Chuvashes in the Newspaper “Tercüman” and Ismail Gaspirali’s view to the non-Muslim Turks

Abstract

Ismail Gaspirali is a journalist and thinker carrying out important activities in the movement of innovation, in modernization and in the awakening of national consciousness of the Russian Turks / Muslims during the Tsarist Period by publishing the newspaper “Tercüman” in Bakhchysarai city of the Crimea at the end of the XIX century. He is the founder of the newspaper “Tercüman” having an interrupted broadcast life consisting of 35 years among 1883-1918. Although the newspaper was only published in Bakhchysarai, it has had collection of readers from Istanbul to Kashkar for appealing to the whole Turkic world, for broadcasting in the common literary written language and for serving to the thought of formation of the common Turkic nation.

Ismail Gaspirali has stopped on the Muslim identity of them, not on the Turkish identity when he handled the Turkish communities in his newspaper. The cause of this can be appreciated as not appearing of the identities of Turk, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Azerbaijani and etc. by the influence of the nationalist movements, yet and detecting of identity as being Muslim at the end of the XIX century. That’s why, both Gaspirali and his followers (e.g.Yusuf Akchura) haven’t emphasized more on the non-Muslim Turkic communities and haven’t attached much more importance to these communities in the common geography of Turkishness. Though the life, customs of Chuvashes and non-Muslim Turkic communities took place in the columns of the newspaper “Tercüman” with their locations in Russia, the writings about these communities are less generally. The articles related with these communities in “Tercüman” especially in particular for Chuvashes) will be evaluated and Ismail Gaspirali’s view to these communities will be emphasized.