Mustafa Chokayev: from United Turkestan to the Turkic Front and Back

Mustafa Chokayev is a complex historical figure, as it is customary to write in such cases, and an ambiguous personality. He was involved in politics from his student days. Fate, literally for one moment, brought him to the forefront of history as the chairman of the government of the Turkestan (Kokand) autonomy, and then assigned him the role of a lifelong fighter against Bolshevism and Soviet power. Having become a professional anti-Soviet propagandist in exile, Chokayev collaborated with the special services of various countries. Until the end of his days, he remained an adherent of the political idea of a United Turkestan. What was it: a genuine conviction or something that allowed him to maintain the status of a political figure and head of a non-existent state in exile in exile, although historical reality was developing in a completely different direction? In this article we will analyze Chokaev’s main project, namely the idea of a United Turkestan as a political reality and an attempt, going beyond the boundaries of Turkestan, to create, while in exile, the so-called Turkic Front from the Turkic-speaking peoples of the USSR.