STROKES TO THE POLITICAL PORTRAIT OF AMIRLASHKAR ALIMKUL (According to the materials of the "Turkestan collection")

The article provides sketches for the political portrait of Amirlashkar Alimkul, the regent during the reign of the Kokand Khan Sultan Said Khan. The outlines are based on the materials of Russian periodicals of the 60-70s of the 19th century, collected in the multi-volume "Turkestan Collection" – sources that have not yet been fully introduced into scientific circulation. The author notes that the commander of the troops of the Kokand Khanate, Amirlashkar Alimkul, was an extraordinary and controversial person. This was reflected both in written sources and in scientific literature devoted to the history of the Khanate in general, the life and work of Amirlashkar Alimkul in particular. The materials contained in the pages of the periodicals of those years are compared with the data available in the official reports of Russian military commanders and local narrative sources.Most of the written sources, including Russian periodicals, reflect the outstanding qualities of Amirlashkar Alimkul as a military leader and statesman who sought to preserve the independence and territorial integrity of the Kokand Khanate. At the same time, he, as a man of his time, could not rise above tribal thinking, which prevented him from becoming a generally recognized leader of the entire population of Ferghana.