prominent Muslim political leaders of Russia and became friends withAhmad Zeki Velidi,the future chairman of theBashkir autonomy.

In the midst of heavy fighting during the First World War, on 25 June 1916, Tsar Nicholas II issued a decree "On the requisition of foreigners", attracting the indigenous population of Turkestan and the steppe region in age from 19 to 43 years to rear work – digging trenches, despite the fact that the Muslims were exempted from military service due to the deprivation of electoral rights. The decree came in the days ofRamadanand the height of the agricultural work, and caused widespread outrage among Kazakhs. A powerful uprising, led byAmankeldı İmanov,began inTurgay Oblastand soon spread throughout Kazakhstan.

There were protests against the decree in the State Duma. Shokay entered his commission as a secretary and translator of the Muslim faction. Subsequent performances of Kerensky in the Duma with the analysis of the Turkestan uprising against the imperial government policies brought him huge popularity throughout Russia. When he returned to Petrograd, Shokay prepared materials for their performances in the State Duma of their faction. However the State Duma was dissolved by Tsar Nicholas II, and then he himself abdicated.

Character of Mustafa Shokay

Like other ethnicKazakhs,Mustafa Shokay remained a devoutMuslimall throughout his life. During his student life, in fact during his all life, Mustafa was not involved in any political party. He was ademocrat,without the slightest hint ofsocialism,who loved his homeland and his nation. Mustafa never spared himself in the name of the future of his people. There were politicians for peace or for the war and Mustafa belonged to the politicians for peace. Mustafa's character was soft and easily vulnerable. He knew that to work in the State Duma he had to be a strong person.

Shokay admired and highly valuedMustafa Kemal,a Turkish nationalist who used his stances to found the modern-dayRepublic of Turkey.Shokay considered that Turkestan needed a political reformer like himself. Mustafa Shokay did not have any hostile emotions towardbigotsor to representatives of other nations. He loved to make discussions or argue with people who possessed different political opinions than him. In arguments he was calm and ever respected his opponent's standpoint. He always took any inhumane acts to his heart. He was able to find the way to heart of people throughout honesty and the ability to empathize with others. Sometimes he stood really heatedly, defending his position, but in all cases did not hurt the feeling of his opponent. Mustafa was the enemy of narrow-mindednationalism.He defended his interest for position of Turkestan's people union. However, the Russian nationalist recognized Mustafa's position, but they did not want to regard with interest of Turkestan's nation, also with non-Russian nations. These principles of Russiandemocracyreally hurt the feeling of Mustafa Shokay and for this reason he severed good relations with the Russian periodical press in 1923 (mass-media).

Political career

In 1914 World War I began and Mustafa as a student, became a member of State Duma as a secretary. Mustafa was introduced to the Muslim fraction on the recommendation ofAlikhan Bukeikhanov.Until 1917, before the October revolution Mustafa was a member of State Duma where he represented theTurko-Tatarpeoples. His formal political activities began in 1917 when Mustafa Shokay was delegated to the congress of Muslims inMoscow.This big congress on Turkestan was held by his initiative. Mustafa was a member of Turkestan committee of Interim Government and later he was elected as a chairman of Turkestan's national committee.

Mustafa Shokay while in exile in Tbilisi with his wife Maria Gorina, May 1919

On 10 December 1917 the project of creating autonomy was submitted. On the 4th Congress in Turkestan, Turkestan autonomy, known as theKokand Autonomy.After overthrowing theRussian Provisional Governmentwas declared inPetrogradduring the armed uprising on 25 October, the Bolsheviks carried out popular measures for the people in the election-Russian Constituent Assemblyof Russia. But in election 12 November 1917 the Bolsheviks received only 23.9% of the vote against 40.4% for theRight Socialist-Revolutionaries.

In such circumstances, the Kokand government announced its intention to create on 20 March 1918, itsparliamentby universal direct, equal and secret ballot. Two thirds of the seats in parliament were for Muslim MPs and one third – representatives of non-Muslims. The existence of such a parliament was to be the first step towards the democratization of Turkestan. But Chairman of People's Commissars of the Turkestan RepublicFedor Kolesov,said:

"We can not allow Muslims to the supreme authorities, since the position of the local population against us is not defined and, in addition, they have no proletarian organization"

So on 11 February 1918 theBolshevikssent troops to Kokand. Kokand was completely destroyed, as the Bolshevik troops were armed with machine guns and cannons, which were not available inKokand,Turkestan. Shokay fled through Fergana to Tashkent. On his head abountyof 1000 rubbles was placed. At that time Mustafa Shokay was the youngest politician, who advocated for Turkestan Autonomy, but he was againstseparatism.When he was in hiding, Mustafa met his old friend Maria Gorina, whom he married in April 1918, After this event Shokay said:” We called the soviet power then established in Tashkent the «enemy of our people». I have not changed my view on the matter in the last ten years.” During the following years Shokay wrote and published a book:” Turkestan under the Soviet Union (On the characteristics of the dictatorship of the proletariat)”.

Emigration

Portrait photograph of Mustafa Shokay from December 1930, published in theYash Turkistanmagazine

Traveling through theKazakh steppeand theCaspian Sea,Mustafa Shokay manage to safely arrived inBaku,Azerbaijan,thenTbilisi,Georgiawhere he lived with his wife of two years, from spring 1919 till February 1921. Shokay moved toTurkey,becauseThe Red Armyled byOrdzhonikidze,defeated the Volunteer Army ofGeneral Denikin,captured theNorth Caucasus,then Azerbaijan,Armenia,and 16 February 1921 came toTiflis.The democratic Republic ofTranscaucasiawas overthrown by theSoviet Union.After the events in Transcaucasia Mustafa Shokay and his wife Maria Shokay emigrated toIstanbul,Turkey. Shokay in Istanbul wrote articles in English for “The Times”and for publications like “Şafak”,also for “Yeni Dünya” - “New World”. Then he found thatAlexander Kerensky,who also emigrated toParisfrom Russia. Kerensky helped Shokay to get aFrenchvisa and in the summer of 1921 Mustafa with Maria moved to Paris. He was writing articles for the newspaper of Kerensky “Days” and Milyukova's “Last News”. In 1923 Mustafa and Maria Shokay moved to Nozhan-Sur-Marn, spoke for theEuropeanpublic with the speech "The policy of Russia and Turkestan National Movement". The time during the exile it was the most darkness period for both of Mr. and Mss. Shokay. Mustafa Shokay was trying to write books, newspapers, magazines; held meeting with his speech for whole world to submit and to hear about the problems in Turkestan and Central Asia. These editions was published in Istanbul, Paris, Berlin,London,Warsaw,he published articles about Central Asia, theoretical studies, historical and political review. Mustafa Shokay created newspaper in Istanbul:Yash Turkistanin 1927 and it was existed till 1931. In 1929 he settled in Berlin edition of the magazine "Yash (Young) Turkestan" and became its editor in chief. The magazine last until the outbreak ofWorld War IIin 1939, was released 117 editions. Mustafa Shokay spoke foreign languages such as English, French, Russian, German, Turkish, and Arabic.

Unsuccessful collaboration with the Nazi Germany

On the day ofOperation Barbarossa,the attack of theAxis powerson theSoviet Unionon 22 June 1941, the German occupations troops in Paris arrested all the well-known emigrants from the territories of the Soviet Union and imprisoned them in the castle ofCompiègne(Château de Compiègne). Those imprisoned included Shokay.

After three weeks, Shokay was taken to Berlin and after two weeks offered to lead theTurkestan Legion.This unit was meant to include Soviet military prisoners of Turkic descent held in German prisoner of war camps. TheNazishoped for Mustafa Shokay's authority. But the Legion had been partially replenished by elite German troops which had combat experience againstSoviet troopson the Eastern Front, while Shokay was required to familiarize Turkic prisoners with circumstances of their fellow countrymen in the camps. He was shocked by the inhuman conditions ofAsianskept behind barbed wire.

Detailing the journey of Mustafa's life, he entertained the possibility of creating a union of Muslim states with the help of Germany. To achieve this goal, it would be necessary to organize Muslim-Soviet prisoners of war – particularly from the army. And acquired goals should be overthrowing Soviet governments in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Mustafa Shokai said that he was ready to consent to be the head of this noble movement. The collaboration made known to the ideological leader of theNational Socialistparty on matters of ideology and foreign policy, the Minister for the "Eastern Territories" General SSAlfred Rosenberg.

Mustafa Shokay wanted to give some relief and grasped the chance to save prisoners' lives, he compromised with the German authorities. He set his conditions:

1. Create staff for the future of Turkestan state schools in Germany;
2. Create military forces from follow prisoners, which will be used only when approaching the borders of Turkestan.

Monument to Mustafa Shokay inNogent-sur-Marne,France

Mustafa Shokay wanted to receive some benefit from the collaboration with Nazis. UnfortunatelyAdolf Hitlerdeclined in all queries, because Hitler considered the Turkestan Legion as “cannon fodder”. Later Shokay wrote a letter to theMinistry of Foreign AffairsGruppenführerJoachim von Ribbentrop:“Seeing how representatives of the nation, who raised such geniuses as Goethe, Feuerbach, Bach, Beethoven, Schopenhauer, treat prisoners of war... I can not accept the offer to lead the... Turkestan Legion and refuse further cooperation. All the consequences of my decision, I realize.” Adolf Hitler realized his attempted manipulation of Mustafa Shokay was going to fail; the German leadership decided to remove him. On 22 December 1941, Hitler signed a decree for the establishment of the Turkestan and other national legions. At that time Mustafa was in hospital in Berlin "Victoria". On 27 December 1941, he died. The official report stated that he "died of blood poisoning on the background of an emerging epidemic oftyphus,"he was infected when visiting concentration camps. But the same symptoms could be poisoning. Moreover, in the memoirs of his wife Maria Gorina-Shokay, she wrote that Mustafa had been ill with typhus in Turkestan and he was supposed to be immune. Mustafa Shokai was buried in the Turkish Muslim cemetery (Osmanidov) in Berlin. On the tombstone just below the date at the behest of his wife M. Shokay, Maria Jakovlevna, there are three letters in Latin and four numbers: JOH.15.13. They point to the thirteenth verse of the fifteenth chapter of theGospel of John:"There is no greater love than this; that a man lay down his life for his friends."

The Turkestan Legion army was later granted to Nazi-loyalistVali Qayyum,a long standing cooperative of the anti-Soviet movementPrometheism.He was honorifically titledKhanafter he had no problem embracing Nazi vision to build Turkic-Muslim army which would fight Soviets.

Selected works

• Mustafa Shokay. «Chez les Soviets en Asie Centrale», Paris, 1928.
• Mustafa Shokay. «The Basmati Movement in Turkestan», «The Asiatic Review», vol. XXIV, 1928.
• Mustafa Shokay -oghly: «Туркестан под властью советов», Paris, 1935.
• Mustafa Shokay. «Избранное» (в 2-х томах), Алматы, Кайнар, 1998.
• Mustafa Shokay. “Revolution in Turkestan, February's era” 2001.
• Mustafa Shokay.” New Turkestan”, Istanbul, 1927.
• Mustafa Shokay "Yash (Young) Turkestan", Berlin, 1929 was released 117 editions.

Mustafa Shokay was fluent in English, French, Russian, German, Turkish, and Arabic.

Memory

• 2000 – In Kazakhstan, a documentary book published Amirhana Bakirova "Operation" France "," Kyzyl-Orda, 2000.
• 2001 – Kazakhstan has translated and published the memoirs of Maria Shokay: "I am writing to you from Nozhan" (Memoirs, Letters, Documents, 1958), Almaty, "Kynar"
• 2001 – In the Nogent-sur-Marne, in the park at the La Fontaine house number 7, where he lived 18 years, Mustafa Shokai, a monument-stele
• 2003 – At the "Kazakhfilm" came dock. Film "Zar, or excommunication from the Motherland" (dir. – Makhmetova C. and O. Rymzhanov, the scenario B. Sadykova).
• 2006 – His name streets in Kzylorda and Almaty.
• 2007 – Magazine "Continent" (Almaty) has published an article B. Sadykova "In Memory of Turkestan Jadid (Mustafa Chokai)"
• 2008 – In the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne memorial plaque in memory of Shokai
• 2008 – Went film "Mustafa Shokai", dir. S. Narymbetov, "Kazakhfilm" in Sec. Starring Aziz Beyshenaliev and Karina Abdullina
• 2011 – Went document. film "Дорогами Мустафы Шокая" (directed by K. Begmanov)