Sadri Maksudi Arsal ( İske imlâ Tatar: ; 1878 – 20 February 1957) was one of the leading figures in the national awakening of

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

in Russia during the early 1900s. He worked as a writer, lawyer, politician, professor, lecturer, researcher of Turkic languages and a delegate of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. He was the president of the short-lived

Idel-Ural State The Idel-Ural State (, , , also İdel-Ural berlege İdel-Ural ştatı), also known as the Volga-Ural State or Idel-Ural Republic, was an short-lasting autonomy of Tatars, Tatar peoples that claimed to unite Volga Tatars, Tatars, Bashkirs, and ...

Name

His birthname was Sadreddīn Nizāmeddin al-Maqsūdī, and while operating as a congressman in

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

, he used the Russified version Sadrutdin Nisamutdinovich Maksudov (Садретдин Низаметдинович Максудов). Later in Turkey, he added "Arsal" to his name and from 1935 forwards went by the name he is now known for.

Biography

Sadri Maksudi Arsal was born in 1878 in the village of Taşsu near

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. After graduating from the Teacher's Institute in Kazan, in 1900 he traveled to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

where he stayed for a while. Two years later, Arsal went to study in

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

, where he eventually graduated as Master of Sciences in Law. When he returned to Russia, he joined the Islamic Constitutional Party. Arsal operated as a representative of the District of Kazan in the second Duma in 1907 and the third in 1908. Later, Arsal was elected as the president of the short-lived

. Before that, he had operated as a chairman of a

national assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

held in Ufa in 1917, regarding given state. In 1918, after the rise of

bolshevism Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...

and the breaking up of the Islamic party he was a part of, Sadri Maksudi Arsal escaped through

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, where he stayed in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, at the home of local Finnish Tatar named Imad Samaletdin. From there, the next year he continued his trip to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where at the Peace Conference he spoke for the political rights of people living in Idel Ural area, though he was not able to produce a positive result with his speech. In 1922, Sadri Maksudi Arsal returned briefly to Finland, because his family had fled there from

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Together they traveled to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, settling in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. While living there, Arsal focused mainly on historical studies and refrained from any kind of political activities. After a while, he moved to Paris where he gave lectures in Turkish history at the Slavic Faculty of Sorbonne. In 1925, Arsal moved to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, where among other things he worked as a lecturer and later as professor of legal history and philosophy in universities of

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

and Istanbul, and was eventually awarded with an honorary title. Sadri Maksudi Arsal published multiple literary works in the fields of his studies, for example ''Türk dili için'', which deals with the development of

Turkish language Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...

and in where he proposes different ways of which it could be made better; like removing foreign influences from it. Arsal was elected as member of the Turkish Parliament for three legislative periods. He died in 1957 in Istanbul.

References

Bibliography

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arsal, Sadri Maksudi 1878 births 1957 deaths People from Vysokogorsky District People from Kazan Governorate Tatar people from the Russian Empire Members of the 2nd State Duma of the Russian Empire Members of the 3rd State Duma of the Russian Empire Russian Constituent Assembly members Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Democrat Party (Turkey, 1946–1960) politicians Members of the 4th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 5th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 9th Parliament of Turkey Deputies of Ankara Deputies of Giresun Pan-Turkists Turanists Tatar politicians Lawyers from the Russian Empire 20th-century Turkish lawyers Expatriates from the Russian Empire in France Soviet emigrants to Turkey Turkish people of Tatar descent Muslims from the Russian Empire