Yusuf Akchura under the age of changes

Yusuf Akchura (1876-1935) is a famous Tatar public and political figure, a scholar, and one of the founders of political turkism Yusuf Akchura was undoubtedly a gifted and well-educated person. A graduate of Sorbonna, he knew five languages, and he lived in three countries: Russia, Turkey and France. He knew and communicated with many historic figures of his time. In his main work "Üç tarzi siyaset" ("Three Kinds of Politics") he makes analysis of the ideologies of osmanism and islamism which were used for strengthening of the Osman Empire. In it he put forward quite new ideology of turkism using the ethnic factor as basic in the process of formation of a united political Turkic nation. This idea met the requirements of the time with the ideas of pan-Germanism and pan-Slavonism widely spread already in Europe. This work of a theoretical and program character is pivotal in his public, political as well as ideological and cultural heritage. It had played a great role in the passage of Turkic communities from one epoch to the other, as well as in the formation of the Tatar and Turkish elites and nations.