Tatar lawyer and Duma deputy who headed the national administration of Idel-Ural
Born in 1878 in the village of Tashsu near Kazan, he studied law at the University of Paris in 1901–1906 on Ismail Gasprinsky’s advice. In 1906 he joined the Central Committee of Ittifaq al-Muslimin, and he sat for Kazan province in the Second and Third State Dumas. In 1917 he was on the executive committee of the All-Russian Muslim Council, and on 5 January 1918 he was elected chairman of the Milli Idare, the body of national-cultural autonomy of the Muslims of Inner Russia and Siberia, becoming head of the Idel-Ural State. When the Bolsheviks took Kazan and Ufa provinces he fled to Finland; at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 he pleaded for the peoples of Idel-Ural, without result. He moved to Turkey in 1925, became a professor of legal history and a member of parliament, and died in Istanbul in 1957.
Also known as: Sadri Maksudi Arsal · Sadri Maqsudi · Sadretdin Maksudov
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1901–1906Law studies at the University of Paris
- 1906Member of the Central Committee of Ittifaq al-Muslimin
- 1907–1912Member of the Second and Third State Dumas for Kazan province
- 1917Member of the executive committee of the All-Russian Muslim Council
- 1918Chairman of the Milli Idare (head of the Idel-Ural State)
- 1925–1957Professor of legal history in Ankara and Istanbul
- 1931–1954Member of the Turkish parliament (three terms)