Ministry of education and science of Kyrgyz Republic
Kyrgyz state university named after I. Arabayev
24.11.2022
Ishenaly
Arabayev: One life
intendned to
Kyrgyzstan
Dedicated to the 140th anniversary
Prepared by: students of the group FA – 12 – 20
Adylbekova Ainazik, Abdisalam kyzy Guliza
Even in death, he continues to rack up accomplishments to his name, as his name is the title of
one of the most successful university in our country, Kyrgyz state university. While he was alive,
Ishenaly Arabayev was one of the most important man in Kyrgyz history, status and prestige he
has held on to, 140 years after he died.
One of the hardest tasks is to make something of a blank slate. To have the vision to
shape a canvas into something magnificent and that was the job that was handed over to
Ishenaly Arabayev. In that difficult years, when people did not care about education, it was this
man who introduced the beginning of education in the history of our state. Ishenaly Arabayev
was born in 1882 in the Kochkor region in the village of Kunbatysh. In 1900 he graduated from
the Russian-Tuzem school. Ability and educated Ishenaly from the first years after graduation
worked as a teacher in one of the village schools. In 1910-1913 he studied in Orenburg in
“Medresse Kuseini", and then in Ufa continued his studies in the famous medrasse "Galiya".
According to some reports, he even made a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina and studied in
Istanbul.
Ishenaly Arabayev was a prominent statesman and educator of the early twentieth
century who stood at the beginning of the national revival and the awakening of national
consciousness in Kyrgyzstan. Even at that time Arabayev understood that religious books in
medreses and schools for eliminating illiteracy of common people are not enough to improve
literacy and to get out of ignorance of people, and he made up his mind, that it is necessary to
create new books. The first book published in Kyrgyz language”Алифба йаки тете окуу” (Ways
of teaching children to read quickly in school or the Primer book) was written in 1911 in the
publishing house “Shark” in Ufa and was written in collaboration with H. Sarsekeev, dedicated
to Kyrgyz and Kazakh children. It was a man, who personally contributed to the granting of 50
million rubles to the 1916 escapees. Thus, in 1920s 300,000 Kyrgyz and Kazakhs were able to
return to their homeland. From 1921 to 1924 the enlightener was actively engaged in public
and political activities, participating in many congresses and unions. The first organized
opposition to the official government of the Bolshevik Committee was the letter of the socalled "thirty", whose leader and ideological inspirer was A. Sydykov. He was followed by
authoritative people - Arabayev, Orozbekov, Aidarbekov, Chukin and many others. Some of
them were expelled from the political party in 1925. Sydykov was deported from the republic,
but the punishment of the "thirty" did not destroy its ideas. Then a new Socialist “Turan” Party
was created, which was later betrayed by like-minded people; the activists were subjected to
harsh prison conditions, interrogations and terrors, and after the leaders with Sydykov,
Shabdanov, Kurmanov were shot. Finding himself in opposition to the official course of statebuilding, Ishenaly Arabayev was suspended from active political activity and unreasonably
repressed.
With the organization of the autonomous Kyrgyz oblast in 1924, the process of formation
of the national education system also began. In fact, the development of the national
educational system of the Kyrgyz people cannot be imagined without him. Making a remarkable
contribution to the establishing of the Kyrgyz state, I. Arabayev was a member of the
Semirechensk Revolutionary Committee, deputy of the "Koshchu" union, a delegate to the IX
All-Russian Congress of Soviets. In 1922-1924 he worked in Turkestan Council of people's
commissars in Tashkent and led its committee on science. The commission headed by him
created the alphabet of the Kyrgyz language, prepared the ABC book, textbooks and manuals
for elementary classes, methodological recommendations for teachers, studied the problems of
Kyrgyz terminology. According to the documents, in 1922 I. Arabayev became the leader of the
group that recorded versions of the epic "Manas" from the mouth of Sagymbai Orozbak uulu.
Additionally, in 1925 he had recorded the episode "Semetei's Marriage on Aychurek" by the
great manaschy Tynybek Zhapiev and published it as a separate book in Moscow. 1924 year,
after establishing the Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast, I. Arabayev worked as a member of the
regional revolutionary committee, the chairman of the scientific commission. In June 1924 he
participated in the meeting of scientists held in Orenburg, where the problems of spelling,
alphabet, collecting oral literature, publishing textbooks and literature were raised. I. Arabayev
also participated in the publication of the first Kyrgyz newspaper "Erkin-Too", in the first issue
of which his article titled was published. The author of the first Kyrgyz alphabet and the
respected by the people “Moldoke”, contributed not only to Kyrgyz enlightenment, but also to
the formation of the Kyrgyz Soviet state and the formation of the educational system. His
educational work plays the same role and serves the formation and development of the Kyrgyz
enlightenment as the work of Voltaire and Rousseau, Diderot and Alamber in the development
of the Age of Enlightenment of Western Europe. During all the years of the Kyrgyz scientist's
life, 19 books were published in Tashkent, Moscow, Ufa, Troitsk and Frunze.
The historian V. Ploskikh explained how he was arrested and about I. Arabayev's death
this way: "He was arrested two days after Sydykov, Sopiyev, Kurmanov, Teltayev and Tulin were
arrested in Frunze. The arrest decision was signed by S.V. Levshin, a Tashkent police
investigator, an operative of the Special Department of the Central Asian Military District.
Those arrested were taken to Tashkent, where investigator Levshin headed the case. I.
Arabayev was brought on June 6, 1933. The next day he was visited by S.V. Levshin, and in the
evening I. He was found dead in his cell. The witness's report and the act of forensic medical
examination were preserved. There are no other documents concerning I. Arabayev in the
prison file.
Finally, I would like to invite the youth of our country to know and remember such
outstanding personalities in the history of our state. It is thanks to these people that we can
now breathe fresh air, in the most democratic, growing country in Central Asia. Even if they are
not here now, they live forever in our hearts!