Orenburg state university

Abul Khair Khan from the eyes of descendants

The International Scientific Conference dedicated to the 325^th birth anniversary of Khan Abul Khair was held in Orenburg.

The Scientific Research Institute of History and Ethnography of the Southern Urals (OSU), K. Zhubanov Aktobe Regional State University (ARSU) and the Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization “People's Commonwealth of Eurasia” acted as the coorganisers of the conference.

In the year of the anniversary, one of the central themes of the discussion was the figure of Kazakh Abul Khair Khan under whose reign the Junior zhuz (West Kazakhstan) joined the Russian Empire. He made that decision to satisfy his political interests and, in particular to get protection from an external enemy. And though during the years of independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan a new interpretation of his personality’s role apperead, historians of the two countries agreed on the high estimation of Abul Khair Khan as a prominent statesman, commander, diplomat. His historical decision was not viewed as a choice of statehood, but as a basic cooperation vector, considering Russia as the main friend and ally of Kazakhstan. The participants of the conference have also followed the cooperation evolution between the two countries and assessed the prospects for its future development.