KAZAKHSTAN'S 750TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GOLDEN HORDE: MILESTONE OF EURASIA

Today, a number of scientists are involved in the study of the Golden Horde. Other countries are also showing growing interest in the history and culture of the Golden Horde. Scientists from Kazakhstan, Russia, the USA, Mongolia, Turkey, and Hungary show great interest in this topic, and they have begun a large-scale study of the Saray-Berke settlement - the capital of the Golden Horde.

The International Turkic Academy in Nur-Sultan made a great contribution to the popularization of the heritage of the Golden Horde in Kazakhstan and abroad, by publishing a number of scientific papers and holding conferences.

The decision by the government of Kazakhstan on holding 750th anniversary of the Golden Horde events in 2019-2020 testifies to its historical significance for the Kazakh people. Kazakhstan seeks to show to the whole world the huge cultural heritage of the Golden Horde, to talk about its traditions of effective statehood, religious and ethnic tolerance, continued by modern Kazakhstan.

In   his   Message   to   the   people  of Kazakhstan in 2019, K.Tokayev, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, announced the celebration of the 750th anniversary of the Golden Horde, which marked the holding of a number of large-scale events in the country in the coming 2020.

Earlier, Nursultan Nazarbayev, the First President of Kazakhstan, announced the succession between the Golden Horde and the Kazakh Khanate in his interview in 2014, and in a speech in 2015 during official celebrations in honor of the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate.

The Golden Horde was a great medieval state that was founded in 1224 as part of the great empire of Genghis Khan, and was given over to his eldest son, Jochi. Thereat, in historical sources it was also called Ulus of Jochi (the state of Jochi).

750 years ago, in 1269, Hajdu Khan (great-grandson of Genghis Khan) initiated a kurultai (meeting) near Taraz city, which resulted in creating three independent states - Ulus of Jochi (Golden Horde), Mogulistan and Chagatai Ulus. Therefore, 2019 is the historical anniversary of the Golden Horde, which is celebrated in Kazakhstan.

The main population of the Golden Horde was Turkic, the ruling Mongol dynasty was also culturally assimilated. The real historical name of this great Eurasian empire is Ulug Ulus (Great State). That is exactly what it is called in all Turkic written sources - both in the Horde and foreign ones.

The period of the Golden Horde became an era of cultural growth in Eurasia: it had a developed urban culture and written literature. Its capital Sarai, according to many contemporaries, was one of the greatest cities in the medieval world. Moreover, the Golden Horde was an important center of world trade, and the Great Silk Road passed through its territory.

Back in 2017, a policy essay by the First President of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev, «The Seven Faces of the Great Steppe» was published. It outlined the contribution of the states of steppe Eurasia to the treasury of universal human civilization. There is every reason to argue that it was the Golden Horde that was the pinnacle of the history of the pre-modern period Great Steppe.

Modern Kazakhstan has a number of serious reasons to identify itself the historical successor of the Golden Horde. The Kazakh Khanate, the 550th anniversary of which we celebrated in 2015, was not founded «from scratch», but emerged from the unified «matrix» of the Golden Horde - together with the Kazan, Crimean, Astrakhan, Siberian Khanates and the Nogai Horde.

Moreover, there is a direct dynastic succession between the Golden Horde and the Kazakh Khanate. Kerey and Zhanibek Khans, the founders of the Kazakh Khanate, and all subsequent rulers, up to the last khan - Kenesary (1802-1847), were member of the Urusid branch of the Genghisids dynasty. Their ancestor Urus Khan was one of the Golden Horde rulers of the XIV century.

Moreover, the ethnogenesis of the Kazakh people mainly was formed just in the Golden Horde period, and at the time of the breakup of the Horde, only the modern name «Kazakh», which appeared later, was lacking due to a number of political circumstances. However, even at that time there were almost a single nomadic people of Desht-i-Kipchak, which was the direct predecessor of modern Kazakhs. It is worth noting that earlier the territory of modern Kazakhstan was settled by Saka tribes, the Empire of the Huns, as well as the Great Turkic Khanate, which had a significant impact on the development of the Eurasian continent.

The main layer of Kazakh folklore, which is largely common with the Kazan and Crimean Tatars, Bashkirs, Nogais and Karakalpaks, also dates back to the era of the Golden Horde. First and foremost, one is put in mind of the epos «Yedige», and the image of Asan Kaygy (Asan the Sad - because of constant reflections and thoughts) - a poet, philosopher and adviser to the Kazakh khans Zhanibek and Kerey.

Kazakhstan has a huge number of the Golden Horde written sources and cultural monuments. Kazakhstan is a kind of «leader» in Central Asia in terms of the number of epigraphic monuments (epitaphs) of that era.

Along with that, the Golden Horde symbols are present today in the daily life of Kazakhstani citizens. In particular, the residence of the President is named «Ak Orda» - it was the same name of the headquarters of the Horde khans. And the name of the national currency – «tenge» originates in the name of the Golden Horde currency «dang».

As for the practical benefits of appealing to the Golden Horde heritage for modern Kazakhstan, many experts justifiably believe that a positive self-esteem of a nation based on legitimate pride in its historical past can and should serve as a powerful motivation for progressive growth in the future. If one carefully looks at the successful experience of a number of countries in Asia and Europe that managed to realize their «economic miracle» in the 20th century, all of them without exception, relied on a rich national tradition and pride in their history.

Moreover, for modern Kazakhstan the fact that the Golden Horde was a multi­ethnic and multi-religious Eurasian state which was widely known for its policy of tolerance towards various ethnic groups and religions, is extremely important. On this count we see a kind of «historical рrototype» of Kazakhstan's model оf interethnic and religious tolerance. The history of the Golden Horde clearly illustrates the thesis expressed in the abovementioned article of the First President of Kazakhstan N. Nazarbayev «Seven faces of the Great Steppe», whereby the history of the Great Steppe is a common history of all ethnic groups of Kazakhstan.

The Great Steppe is a sacred symbol of our people, and this term has actually become the national code of Kazakhstan The territory stretching from Baikal to the Balkans, from Altai to Anatolia, from Mongolia to Hungary, was left with glorious marks of our ancestors where their wise words are heard.

Excerpt from an article by the leading scientific expert of the International Turkish Academy Timur Kozyrev