Information about the poster:

According to the data of Hasen Oralta and Khalifa Altai, in the 1930s and 1940s, around 10,000 Kazakhs migrated from Altai to Turkey. This migration was caused by political pressure and famine in China, as well as repression by the Soviet government. The Kazakhs crossed the Altai and the Himalayas, overcoming hunger and disease on their way to Turkey.

In his works, Hasen Oralta describes the difficulties of migration and how the Kazakhs adapted to their new environment while preserving their culture, while Khalifa Altai notes that in Turkey, the Kazakhs continued their national traditions. Currently, there are about 3,000 to 5,000 Kazakhs living in Turkey.

Dear viewers! The concepts of “azaly kosh,” “qaraly kosh,” and “soñğı kosh” — paths left by our ancestors in bloody days, written not with a pen, but with blood — have become part of Kazakh history. We feel that this tragic story, which was neither prepared for the stage nor written as a play, has long awaited the day when it would speak through the language of theater. During the creation of the play “The People Who Fled from Altai,” we felt the mysterious strength, the spirit of our ancestors. It was difficult for us to define a specific “genre” for the play and even to write “characters.” In one path, there are traces of several paths, and in one destiny, there are the fates of several people… Our main task is to convey this story, this truth through the language of artistic expression, so that it touches the hearts of the audience. May this performance become a blue stone, a monument placed on the heads of those who gave their lives for freedom, for their homeland, shouting “My land!”

Khalifa Altai: We felt that we were perceived as “traitors” and “refugees.” When we think about it, our hearts ache. But we were the ones who were forced to leave our homeland for the sake of a single insect. The farther we moved away from our native land, the more we realized the value of our land. We didn’t even have a handful of soil in our pockets; only longing and nostalgia took over our minds. We kept our homeland as an amulet deep in our hearts. If we were guilty, let our homeland tell us! Someday, in the future, when the truth is revealed, future generations will see our innocence.

Khasan Oralty: In the late 1960s, as I was walking down the street in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul, an elderly Kazakh woman approached me and said, “My dear, are you Khasen? You’ve become a man!” — and kissed me on the cheek. “How is Kalibek Hakim? Poor man, he led the people alone and brought them to India! It’s all thanks to him,” she said. She believed in God, and probably believed in the one who led her people. This faith — faith in God and in the leader — gave the strength to endure hardships like crossing the Taklamakan Desert, overcoming the Himalayas, and traveling all the way to Turkey.

The premiere of the play took place on December 16, 17, and 18, 2021.