''Qazaq'' ( kk, Қазақ, قازاق) was a Kazakh language weekly journal started by
Akhmet Baitursynov
Ahmet Baitursynuly ( kk, Ахмет Байтұрсынұлы, , romanized: ''Ahmed Baitūrsynūly''; Russified: Ахмет Байтурсынов) ( 5 September 1872 — 8 December 1937) was a Kazakh intellectual who worked in the fields of poli ...
Mirjaqip Dulatuli
Mirjaqyp Dulatuly ( kk, Міржақып Дулатұлы, ''Mırjaqyp Dulatūly''; Russian: Миржакып Дулатов (1885–1935), also known as Mir Yakub Dulatov, was a Kazakh poet, writer and one of leaders of Kazakh nationalist Alas ...
.
''Qazaq'' was published from 1913 until March 1918, when it was shut down by the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
government. Influenced by other
Jadid
The Jadids were Muslim modernist reformers within the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. They normally referred to themselves by the Turkic terms ''Taraqqiparvarlar'' ('progressives'), ''Ziyalilar'' ('intellectuals') or simpl ...
journals, ''Qazaq'' was considered to be a medium promoting the emerging Kazakh nationalism against Tsarist imperial policies. ''Qazaq'' published articles on the Kazakh culture, colonization of lands by Russian settlers, taxation issues, educational issues, pros and cons of Kazakh nomadic life and ongoing settlements etc. The founders of ''Qazaq'' newspaper wanted to introduce western style reforms to the Kazakh lands as a first step in the gradual progress of Kazakh people towards autonomy and independence.
Influenced by Western scientific and cultural achievements, contributors to the ''Qazaq'' newspaper wanted to introduce similar reforms to the nomadic Kazakhs. They thought nomadic life style is backward, and Kazakhs should sedenterize in order to resist Russian imperial policies, which were dislocating the nomadic life style. Although
Soviet historians
This list of Russian historians includes the famous historians, as well as archaeologists, paleographers, genealogists and other representatives of auxiliary historical disciplines from the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire a ...
considered ''Qazaq'' as conservative, the journal had a strong reformist, progressive agenda. Both the ''Qazaq'' and ''