The history of the Mezalim in Central Asia is closely linked to Russian expansion in this region. The annexation of the Khanate of Kazan (Kazan in Tatar, German translation: “Kessel”) was accompanied by a campaign of extermination against the predominantly Muslim population. It is estimated that 30,000 Kazan Tartars were murdered between 1530 and 1584. A similar fate befell the Islamic Bashkirs, who suffered at least 40,000 civilian deaths at the beginning of the 18th century. In Mezalim research, the events in Bashkortostan are referred to as the genocide of Seyantus. Due to the size of the region and the very long-lasting resistance against the Russian occupation, there were repeated violent crimes against the Islamic population. On January 18, 1881, Russian units caused a bloodbath among the Muslims of Turkmenistan. Mostly women and children were executed that day in the Göktepe fortress. A total of 40,000 Muslims lost their lives in the course of the suppression of the Turkmen uprising.
In the context of racist hegemonic politics, socio-economic disadvantages led to the marginalization of Muslim natives and provoked mass uprisings, which in turn culminated in collective punitive measures against civilians. In 1916, a discriminatory agrarian reform led to a mass uprising of the Kyrgyz against the tsarist authorities, who allocated particularly fertile land to Russian landowners. The uprising was bloodily suppressed and the Muslim civilian population was severely affected. It is estimated that between 100,000 and 270,000 people died. 180,000 Kyrgyz fled to East Turkestan in what is now China. The events of 1916 left deep traces in the collective memory of the Kyrgyz. To this day, the Kyrgyz commemorate this turning point in their history as Uluu Ürkün, which means “the great expulsion” in German. The recent events in East Turkestan (Chinese: Xinjiang) and the political persecution of the Muslim Uyghurs have moved to the center of Mezalim research.
In September 1925, Soviet state and party leader Josef Stalin appointed party comrade Filipp Goloshchyokin as First Secretary of the Kazakh Regional Committee of the Communist Party. Shortly after taking office, Goloshchyokin declared the expropriation of the property of wealthy citizens. The expropriation of wealthy classes did not stop there. The forced collectivization of Soviet…
In September 1925, Soviet state and party leader Josef Stalin appointed party comrade Filipp Goloshchyokin as First Secretary of the Kazakh Regional Committee of the Communist Party. Shortly after taking office, Goloshchyokin declared the expropriation of the property of wealthy citizens. The expropriation was not limited to the wealthy classes. The forced collectivization of Soviet…
79 years ago today, on May 18, 1944, more than 400,000 Crimean Tatars were deported from their homeland on the orders of the Soviet Union’s head of state and party, Josef Stalin, for alleged collaboration with the occupying German forces. Under strict secrecy, the People’s Commissars for Internal Affairs and State Security Lavretij P. Berija…
79 years ago today, on May 18, 1944, over 400,000 Crimean Tatars were deported from their homeland on the orders of the head of state and party leader of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin, for allegedly collaborating with the German occupying forces. Under strict secrecy, the People’s Commissars for Internal Affairs and State Security Lavretiy…
It was April 5, 1990, when thousands of Uyghurs took to the streets in the village of Baren (Xinjiang Autonomous Province of China) to protest against the one-child policy and the settlement of Han Chinese at the time. The Uyghur ethnic group had previously demanded that the Chinese central government in Beijing end its rigorous…
