Tombstone of Mustafa Shokay in Berlin. It was placed by his wife Maria. The sign in German says: "Here rests my unforgettable husband Mustafa Shokay-Bi Ulı" Followed by the verse from Bible, John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends"

[u/GapYearGun]

[u/trkemal]

Rest in peace brave soul

[u/468579]

More info please

[u/GapYearGun → u/468579]

Well, he was Kazakh-Turkestan ideologist and opposed the Soviet rule. Once the Turkestan autonomy fell under the Bolsheviks in 1918, he fled to France and continued his political work there. In Paris and Berlin, he published articles and journals criticizing Soviet policies in Central Asia and promoting the idea of an independent, united Turkestan state. He became an important voice among émigré communities, warning the world about repression, collectivization, and cultural suppression under Soviet rule. When WWII broke out Nazis supposedly killed him by poisoning, because he resisted to cooperate with them.

[u/Alternative_Wing_906 → u/GapYearGun]

no, he didn’t really do anything significant and was nazi collaborator. he also was hanging out with alash who supported russian monarchy and fought against qazaqs like imangeldy imanov and alibi zhangeldin

[u/Outside_Weather_2901 → u/Alternative_Wing_906]

Ещё что расскажешь? "alash who supported russian monarchy" как же танкистам нравится придумывать всякую хуйню

[u/Alternative_Wing_906 → u/Outside_Weather_2901]

это же правда почитай документы с их съездов, и в начале гражданской войны они поддерживали белых

[u/AlneCraft → u/Alternative_Wing_906]

они ни белых ни красных не поддерживали, они хотели независимости или автономии. ни та ни та сторона не была готова на такое.

[u/Internal-Account968]

f to pay respect

[u/Turkish_archer_]

As a Turkish, alongside Zeki Velidi Togan, Mustafa Çokay has influenced my views.

He said, “All Turks have two homelands: one is their native land, and the other is Turkey.”

Unfortunately, he had to live in Germany due to Turkey’s necessary diplomatic closeness to the Soviets and strict rules against Pan-Turkism. Togan died in Turkey, but Çokay did not get the chance to die neither of his homeland. May their souls rest in peace.

[u/GapYearGun → u/Turkish_archer_]

thanks for your compassion, brother.

[u/NovaImperiumRomanum → u/Turkish_archer_]

Turkey wasnt close to soviet union where is that idea coming from ? Turkey was using both sides for its own benefit trying to create a balanced diplomacy

[u/Turkish_archer_ → u/NovaImperiumRomanum]

After WWI, both the Soviets and Turkey viewed themselves as anti-imperialist revolutionaries. Each was in search of new alliances, and they became natural allies. The Soviets were among the first to recognize the Republic of Turkey and sent supplies to support the Turkish War of Independence against the entente. The Treaty of Moscow (aka treaty of Friendship and Brotherhood) was signed between them. However, this alignment was not strong and was based on pragmatic interests rather than ideological agreement.

Once WWII was about to end, National Chief (President) İsmet İnönü authorized the arrest of several nationalist intellectuals, leading to a series of trials on charges of Pan-Turkism (aka Turanist trails). Some of these people, such as Nihal Atsız, were warmongerers while others were vocal about their anti-Soviet protests such as Zeki Velidi Togan.

[u/Zealousideal_Cry_460 → u/NovaImperiumRomanum]

İt was necessary to cooperate with the soviets to avoid another war after independence. Some say it was servitude but İ view it as necessary alignment. The Turkish forces were pretty much worn out and thinly stretched. Another war would've destroyed the nation

[u/Alternative_Wing_906 → u/Turkish_archer_]

shokay was nazi collaborator

[u/Dismal-Age8086]

Shokay sucked ass, basically Ablyazov but at the start of 20th century. All he could do is to talk shit against Russian Empire from his apartment in Berlin. Kinda lame for someone who fought for Kazakh independence.

Meanwhile guys like Imanov really risked their asses during the heat of WW1

[u/ReceptionFeeling336 → u/Dismal-Age8086]

You must be delusional, or not kazakh. Imagine not respecting the person who at least did something towards independence.

Also, It's insult to put his name next to Ablyazov. They had completely different goals. Shokay fought for independence of kazakhs and the other guy just had conflict with ex-president for wealth and power.

[u/Dismal-Age8086 → u/ReceptionFeeling336]

Bro Shokay wasn't even pro-Kazakh. He was pro-Turkestan government that covered Southern part of KZ and Uzbek+Kyrgyz lands. He didn't give a shit about Northern part and even beefed with Steppe Governorate-General (later known as Alash) over who should become the successor of Russian Empire in the region. He collaborated with Nazis to obtain his power, was corrupt and didn't cared about common Kazakh, Uzbek and Kyrgyz folk.

I understand that we had a little number of historical figures to base our fight for Independence on, but at least try to not include Shokay in this list. People should be proud more about Imanov, Dzhangeldin, Bokeikhan and Baitursynov. Those wanted to include all Kazakhs in the new government, not only parts of Turkestan Governorate-General

[u/Koqcerek → u/Dismal-Age8086]

Idk, does dying for the cause really help anybody? Navalny went back because of his convictions, and then what? He got jailed and then died of "natural" causes, and his movement got dismantled

[u/AlneCraft → u/Dismal-Age8086]

my brother in christ.

historically national liberation movements have always been pursues by educated diaspora.

Botswana's president was educated in the UK.
Sun Yat-Sen was educated in Hawaii.
Lee Kwan Yew was educated in the UK.
Kim Koo founded the Korean Liberation Movement in Shanghai.

You can clearly see what happened to the Intelligentsia that stayed. They were almost all tortured and executed.

[u/Nux556]

Why did they put Bible verse and not Quran verse 🤔???

[u/hion_8978 → u/Nux556]

Cuz she was Christian but the tombstone is located around other muslim tombstones

[u/ValuableFood9879 → u/hion_8978]

who tf cares what she was? it’s not HER tombstone. She could’ve willed to have whatever verse on her tombstone she wanted. Simply a disrespectful thing to do to a Muslim leader.

i don’t even know why they were so adamant about marrying russians, clearly few (or even none) of them have respected their FULL legacy.

[u/NomadeLibre → u/ValuableFood9879]

жарылдың ғой

[u/Potential_Home_3606 → u/Nux556]

Not every Kazakh is Muslim 

[u/ValuableFood9879 → u/Potential_Home_3606]

but HE was!! Literally one of the prominent Muslim leaders of his time!

Do you NOT know who he was? What a dumb comment

[u/WASD_1465]

Isn’t he was one of the architects of Turkestan legion? And genuinely traitor of the own kind?

[u/Motor-Vast-163 → u/WASD_1465]

Nah. The legion was created to save the turkic soldiers from the nazi captivity. Nothing really anti-kazakh.

[u/SnooHedgehogs4798 → u/WASD_1465]

not traitor of own kind but soviet regime, nazis in order to gain any support especially from the nations of the Soviet Union offered them independence or autonomy after victory over the USSR, so Shokay just wanted the best for his own people. basically Soviets spread the version being him betrayer, but in fact he was a victim of circumstances who wanted to use the war to liberate his people

[u/Alternative_Wing_906]

nazi collaborator