The Turkestan–Siberian Railway, known as Turksib, was one of the Soviet Union’s major construction projects, built between 1926 and 1931. It connected Central Asia with Siberia. In 1941, the railway’s operational length reached 2,088.4 kilometres. New lines, including Zhambyl–Karatau and Koksu–Tekeli, were constructed. The total length of station tracks was 557 kilometres.
During the Second World War, Kazakhstan became a major source of supplies for the front. All the country’s railways, including the Turkestan–Siberian main line, were given the vital task of ensuring the uninterrupted transportation of military cargo, delivering troop trains and military equipment to the front on time, and supplying the defence industry with coal, metal and other essential materials.
Construction of Turksib began following a decision adopted by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on 26 November 1926. The railway was intended to connect Central Asia, Kazakhstan and Siberia and significantly contribute to economic development. The plan called for a 1,470-kilometre line between Lugovaya station and the city of Semipalatinsk.
Construction began from both ends: work on the northern section, starting from Semipalatinsk, began in spring 1927, while construction in the south began in autumn of the same year. The Committee for Assistance to the Construction of Turksib, established under the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and headed by Turar Ryskulov, made a major contribution to the speed and quality of the project. Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev also played an important role, applying his professional knowledge and engineering expertise.
The Turkestan–Siberian Railway significantly contributed to the development of a professional railway workforce in Kazakhstan. Construction was completed a year ahead of schedule, taking just three years and nine months. The railway entered regular service on 1 January 1931.
Sultanbek Kozhanov (Kozhanuly)
Sultanbek Kozhanov (10 September 1894 – 10 February 1938) was a statesman, public figure, teacher, scholar and publicist.
He graduated from a four-year Russian-native primary school in Turkestan in 1910, a three-year urban school in 1913, and the Tashkent Teachers' Seminary. In 1927, he completed courses in Marxism–Leninism in Moscow under the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks).
He began his political activities in Tashkent by establishing an underground youth organisation called Kenес, made up of seminary students. In spring 1917, he worked with Mustafa Shokay, K. Kozhikov, K. Bolganbayev and S. Akayev to publish the newspaper Birlik Tuy in Tashkent.
Kozhanov actively fought the famine that struck the region during the early years of Soviet rule. From November 1918, as a member of the Central Commission for Combating Famine, he organised food distribution centres for starving people in Turkestan, Sozak, Zhanakorgan, Kyzylkum and Shieli.
In 1919–1920, he served as deputy chairman of the Syr Darya District Executive Committee and held senior positions in the executive bodies of the Turkestan region and Syr Darya Region. Towards the end of 1920, he was appointed People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Turkestan Republic. In October 1921, he became People's Commissar of Education.
Kozhanov’s political views were clearly expressed in his speeches at the Fourth Conference of National Cadres held by the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1923, at a separate meeting led by Turar Ryskulov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR, in 1926, and in two letters he wrote to Joseph Stalin in 1927.
On 16 July 1937, Kozhanov was arrested in Tashkent and became a victim of political repression. He was rehabilitated in 1957. Streets in Almaty and Shymkent bear his name, and a monument to him has been erected in Turkestan.
Oraz Zhandosov (1889–1937)
Oraz Zhandosov was a statesman and public figure who actively participated in the establishment of Soviet power in Kazakhstan. He was born in the Kaskelen District of Almaty Region. Immediately after graduating from the boys’ gymnasium in Verny, he became involved in revolutionary activities.
Around 1919, Zhandosov headed the regional bureau of Muslim communists within the Turkestan Communist Party. Despite the lack of educational materials in the Kazakh language, he opened some of the first rural schools in Zhetysu to provide education for Kazakh children.
Zhandosov actively participated in suppressing uprisings against Soviet rule in Verny and in the Kapal, Zharkent and Lepsi districts.
From 1924 to 1928, he headed the propaganda and agitation department of the Kazakh Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Between 1928 and 1937, he held several important positions: People's Commissar of Education of the Kazakh ASSR, lecturer at Kazakh State University, director of the Kazakh Agricultural Institute, first secretary of the Kegen District Committee of the Communist Party, and chairman of the Almaty Regional Executive Committee.
In 1937, he was unjustly removed from his position.
Sanzhar Asfendiyarov (1889–1938)
Sanzhar Asfendiyarov was a statesman, public figure, distinguished scholar, historian, professor and educator. He graduated from a real school in Tashkent in 1907 and from the Military Medical Academy in Saint Petersburg in 1912. His studies were funded by a scholarship from the naval department of the Ministry of War, in return for which he was required to serve in the army for four years.
In 1917, Asfendiyarov actively participated in the Muslim movement in Bukhara. In November of that year, he attended the extraordinary congress of Muslim deputies at which the Turkestan Autonomy was proclaimed.
In 1918–1919, he headed the Syr Darya branch of the emergency commission for combating famine. In 1919, he was appointed People's Commissar of Health, and in 1920 he became People's Commissar of Water Management of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
In September 1920, at the invitation of Turar Ryskulov, he arrived in Tashkent. There he served in several senior positions, including People's Commissar of Health, People's Commissar of Agriculture, and secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkestan.
From 1928 onwards, Asfendiyarov worked in Kazakhstan. His career was closely connected with the social, economic and cultural transformations taking place in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Even while holding leadership positions, he maintained a deep interest in the everyday life, history and culture of Eastern peoples.
From 1921 to 1922, Asfendiyarov represented the Turkestan Republic in Moscow and was also a member of the national affairs collegium of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR. In 1922, as a delegate to the Tenth All-Russian Congress of Soviets, he supported the decision to establish the Soviet Union.
In 1923, Asfendiyarov returned to Tashkent, where he continued working in public health and agriculture and served as secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Turkestan. In 1924, he was elected to the Central Asian Bureau of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). In 1925, he became deputy secretary and a member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
Asfendiyarov was a distinguished scholar who researched complex issues in Kazakhstan’s history. His historical works, which openly examined the Russian Empire’s conquest of Kazakhstan and criticised colonial policies, were banned. He was sentenced to death by firing squad on false charges.
Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev (1879–1937)
Mukhamedzhan Tynyshpaev was a prominent statesman and public figure of the Alash movement, a historian, educator and the first Kazakh railway engineer.
He entered the Saint Petersburg Institute of Railway Engineers, named after Emperor Alexander I, and graduated in 1906. After returning to his homeland, he took part in the design of the Semirechye Railway.
Having learned of the dissolution of the First State Duma, Tynyshpaev became more active in public and political life, advocating for the rights of the Kazakh people. In 1907, he was elected to the Second State Duma as a representative of Semirechye Region, becoming one of the Kazakh representatives at the all-Russian political level.
After the Duma was dissolved, Tynyshpaev returned to his engineering career. He participated in railway construction in territories administered by the Governor-General of Turkestan. From 1907 to 1914, he worked as a leading specialist and chief engineer on the construction of a bridge across the Amu Darya River and the Ursatyevsk–Andijan railway line.
His contribution to railway construction established Tynyshpaev as one of the notable railway engineers in Central Asia. In 1914, he returned to work on the construction of the Semirechye Railway.
In April 1932, Tynyshpaev was arrested and sent to work on the Moscow–Donbas railway construction project. After returning to his homeland, he was arrested again in November 1937 and sentenced to death by firing squad.
When the Turkestan Autonomy was proclaimed in the city of Kokand in late November 1917, Tynyshpaev was elected chairman of its government, serving as prime minister. He participated in the First All-Kazakh Congress, where the establishment of the Alash party was discussed, and the Second All-Kazakh Congress, which proclaimed the Alash Autonomy. At the latter congress, he became a member of the Alashorda government.
Between 1925 and 1932, Tynyshpaev worked as a chief engineer on the development of Kyzylorda, the new capital of the Kazakh Soviet Autonomous Republic. He also served as one of the leading specialists involved in the construction of the Turkestan–Siberian Railway.
