Kyrgyz of Fergana Together with Uzbeks Created the Kokand Khanate
Every person, no matter how great or insignificant they may be, carries the mark of their era. This also applies to those individuals who can change the course of time themselves, such as the tribal leader Alai Kurmandzhan Datka. The drama of the end of the Kokand Khanate uniquely shaped the personality of the Alai queen. Therefore, our story about her would be incomplete if we do not mention the life of the Kyrgyz within this state.
As is known, the dynasties of Kokand ruled for a relatively short time by historical standards - from 1709 to 1876, or 167 years. But what an interesting period it was from the researcher's perspective! The khanate, born from the attempts of several Central Asian ethnic groups to emancipate themselves from their long-time oppressors, soon became, to a degree, a "prison of nations."
However, it would be a mistake to think that the architects of this "prison" built their policy solely on violence. As is typical for despots of the Eastern type, well-versed in political intrigues, the rulers of Kokand used the full spectrum of feelings of their satraps to strengthen the state. They also played on their desire for sovereignty. For example, representatives of the Kyrgyz, who by that time constituted a significant part of the state's population, repeatedly occupied the khan's throne. Here are some of those rulers: Akboto-biy, Kubat-biy, Aji-biy, Nusup-biy, Alymbek Datka, Iskhak - Pulat-khan. Thus, Kokand can be considered, with some stretch, a state of the Kyrgyz people, although they were not politically independent at that time. This explains the fact that nearly the entire brief period of this state was a time of struggle for the independence of the Kyrgyz people.
In due time, on a white felt in the mid-19th century, the supreme sarybagysh manap Ormon-khan was raised and declared the Kyrgyz khan. However, he was not recognized by the tribal leaders of other Kyrgyz clans and tribes, and the state could not be revived. We know that in the 1860s, in an attempt to create a sovereign Kyrgyz state, the husband of Kurmandzhan Datka, the vizier of the khanate, the ruler of Alai Alymbek Datka, was also involved. For this, he was killed by the order of the khan. Our heroine took his place in the governance of the Alai Kyrgyz.
But was the idea of reviving Kyrgyz statehood in modern times really so utopian? Let us share a little-known fact. In 1909, a book by Professor Martin Hartmann about Turkestan was published in Germany. In it, the author presented a hypothesis about the possibility of creating an independent Kyrgyz state on the Russian-Chinese border. M. Hartmann was convinced that if a bold leader emerged among this ethnicity, he would be able to achieve the formation of Kyrgyzstan. According to the researcher, the border between Russia and China is undoubtedly an important link in the chain that will soon stretch across the entire continent.
However, the utopian idea of that time was destined to come true much later than the fall of the Kokand Khanate. The period of the Kyrgyz people's life within it entered the history of the nation as a time of the heaviest burden of taxes and arbitrariness, a time of continuous uprisings.
What, in essence, did the Kokand state represent, at the sunset of which in the mid-19th century two bright political figures of the Kyrgyz, Alymbek Datka and Kurmandzhan Datka, the Alai tribal leaders, shone?..
The khanate was forged by the Ming dynasty through force, deception, and cunning. Fratricide and patricide were common in the struggle for the throne. In the early 18th century, Fergana separated from the Bukhara Khanate as an independent possession. Initially, the power was seized by the khojas - representatives of clerical dervish brotherhoods. Around 1710, the Uzbek feudal lord from the Ming tribe, Shakhrukh-atalyk, seized power and founded a new khan dynasty that ruled in Kokand until 1876.
In the first half of the 18th century, the Fergana rulers were still nominally considered subordinate to the Bukhara khan, but in fact were completely independent, even against Bukhara. From the mid-18th century, during the reign of Irdana-biy, the seals of the Kokand rulers emphasized his complete independence.
At this time, Kyrgyz feudal lords also appeared independently on the political scene. There is a vague mention in Russian sources that in the first half of the 18th century, the Kyrgyz had an independent possession neighboring Badakhshan.
In one of the documents, a series of which was compiled in 1734 for Empress Anna about the Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Bukharians, and other Central Asian peoples, there was also mention of a Kyrgyz possession: "There is also a small province of Kyrgyz neighboring the Vodokhanskaya (Badakhshan - Note by V.P.) land, where their own khan is, from where the peaks of the Andar River begin, flowing into Great India." The mention of an independent Kyrgyz "province," which even had its own "khan," draws attention.
The ascension of Irdana-biy to the throne and the weakening of the Bukhara Khanate in the second half of the 18th century contributed to the separation of Kokand into an independent possession to a certain extent. In any case, this did not happen without the participation of Kyrgyz feudal lords. Researcher B. Soltonoev in his historical and ethnographic manuscript directly states that the Kyrgyz of Fergana, together with the Uzbeks, created the Kokand Khanate, with which the Kyrgyz were closely economically and politically connected.
However, a substantial alliance between the Kokand and Kyrgyz feudal lords did not materialize, as it was built solely on common predatory plans and did not meet the interests of the masses. At the same time, the Kokand rulers did not yet have the opportunity to forcefully subjugate the Kyrgyz, who played an independent role between Fergana and Eastern Turkestan, acting independently both in relation to Kokand and to Kashgar. From the late 1750s, when the Kokand ruler Irdana-biy strengthened, and the southern Kyrgyz weakened somewhat due to the migration of some tribes to the north, this people was increasingly pushed back, fulfilling the role of an oppressed ethnicity. They had rolled back to this position by the beginning of the last century when the Alai queen was born. By that time, the power of the rulers of Kokand was supported only by armed force, and the subjugation of the conquered peoples - the Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Tajiks - was ensured by ruthless terror. Moreover, the khan's court was torn apart by inter-tribal strife and the struggle of numerous claimants to the throne. Slavery at that time became officially recognized.
The tax policy was based on gross arbitrariness, as tax collection was not regulated in any way. This was one of the typical Eastern despotisms. Under its yoke, the nomads of Southern Kyrgyzstan were subjected from the moment of the formation of the khanate until its fall, while those of Northern Kyrgyzstan were subjected during the periods from 1825 to 1855-1863.
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