AHMET MIDKHAT AND VOLGA-URALS TURKS
Husain Bargan,
Istanbul University, Language Center,
Fatih Bayazit Istanbul, 34452, Turkey,
huseyinbargan@yahoo.com
Takhir Shamsegalievich Gilazov,
KazanFederal University,
18 Kremlyovskaya Str., Kazan, 420008, Russia,
tgilazov@bk.ru
This article explores Turkic-Tatar literary and cultural interrelations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period, many Tatar intellectuals completed their secondary education in Turkish institutions and learned craftsmanship in Turkey, which made them study ways of reinvigorating the socio-cultural life. The Turkish writer, scientist, philosopher, publisher and public leader Ahmed Midkhat, whose name was widely known in Russia among the Turkic Muslims of Volga-Urals, was also popular with the Tatars. A.Midkhat’s ideas had an invaluable influence on the development of Tatar public, religious and philosophical thought, national verbal creativity and progressive economic processes. He patronized F.Karimiduring the writer’s period of residence in Turkey and helped to shape his polymathic personality. Articles about A.Midkhat’s life and activities were periodically published in the Tatar press of the early 20th century. Particularly active were F.Karimi and R.Fakhretdin. Midkhad’s activities were covered in both the journal Shura and the newspaper Wakyt as well as in monographic works.
Key words: Volga-Urals, cultural interrelations, Turkish literature, periodicals, Orientalist, literary work, translation.
