Rahmankul Khan (August 1913 - August 6, 1990 ) - one of the political and military leaders, leader and ruler of the Pamir, then Afghan, Pakistani and, finally, Turkish Kirghiz . His historical image was interpreted ambiguously, having received various assessments in history. On the one hand, for representatives of a kind, he acted as a fighter for freedom and independence of the Pamir Kirghiz, on the other hand, to achieve his goals he did not disdain robbery, deceit and banditry, primarily in relation to the border troops of the USSR and China [1] .
| Rahmankul Khan | |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1913 |
| Place of Birth | Russian Empire , Ferghana Region , Murghab |
| Date of death | August 6, 1990 |
| Place of death | Turkey , Erzurum |
| Nationality |  Russian empire  Emirate of Afghanistan  Kingdom of Afghanistan |
| Father | Japarkul |
Biography
Born in August 1913 in the Pamir Murghab , in the territory of the present Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of the Republic of Tajikistan , then as part of the Russian Empire . His father was Japarkul , the former thousand-strongman of the Kokand Khan Khudoyar . Japarkul was from the Kyrgyz clan Teyit [2] , led the Murghab Kirghiz. In 1917 , fearing a civil war, collectivization and transition to settled , Japarkul, along with his subjects, fled to the Vakhan corridor of the Afghan Pamir (where by that time there was already an autochthonous Kyrgyz population).
Coming to power
In 1938 , after the death of his father, at the age of 25, Rakhmankul was proclaimed a khan of the Afghan Kirghiz. It was he who managed to obtain a number of tax benefits from the Afghan authorities and the abolition of military service in exchange for the Kyrgyz carrying out the Pamir border service on the Afghan-Soviet border (where he constantly clashed with the Soviet border guards), and later on the Afghan-Chinese border (which was demarcated in 1964).
However, already in 1948, he voluntarily and very unexpectedly renounced power and, accompanied by 40 families, moved to the XUAR in China , where he spent about 2 years. He later decided to return to Afghanistan . Having invited the Chinese border guards to the Min-Teke territory adjacent to Pakistan , Rakhmankul killed them, seized their weapons and returned to the Small Pamir in the summer of 1950 , having received the approval of Zakir Shah [3] . The Afghan Kirghiz gladly met him and again proclaimed him their khan.
In 1964, Rakhmankul Khan became an honorary member of the Loya Jirga , the representative body of Afghanistan, in which he represented the interests of the Kyrgyz minority. At the same time, he received the post of Shah governor. At the peak of his power, Rahmankul owned a large number of cattle. He owned more than 70 thousand sheep , more than 2 thousand yaks , about 300 horses and camels . He also occupied vast pastures and controlled caravan routes and trade through the Afghan Pamir.
After the April Revolution of 1978, Rakhmankul with his retinue of more than 1,300 people fled to Pakistan , where he spent 4 years with his subjects, sharing hunger and deprivation with them (cattle, epidemics, etc.). He asked the US government for political asylum for himself and his subjects in Alaska , but was refused. In August 1982, Rakhmankul Khan with his family and 293 families (1,138 people) of the Kyrgyz headed by him were transported by UN planes to Turkey , in the province of Van . Rakhmankul Khan, in addition to his native Kyrgyz, also knew Dari and Pashto well , in Pakistan he studied Urdu and English . He died in a hospital in Erzurum (Turkey) on August 6, 1990 [4] .
Notes
- ↑ In search of the Kyrgyz of Afghanistan. From the present to the past (Part V), Ferghana is an international news agency . Date of treatment January 22, 2013. Archived on February 5, 2013.
- ↑ Afghan Kyrgyz - Forum of the “Eurasian Historical Server” . Date of treatment January 22, 2013. Archived on February 5, 2013.
- ↑ History of the countries of Asia and Africa - Rahmankul Khan . Date of treatment January 22, 2013. Archived on February 5, 2013.
- ↑ Land-water reforms of Soviet power in Kyrgyzstan and the national-state demarcation of Central Asia . Date of treatment January 22, 2013. Archived on February 5, 2013.