Salavat Iskhakov,
Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences,
19 Dmitry Uliyanov St., Moscow, 117036, Russia,
rusrevref@mail.ru
The article deals with the historical literature of recent times devoted to the destinies of Muslim population in Eurasia during World War I, including the fate of the Tatar people. It emphasizes significance of representative sources and proves that a number of publications obviously bear traces of modern geopolitical and ideological bias towards Muslim world as a whole. These works have a propaganda focus rather than scientific value, although, at first sight, some of them are conducted professionally. The first original publication of the appeal made by the popular Tatar politician, well-known statesman and diplomat Sadri Maksudov to the Paris Peace Conference (1920) clarifies the Tatar people’s key demands. The analysis of this document, stored in the archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, is of interest for the researchers studying the creative work of its author who represented 10 million Muslims of European Russia and Siberia at this conference. The polemics with Russian politicians soon after the conference in Paris is the evidence of S.Maksudov’s views on the issue of the Tatar people.
Key words: World War I, revolution, Paris Peace Conference, Sadri Maksudov, Muslims, Tatars.