The muslims of Russia according to the Sirat-i Mustakim magazine

The journal called "Sirat-i Mustakim" was published between 1908 and 1912 and it had 182 issues in total. Its founders were Ebu'l-Ula Mardin and Esref Edip. The journal that continued its publishing life with the name "Sebilurreşad" after 1912 was a crucial media organ supporting the idea of Pan-Islamism. The journal paid particular attention to religious, political, social, cultural and economic activities of the Muslim Turks living under Russian rule. Accordingly, various issues of the journal discussed the Tsarist Russian regime and its administrators policies of assimilation and oppression that its administrators implemented towards the Muslim Turks as articles and news in detail. In these articles and news, quotations from Russian and Turkish newspapers published in Russia were also used. It was enabled that readers were informed about the world of Muslim Turks by also including the articles and letters of Turkish intellectuals and journalists in Russia in the journal. At the beginning of the 20th century, the communities of Muslim Turks who were called with the names such as Tatar, Bashkir, Kirgiz and Uzbek and lived in a wide area under Russian rule. From falling under its domination, the Muslim Turks who maintained their lives under the Russian oppression acquired some rights even for a short period with the manifesto published by Tzar Nikolai II following the 1905 Revolution. The Muslim Turks organised congresses to discuss their problems and demanded equal rights based on citizenship especially in the political, religious and educational matters from the Russian government. The Russian government finding these demands favourable granted some rights to the Muslim Turks with legal regulations. However, from the year 1907, the Russian government started to take the rights that it had granted to the Muslim Turks back and continued its oppressions same as before. The Russian government's anxiety about the thought of "Union of Islam" becoming widespread among the Muslim Turks and Russian newspapers provocative publications aimed at this anxiety caused an increase in the oppression towards the Muslim Turks. As a result, the Russian government carried outraids on the houses, workplaces, school/madrasahs and suchlike places and gave punishments such as dismissal, banishment and imprisonment. Moreover, the Muslim Turks conflicts such as cultishness (Sunni-Shia) and scholl/madrasah (ancient-new) among themselves not only damaged their unity and integrity but also gave an opportunity to the Russian government to increase its oppression. Disasters including earthquakes, drought and fire occurring during this period also made life difficult for the Muslim Turks.