Reversal of the Politics of Ignoring Islam in Russian Turkestan in Response to the "Awakening of Asia" in the beginning of the twentieth century

Abstract

The paper examines activities of the Commission "On the intelligence issues inside and outside of Turkestan", established by the Chancellery of the Turkestan Governor-General in the summer 1908. It was charged to observe Islamic educational institutions, Russian-native schools, politically non-loyal natives-translators. In addition the Commision was to gather information on the role of Tatars and other migrants from the interior provinces of Russia in the spread of Islamism in Turkestan, which, in opinion of the committee members seized the whole Muslim world. Her appearance demonstrate shift in colonial policy of Russia in its Muslim south, caused by the "awakening of Asia," as well as the defeat in the Russian-Japanese war and the revolutionary movement in the empire.