A general kyrgyz women from Khokand Khanate: Kurmancan Datka (1811-1907)

The life and political activities of Kurmancan Datka (1811-1907), the first known woman general in Turkish history, who was known with the title 'Alay Hanışası' in the XIX. century, impress the geography of Turkestan with her life and influence, constitute the subject of this thesis. Born in 1811 in Osh, the second largest city in present-day Kyrgyzstan in a Kyrgyz family, Kurmancan is the first woman known in Turkish history to have been given the title 'Datka' (General). After marrying Alimbek Datka, a high-ranking official in the Hokand Khanate, Kurmancan, who was well-educated and educated according to the circumstances of the time, rose to an active position in the Hokand Khanate and in the politics of the Kyrgyz people. After the annexation of the Hokand Khanate to Russia in 1876, Kurmancan Datka, who led the Kyrgyz in southern Kyrgyzstan after the murder of his wife Alimbek Datka, fought against the Russian occupation with his sons, but had to make a deal with them considering the harsh conditions of the period. Thus, from the end of 1876 until the 1990s, southern Kyrgyzstan came under Russian rule. In order to better understand the subject, the first part of this thesis contains information about the Khanates of Khanate, Bukhara, Hokand and also Kashgar Khanate in East Turkistan, while the second part covers the life and political activities of Kurmancan Datka, and the third part covers the Russian occupation of Central Asia and Kurmancan Datka's struggle for independence against Russian imperialism.