REPRESENTATIVES OF TURKESTAN EMIGRATION IN EUROPE AND THE FATE OF KAZAKH REFUGEES IN THE 20-30S OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

The first wave of Turkic political emigration to Europe after the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia included politicians and intellectuals who, due to their ideological positions, did not recognize Soviet power. In foreign lands, such prominent figures as M. Shokai closely followed the socio-economic and political changes taking place in their historical homeland. Famine and displacement caused by Soviet-style economic modernization methods prompted political emigrants in Europe to take certain actions. The brutal suppression of popular uprisings that engulfed entire regions of Kazakhstan due to Soviet methods of economic organization, forced collectivization, anti-religious measures, as well as economic and political campaigns of a predatory nature, such as grain procurement and meat procurement, led to a mass exodus of the population within the country and to neighboring countries. The exodus of refugees took place from the southern and western regions of Kazakhstan through neighboring Uzbekistan, Karakalpakstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan to distant countries such as Iran and Afghanistan. Kazakh refugees, fleeing hunger and punitive measures, were persecuted by border troops, communist detachments formed on a political basis, and civil authorities. Archival documents and memoirs indicate that in order to avoid the harsh consequences of exile, emigrants resorted to various means and desperately tried to escape from the clutches of Soviet power. Having gathered their strength to reach Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and then cross over to Iran and Afghanistan, the refugees formed informal camel teams, engaged in cargo transportation and earned a living by working as laborers at large construction sites such as Vakhsh and others. The leaders of the Turkestan political emigration in Europe, M. Shokai, Z. Validi and others, tried in every way to attract the attention of the governments and authorities of the countries where the Turkish refugees were located to the plight of the emigrants. The main channels through which representatives of the Turkestan political emigration received information about the refugee catastrophe were the Soviet press, as well as information from the refugees themselves, who were crossing over to Afghanistan and Iran. The mass nature of the forced emigration of peasants forced the central party and Soviet organs to take measures for their re-emigration. The works of representatives of the Turkestan emigration in Europe, as well as documents of the Soviet party and executive bodies, can be assessed as sources that allow a full analysis of the scale of the refugee catastrophe.