Shefika Gasprinska

For the first time in the history of Turks and Islam, a woman was invited to take part in the social life, so she stood up and said to herself: “And I will do it”. © Şefiqa Gaspıralı

Shefika Gasprinska is a Crimean Tatar political and public figure, journalist and editor. She is best known for being the initiator of the Crimean Tatar Muslim women’s movement. Shefika made a great contribution to the position of women in society not only in Crimea: her achievements helped Muslim women in other Turkic nations as well.

She became a member of the Crimean Tatar government on equal terms with men in 1917, which was quite a remarkable event throughout the Muslim world.

Shefika was the daughter of Ismail Gasprinsky, a prominent Crimean Tatar activist who always emphasised the importance of education for women and worked to create a women’s periodical in their native language. Her mother, Zuhra Akchurina, was also one of the most prominent and educated women in Crimea. The girl’s family became a kind of foundation for her future fame, though she worked a lot herself to succeed in life.

She spent her childhood in her father’s printing house. Although Crimean Tatar women were not allowed to pursue higher education at the time, Shefika still studied at home. Her teacher was her father’s younger sister Selime Bolatukova, the founder and first teacher of an innovative school for girls in Bakhchysarai at the time. Later, she was taught by a Polish woman, Olha Dzhelakovska. This is how Shefika mastered the Crimean Tatar and Russian languages.

Her parents were repeatedly rejected proposals to start women’s magazines during their time in business, and little Shefika picked up her own ideas and plans for the future. From a young age, the girl always knew what she wanted to do. Ismail and Zuhra raised their children well and encouraged their talent for literature and the humanities, but most importantly, their love for Crimea.

Shefika’s interests were not limited to journalism and helping out her parents with the newspaper. She was also interested in Crimean folklore, thanks to her teacher Olha Dzhelakovska.

The life of the future feminist leader of the Muslim world changed after her mother’s death in April 1903. Unfortunately, Zuhra Akchurina died of an illness, so at the age of 17, the girl took up her mother’s assignment to correct materials written by her father. In particular, she worked together with her brother Refat.

After the abolition of censorship in 1905, Shefika founded the first publication for Muslim women in the Crimean Tatar language, “Alem-i nisvan” (The Women’s World), which was originally published as a supplement to Terdzhiman. The ownership belonged to her father.

The magazine raised women’s most important issues in Muslim society and was positioned as an educational and literary publication. Shefika treated this project with love and inspiration, which contributed greatly to its success.

At the time, she continued to communicate with her old friend Nasib-bek Usubbekov, an Azerbaijani public figure whom she first met in 1902. In 1905, Ismail blessed their marriage.

Nasib-bek noted that his future wife’s opinion was revealed outside the Terdzhiman. He claimed that her own position was not visible behind the insertions of others’ works, and that in her own articles, she revealed her full potential.

Shefika and her husband lived in two homes: in Crimea and Azerbaijan. She did not stop working on her own magazine. The couple had two children, but their family life came to a halt when Nasib-bek got a religious marriage (Kabin-Namah) with another woman. Then Shefika finally returned to Crimea.

In 1911, the authorities “closed” the journal without explanation, and, unfortunately, many attempts to restore it were unsuccessful. Instead, in 1917, Shefika founded the Qadınlar Günü (Women’s Day) movement. In 1917, at rallies and in the press, the activist pointed to two main reasons for discrimination against women: the lack of a fixed right to a homeland and the misinterpretation of Islam. In April of the same year, the first women’s rally was held in Bakhchysarai, where Shefika was proclaimed the head of the city’s women’s Muslim committee.

Crimean society was taking steps towards women’s emancipation despite all the political turmoil. Shefika actively continued to lead the women’s movement and support the national Crimean Tatar movement. There were dramatic changes for the better in society in 1917. The issues of Crimea’s relations with Russia were actively discussed, and women gradually gained their rights, but in 1918, with the arrival of the Bolsheviks, the situation on the peninsula changed completely. At a meeting of the Kurultai on 13 January, Noman Chelebidzhikhan, in the presence of other people, including Shefika, admitted that the case was lost. The plan was to go to Turkey, but this did not happen.

Under the dictatorship, it was simply impossible to continue publishing Terdzhiman. “We preferred to die rather than be killed,” Gasprinska said.

Shefika moved to Azerbaijan with her children at the request of her husband (as they were still legally married). There, she continued to work, helping Nasib Aliyev with translations and contributing to the work of the parliament. The activist planned to set up a pedagogical school for girls and women, but she failed to implement this idea there.

After the Bolsheviks invaded Azerbaijan, she and her children had to move to another country again. Some time later, she found out about the execution of Nasib-bek.

Despite the difficult situation and the bitter period of her life, Shefika participated in the activities of the Crimean Tatar diaspora in Turkey. At the request of her brother Mansur, their grandfather financially helped them and helped them find a job.

“This religious persecution, which is officially and legally carried out by the government, will turn out to be even more frightening over the years,” she described the events that took place in Crimea.

Shefika spent the rest of her life in Turkey and died in Istanbul on 31 August 1975.

Sources:

1. «Шефіка Гаспринська – жінка, яка творила історію Криму».

2. 25 відомих кримських татар: від Кримського ханства до сьогодення / Гульнара Абдулаєва; худож.-оформлювач О. А. Гугалова-Мєшкова. – Харків: Фоліо, 2021.

Article by: Lada Yatsyshyna, Olena Sudak, Daria Piskun, Mamure Chabanova