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Zeki Velidi Togan




Zeki Velidi Togan (– 1970 ) was a historian, Turkolog , and leader of the Bashkir revolutionary and liberation movement.

He was born Äxmätzäki Wälidi(ev) Äxmätşa ulı (''Вәлиди(ев) Әхмәтзәки Әхмәтша улы'') in Bashkurt-Eli, near Isterlitamak . After his emigration to Turkey , his name was turkicized as ''Zeki Validi Toğan'' (in the Arabic script used by both languages - at that time there was no difference between the two).

From 19121915 Velidi taught in the Madrassa (school) in Kazan (Qasímiä), and from 1915 to 1917 he was a member of bureau, supporting Muslim deputies at the State Duma . In 1917 he was elected to Millät Mäclese , and with Ş. Manatov he organized the Bashkir Shura (Council). The Bashkir Congress at Orenburg in November–December 1917 , of which Validi was chairman, declared Bashkortostan 's Independence.

In 1918 and 1919 Velidi's Bashkir troops first fought under Ataman Alexander Dutov , then under Admiral Kolchak against Bolshevik forces. After the RSFSR promised autonomy to Bashkirs, Velidi switched allegiance, fighting with the Bolsheviks.

From February 1919 to June 1920 , he was chairman of the ''Bashrevkom'' (Bashkir Revolutionary Committee). Feeling the Bolsheviks had broken their promises, he became disillusioned with Bolshevism and moved to Central Asia .

In Turkistan , Velidi became a leader of the National Liberation Movement, referred to as the anti-Soviet Basmachi Movement by the Russia ns . From 1920 to 1923 he was chairman of the "National Union of Turkistan". In 1923 Validi emigrated, after discovering original manuscripts of Ahmad Ibn Fadlan in Iran .

From 1925 Velidi lived in Turkey , becoming a teacher and professor at Istanbul University . He gained a Doctor Of Philosophy in 1935 . Later he was a professor at Bonn University ( 1935 - 1937 ) and Göttingen University ( 1938 - 1939 ). In 1953 he became organizer of the Institute of Studying of Islamic World at Istanbul University . In 1967 , he was given an honorary doctorate from the University Of Manchester .

At the same time he contributed to the ''Encyclopedia of Turkic Peoples''. His articles about culture, language and history of Turkic peoples have been translated into many languages.


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