Asan Sabri Ayvazov

Asan Sabri Ayvazov ( – 17 April 1938) was a Crimean Tatar politician, journalist, writer, educator, and pedagogue in the Russian Empire. Active from the early 1890s until the late 1920s, Ayvazov was a preeminent figure among the Crimean Tatar intelligentsia, and one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar nationalist movement.

Early life and career Asan Sabri Ayvazov was born on 18 May 1878 into a poor peasant family in the city of Alupka in southern Crimea. In 1889, after graduating from elementary school, he was sent to live in Istanbul with his relatives. Here, he studied at the Istanbul Pedagogical Institute from 1892 to 1896. At this time, he was already active in the Crimean Tatar nationalist movement, publishing articles for Ismail Gasprinsky's Terciman newspaper in Istanbul and Baku.

In 1898, however, Ayvazov was arrested by the Ottoman police. When they discovered he was a citizen of the Russian Empire, he was deported back to Crimea.

Mektebe-usul-jedid movement Once he arrived in Crimea, Ayvazov opened a new school in his home city of Alupka based on the Jadid principles and the subsequent mektebe-usul-jedid movement of Ismail Gasprinsky. Unlike many other educational institutions in the peninsula at the time, which were based on sharia and other Islamic principles, Ayvazov promoted a secular form of education. Ayvazov's school allowed female students to be educated alongside males, and taught the Crimean Tatar language, arithmetic, geography, and grammar.

The public response to the mektebe-usul-jedid initiative was extremely negative. Ayvazov's "mektebe-usul-jedid" movement was opposed not only by the local Islamic clergy, but also the local elite and other Crimean Tatars. In 1904, he received an anonymous letter, which said, "Atheist! If you wish to die a natural death, then end the school. If you wish to be slain like a dog, continue your teaching."

In early 1908, Ayvazov left Russia for Egypt, where he was treated for asthma, before returning to Moscow. According to Ayvazov himself, he was arrested on three occasions, and in 1911 left for Switzerland, where he by chance met Vladimir Lenin in Basel. Soon, however, he returned to Russia through Istanbul, where he returned to Moscow. He remained a significant figure among Crimean Tatars, and was a strong supporter of latinisation in the Soviet Union, particularly of the Crimean Tatar alphabet. In 1925, he was also elected as a member of the Taurida Society of History, Archaeology and Ethnography.

In 1930, Ayvazov was arrested. Two months later, however, he was released and sent to Kislovodsk, where he received medical treatment. Under duress, he agreed to cooperate with the Joint State Political Directorate in detailing information about the Crimean national movement to the Soviet government. Following his release, he moved to Simferopol, where he again became a teacher.

Ayvazov illegally sent several letters to Cafer Seydamet Qırımer, who was in exile in Turkey, in the years prior to his death. According to these letters, he was very fearful of future events, and pleaded for assistance in fleeing the country:

Death On 5 April 1937, Ayvazov was arrested in his apartment in Simferopol. He was accused of espionage, with the prosecutor's office accusing him of being recruited by the French Deuxième Bureau and Turkish National Security Service and pursuing counter-revolutionary activities. On 17 April 1938, he was found guilty and sentenced to execution by firing squad and confiscation of all personal property. He was executed the same day. Twenty two years later, on 21 January 1960, amidst the Khrushchev Thaw, Ayvazov was found innocent on all charges and rehabilitated.