126 Ë Renewal
Also, Abdürreşid Ibrahim, a Russian Tatar (expelled earlier from Japan at the Rus-
sian government’s demand [see chapter 3, p. 59]), again became involved with Japan in
the 1930s. After emigrating to Turkey following the Russian Revolution, Ibrahim was
from 1925 prohibited from engaging in pan-Islamic activity in Turkey. In 1929, however,
“Japanese Military Attachés” in Turkey, likely Hashimoto and his assistants, visited
him with an invitation to move to Japan,⁷²which he did in 1933 (and where he died in
Tokyo in 1944).
Although there is little evidence of close relations between Japan and Caucasian
Muslims at the time, Moscow suspected Japan’s in uence among them and took
appropriate actions through disinformation and provocation. Aleksandr Uralov (Ab-
durakhman Avtorkhanov), a Chechen historian, told the following story about In-
gushetia in the Northern Caucasus in the autumn of 1930, about a year after Hashimoto
sent his report to Tokyo on the Caucasus. A man claiming to be a secret envoy “from
Japan” went around villages, held illegal meetings with authoritative Ingush gures,
and made announcements about Japan’s plans for war against the Soviet Union. The
“envoy” set up “headquarters” in the house of former Tsarist army o cer Radzhat
Evloev in Dolakovo, Ingushetia. After visiting the villages, he convened an “inter-
village united conference” to which in uential Ingush known to be disposed against
the Soviet government were invited. The conference took place in the house of Evloev
who commanded much respect among those attending: Khadzhi Ibragim Tashkhoev,
Mulla Geliskhanov, Shibilov Chada, Shibilov Said, Dalgiev Rans Uzhakhov Murad,
and others. They knew one another, and they were also known among the Ingush
people as loyal, energetic, and determined individuals.
At this illegal meeting, the “Japanese envoy” and Evloev had everyone present
pledge individually with their hand on the Koran that they would never betray one
another or the Japanese envoy. Then the envoy announced that Japan intended to
declare war against the Soviet Union in the near future, and that other world pow-
ers would ght on Japan’s side as well. Moreover, many oppressed peoples within
the Soviet Union were supporting Japan. In the Caucasus, all the peoples but the In-
gush had pledged support for Japan in the coming war. The envoy declared that he
was authorized by Japan to invite the Ingush to take part in this peoples’ liberation
front. He spoke with considerable persuasive power and clear logic. The envoy an-
nounced at the end of his speech that until the start of the war, Japan would support
its allies with money and weapons. To demonstrate that his were not empty promises,
he oered money and weapons to the Ingush commanders and asked whether those
present would approve Japan’s plan for the liberation of Ingushetia. When they ex-
jio Komura,Nihon isramu shi ̄ (Tokyo: Nihon isr ̄amu yuk ̄ ̄o renmei, 1988), 305–19, and Larisa Usmanova,
The Türk-Tatar Diaspora in Northeast Asia: Transformation of Consciousness: A Historical and Sociolog-
ical Account between 1898 and the 1950s(Tokyo: Rakudasha, 2007).
72 See http://www.archive.gov.tatarstan.ru/magazine/go/anonymous/main/?path=mg:/numbers/
2010_1_2/05/03/ (accessed 7 July 2012).