Akhmet Baitursynov

Hard times make strong people,

Strong people make good times,

Good times make weak people,

Weak people create hard times.

At the beginning of the XX century, the Kazakh people were going through a difficult period of colonial oppression: the best lands were seized in favor of displaced peasants, there was no access to education, enterprises and factories were not built for the needs of the population. Under such conditions, a stratum of people began to form among the Kazakhs, who began to defend the interests of their people before the tsarist government. These include Alikhan Bokeikhnov, Mirzhakyp Dulatov, Akhmet Baitursynov, Shakarim Qudaiberdyuly. Through their poems, poems, novels, they called on the Kazakhs to receive education, unity and consolidation. The outstanding Kazakh figure himself was born on January 16, 1872 in the Turgai region. Since childhood, Akhmet Baitursynov has experienced the injustice of the tsarist administration: in 1885, his father and three brothers were  exiled to Siberia. Left in the care of close relatives, he begins to learn the first education from the aul mullah, which is a feature of the primary education of all Kazakhs in the 19^th-20^th centuries. Being a very inquisitive and capable student, having passed the necessary exams, Akhmet Baitursynov enters the Russian-Kazakh school in the city of Turgai. Having successfully graduated from it, he continues his studies until 1895 already in Orenburg - at the teachers' seminary, which was founded by Ybyray Altynsarin, another outstanding teacher and educator of the Kazakhs.

After graduating from the seminary, Akhmet Baitursynov begins his teaching career in the Aktobe district, and continues it in Kostanay. It is in this city that he meets the girl who became his life partner, Badrisafa.

The plight of his people, which was observed by Akhmet Baitursynov, forced him to start political activity. In 1905, he was one of the initiators of the Karkarala petition addressed to Emperor Nicholas II, in which the Kazakhs demanded to stop the colonial policy and grant national autonomy. Akhmet Baitursynov was arrested in 1907 and 1909 for his criticism of the tsarist administration. After leaving his political activity for a while, he embarks on the most important mission of his life – the reform of the Kazakh language. Historically, Kazakhs used Arabic script, and it did not always emphasize the depth and richness of the Kazakh language. To begin with, he proceeds to create the alphabet itself, which included specific letters and harmonic sounds of the Kazakh language. In 1912, he published the work "Oku Kuraly", which became a primer, and since 1913, the alphabet of Akhmet Baitursynov has been used throughout the Kazakh steppe, as well as in all schools. The new alphabet, consisting of 24 letters, was named "Zhana yemle" ("New spelling") or tote zhazu. The essence of the innovation was that Baitursynov excluded vowel Arabic letters, which were not used in the Kazakh language, were not traditional. The fact that Kazakhs used these letters earlier is explained by religion, Islam, which came to the territory of Kazakhstan not only as a faith, but also as part of the cultural system. From 1914 to 1916, he published the collection "Til Kuraly", which consisted of such issues as: Morphology, Phonetics, Syntax. 

The primer of Akhmet Baitursynov

Realizing the importance of conveying his calls for education to the people, and returning to politics, Akhmet Baitursynov in 1913 began to publish the newspaper "Kazakh" in the city of Orenburg. This newspaper existed until 1918. In 1917, immediately after the completion of the October Revolution, Akhmet Baitursynov, Alikhan Bokeikhanov, Myrzhakyp Dulatov, Mustafa Shokai announced the creation of a nationwide political party of the Kazakhs - "Alash". Figures began to fight for the provision of autonomy to the Kazakhs, for improving the quality of life of the people. Additionally, in 1918, the Autonomy of Alash was proclaimed on the territory of Kazakhstan, which lasted until 1920. However, not finding proper support from their allies - the White government, the monarchists, the Alash government was forced to capitulate to the Soviet government, and Akhmet Baitursynov himself became the people's commissar of education until 1929. In 1929, he was arrested in connection with the political activities of the Alash government, and the Baitursynov family was deported to Siberia. In 1934, at the request of Maxim Gorky's wife, Ekaterina Peshkova, who then worked in the Red Cross Committee, Akhmet Baitursynov and his family were amnestied. By 1937, when the Stalinist terror became widespread, Akhmet Baitursynov was re-arrested and on December 8, 1937, sentenced to death as an "enemy of the people." During the Soviet period, Baitursynov's works were not published or published, he was deleted from the history of Kazakhstan. Finally, in 1988 he was rehabilitated and the name of the outstanding figure was returned to the Kazakhs. In modern Kazakhstan, the streets in Nur-Sultan, Aktobe are named after the "Teacher of the Nation", and in Kostanay the university is named after him. There is a house-museum in Almaty.

The life of Akhmet Baitursynov is a vivid example of struggle. Fighting for the rights of our people, fighting for a decent education and science for the Kazakhs, fighting for a better future. The influence of Akhmet Baitursynov was not limited to the Kazakh steppe. The unique alphabet that he developed was used and continues to be used by Kazakhs living in China, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. And in Orenburg, the city where he lived and worked, a memorial plaque was installed at the initiative of the Government of Independent Kazakhstan.

House-Museum of Baitursynov in Almaty