Belek Soltonoev, Son of Soltonkeldi (1878-1938)

Belek Soltonoev Soltonkeldi Uulu (1878-1938) - historian, educator, writer, rightly recognized as a self-taught scholar.

He attempted to write a book on the history of the Kyrgyz people based on a synthesis of local ethnographic, genealogical information and materials from European Kyrgyz literature.

He was born in the Chon-Kemin Valley. He became literate at the age of 7-8. He studied at the Russian-native school in Karakol, and at the Horticultural School for Kyrgyz in Pishpek (Bishkek).

In 1916, he was elected as the volost manager of the Atakin volost. He participated in the national liberation uprising of 1916 and, along with other rebels, fled to China, from where he returned in 1917. He took part in strengthening Soviet power in Semirechye. From 1920 to 1924, he engaged in educational activities in Northern Kyrgyzstan. In 1924, he was in Eastern Turkestan on matters concerning Kyrgyz refugees (Kuldja). From 1927 to 1937, he worked as a research associate in various positions in the Soviet People's Commissariat of the Kyrgyz ASSR.

In 1937, he was wrongfully arrested and executed in 1938. He was posthumously rehabilitated in 1955.

His unique work "Kyzyl Kyrgyz Taryhy" (another title - "Kyrgyz-Kazakh Taryhy"), written between 1895 and 1934 in the Kyrgyz language using Arabic script, was introduced into scientific circulation thanks to Kenesh Jusupov and later published in two volumes (Bishkek, "Uchkun", 1993).

The title page of Volume 2 of Belek Soltonoev's book "The History of the Red Kyrgyz," which was first published separately only during the years of Kyrgyzstan's independence (Bishkek, "Uchkun", 1993).