Ismail Gaspirali: The Architect of the Modern Education System Among the Russian Turkic People

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Abstract

After accepting Islam, Turks found themselves in an education system that would meet the needs of the current era. For this time period, one might observe that while formal education was proceeding, religious or common-public education was also present among the society. During the Golden Age (time of the Prophet Muhammed) and after, the times when philosophers such as Biruni, Farabi and Ali KuĢçu lived, has been seen as the well-established patterns of modern education system. But in time, political turmoil, authority gap and other reasons interrupted this education system. In addition, the sixteenth century Russian invasion caused the Turkic tribes to be isolated.
It is well-known that the modern education began for the Russian Turkic people in Tsarist Russia in the nineteenth century. It is observed that the modern education began in Azerbaijan, with its geostrategic place, closeness to Ottoman Empire and Europe. Intellectuals such as Seyyid Azim ġirvani and Mirza ġefi‟ applied the usul-i cedit type education and wrote course books but they could not manage to make this system as a conventional education. A Crimean pedagogue, intellectual, writer, and journalist Ġsmail Gaspıralı was the first figure who envisioned a systematical Westernized kind of educational pattern namely usul-i cedit. He not only made an effort to disseminate the usul-i cedit education system, but he was also the architect of the common public or adult education system. These efforts are all reflected in his literary works. The common public or religious education is the methods of restoration of the people aiming to modernize or awaken the society.