Ph.D. HB Paksoy, Translator
2012
Then, some business appeared that would provide me the opportunity to seriously involve myself in politics. The election laws modified by the Tsar allowed five Deputies for the Kazan residents and one for the Azerbaijanis. Other Turks in Turkistan were deprived of the rights to have a representative in the Duma. Among the extant representatives, the Ufa Deputy Kutlukay Mirza Tevkilev was very honorable, honest and knowledgeable, but he was also very old. At the same time, since he was raised within the Russian community, he did not know the problems among the Moslems in detail. The other representative elected from the Ufa province, Ibniyemin Axtiyamov was educated in institutions of higher learning and was an attorney, but since he was stuck into small matters, his work did not yield positive results. Isa Mirza Yenikev was the Orenburg provincial Representative, was earlier a teacher, and he was involved in educational matters. But, since he was very ignorant, very hesitant and a scared person, he could not represent his constituents in anything other than education. The issue of sending someone from Ufa province arose, to help the official Moslem Fraction members, to remain in Petersburg during when the Duma was in session. Kutlukay Tevkilev desired this very much. He was aware of his own shortcomings and he was willing to admit it. Even though several candidates were advanced, it turned out that Tevkilev, Selimgirey Canturin and the late Aliasgar Sirtlanov’s wife Emine Sirtlanova, who had large influence among the enlightened Moslems of Petersburg, as well as the Ufa provincial Council member Omer Terigulov, recommended me. As a result, I was sent to Petersburg at the end of 1915, in order to undertake those tasks at the meeting of the Moslems in Ufa.
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