IN MEMORY OF THE DIPLOMAT AND TURKOLOGIST

A. A. KORITSKY

The magazine's own correspondent in Turkey

S. A. KORITSKY

Postgraduate student of ISAA MSU

Keywords: Turkey, Russian-Turkish relations, Kyrgyzstan, M. K. Ziganshin In 2010, Russian diplomacy, Turkology and Turkology lost a true professional, whose personal contribution as a diplomat and scientist to strengthening and studying relations between Russia and Turkey and other countries is difficult to overestimate.

Mukhamadzhan Ziganshin (1952-2010), who worked for a long time in the Turkish direction (he held various positions in our Embassy in Ankara and the Consulate General in Istanbul, headed the Turkey department in the central office of the Russian Foreign Ministry), passed away, and shortly before his untimely death was appointed Consul General of Russia in Osh (Kyrgyzstan).

In memory of M. Ziganshin, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences published a collection of articles "The Path Laid by the Heart" (compiled by G. M. Ziganshin, scientific editors M. S. Meyer, N. Y. Ulchenko, Moscow, 2011), compiled from the memoirs of friends about him, as well as publications of Russian and foreign researchers on topics that were included in the the range of his professional interests.

M. Ziganshin's short but bright and eventful life is described in the first section of the book by his relatives, colleagues, and people who knew him closely. The reader will learn about the difficult and thorny path of this talented man, who, having been born in the small village of Yangibazar near Tashkent, already at the age of 13 set himself the goal of entering MGIMO, becoming a diplomat, and then for many years stubbornly aspired to it. As a result, almost all levels of the diplomatic service have been completed: from assistant secretary to Consul General. For many years, he devoted himself to Turkey, which remained his " first and main love."

With an extraordinary workload, M. Ziganshin also found time for scientific research. As the editors of the book recall, he "belonged to that special type of Russian diplomat who is extremely attentive to scientific research... orientalists-Turkologists and Turkologists ... highly appreciated their importance for "practical diplomacy"... This was a remarkable case of "close interaction between science and production" (p. 124).

The second, scientific and journalistic section of the book contains the works of representatives of scientific schools in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, as well as diplomats, publicists-friends and colleagues of M. Ziganshin. This idea of composing the collection seems to have predetermined its value for the reader, who will be able to find in it materials devoted not only to the history and modernity of Russian-Turkish and Russian-Kyrgyz relations, but also, for example, to such an urgent problem as the evolution of the internal political conflict in Afghanistan (article by A. Yu.Lavrov). Of course, among the merits of the compiler is the involvement of a wide range of Turkish authors.

Most of the publications focus on Russia and Turkey. It is no coincidence that several articles (N. Y. Ulchenko, E. Tellal, Z. Toprak) cover the period of the formation of Soviet-Turkish relations - the book was published in the year of the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Soviet-Turkish Treaty of Friendship and Brotherhood. This stage of our common history, despite its great significance in the history of Russian-Turkish relations, has not yet been sufficiently studied.

researchers. "Undoubtedly," writes N. Y. Ulchenko, " the Soviet period left us a rich experience in establishing and maintaining the progressive dynamics of relations with Turkey." The author examines various aspects of bilateral economic cooperation at that time, which, in fact, was a financial and economic donation from the Soviet side in exchange for political loyalty, the boundaries of which were always artfully defined by Ankara. At the same time, N. Y. Ulchenko does not detract from the importance of the traditions of cooperation established in those years. The high level of trust between the two countries achieved in the 1920s and 1930s allows the author of the article to assume that Russia still partly continues to benefit from the positive image of the northern "neighbor" created by the efforts of our predecessors (p.80). This is fully confirmed by the fact that the overwhelming majority of Turks gratefully recall the help of Soviet Russia, which, according to the Turkish historian E. Tellal, was "vital for the formation of the Turkish Republic" (p.82). The pre-sent Z is also indicative in this respect. Toprak's article is titled: "A friend is known in trouble... "(p. 64).

In the late 1930s, there was a certain degree of restraint in bilateral political contacts, and tension grew, which transformed during the Second World War into undisguised mutual antagonism, fueled by the conditions of acute ideological and bloc confrontation in the world. The second article by N. Y. Ulchenko, "The USSR and Turkey in the Early 1960s: Difficulties of the 'Reset', is devoted to the first prerequisites for overcoming the stereotype of the 'threat' from the Soviet Union that has spread in Turkish society.

The main trends of Russian-Turkish cooperation in the first decade of the XXI century show that bilateral relations are steadily developing in the spirit of advanced multi-faceted partnership, and in a number of areas, for example, in the energy sector, they are reaching a strategic level. The state of the energy component of Russian-Turkish cooperation is analyzed in the article by D. K. Belyakov.

Separately, I would like to highlight an article by MSU ISAA Director M. S. Meyer on such an important element of Russian-Turkish humanitarian cooperation as inter-university relations. In addition to an interesting historical digression into the formation of the higher education system in Turkey, the author tells about the development of relations between Russian and Turkish universities, based, among other things, on his rich personal experience in establishing interuniversity dialogue.

Domestic and foreign researchers today speak with one voice about the growth of Ankara's geopolitical influence not only at the regional level, but also beyond its borders. The transit potential of Turkey, which has a dynamically developing transport system, plays a significant role in this process. This topic is covered in the article by E. I. Urazova in the context of the participation of the Turkish state in the implementation of the TRACECA southern transport corridor program put forward by the European Union.

Articles by M. K. Ziganshin, who examines the trends in the development of cooperation between Russia and Turkey in the Black Sea region, which is strategically important for both countries, and A. I. Pylev, who examines the transformation of Ankara's foreign policy strategy over the past two decades in relation to the so-called "Turkic world", are devoted to Russian-Turkish foreign policy cooperation.

The events taking place in the Middle East and North Africa once again confirm the need for foreign policy coordination between Russia and Turkey, which together can effectively contribute to the normalization of the situation in the region. In this context, a thorough analysis of Ankara's political and diplomatic efforts to strengthen its positions in Arab countries, in particular, in Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon, as well as its role in the Middle East settlement, is of interest.

The works of N. G. Kireev and the Turkish researcher B. Toprak are devoted to the internal political processes in Turkey, namely the topic of Turkish political Islam. These articles do a lot to help us understand the reasons for the growth of the ruling Justice and Development Party's real influence and unabated popularity in Turkey for almost a decade.

No less interesting are materials on the problems of relations between Russia and the countries of the Central Asian region, in particular, Kyrgyzstan (A. A. Evgrafov, A. A. Kolesnikov, V. M. Ploskikh).

In the first section of the book, we will learn how M. Ziganshin wanted to study Arabic at MGIMO, but due to the fact that the group was already formed, he got into the Turkish language group. This combination of circumstances determined both his fate and, in many ways, the fate of his daughter - also a Turkologist, candidate of historical sciences, a young diplomat Gulnara Ziganshina, the compiler of a peer-reviewed book.

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