PERSECUTION OF PROMINENT FIGURES OF "ALASH-ORDA" IN THE SOUTHERN REGION DURING THE YEARS OF POLITICAL REPRESSION

49 16

Abstract

This article examines the life trajectories, public activities, and political persecution of the prominent Alash figures K. Terlikbayev and A. Beristemov, who became victims of the political repressions carried out in Southern Kazakhstan during the period of 1936–1938. The study is based primarily on documentary evidence preserved in the State Special Archive of the Police Department of Shymkent. Particular emphasis is placed on the scholarly significance of introducing previously classified archival records related to these individuals into academic circulation, while highlighting the necessity of further in-depth research into the fate and historical legacy of the leading representatives of the Alash movement in Turkestan.In addition, the research incorporates personal archival documents housed in the State Archive of the Socio-Political History of the Turkestan Region. Specifically, the study provides a critical analysis of investigation protocols contained in criminal case files, archival certificates, petitions submitted by the accused, and other archival materials obtained from the special archive. These sources are systematically examined to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the political persecution of the individuals concerned and to assess their historical significance within the broader context of Soviet political repression. More specifically, the investigation protocols in criminal cases, archival references, defendants' statements, etc., taken from the special archive fund regarding the mentioned individuals, have become the object of analysis of archival materials. The article analyzes the socio-political activities of the active members of the Turkestan wing of the Alash movement, along with the mentioned figures, in close unity. The regional features of political repression in the southern region are classified and assessed. Critical conclusions are drawn by analyzing the causes and consequences of the Soviet regime's policy of repression through the fate of individuals. Although the Alash movement's figures paid special attention to the military issue, the absolute lack of national military personnel in this area became a key issue. The main result of the study is the scientific personification of figures who are considered one of the few specialists in the Alash military.