Qishloq Ovozi (Archive)

The legacy of Central Asian writers who lived during the Soviet era is, at times, controversial. Their willingness to become part of the Soviet system -- and, in some cases, praise it -- troubles some people in the Central Asian states today.

But these writers appeared during a time when the majority of people in Central Asia became literate, and the Central Asian writers of the Soviet period played huge roles in developing alphabets and codifying the region's languages. It was they who put into words the thoughts and feelings of Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajiks, Turkmen, and Uzbeks at a time when, for the first time, most of their populations could read.

Kazakhstan's great poet Abai died in 1904. He was from a well-to-do family and, had he been born 25 years later, might easily have been branded a "kulak" by Soviet authorities, who initially rejected Abai's work, referring to it as "semifeudal.'

But Abai had supporters among a younger generation of Kazakhs.

READ MORE: The Lasting Legacy Of Central Asia's Writers: The Founding Fathers

One was Mukhtar Omarhanuly Auezov (1897-1961). He lived in the Semey area, the same region of northeastern Kazakhstan as Abai. In fact, the two families were neighbors and had known each other for several generations. Auezov's father and grandfather often spoke about the poet and recited his verse to Auezov.

Auezov would be instrumental in changing Soviet authorities' opinion of Abai, and in 1932 he played a role in convincing Soviet officials to name the highest mountain outside Almaty Abai Peak.

Auezov was a prominent writer also, winning several Soviet awards for literature, including the Lenin Prize in 1959 for his most successful work, Abai Zholy (The Path Of Abai), which told the story of Abai's life. The work also became the core of the unofficial Kazakh national code, according to one Kazakh familiar with Kazakh literature.

The M.O. Auezov Kazakh State Drama Theater is in Almaty. There are streets and schools named after Auezov in Almaty, Astana, and Semey.

Auezov made another important contribution to Kazakh literature: He helped develop an alphabet for the Kazakh language.

However, it was Akhmet Baitursynov (1873-1937) who played the larger role in developing and codifying the Kazakh alphabet, first into Arabic script, then into Latin script. Baitursynov was the founder of a newspaper, Kazakh, that came out several years before the Bolshevik Revolution. He was a regular target of tsarist police, who considered the publication's nationalist message to be subversive. Baitursynov helped write and develop the platform for the Alash-Orda Party, which included a call for Kazakhs to be granted autonomy within the Russian Empire.

A teacher by training, Baitursynov also wrote textbooks for schools as well as other works on the cultural heritage of the Kazakh people.

His anti-tsarist material helped Baitursynov find favor within the communist regime and he occupied several positions in the Soviet regime in the 1920s, including deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Kazakh Krai. But his early days as a Kazakh nationalist caught up to him in 1929, when he was arrested and exiled to Archangelsk Oblast in far northern Russia. He was released in 1934, but in 1937 he was arrested again for harboring "nationalist sentiments" and was executed.

Besides having a university named for him in Kustanay, which took part in recent efforts to revise the Kazakh alphabet, there is also a museum there dedicated to Baitursynov's life. His works, including Masa (Mosquito) and Qyryq Mysal (40 Proverbs), are taught in Kazakhstan's high schools.

Aaly Tokombaev (1904-1988) played a major role in standardizing the Kyrgyz alphabet.

Tokombaev graduated from the Central Asian State University (now the National University of Uzbekistan) in Tashkent in 1927 and later that year started publishing poetry. Among his early works were On Lenin (1927) and Flowers Of Labor (1932).

In the early 1930s, Tokombaev worked on his novel Urkun about the 1916 revolt against tsarist forces in what is today Kyrgyzstan. The communist government at first made use of the book as an example of tsarist abuse of the Central Asian people, but later the Kremlin worried about the anti-Russian sentiment it aroused in the Kyrgyz. Tokombaev was arrested in 1937 but was freed in 1939.

His future works were more cautious, but the history of the Kyrgyz people remained his favorite topic and much of the research being done in Kyrgyzstan today concerning the history of the Kyrgyz people builds on work Tokombaev started.

Chingiz Aitmatov (1928-2008) is simply one of the greatest contemporary authors and an obvious source of national pride for Kyrgyzstan. Aitmatov is so well known that we'll simply note there is an abundance of information about him out there.

Sadriddin Ayni (1876-1954) is credited with writing the first novel in the Tajik language, Dokhunda (Mountain Villager), in 1931. Other works such as Ghulomon (Slaves) and Jollodon-i Bukhara (The Executioners Of Bukhara) condemned the rule of the emirs of Bukhara, something that pleased the Soviet authorities, who were always quick to point to what the Soviet government regarded as the despotic rule of morally impoverished local governments of Central Asia's pre-Soviet period.

In Ayni's case, it was personal. He was a prisoner in Bukhara in 1917 and endured torture during his confinement, until he was liberated when Red Army troops seized the city.

He wrote about the Tajik national character, but he was more cautious than Tokombaev had been in writing about Urkun. Ayni was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic for 20 years. He was the recipient of the Order of Lenin three times.

But Ayni's works on Tajik identity took on a special importance after the 1991 independence and have played a role in developing the Tajik national character. There is an Ayni district in Tajikistan's northern Sughd region, an Ayni Street in Dushanbe, and a military airport near Dushanbe is also named for Ayni.

The Uzbek government's treatment of Fitrat and Hamza is a statement on the policies of the late President Islam Karimov.

Abdurauf Fitrat (1886-1938) was inspired by the Young Turks movement in Turkey during his studies at Istanbul University in 1909-13. He returned to Bukhara in 1914 and became active in the Yeni Bukharlyar (Young Bukharans), a group based on the Young Turks that opposed the rule of the emir of Bukhara.

Fitrat also wrote dramas based on the lives of historical Central Asian figures, as in his 1919 play Oghuz Khan. He is known for writing about those particularly closely associated with Uzbek culture -- for example, Temurning Saghanasi (Temur's Mausoleum) and Ulugh Beg (the legendary Uzbek astronomer, also Emir Timur's grandson).

Fitrat's opposition to the Soviet Union's policy of stamping out religion, his association with the Young Turks, and later Young Bukharans proved to be his undoing. He was arrested in 1937 and executed in 1938.

He is well regarded in Uzbekistan today, with streets named after him in Tashkent and Bukhara. Karimov bestowed posthumous awards on Fitrat in the 1990s.

Hamza Hakimzoda Niyoziy, or simply Hamza (1889-1929), is credited with being the first Uzbek playwright but also with having made great contributions to modern Uzbek musical forms. During the 1920s, he also standardized the literary Uzbek language to replace the aged Chagatai language.

While other Central Asian writers may have found ways to work within the Soviet system, Hamza seemed to embrace it. His works in the 1920s chided Uzbeks for their superstitions and espoused topics such as women's rights and social equality. He was named a National Writer of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1926.

Hamza became an early Soviet martyr when he was stoned to death by a group of Islamic supporters in the town of Shohimardon in 1929.

Hamza was revered during Soviet times. Parks, streets, and even a metro station in Tashkent were named after him. But after 1991 independence, his name was removed from everything.

Turkmenistan has degenerated into an absurd state as concerns contemporary literature since independence.

Even the great Magtumguly has been moved into the background to make way for the books of Turkmenistan's presidents. Both the country's first president, Saparmurat Niyazov, and his successor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, have allegedly authored numerous works on a range of topics.

The apex of Niyazov's writings was Ruhnama (The Book Of The Soul), a collection of moral principles and guidelines for the Turkmen people, which in Niyazov's last years was praised by Turkmen officials as second in importance only to the Koran.

According to official claims, Berdymukhammedov has written more than 40 books on topics ranging from traditional Turkmen medicines (Berdymukhammedov was trained as a dentist), to tea, to the native Akhal horse, and so on.

These attempts to eclipse the classic Turkmen writers have not, at least so far, led to the removal of their names from places all around the country, however.

So there it is, a greatly abridged version of my presentation but hopefully something to pique the interest of other Central Asian scholars to provide more in-depth works on these important figures.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.

The disintegration of the Soviet Union in late 1991 left all the former republics scrambling. Self-rule was a surprise for many, certainly for the leadership in Central Asia.

Among the many pressing matters in those days was establishing signs of sovereignty -- a flag, a national anthem, and so on.

They also needed a history; roots for building a new nation and national identity. No heroes had emerged from independence -- the U.S.S.R. simply fell apart and suddenly there were five countries in Central Asia.

Lacking contemporary heroes, the five governments searched the rich history of Central Asia, looking for known figures who could assume the role of founders of these new nations.

ALSO READ: The Lasting Legacy Of Central Asia's Writers: The Soviet Era

The respected writers of Central Asia's past were obvious choices.

The "founding father" for Tajikistan became Ismail Somoni, the late 9th-century conqueror whose Samanid Empire included what is now northern Iran, northern Afghanistan, and Central Asia south of the Syr-Darya River. His tomb is in Bukhara, in what is currently Uzbekistan.

Tajik authorities also claimed as native sons two of the best-known writers from the late, and post-Samanid, period -- Abu Abd Allah Jaar ibn Muhammad al-Rudaki, or Rudaki (858-941); and Abu Ali Ibn Sina, or Avicenna (980-1037).

The Father Of Persian Poetry

Rudaki is called the father of Persian poetry and is credited with making enormous contributions to modern Persian language. But he was also a prototype for Central Asian writers. Rudaki composed verse and he also played music.

In a time and place where illiteracy was high, music helped carry poetry throughout the region and would continue to be a main transmitter of Central Asian poetry for the better part of the next millennium.

Rudaki was also from Panjikent in what is now western Tajikistan. His tomb is there today, reinforcing Tajikistan's attachment to the poet.

Curiously, the mausoleum was originally built in 1958, by Soviet authorities (they dug up the body first to make sure he was really there). Such was the respect Rudaki commanded, and still commands.

After independence was gained in 1991, Lenin Avenue in Dushanbe became Rudaki Street. There is also a statue of Rudaki in Dushanbe's Rudaki Park, a Rudaki district in western Tajikistan, and another statue of Rudaki in Tajikistan's ancient northern city of Istaravshan.​

A Man Of Many Talents

​Avicenna was an amazing human being. Born in Bukhara, he is said to have memorized the Koran while still a child and was reading translations of Greek philosophy when he was a teenager.

He wrote his own works on philosophy, and also on medicine, mathematics, Islamic theology, science, astronomy, geography, and other subjects. And, of course, he was a poet, too.

The Avicenna State Medical University is in Dushanbe. A statue of him is on Avicenna Square in the Tajik capital.

One of Dushanbe's districts is named for Avicenna, as is the second highest mountain peak in Tajikistan (7,134 meters). It had been Lenin Peak from 1928 to 2006.

Uzbek authorities chose Tamerlane to be the nation's founding father. His connection to the Barlas clan is certain, and the Barlas eventually became a dominant Uzbek clan.

The Uzbeks also claim writer Nizomiddin Mir Alisher, better known under his pen name Navoi (1441-1501), as a native son.

Navoi was born and spent most of his life in the area around Herat, in what is now western Afghanistan, though he did live in Samarkand for a time in the 1460s.

Breaking From Tradition

In Navoi's time the language of art and science was Persian, but Navoi broke from this tradition and composed his works in Chagatai, from which the modern Uzbek language comes.

Near the end of his life, Navoi completed The Comparison Of Two Languages (Muxokamat Allugatayn), in which he attempts to argue the superiority of Chagatai over Persian.

In 1958, when Uzbekistan was a Soviet republic, the city of Karmana (Kermine) was renamed Navoi, and it still bears that name today, as does the airport there.

In the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, there is a statue of Navoi, a main street, and a park named after him, as well as the Navoi National Library and the Alisher Navoi Opera and Ballet Theater.

The Turkmen lay claim to the 18th-century writer and poet Magtumguly Pyragy, or simply Magtumguly (1724-ca. 1807).

Magtumguly is a different sort of figure to Rudaki, Avicenna, and Navoi. The latter three enjoyed royal patronage. Magtumguly's life was very different.

His father, Azady, was a famous poet who often wrote about morality. Azady also had a vision of the Turkmen tribes being united and one of his best-known works -- Sermon of Freedom (Wagzy-Azat) -- is a call for Turkmen tribes to band together and stop being dominated by groups around them.

Magtumguly at first wrote in Chagatai, but he eventually composed in Turkmen. Magtumguly is sometimes credited with being the first person to write in the Turkmen language, though this is not clear.

He certainly did make major contributions to the development of the language. His verse was spread by musicians called "bakhsy."

Turbulent Times

Magtumguly lived in turbulent times. He was taken captive at least once. Later in his life most of his manuscripts were lost when a raiding party attacked Magtumguly's village and loaded most of Magtumguly's possessions, including his written works, on a wagon that then tipped over in a river. Magtumguly had found a hiding place and watched as his work floated away.

Like his father, Magtumguly's work also emphasizes morality and urges Turkmen tribes to unite, but it is also, not surprisingly, somewhat bitter, and the poet often criticizes clerics and rulers for their hypocrisy and shortcomings.

Magtumguly's fame and his contributions to the Turkmen language qualify him to be considered a founding father, and it is unavoidable that he should be, but Turkmen authorities are concerned by the occasionally rebellious and critical tone of his works.

Turkmenistan's first president, Saparmurat Niyazov, alternated between praising Magtumguly and disparaging him; for example, as a Sufi who preached a hermit's life.

Niyazov's successor, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, also has mixed reactions to Magtumguly. Berdymukhammedov is credited with writing the introduction to Magtumguly: Poems From Turkmenistan (see page 4). But in June 2017 Berdymukhammedov ordered the statue of Magtumguly in Ashgabat moved to the hills outside the Turkmen capital, and the Elders' Council adopted a resolution in October 2017 that changed the May 18 holiday marking Magtumguly's birthday to June 27, and it will no longer be a day off work.

But there is a still a Magtumguly Street in Ashgabat and the Magtumguly Turkmen State University (formerly the Maksim Gorky University) and an "international" Magtumguly award for literature.

Ibrahim Qunanbayuli, or "Abai" (1845-1904), is perhaps Kazakhstan's great poet, but he made another immense contribution to Kazakh culture and, ultimately, to the Kazakh language by writing down his works. Previously Kazakhs' means of transmission of poetry was oral.

Abai not only wrote his own works, most notably his Book Of Words, but he also translated the works of authors such as Goethe, Pushkin, and Lermontov into Kazakh. Abai was also a musician and mothers in Kazakhstan today still sing their children to sleep with lullabies Abai wrote.

There is a village in Almaty Province named after Abai, and in Almaty the Abai State Theater of Opera and Ballet, Abai State University, and Abai Street. There is also the Abai oil field in Kazakhstan's sector of the Caspian Sea.

The Embodiment Of Kyrgyz History

The names of Kyrgyz writers from hundreds of years ago are, at best, little known today, but the Kyrgyz have what is perhaps the greatest indigenous legend -- Manas the warrior. There is a special group of people --the manaschis -- who have passed the legend of Manas down for more than 1,000 years.

In many ways Manas embodies the history of the Kyrgyz people, since some versions of his story seem to begin during the time of the nomadic Hsungnu some 2,000 years ago, whereas other versions might include events that seem drawn from the Arab invasion of Central Asia in the 8th century and there are even tales of battles Manas fought against with the Manchus of the 18th century.

Manas is a true "jigit": a horseman, brave and capable with a fierce loyalty to his people, the Kyrgyz people. His 40 "choro," or companions, reinforce the need for unity among the various clans of the Kyrgyz people.

Manas and his choro, though not always the full 40, are now a common feature at outdoor political rallies during Kyrgyzstan's election campaigning. Someone dressed in ancient or medieval armor almost always rides out at some point during these rallies and no one present at these events need to be told who this person is.

Among the many objects named after Manas are a main street in Bishkek, the international airport outside Bishkek, and statues of Manas can be seen throughout the country.

The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.