OUR DISTANT FELLOW BROTHER: MAĞCAN CUMABAY

MAĞCAN CUMABAY

On 25 June 1893, our "distant brother" Mağcan Cumabay was born in the town of Bulalev in Northern Kazakhstan. He was educated in Ufa, the largest city of the Republic of Bashkortostan, now part of the Russian Federation. In Galiye Madrasahs, he studied under teachers who had grown up in the academic environment of Egypt and Istanbul. Here he quickly drew the attention of his teacher Alimcan (Galimcan) İbrahimov. His first book Şolpan was published in Kazan in 1912 with his support.

It was in 1923-1927, that his education at the Moscow Institute of Literature and Art opened the doors of the Russian language and literature. As a result of this deep friendship, Mağcan Cumabay was to join the circle of the greatest writers of Russian literature.

But like other scholars who shared the same ideals with him, he was also under the tight surveillance of the communist Russian regime. During the elimination activities organised by the Soviet government during that period, thousands of Turkish scholars who were motivated by national sensitivities were punished with deportation and execution.

Between 1927 and 29 he was teaching in the cities of Burabay and Kızılyar when everything in his life was turned completely upside down by an unjust accusation. He was allegedly accused of being a member of an anti-Soviet organisation and as a result of these accusations, he was subjected to exile for 10 years. Gorki, one of the greatest writers of Russian literature, stepped in and was only able to save him from exile in 1936 after 7 years. But in the end, Stalin's "great terror" policy wanted him as a sacrifice as countless Turkish scholars sacrificed for the sake of communism. On 19 March 1938, exactly 84 years ago, when he was only 45 years old, he was gunned down.

Sources:

Lokman Taşkesenlioğlu, Mağcan Cumabay, Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü, 2020.

İbrahim Kalkan, “Mağcan Cumabay”, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi,  (2020 yılında gözden geçirilmiş 2. Basım/EK-1. Cildi), ss.271-72.

Saadettin Yağmur Gömeç,  “Türk Tarihinin Kahramanları: 49- Magcan Cumabay”, Orkun, Sayı 112, İstanbul 2007.

 

Yerlan Zhiyenbayev, “Mağcan Cumabayev’in Şiirinde İnsan”, Sanat Türkoloji Araştırmaları Dergisi (Nisan, 2017)