Karim Abdraufovich Khakimov ( tt, Кәрим Габдрәүф улы Хәкимов; 28 December 1890 – January 1938) was a Tatar revolutionary who became a diplomat for the Soviet Union. He was one of the first plenipotentiary representatives of Soviet Russia in the Arab world and made a significant contribution to the establishment of good relations between the newly established Soviet Republic and the Arab-Persian world, especially within the recently unified Saudi Arabia. Khakimov joined the

Russian Communist Party Communist Party of Russia might refer to: * Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, founded in 1898 – the forerunner of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) * Communist Party of the Soviet Union, formally established in 1912 and known origina ...

in April 1918 in

Samara Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with ...

Mission to Jeddah

In August 1924, Khakimov arrived in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

, at that time a part of the

Kingdom of Hejaz The Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz ( ar, المملكة الحجازية الهاشمية, ''Al-Mamlakah al-Ḥijāziyyah Al-Hāshimiyyah'') was a state in the Hejaz region in the Middle East that included the western portion of the Arabian Penins ...

. Soon after his arrival, the Hejaz-Nejd War broke out and Jeddah was besieged by the forces of King

Abdulaziz Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was 187 ...

. In April of 1925, Khakimov undertook a pilgrimage to Mecca, meeting Abdulaziz for the first time and forming a strong working relationship. In the following year, Khakimov recognised him as ruler of Hejaz and Nejd on behalf of the Soviet Union. Thus, the USSR became the first state to recognise Abdulaziz as ruler of both kingdoms. By 1932, relations between Saudi Arabia and the USSR had cooled, partly owing to Khakimov's absence in recent years. He returned to Jeddah in 1935 in an unsuccessful effort to revive the relationship between the two states.

Imprisonment and death

He was recalled from Saudi Arabia in September 1937, arrested in Moscow under suspicion of subversive activity, and executed in January 1938 during the Great Purge. He was the subject of a biographic documentary, ''Russian Lawrence of Arabia: Life and death of Karim Khakimov 1892-1938'' made by Radik Kudoyarov in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khakimov, Karim Tatar revolutionaries Tatar people executed by the Soviet Union Great Purge victims Soviet diplomats Soviet Muslims Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Saudi Arabia Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Yemen Members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union executed by the Soviet Union