How the Alai People Were Saved from Disaster Thanks to the "Queen of Alai"
The ideas and sentiments of the rebels found sympathizers among the Kyrgyz nomads, as evidenced by the relevant testimony provided by contemporary researcher B. Babadzhanov. According to him, one of the close associates of the ishan, Fozil-bik, reported to Dukchi at the end of 1895 - the beginning of 1896 that the Kyrgyz from Eastern Fergana, residents of the village of Ketmon-tipa in Kugart, dissatisfied with the seizure of pastures and lands by Russian settlers, decided at one of their gatherings to "attack the men" in a few days.
It can be assumed that there were many willing to support the Andijan spindle-maker in Alai. Moreover, the supporters of the uprising surely hoped to find a reliable ally in their tribal leader, Kurmandzhan: the wound of grievance for her younger son Kamchybek, executed by the tsarist authorities on March 3, 1895, in Osh on false charges, was still fresh in her heart. The reaction of the Alai queen to calls for unrest was, at the very least, unexpected. Here is how the actions of the datka are described in one of her popular biographies published in sovereign Kyrgyzstan. According to the author, Kurmandzhan gathered a large council of aksakals, at which she asked those present:
- Who is Dukchi Ishan and what does he want? He intends to install the nephew of the late khan Madali as khan in Kokand! And for this, he is inciting the people against the white tsar! This spindle-maker hopes to defeat the padishah of the Russians, against whom the great sultan of Turkey and the rulers of other neighboring countries are powerless!
- The spindle-maker will ruin the people... He will lead them to the bullets, bayonets, and cannons of the Russians. As long as I am alive, I will not allow this! Those whom I have influence over will not follow a madman from Min-Tyube....
But the "Queen of Alai" did not limit herself to merely protecting her compatriots from participating in the rebellion. She considered it her duty to warn the Russians about the impending uprising, sending her adopted son Karabek to the military commander of Osh. He, more than any of Kurmandzhan's sons, embraced her beliefs about the inadmissibility of shedding human blood.
After the guest's departure, the lieutenant colonel immediately sent a soldier to the military barracks with orders to summon all the officers to him.
The message turned out to be of extraordinary importance and could not be delayed - immediate action was required...
And now about the outcome of the uprising. The rebellion led by Ishan Dukchi began on May 18, 1898. Early in the morning, a crowd of rebels attacked the barracks of two companies of the 20th Turkestan Line Battalion stationed in Andijan. Many government institutions in the Osh district were also attacked. According to Uzbek historian Tursunov, the number of rebels was about two thousand people. As a result of their attack on the garrison, 22 soldiers of the Russian army were killed and 18 wounded. Data on the exact number of civilian casualties apparently have not been preserved.
According to B. Babadzhanov, Ishan Dukchi was arrested along with his associates. Moreover, "one of the captured, Subkhan-kuli Arab-bay, was found during a search to have a Quran, which contained a document representing a false certificate issued by Muhammad-Ali stating that he was appointed as the caliph of the Turkish sultan Abdud-Khamid I." The movement was quickly and brutally suppressed, with 383 rebels sentenced by the tsarist authorities. Eighteen of them were hanged, including Ishan Dukchi. The others were sent to hard labor and exile. According to Kyrgyz historians, among the condemned were 257 Kyrgyz, including the subsequently famous akyn of the Soviet era, Toktogul Satylganov. Of course, the number of those sentenced to death and hard labor from the Kyrgyz people could have been much higher. The fact that this did not happen is the merit of the Alai queen.
The Legend of the Fallen Minaret During the Life of Dukchi Ishan
