Central Asia locked in dispute over history of Russian colonialism

Moscow and Astana have formed a joint working group for the ‘custody of historical memory’. The Russians are pointing the finger at the way the imperial policy of the tsars and the Soviet Union is presented in history books. While the Kazakhs remember well the words of Putin who in 2014 declared that their country ‘never had its own statehood’.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced in recent days, Russia and Kazakhstan have formed a joint working group for the ‘custody of historical memory’, to try to quell the controversy that at various levels echoes in the discussions of Kazakh society.

The main issue is that of ‘Russian colonialism’ in Central Asia, and the way it is presented differently in Russian and Kazakh school books, and also in Chinese ones.

In fact, Russia is often presented in Central Asian school books as a colonising state that oppressed the people of the occupied and annexed territories, which the Russians believe caused the ‘development of xenophobia and Russophobia’, presenting a distorted image of Russia.

Experts in Moscow quote a page from the history textbook for 10th grade (second year of high school), which states that ’ the Russian empire's policy towards Kazakhstan was characterised by territorial expansion, protectorate and colonial policy... an aggressive and ineffective policy’, using as an example the programmes of the early 20th century Prime Minister Petr Stolypin, which “had triggered a chain of social conflicts and popular uprisings”.

The Russian analyst Arkadij Dubnov, a scholar of political processes in Central Asia since the time of Gorbachev's perestroika, confirms to Orda.kz that ‘the issue of colonialism can fuel tensions between Russia and Kazakhstan, despite the many declarations of friendship’, which try to avoid historical discussion.

He recalls that a few years ago, during the time of the ‘eternal president’ Nursultan Nazarbayev, Vladimir Putin made a controversial statement at the youth forum at the end of August 2014, saying that ‘Kazakhstan has never had its own statehood’, which provoked indignant reactions throughout the Kazakh political and social world.

A couple of months later, Nazarbayev himself found an opportunity to respond during the celebrations for the 550th anniversary of the Kazakh Khanate, stating that ‘perhaps there was no concept of the state as there is in modern societies, but even then the Khans had formed structures that can easily be defined as states’.

Another Kazakh scholar, Ajdar Amrebaev, points to another area of tension in the debates between researchers from the two countries, who often investigate ‘not with scientific criteria, but only political and ideological ones’.

He recalls how ‘official Lavrov’ has often defined the collapse of the Soviet Union as a ‘geopolitical catastrophe’, in line with the statements of its president. For the Central Asians, and above all the Kazakhs themselves, on the other hand, ‘gaining sovereignty is a turning point that restores historical justice, anything but a catastrophe’.

Amrebaev also recalls the times of the Golden Horde, up to the autonomies of the regions of Alasha, Turkestan and Kokand at the time of the revolution, and suggests ‘avoiding discussion between historians and ideologists or politicians’.

In fact, in Kazakhstan, an eminent historian, Erkin Abil, is active in the parliament of the Mažilis. He is known for having proposed the much-discussed unification of the time zone throughout the country, and he leads a group of researchers dedicated to the preservation of historical memory, created in 2018 to work together with Russian historians.

The joint research work was interrupted due to the coronavirus, and despite Lavrov's statements, a new format of meetings is not yet in sight, which ‘probably depends on a series of misunderstandings’, admits Abil himself, recalling that ‘we are independent specialists, and we want to remain so’.

The various representatives of the historical sciences in Kazakhstan reiterate that ‘historical memory is the foundation of national self-awareness’, and it will be difficult to form a ‘unified overall memory’ together with Russia. In this ‘symbolic’ year of the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Second World War, events and even school competitions are planned in Kazakhstan too, but Abil points out that ‘the winners will not be awarded in Moscow, because we don't know what would happen to them’.

Photo: Wikipedia/Kremlin.ru