Presentation of Sultan Khan-Girey’s proceedings in Maykop

One of the highlights of the scientific life of Adygeya for the last months of the past year was publication of the book "Sultan Khan-Girey. Selected Papers and Documents."
The book was published by the Adygeya Republican Institute of Humanitarian Studies (ARIHR). For several years the creative collective of Marat Gubzhokov, Asker Panesh, Azamat Buzarov and Sufyan Zhemuhov had worked on that compilation.
The presentation of the new book became a worthy of the crown of that epic, taking place in the reading room of the Research Library of the Adygeya State University (ASU).
In the spacious hall all those who can be called without exaggeration the intellectual elite of Adygeya - ARIHR researchers, teachers of the Maykop State Technologic University, writers, workers of the museums and libraries, staff of the profile ministry (headed by the Minister of Culture Gaziy Chemso), historians, journalists, students - all those for whom the name of Khan-Girey inextricably linked to the cultural history of Circassians.
Welcoming the participants, the director of the ASU Research Library Fatima Kuanova expressed her hope that the meeting in that format would become traditional and the new building of the university library would be "home" for the scientific and creative intelligence of Adygeya.
The lead of the evening, the banquet toastmaster of the intellectual debate and the conductor was the ARIHR director Batyrby Bersirov. His reflections on the theme of the Circassian history, interspersed with speeches of his colleagues were as always profound and not trivial. Why the Crimean khans’ descendants left such a deep mark in the cultural history of Circassians? What was the reason for extraordinarily early death of Khan-Girey? What caused the tragedy of Khan-Girey and why a sense of impending doom for Circassians appears in every reader of his works? How well do we know the intellectual heritage of the Circassian world? These and other questions raised by Batyrbiy Mahmudovich, in varying degrees, were reflected in the discussion of the new book.
Addressing to the gathered, Marat Gubzhokov, the head of Department of Ethnology and Folk Arts, ARIHR, a leading developer of the project, depicted the vicissitudes of a long and difficult work over the collection of the works of Khan-Girey. "This most complete collection for today of Khan-Girey is not a mechanical connection of the already published works, Marat Nurbievich said. Identification of new sources, in particular, rough autographs of Khan-Girey, fragments of his works predetermined the structure of the book. It has historical-literary references, there are source study and characterization of historiographic documents with extensive comments. Only such approach to publishing sources is justified and can meet the modern scientific standards. It is the only way you can see not only his style of thinking and working methods with texts, but also to get closer to insight of Khan-Girey’s sentences, see the multiple layers of his consciousness, feel the throwings of his soul and assess the scientific achievements of prominent Circassian intellectual. "
The head of Department of History, ARIHR, Asker Panesh, one of the developers of the project, in his speech focused the attention of the gathered on historical surroundings, in which Khan-Girey created his major works. "Being involved in the Caucasian policy of Russia, Khan-Girey sincerely hoped to promote the greatest bloodless entry of the Circassians into the empire, Asker Panesh noted. Unlike Khan-Girey the tsarist government had no illusions about it being initially set on the extremely tough resolution of the Circassian problem, regardless of the outcome of the Caucasian mission of Khan-Girey of 1837. Knowingly putting in front of himself the impossible task of "pacification" of the Caucasian peoples, Emperor Nicholas I made of Khan-Girey a hostage in the great political game. The tragedy of the Circassians became a personal drama for Khan-Girey, predetermined not only his retirement, but also in many ways - coming him to death."
What caused a kind of a furore was appearance on a TV screen of another member of the authors’ group - Sufyan Zhemuhov. Being in a long creative trip to the USA, he could not stay away from the action and had sent a video recording of his statement made on the background of ... the Capitol! (As Marat Gubzhokov admitted later, he could hardly resist a temptation to present that story as a "live broadcasting" teleconference with the American capital. However, Sufyan himself, having a lot of experience in journalism, with a smile, concluded his speech as an experienced reporter of the international affairs: "You have been contacted from Washington by Sufyan Zhemuhov"). "It is very important, he noted in particular, that this is the first edition of Khan-Girey in Maykop. It is not secret that although Khan-Girey was a native of Western Circassia, his works for many years had not been published in Adygeya for ideological reasons." Regarded the published collection as a symbol of the further development and the high level of the modern historiography of Adygeya, Zhemuhov Sufyan said that he was very proud of his participation in the project.
In the speeches of the orators the book has been subjected to the impartial analysis.
High standard of the scientific analysis was proposed by the authoritative researcher, Professor of the country's history of the ASU Emily Ayubovna Sheudzhen. In her speech she appreciated the recently published book as a "sourceful and historiographic breakthrough", explaining how important for the researchers pieces of works of Khan-Girey are being introduced into scientific sphere. The technique of the work of the compilers over the rough autographs - interpretation of the texts, insert copyright options when editing their text, and so on - she called "fantastic." "Text processing usually is very difficult, laborious and not very rewarding, Emilia Ayubovna explained. This text is treated, in my opinion, perfectly. The comments are made very professionally. Their level is absolutely stunning, original, with no hint of politicization”.
“That magnificent collection offers a broad perspective for researching in linguistics, ethnology, historical anthropology. We expect incredible revelations. Today we have mentioned the question why Khan-Girey died so early? A historical anthropologist who worked with the published texts, probably would have found in them echoes of the suffering of that intellectual margin, who fell out from his environment and failed to fit fully into the other environment. Further, in Khan-Girey works there are links to many authors - Russian, Western European, and Eastern. And from the standpoint of the intellectual history we could figure out what he absorbed from the parent culture, and what he got in contacts with the other cultures.
I think, Emily Ayubovna concluded, - the main advantage of this book is that it does not cover the subject, but opens up new and fresh perspectives."
Other professional historians also appreciated the advantages of the new work. The Dean of the Faculty of History of the ASU Nurbiy Pocheshhov called the book in a number of the major publications of the historical sources which had been appeared for the last few years.
As always the vivid and imaginative speech was performed by Professor of Department of World History Ludmila Hut. She noted that the discussed book was made at the highest level of the professional standards. Concerning the identity of the Khan-Girey, Lyudmila Rashidovna called him "a man inside whose soul a civilization fault which took place between the two worlds – the Russian and the Caucasian ones, a man who genuinely wanted to make the voice of his homeland be heard by Russia, a man who incinerated his soul in the sincere desire to be understood and heard."
The prospects of "reading" the texts of Khan-Girey with the latest scientific techniques were described by Professor of the World History of the ASU Angela Cheucheva.
Professor of Department of Russian Language of the ASU Rosa Namitokova noted that the published book encourages us to take a closer look into our past, and focused attention of the intellectual elite of Adygeya on the worth studying the Circassian presence in the global culture (for example, the "Circassian style" in France). "The work itself, Rosa Yusufovna said, certainly, is a new stage in the development of the historical science of the Circassians."
Her own vision of the protagonist of the collection was described by the head of the sector of ARIHR Raziet Emtyl, the author of the recent biographical works on Khan-Girey. Her proposal to nominate the collection "Sultan Khan-Girey. Selected Papers and Documents" for the state award of Adygeya Republic in the field of science was greeted with applause.
The speech of Askarbiy Nagaplev appeared to be very emotional, as the producer and the founder of the film company "Circassian-film", the creator of trilogy "Circassia," called for the historians to intensify researches in the field of Adygeyan history to represent properly the history of the Circassian to the other nations.
The head of Department of Language of ARIHR Nuh Gishev noted that the concept of the collection should be recognized as the standard and can be used in the publication of the papers of the other leaders of the Circassian culture.
The national writer of Adygeya Chuyako Yunus shared his vision of Khan-Girey - the man who for many years filled up his creative imagination. Yunus Garunovich expressed his regret that for some ideological reasons Adygeya failed to be the first in publication of the works of Khan-Girey, which could have been already released in Maykop in 1960s.
The researcher at the Department of Folklore of ARIHR Sergei Zuhba mentioned some striking examples of existence of the Abkhaz folklore characters in the Circassian history, familiar to us from the works of Khan-Girey.
Presentation of the collection is reflected in the news programs of the republican and Maykop town TV, as well as in the print mass-media.

Svetlana Shhalahova
www.elot.ru