The First All-Union Turkological Congress ("Congress") was a conference of Turkologists and politicians held in Baku, Azerbaijan, then part of the Soviet Union, from 26 February to 6 March 1926. The Congress focused on the history, literature, language, alphabet, ethnography, and culture of the Turkic peoples residing across the Soviet territory. It resulted in several important decisions, including establishing the scientific and methodological principles to govern the transition of Turkic-language writing to the Latin script, as well as addressing key policy questions for Turkic peoples in the Soviet Union, including alphabet standardization, orthography, terminology, and literary language development .
The Congress is regarded as a landmark event in the cultural and linguistic history of Turkic peoples in the 20th century. With a total of 131 participants including scholars, linguists, historians, poets, writers, and other prominent intellectuals, it brought together not only Turkic peoples residing in the Soviet Union but also foreign guests. The congress sessions were chaired by Samad aga Agamalioglu, the head of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR).
Over 100 of the participants were later accused of Pan-Turkism and faced repression, with a majority imprisoned or killed. The significant outcome of the Congress – the transition of Turkic peoples to the Latin script – was abolished in 1939, and a mass switch to the Cyrillic alphabet was implemented for the Turkic peoples residing in the Soviet Union.
History
Background After Azerbaijan was annexed by Russia, the issue of alphabet reform in the Near East was initially raised by the prominent Azerbaijani intellectual and educator Mirza Fatali Akhundov, although his efforts did not yield results at the time. In subsequent periods, Ismail Gasprinsky, Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, Mammad agha Shahtakhtinski, Firidun bey Kocharli, Veli Khuluflu, and Huseyn Javid also engaged in activities regarding alphabet reform,М. З. Закиев. Тюрко-татарское письмо. История, состояние, перспективы. Москва, "Инсан", 2005 and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic also considered it. However, the Republic's 23-month life did not allow for fully addressing this crucial issue.
After Azerbaijan was Sovietized, the issue of alphabet reform became even more relevant. As early as 1922, under the chairmanship of Nariman Narimanov, a "Transition to the Latin Alphabet" committee was established in Baku. This process received special attention not only from Baku scholars but also from Turkologists working in other scientific centers of the Soviet Union at that time. By 1922 the newspaper Yeni Yol, under the leadership of Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, had already been published using the Latin alphabet, and in the same year the "New Turkic Alphabet" committee was created with Samed aga Agamalioglu leading it. And then, on 20 October 1923, the Azerbaijani government issued a decision to adopt the New Turkic Alphabet as the state alphabet, although both the Latin script and the Arabic script were still in use.
Approval and preparation In August 1925, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union approved the holding of an All-Union Turkology Congress. The idea of convening the Congress had been submitted to the Soviet leadership by the Azerbaijan SSR government a year earlier. Six months later the necessity of resolving issues related to the transition to the Latin alphabet had been raised during the 1st Azerbaijani Local Oriental Studies Congress and at the sessions of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Union of Orientalists of the Soviet Union.
With the Congress approved, the Soviet of People's Commissars of the USSR established an organizing commission to prepare the convening of the Congress. This commission included Samad aga Aghamalioglu (chairman), M. Pavlovich, Habib Jabiyev, Vasily Bartold, Aleksandr Martynov, Djelal ed-Din Korkmasov, G. Broydo, Tyuryakulov, Zifeld, Fitred, Bekir Çoban-zade, Ashmarin, Odabash, Novshirvano, Ahmet Baitursynuly, and Yusufzade. The organizing commission published the ("News") to publicise the work done in preparation for the Congress.
Attendees
On 26 February 1926 the First All-Union Turkological Congress commenced at the Ismailiyya Palace in Baku. There were 131 delegates, including 20 representatives from the international scientific community. During a total of 17 sessions, 38 presentations were delivered on the language, history, ethnogenesis, ethnography, literature, and culture of Turks and the broader Turkic world.
Samad aga Agamalioglu, the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR, presided over the Congress, and the following individuals were elected to the Congress's Presidium: Agamalioglu; Ruhulla Akhundov; Habib Jabiyev; the renowned orientalist-historian academician Vasily Bartold; academician Sergey Oldenburg; the representative of European scholars Professor F. F. Mensel; Naqovitsin from the People's Commissariat of Education of the Russian SFSR; Professor Çoban-zade; Professor Aleksandr Martynov; Baitursynuly from Kazakhstan; Isidor Barahov from Yakutia; Borozdin and Pavloviç from the Oriental Studies Association; Ğälimcan İbrahimov from Tatarstan; İdelquzin from Bashkortostan; Mehmet Fuat Koprulu from Turkey; Korkmasov; Shakircan Rahim from Uzbekistan; Tunstanov from Karakalpakstan; Berdiyev from Turkmenistan; Osman Nuri Akchokraklı from Crimea; and Aliyev Umar from the North Caucasus. Additionally, representatives from Azerbaijan and other republics such as Ali bey Huseynzade, Banq, Mustafa Guliyev, Academician Nikolai Marr, Anatoly Lunacharsky, and Tomsen were chosen as honorary members of the Congress's Presidium.
Gazanfar Musabeyov, the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR, delivered a congratulatory speech welcoming the participants, and the Congress also featured events in honour of the renowned Turkologists Wilhelm Radloff and Ismail Bey Gasprinski. The participation of distinguished Turkologists and orientalists such as Bartold, Kopruluzade, A.Huseynzade, Krımski, Poppe, and Ashmarin highlighted the Conference's importance and prestige.
Notable presentations Numerous scholarly presentations were delivered during the course of the Congress. Notable presentations included: Bartold's "The Contemporary State of the History and Study Tasks of Turkic Peoples"; Oldenburg's "Methods of Ethnographic Studies Among Turkic Peoples"; A. A. Müller's "On the Art of Descriptive Representations among Turkic Peoples"; F. Kopruluzade's "The Development of Literary Languages among Turkic Peoples"; Martynov's "The Contemporary State and Future Tasks of Studying Turkic Languages"; Chobanzade's "On the Close Kinship of Turkic Dialects"; Hanafi Zeynalli's "On the Scientific Terminology System in Turkic Languages"; S. Y. Malov's "The Contemporary State and Perspectives of Studying Ancient Turkic Languages"; Farhad Aghazade's "Orthography in Turkic Languages"; N. F. Yakovlev's "Problems of Establishing an Alphabet System Related to the Social and Cultural Conditions of Turkic Nations"; C. Memmedzade's "On the Alphabet Systems of Turkic Peoples"; Kemanov's "Fundamentals of the Methodology of Teaching Turkic Languages"; N. N. Poppe's "The Historical and Contemporary State of the Issue of Mutual Kinship of Turkic Languages with Altaic Languages"; H. Şərəf's "Issues of Applying Arabic and Latin Script Systems for Turkic-Tatar Peoples"; and T. Mensel's "Results and Perspectives of Studying Balkan Turkic Literature". The theoretical perspective of the phonetics scholar Lev Shcherba's presentation on "The Basic Principles of Orthography and Their Social Significance" was also particularly noteworthy.
The presentation by Armenian linguist R. Y. Acharyan on the topic of "Mutual Influence of Turkic and Armenian Languages" addressed the influence of the Turkic language on the Armenian language throughout history at all linguistic levels. The main focus of his presentation was the transition from Old Armenian ("Grabar") to New Armenian ("Ashgarabar"), and the idea that the linguistic stimulus for this transition is Turkish.
G. İbrahimov, the head of the six-member delegation from Tatarstan, expressed his opposition to transitioning to a new alphabet based on the Arabic script. Despite his objections, he put forward the idea that "there should be no conflict on this issue" and presented a paper on the matter during the Congress. In his presentation, İbrahimov addressed the issue of orthography and provided proposals with regard to it. The first part of his three-part presentation focused on the critical analysis of old orthographies existing until the second half of the 19th century, as well as the analysis of Uyghur, Orkhon, and old Arabic scripts. The second part described the reforms of the Arabic alphabet, and the third part outlined the movements toward the reform of the orthography of Turkic peoples. In general, İbrahimov identified the specific features of Turkic languages that should be considered for the accurate development of Turkic orthography, but there was no indication of opposition to Latinization in his speeches and proposals.
In his speech at the Congress, the Tatar literary figure Aziz Gubaydullin reported that Salman Mümtaz was publishing the works of Azerbaijani poets in the Kommunist newspaper. Gubaydullin expressed his appreciation for the biographical information written by Salman Mumtaz about the poets, considering it the "most valuable biographical information" and highlighting its significance before each publication. Over the course of the Congress, Mumtaz presented his new book Nasimi as a gift to the participants, and representatives of the Congress also participated in the 500th anniversary celebration of the prominent Uzbek poet Ali-Shir Nava'i.
Decisions made
The following seven areas with major issues related to Turkic languages were discussed at the Congress:
Alphabet Spelling/orthography Terminology Teaching/methodology Mutual relationship and interference problems of related and neighbouring languages Literary language problems of Turkic languages, including the issue of a common literary language Grand language theory and historical problems of Turkic languages
Drawing on a number of principles, decisions were made in each of these areas, including: with regard to spelling/orthography, despite the preference given to the phonemic principle, morphological and historical-traditional principle issues were also taken into account; with regard to terminology, preference was given to the Turkish language's own internal capabilities and specific international words as the main source; with regard to teaching/methodology, in addition to the European standards in the teaching of the mother tongue the importance of the national tradition was also noted; and with regard to the study of related and neighbouring languages by scientific methods, the importance of the perspectives of Altaic studies and comparativistics was highlighted.Həsən İmanov, Birinci Türkoloji Qurultay, Yeni yol qəzetinə əlavə, 7 noyabr, 1927, s. 13–14
The norms and stylistic features of Turkic literary languages, as well as the issue of the ancestral homeland of Turkic peoples, were also discussed and presented back to the Congress by the co-chairman of the organizing committee, Djelal ed-Din Korkmasov. Among the decisions made by the Congress, those regarding a common alphabet, a common literary language, and common terminology held a particularly significant place.Hüseyn Əhmədov. Azərbaycan məktəb və pedaqoji fikir tarixi. Bakı: Elm və təhsil, 2014. — səh. 352.
Outcomes
Widespread adoption of Latin-script alphabet