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Senior zhuz has nothing to do with Kazakh statehood
source; https://exclusive.kz/starshij-zhuz-ne-imeet-otnosheniya-k-kazahskoj-gosudarstvennosti/
“The biys were not judges at all, and more than half of the history of the existence of the Kazakh Khanate, the Senior Zhuz was outside the Kazakh statehood. Kazakh statehood is the history of the people who lived on the territory of the Middle and Younger zhuzes, ”says Talgat Zhumaganbetov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Director of the Kazakh Research Institute of Turkology and Mongolian Studies from Aktobe.
In the minds of modern Kazakh society, biys are judges. A monument to three biys - Tolya, Kazybek and Aiteka - was erected near the first building of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1999. But in the Kazakh Khanate, the biys were more economic arbitrators, but not judges.
- The Kazakh word "bi" is an abbreviation of the word "bileushi", that is, the manager of the khan. The first information about the biys in the Kazakh Khanate is mentioned in the reforms of Is-Muhammad-khan (reigned 1589-1628), popularly known as Yesim-khan, - says Talgat Zhumaganbetov. - He managed to solve a number of difficult tasks. First, with the Oirat threat; secondly, he defeated the internal opposition led by Khan Tursun (son of Khan Khaknazar); thirdly, it expanded the borders of the Kazakh Khanate to the Shash oasis and the Fergana valley (modern Uzbekistan), and in some periods reached the borders of Turfan and Kashgar (now XUAR).
His main internal enemies were the Tore-Chingizids. He always had to repel their attacks on the throne, so he reformed the political system. In Russian historiography, this is called the "Biysk revolution".
Fighting against separatism and encroachments on the throne, Yesim Khan limited the political rights of Chingizids and increased the rights of biys, as well as beks - high-ranking officials. By the way, the fact that in Kazakh mythology the beks are considered to be the rulers of the clans does not correspond to the truth. Yes, they were chosen from among the rulers, but they themselves were not. The Kazakhs respectfully called their ancestral rulers "aksakal", and if he was young - "karasakal". In Russian documents they are called "foremen".
Under Khan Yesim and his son, Khan Zhanibek II (1628-1648), a five-member administrative division of the state finally took shape: three zhuzes and two regions - Tashkent with a district (as part of the Kazakh Khanate from 1589 until 1925, when the Valerian reform took place Kuibyshev, Tashkent was considered a Kazakh city) and the territory of the Kyrgyz Buruts, who became part of the Khanate under Khan Takhir in the first half of the 16th century. Over each of them, the khan appointed a biy, in a modern way - “akim of the region”.
The biys became judges only after the final liquidation of the sovereignty of the khan's power in Kazakhstan by the Russian Empire. "Temporary regulation on management ..." of Emperor Alexander II in 1869-70 deprived the Chingizids of even ostentatious sovereignty. And numerous biys of different ranks were allowed to engage only in judicial practice on the basis of "adat" - traditional Kazakh law.
About three beats
Now about the three famous biys - Tolya, Kazybek, Aitek. In recent years, monuments in their honor have been massively replicated. In addition to Astana, they appeared near Shymkent and even in the small district center of Kandyagash (Aktobe region).
“And here again we are faced with the mythology that illiterate people are subject to,” says Talgat Zhumaganbetov. – During the time of Khan Tauekel II, the Kazakh state already consisted of six regions. In addition to the listed five, in the second half of the 17th century, the Karakalpaks voluntarily entered the Kazakh Khanate, so it became known as "Alty Alash", since the biysk council consisted of six people. In addition to the well-known three biys - Tole, Kazybek and Aiteke - it was attended by the Kyrgyz Kokym-bi Karashoruli, from the Karakalpaks - Sasyk-bi and Mohammad-bi from the Kiyat clan and the remnants of the Katagan clan, that is, from Tashkent. The senior biy was not Tole-bi. At that time, they looked at nobility. According to tradition, the "Golden clans" from the ulus of Jochi were two clans - kiyat and kongrat. Karakalpak Sasyk-bi was just from the Kongrat clan, so he was appointed chairman of the council of biys of the Kazakh Khanate.
During the second Kazakh-Dzungarian war (1723-1730), part of the Kazakhs found shelter in the lands of the Karakalpaks. And it was there that the Kazakh-Karakalpak kurultai, known for sending two useless embassies to St. Petersburg with requests for help, were held - both times they were refused.
The myth of the Elder Zhuz
An important historical fact is that there were neither Kyrgyz nor representatives of the Senior Zhuz at these kurultais.
“And here we come to another myth that emerged from among the Russian part of the Kazakh society,” continues Talgat Zhumaganbetov. – They know about the patronymic (by right of seniority) traditions of the Kazakh people, therefore, without going into historical details, they decided that in Kazakhstan everything is decided by the Senior Zhuz. But this is nothing more than an attempt by certain circles of our society to incite one part of the Kazakhs against another. The attempt was almost successful. At the end of the 1990s, President Nazarbayev even had to figure out which zhuzes his ministers came from. It turned out - from different.
Various discussions took place during that period. There was even such a philistine opinion - "Kazakhs from the Junior and Middle Zhuzs should not be allowed to govern, since they were most under the influence of Russia." Similar thoughts were expressed by other participants in this debate. Such thoughts could appear only in people who do not know their history well. There is a paradox between Kazakh history and the history of the Elder Zhuz, which is closely connected with the Burut Kyrgyz.
The history of these two administrative regions of the Kazakh Khanate in the 15th-18th centuries was associated with numerous wars - initially with the Oirats, later (after 1630) with the Dzungars. An analysis of these wars shows that after each unsuccessful battle, the Senior Zhuz and the Kyrgyz found themselves part of the Oirat, later the Dzungar state. For objective reasons, the elder zhuz participated least of all in the formation of the Kazakh Khanate.
Let's break down the facts. The end of the XV and the entire XVI century is the period of determination and formation of the territory of the Kazakh Khanate. Only under Khan Is-Mohammad (Yesim), that is, at the beginning of the 17th century, the Kazakh Khanate acquires a form that is close to modern.
In 1616, the Senior Zhuz and the Kyrgyz became dependent on the state of the Oirats. In 1625-30, it collapsed, the Senior Zhuz and the Kyrgyz were liberated and returned to the khanate. In the meantime, the state of the Dzungars was quickly formed on the territory of Western Mongolia, Altai and East Turkestan, and in 1635-40 the first Kazakh-Dzungar war broke out. Khan Zhanibek II and his younger brother, Sultan Zhangir, led the Kazakh army. The Kazakhs lose the battle of the huntaisha Erdene-batur. Zhangir (future khan) is captured. The elder zhuz and the Kyrgyz are again under the control of the Western Mongols. Only in 1640, after peace negotiations, Sultan Zhangir was redeemed from captivity, the Senior Zhuz and the Kyrgyz returned again to the bosom of the Khanate. However, the peace was short-lived. In 1643-47 - a new war. At first, the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz defeated the Dzungars in the Orbulak battle, but by 1646 they lost to them. Sardar, the younger brother of Khan Zhanibek, and his family were captured, and the Senior Zhuz remained part of the Kazakh Khanate.
In 1648, after the death of Khan Zhanibek, Zhangir became the new Khan. In 1652, Khuntaishi Batur began the third war with the Kazakhs. The Tien Shan Kyrgyz and Kazakhs of the Elder Zhuz were defeated and accepted the citizenship of the Dzungars. Khan Zhangir died in the battle. The senior zhuz and the Kyrgyz returned to the Kazakh Khanate only under the Khuntaishi Galdan-Boshoktu (1671-1697): the fourth war against the Kazakhs did not work out, and he committed suicide.
In 1716, the Dzungars made a preemptive strike against the Kazakhs, who were preparing for a war against Dzungaria already in alliance with the Russian Empire. By 1718-19, Khan Kaiyp again lost the Senior Zhuz and the Kyrgyz. Therefore, they did not participate in the sixth war against the Dzungars in 1723-30. Moreover, the military units of the Kazakhs, Mogul and Kyrgyz were attracted by the Dzungars against the Kazakhs of the "Ulken Khan" Abilkhair. Tole-bi, a vassal of the Dzhungars, is appointed by the akim of Tashkent. After the truce between the Kazakhs and the Dzungars in 1730, the Senior Zhuz once again returned to the Kazakh Khanate.
However, already in the 70-80s of the XVIII century, the Senior Zhuz and the Kyrgyz gradually became part of the Kokand Emirate and remained there until 1871 - until they became part of the Russian Empire after the defeat of Kokand. Thus, more than half of the history of the Kazakh Khanate, the Senior Zhuz was outside the Kazakh statehood. Kazakh statehood is the history of the people who lived on the territory of the Middle and Younger zhuzes.
- With these facts, I want to dispel another myth - supposedly the Dzungars wanted to arrange genocide against the Kazakhs, which was created by the "black prince" of Kazakh history - Tleukazhy Shoinbaev, who at one time led the campaign against the first doctor of historical sciences Ermukhan Bekmakhanov, which ended for the latter with 25 years of exile , - sums up Talgat Zhumaganbetov. - The Kazakhs of the Senior Zhuz lived quite well under the wing of the Dzungars, they were not going to massacre them at all. Today it is time to reconsider the basic concepts of national history.