A person who turned the world of Soviet diplomacy upside down, a person who became a close friend for the royal family and who laid a strong foundation for trusting relations between the two countries – all this is about Karim Khakimov, an outstanding person who left his incredible mark. This year, his 130th birthday is celebrating, and just recently in Moscow the book “Karim Khakimov: The Chronicles of Life (about the fate of Islam and communism in Russia)” by Oleg Ozerov, the Ambassador At Large, the Head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, was published. We managed to talk with the author and learn in more detail about his work, as well as about Khakimov’s personality and professionalism.
-Oleg Borisovich, could you, please, tell us how you came up with the idea to write a book about Soviet diplomat Karim Khakimov? What prompted you to study his biography and professional path?
-It is customary for diplomats, when appointed, to study or refresh their memory of the history of relations between that country where a diplomat goes and Russia. When I was appointed Ambassador of Russia to Saudi Arabia in 2009, I first read a lot of literature about Saudi Arabia, about our relations, including some fundamental books and works by Academician Aleksey Mikhailovich Vasilyev (who is recognized as one of the main and deepest researchers of Saudi Arabia), by Vitaliy Vyacheslavovich Naumkin who devoted a lot of books to the Arabian Peninsula and description of the relationship between the two states. In addition to it, I took a closer look at the works of those ambassadors who had previously headed the Embassy.
During this preparatory work, I found out that Karim Khakimov’s wife lives in Moscow. Unfortunately, I did not manage to meet her before her death.
Already while working in Saudi Arabia, I discovered that Karim Abduraufovich was respected and known there. I got interested in that issue and began searching for more information. I would like to share one unusual story with you. In February of the year 2010, I was appointed to the Permanent Mission to the OIC. Having arrived there after my predecessor Kamil Shamilevich Iskhakov, I began looking through the remaining papers, among which I found a questionnaire written in hand by Karim Khakimov, as well as the “MFA Vestnik” of the 90-s, where several materials on Russian-Saudi relations were posted. I got interested and started collecting all available information.
In 2014, my article “The Death of the Red Pasha” written in the English language was published in one of German scientific magazines. It became a prologue to writing a great work about Karim Khakimov. In this article I touched upon his childhood, his further life and work in Saudi Arabia. But because of the small volume (only 38 pages), the information I presented was some large strokes without deep details. However, the topic seemed so interesting to me that after returning from a business trip to Moscow in seven years (two of Khakimov’s business trips lasted exactly the same amount of time) I decided to continue the work and write a more extensive work. At the same time, it should be noted that to date there is not a single complete biography of Khakimov. If we speak about Western historiography, such a person as Lawrence of Arabia, we will find at least 7 of his biographies. And we do not write enough about our hero, about the man who has done so much for our diplomacy on the entire Arabian Peninsula. Of course, there were some articles and a small biography was published after his rehabilitation. It was a thin book, but it became the first story of Karim Khakimov’s heroic journey. It was written under strict censorship. For instance, there was not a single word about the fact that Karim Khakimov was a Muslim. My goal was to describe the whole event series, all facets of Karim Abduraufovich’s character, his life, the process of his formation as a man, to describe the atmosphere and environment in which he was formed as a political figure and conducted his professional activity.
-What difficulties did you face in preparing the book, collecting the material?
-The first thing I expected was limited literature. Besides, in the process of searching and collecting information I faced the fact that there were different interpretations in different parts of public and political life. In many articles and essays I found errors in dates and terms, in the circle of people with whom Khakimov talked. In particular, it was claimed that he had not studied in “Galiya” madrassah, had no certificate of maturity. I wanted to find documentary proof of what I knew and what I wanted to know.
In March 2019, on my own initiative, I came to Ufa for a weekend, naturally with the consent of the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On the spot, I asked the Foreign Ministry’s office for help. The Civic Chamber also provided all possible assistance, applied to local museums, where they generously shared with me materials and documents about the fate of Karim Khakimov.
Of course, it was very difficult: I had to glean the information. I had to work a lot of time in the Foreign Ministry’s foreign policy archives, the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, and study our Foreign Ministry library once again in an attempt to find all the available information. I would like express some words of gratitude to Khakimov’s relatives, namely his grandniece Zarema Gindullina and niece Olga Khakimova. Olga Khalikovna handed me Khakimov’s personal letters to his brother Khalik, including previously unknown and unpublished ones. She also shared photos that I used in my book. Among them is a photograph of Karim Khakimov’s son Shamil, taken in Iran in 1923.
-What exactly is Khakimov’s personality remarkable for the history of Soviet diplomacy?
- The topic of Karim Abduraufovich’s fate, role and influence on the Soviet diplomacy in general, on many aspects of our life, including the internal dimension, turned out to be very multifaceted. If we talk about the Middle East direction of Russia’s policy, it is obvious that first of all it was through the efforts of Karim Khakimov that our relations with both Saudi Arabia and Yemen were formed. Moreover, those foundations that were laid in many aspects echoed what the Tsarist Russia was doing in this direction (it is about the Arabian Peninsula in general, about the countries of the Persian Gulf). Our Consulate General was opened in 1891 and closed after World War I. In fact, Karim Khakimov got to the ashes. The most dramatic change was the disappearance of the country with which our consuls had previously worked, the Ottoman Empire, which was replaced by new states.
Another point is no less interesting: Lawrence of Arabia played a great role in the victories of Sheriff Hussein, who then ruled in Hejaz. In 1916, he proclaimed himself king. At that moment he was recognized by the Tsarist government, then – by the Soviet one. Thus, the continuity of politics was restored. When he lost influence in Hejaz, he gave power to his son Ali. At that moment, the future king, Prince Abdelaziz, began the process of reclaiming the land of Hejaz. Khakimov was the first one to come to the conclusion (and did it well before the British) that Abdelaziz was that new rising power and it was crucial to build the right relationship with him. He convinced the Soviet government of that. He was taking steps in that direction under the leadership of Georgy Chicherin, the first People’s Commissar of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He and Khakimov did a lot to restore the Hajj for Russian Muslims. You should agree that in Soviet times it was not easy to prove the necessity of solving this issue. It was important for Abdelaziz that in one of the first meetings with him Karim Abduraufovich began to discuss the issue of the Hajj. Perhaps this was one of the factors that influenced the establishment of strong, trusting relations.
-What was Karim Hakimov like for the King of Saudi Arabia and the entire royal family? What were his personal and professional qualities that helped the diplomat to get closer to the king?
-I am talking about it at the beginning of the book, where I describe Khakimov’s character and some personal qualities. Above all, he had a personal charm that attracted people to him regardless of their rank and social status. He could charm both an ordinary person and a prince due to his openness, good knowledge of Arabic, and ease of communication without familiarity. He was able to keep his word, which was just as important. His personal qualities, combined with the willingness to come to the aid, his sincerity were worth admiring. Being an Oriental man himself, he understood well the psychology of the Arabs, felt them. All this combined and helped him to find a common language with the King.
-When we talk about Karim Khakimov, the name Nazir Torekulov always comes up next. What was the relationship between the two diplomats, whose work became a solid foundation of Russian-Saudi relations?
-I paid special attention to it in my book. Unfortunately, there is very little information about it. They were friends and were involved in the same thing - state building in Central Asia, namely creation of Bukhara People’s Soviet Republic, solution of land issue. They were comrades and their close friendship played a role in everyone’s fate. As far as I understand, one of the factors that led to Khakimov’s repression was his friendship with Torekulov, who had been arrested and interrogated first. During the investigation, Khakimov was recalled from Saudi Arabia. The fact that they were friends had an impact on the fact that Khakimov was one of the people who went through the repression.
-In your opinion, why is it important and necessary for the current generation of diplomats or students to study examples of professionals such as Karim Khakimov?
-You have correctly noted that we should learn from the examples of professionals. Interest in Khakimov is justified - not every diplomat can repeat what he did. The foundation that was laid by Khakimov has been still working. He had to do a lot of things intuitively. And here it is very important to understand that Karim Khakimov’s intuition was not just an inborn quality, but a fusion of experience, knowledge, and understanding of a situation. When this accumulated experience turns into an action dictated by necessity, by the interests of your country, then you have paved the way to success. Khakimov showed that professional, quality work always leads to good results. That is why diplomats that are brought up today should definitely take Karim Abduraufovich’s experience into account. He had a huge desire for knowledge - at the first opportunity he took books in his hands and studied. When Karim Khakimov left Yemen for Moscow in 1932, the first thing he did was go to the Red Professors Institute. He was very happy about it and said he was finally beginning to understand the theoretical foundations of what he was doing in practice.
It is important to understand that deep fundamental knowledge at an early stage further produces good results. Of course, some things cannot be repeated - personal charisma, charm, such integrity of character, fearlessness, coolness, as Khakimov had. But it is definitely worth learning.
-In terms of Karim Khakimov’s personality, you have repeatedly said that there were certain landmark decisions that generally changed and affected the relations between the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia. Tell us about it in more detail.
-First of all, it must be said about how, across the desert, at night, absolutely alone, Karim Khakimov went to King Abdelaziz by car to present his credentials, ahead of the British. It is the very intuition, understanding the moment. Of course, it could have been done in the morning, a day, a week later, but he realized that the right moment was then. It remains forever in gold letters in the history of our relationship with Saudi Arabia.
The second event, which also deserves special mention and is of historical nature, is the World Muslim Congress in Mecca, where King Abdelaziz was recognized as the Custodian of the Two Holy Sites. Previously, the shrines of Mecca and Medina had been under the control of Sheriff Hussein, who originated from Prophet Muhammad and was appointed by the Sultan in the Ottoman Empire. The situation was extremely difficult: a lot of criticism sounded, but thanks to the energetic work of Karim Khakimov, delegations from various Muslim states (colonies at that time) supported Abdelaziz’s control over the shrines. Khakimov showed outstanding diplomatic skills when he convinced representatives of the Muslim world to support this decision, which is still in force today.
- At the end of our conversation, I would like to focus on one more point. You talked about the fact that there is no complete biography of Karim Khakimov. How do you think there is a need for a deeper, more detailed study of Karim Khakimov’s activities through book publishing, filming, conferences and exhibitions?
- First of all, I would like people to read my book and express their opinion about this work, assess how useful it is. If the work is in demand, I find it useful to make both documentary and feature films. There are several documentary works, but they relate only to the Saudi period of Khakimov’s work and are not particularly accurate. If a film were made that could be compared to Lawrence of Arabia, it would be more correct. Khakimov is no less heroic and in some ways more heroic than Lawrence of Arabia.
Interviewed by Ilmira Gafiyatullina
Photos: MFA of Russia/Twitter