MIRZHAKYP DULATOV

MIRZHAKYP DULATOV (MIR-YAKUB) (he is known under pseudonyms Madiyar and Argyn) (1885-1935) – the Kazakh outstanding enlightener, public figure, poet, writer, journalism master, one of the leaders of the Alashorda government and national-liberation movement of Kazakhstan.

He was born in Kostanay oblast. He finished an elementary school in the village and in 1897 entered the Russian-Kazakh Pedagogical College, from which he graduated in 1902, becoming a rural teacher. In 1904 in Karkaraly he met with Akhmet Baitursynov and Alikhan Bokeikhanov. Under the influence of these two leaders of the national movement he fully understood Russian empire's colonial policy. In 1907 he went to St.Petersburg to the All-Russian Cadets Congress as a delegate from the Kazakh party of constitutional democrats. By the czar?s decree dated July 3, 1907 the Kazakhs were denied their rights to participate in the Russian State Duma. In his article ?The Law of July 3 and the Kazakhs? M.Dulatov criticized this decision. The political creed of M.Dulatov was defined, when he released his first poetic album ?Oyan, Kazakh!? (?Wake up, Kazakh!?) under pseudonym Argyn. The book was immediately confiscated, but he managed to republish it in 1911 and returned to Torgay. In 1910 Mirzhakyp published his debut story ?Bakytsyz Zhamal? (?Unhappy Zhamal?) ? the story of the Kazakh woman became the first work of prose in the modern Kazakh literature. In 1911 he was arrested in Semipalatinsk. After the release, M.Dulatov published his works in ?Aikap? journal and ?The Kazakh? newspaper, which was founded by A.Baitursynov. In his articles Mirzhakyp criticized the social-economic and political situation of the Kazakh people under the oppression of the czar?s regime. In 1916 Mirzhakyp became a founder of the first famine relief fund. In 1917 M.Dulatov became one of the promoters of the First All-Kyrgyz Congress in Orenburg, where the first Kazakh political party ?Alash? was formed. In December, 1917 after the October Revolution the Second All-Kyrgyz Congress was held in Orenburg. In February, 1920 Alashorda autonomy was abolished and its leaders were amnestied. M.Dulatov returned to the publishing and educational activity and lived in Orenburg in 1922-1928. In 1928 Mirzhakyp came out against repeal of the Arabic alphabet, counting that the linguistic reform would sever ties of the nation with the writing history. On December 29, 1928 he was arrested on charges of the Kazakh nationalism. M.Dulatov was shot on October 5, 1935. His daughter Gulnar, the doctor, did much for maintenance of the father?s literary heritage and his rehabilitation. M.Dulatov was rehabilitated in 1988. Reference: Kazakhstan, National encyclopedia, vol.2 ?Historical figures? book