The petition of a Qazaq official, Turdybek Syrtanov: an introduction to the Qazaq life strategies in the tsarist colonial era

Abstract

On example of the biography of Turdybek (Turlybek) Syrtanov (1860–1906), an interpreter and translator under the Semirechye regional administration, the article deals with the formation of a new Qazaq social group of officials in the service of the Russian colonial apparatus. The establishment of the Russian colonial regime in Qazaq Zhetysu (Semirechye) and the administrative integration of Qazaq territories into the Russian Empire had transformed Qazaq political and social institutions so that Qazaq elites had to rethink their political functions. The representatives of the former Qazaq nobility could now occupy only lower elected positions in the new administrative units, managing volosts and auls. At the level of regions and districts there were no Qazaqs. In such circumstances, the position of volostnoy upravitel’ (volost ruler) allowing certain lineages to enrich themselves, became the main source of power, among the Qazaqs. To gain and retain this power for themselves and their offspring, the volost rulers used financial resources, trade, and personal connections with the colonial administration. The biography of Turdybek Syrtanov demonstrates a different way of adaptation to the new colonial context.  In the Matay-Qaptagay (Arasan) Volost of the Kapal District of the Semirechye Region, the leading role belonged to the qydyrali lineage of the matay-qaptagay clan of the nayman tribe of the Middle Zhuz. The representatives of this lineage dominated in the area and monopolized the elective position of volostnoy upravitel’.  The qulshan lineage of the same matay-qaptagay clan retained only the functions of biys in their own administrative aul. The head of the Qulshans. Syrttan Bokin (1837?–1916) sent his two eldest sons, Turdybek and Barlybek (1866–1914), to a Russian school in Kapal and then to a gymnasium in Verny. The article examines the motives encouraging the Qazaqs to send their children to Russian schools and making them enter the public service. The main document analyzed in the article is the petition of Turdybek Syrtanov dated May 18, 1902, which is preserved in the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The document shows the Qazaqs' perception of their own world and its representation for the Russian administration. At the end of the article, the document commented by the author is reproduced in full.