Kazakh nationalist who led the Kokand Autonomy and dreamed of an independent Turkestan
"I cannot accept the offer to lead the Turkestan Legion and refuse further cooperation. All the consequences of my decision, I realize." — Letter to Ribbentrop, 1941
Mustafa Shokay was a Kazakh nationalist political leader who headed the Kokand (Turkestan) Autonomy, the first modern autonomous government in Central Asia after the collapse of the Russian Empire. A graduate of Petrograd University's law faculty, he served as secretary of the Muslim faction in the State Duma and opposed the Tsarist colonial administration's policies in Central Asia. When the Bolsheviks crushed Kokand by force in 1918, he fled to France and spent two decades in exile, propagating the idea of Turkestan independence internationally through journals such as Yash Turkestan. In 1941, the Nazis offered him leadership of the Turkestan Legion, but after witnessing the conditions of Soviet POWs, he refused, and died in Berlin shortly afterward under suspicious circumstances.
Career Timeline
- 1914–1917Secretary, Muslim Faction, Russian State Duma
- 1917Chairman, Turkestan National Council
- 1917Member, Turkestan Committee of the Provisional Government
- 1917–1918Foreign Minister, then Head, Kokand (Turkestan) Autonomy
- 1918–1919Member, Alash Orda Government
- 1921–1941Exiled journalist and editor, editor-in-chief of Yash Turkestan