International scientific conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Turksib takes place at AltSU

From 29 to 30 October, Altai State University hosted an international scientific conference "Industrial construction in Central Asia: historical significance for the region", dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the opening of the Turkestan-Siberian railway.

The event was organized by the scientific and educational center of Altaic and Turkic studies "The Greater Altai", the Association of Asian Universities and Altai State University.

Leading social scientists, historians, lawyers, economists, as well as young scientists representing universities in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan became experts and participants of the conference. The conference format made it possible to take part in it both in person and online. The international conference brought together 96 scientists from 21 universities in Russia and Central Asia. Among them: Higher School of Economics, Moscow City Pedagogical University, Russian State University for the Humanities, Altai State University, Kyrgyz National University, Eurasian National University, East Kazakhstan University and many others.

At the opening ceremony of the International scientific conference, the welcoming speechs of Governor of Altai Krai Viktor Tomenko and President of the Russian State Humanitarian University Efim Pivovar were read.

When opening the event, Rector of the flagship Altai State University Sergey Bocharov noted:

“The Altai railway has become the southern branch of the Trans-Siberian railway. In Barnaul, a transport hub was formed, which carried out significant volumes of cargo and passenger traffic and ensured the socio-economic development of South Siberia. Therefore, when the question of the anniversary conference arose, it was obvious to the research team of Altai State University that it should be held at the site of our university. The conference was initiated by the Scientific and Educational Center of Altaistics and Turkic Studies "The Greater Altai", which has been working on the basis of Altai State University for the second year and successfully implements a series of scientific, educational, cultural and educational projects. The organizers of the conference tried to make its format and content interesting for the scientific and expert community. Today, the plenary session will consider a wide range of issues related to the analysis of the socio-economic development of the Central Asian region of Russia in the pre-industrial period, the structure of the regional economy, the role of the Stolypin agrarian reform and peasant migration in these processes, the peculiarities of the formation of the regional transport system. I expect an interesting discussion of the issues of the Soviet republics of Central Asia, the content of the five-year plans and the significance of Turksib in their implementation. I wish all the participants success in its implementation, health and well-being!"

The conference moderator, professor of Altai State University Yulia Lysenko spoke about the significance of Turksib for the Soviet Union:

“Turksib became the first geopolitical project of the Soviet Union, linking Siberia and the regions of Central Asia. And its significance is undoubtedly great. It contributed to the socio-economic development of Western Siberia, the Kazakh SSR and other Soviet republics of Central Asia. Turksib became the corridor around which industrial and agricultural enterprises arose. But in addition to the economic effect, the construction of the Turkestan-Siberian railway was of great ideological and political significance. The construction became an impulse that rallied the peoples living in the Asian part of the Soviet Union. Turksib became an all-union construction site. And today the Turkestan-Siberian railway unites us. And this is confirmed by our today's conference”.

At the plenary session, five reports were presented, which determined the directions of discussions at the breakout sessions. They were authored by scientists from Moscow, Barnaul, Tashkent, and Ust-Kamenogorsk.

From the reports received, two sections "Development of the Central Asian region in the pre-industrial period" and "Industrialization and Turksib: dynamics of political, legal and economic processes in Soviet and post-Soviet Central Asia" were formed.

In total, there were 29 reports. The conference participants noted that in order to objectively recreate the picture of the historical past that unites the peoples of Russia and the states of post-Soviet Central Asia, it is necessary to expand research on the development of the states of the Eurasian space in historical retrospect and at the present stage. An important aspect of the activities of the scientific community of the states of Russia and Central Asia should be the creation of a historically objective picture of the Eurasian space in order to counter common threats associated with the spread of religious and national extremism, the ideology of Pan-Turkism and Pan-Mongolism, politically engaged and distorted interpretations of the events of common history.