Muhammed Ayaz ðshaki (Tatar: MöxÃÂmmÃÂtÃÂayaz ÃÂilÃÂcetdin ulñ ðsxaqi (; â 22 July 1954) was a leading figure of the Tatar national movement, author, journalist, publisher and politician.
The importance of ðshaki to Tatar literature has been compared to what Pushkin and Tolstoy are to Russians. The most known story of ðshaki's is the dystopian "Extinction in 200 years" (200 yñldan soñ inqiraz, Kazan 1904). Among the plays often revered is "Zuleiha" (ZölÃÂyxa, 1917), which focuses on forced baptism of his people.
ðshaki was the secretary of state of the short lived Idel-Ural State (1918). While he notably stated that "Russia is a prison of nations", he also (based on his early writings) felt that the so called national problem of the Tatars was largely their own fault; .."[a people] threatened with complete extinction due to their reluctance to follow progress, the Russian culture and renew their centuries-old customs". ðshaki himself was heavily influenced by Russian authors and aligned with the Jadid movement. According to researcher Azat Akhunov, ðshaki believed that the progress of the Tatar nation was possible only in close cooperation with the Russian world, primarily its enlightened part. While living in ðstanbul, ðshaki actively corresponded with Maxim Gorky, who wanted to translate his works into Russian.
Ayaz ðshaki's daughter was the Turkologist Saadet ÃÂaÃÂatay.
ðsxaqi (Iskhakov) was born in 1878 in the village of Yaushirma near Kazan to a Mishar Tatar parents, father ÃÂilÃÂcetdin and mother QamÃÂriyÃÂ. ðshaki was homeschooled by his father at an early age and was sent to study in a madrasah (religious school). He continued his education at the Russian-Tatar teachers' school (1898âÂÂ1902).
ðshaki moved to Kazan in 1904, where he became acquainted ithsocialists and adopted some of their views. He became involved in revolutionary activities, participated in an all-Muslim congress in 1905 and subsequently was arrested and sent to a prison near the city of Arkhangelsk in northern Russia in 1907.
After the February Revolution of 1917, he was involved in activities aimed at achieving cultural autonomy for the Volga Tatars and other Turkic peoples of Russia. As a result of his activities, the Soviet authorities started a campaign of harassment and persecution against him and his associates. He was forced to emigrate in 1920. After settling in Germany, ðshaki started publishing a Tatar-language magazine, Milli Yul ("The Way of the Nation") in 1928. In 1931, he presided over the Independence Committee of the Muslims in Idel Ural.
In 1939, the magazine was closed and ðshaki decided to immigrate to Turkey. After World War II, he became involved in political activities. At this stage, his main goal was the restoration of the Tatar nationhood lost in 1552 when the Kazan Khanate was defeated and occupied by the Moscow Principality.
Throughout his life, ðshaki traveled to Poland, Germany, Japan, China and Turkey where he tried to establish a Tatar-language press and unite disparate Tatar émigré communities. In Finland, he spent time especially among the Tatar community of Tampere during the 1930s. When ðshaki organized a memorial service for Idel-Ural State in Warsaw, a few Finnish Tatars took part; among them Aisa Hakimcan and Gibadulla Murtasin.
Ayaz ðshaki died in 1954 and was buried in Edirnekapñ graveyard in Istanbul.