In a week, the curtain will rise on the World Nomad Games in Astana. More than 2,000 athletes from 85 countries will compete6 to determine who is the strongest in national sports. The Hungarian team leads the list of the largest delegations to Astana. The Hungarian team, competing in 15 sports, will bring more than 50 athletes to the capital for the competition. We contacted Andras Biro, the head of the delegation, a famous anthropologist, professor, and president of the Magyar Turan Foundation.

- When we were looking for information about you, we learned that you are a 7-time Hungarian champion in judo. What prompted you to leave professional sports and turn to such a complex and difficult field as anthropology?

- Let's start with the fact that my father was born in Eastern Hungary, and my mother in Northern Hungary. They met in Budapest, got acquainted and got married. I was born there. However, I spent my summer holidays at my grandparents' house, who lived in the area. I am interested in traditional sports such as horse riding, archery and shooting. I also grew up listening to various legends from the elders and absorbing the culture. Growing up in such an environment, one cannot help but be interested in the history of the people. In general, I have been very interested in nature and history since my student days. At first, I decided to become a doctor, then I became interested in biology. Because this field is intertwined with such fields as anthropology and zoology. So, I studied biology and human anthropology at the university. As for judo, I have been in the Hungarian national team since my teenage years. I have won the national championship seven times. In 1992, I didn’t get to the World Championships, and I had to focus on my studies. So, I left professional sports and delved into science. Later, I got a job at the Institute of Anthropology in Budapest. For the past twenty years, I have been working there as a chief anthropologist.

- It is known that the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and Hungary will gain momentum in the next ten years. Although the Hungarian scientists we talked to say that they knew very well about the relationship between the two peoples since childhood.

- That’s true. When I was a child, my grandfather always told me that my relatives lived in Kazakhstan. I don’t want to brag, but the European Magyars have preserved their ancient culture well. Although we have lived in Central Europe for 1,200 years, we have never forgotten that we came from the East. The most amazing thing is that we have managed to preserve our ancient language and alphabet. The Magyar language is not similar to any European language. And our language has not changed. Only 1% is borrowed from other languages. We are proud that our ancestors kept all our values ​​like the apple of their eye and brought them to our days. Do you know where the science of Turkology originated? This industry did not originate in Turkey or Central Asia, as many people think, but in Hungary in the 19th century. The situation in Kazakhstan, which was a colony of Russia at that time, was difficult. There was no opportunity to conduct research. And at that time, Arminius Vambersky traveled through Central Asia and studied the origin of the Magyars. Later, the Russian Empire imposed a ban. However, our ancestors never forgot that our roots are from Central Asia.Then, in the early 19th century, the second Hungarian to set foot here, Count Laszlo Almasy, became the first European to write a genealogy of the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. It was during these years that the idea of ​​Turan emerged. Ataturk, who first came to Budapest in 1922, was very interested in the fact that Turkologists had written a book on history and that the name Attila was widespread in the country. Later, he created a new ideology in his country and called on Hungarians to establish close ties. Eventually, Hungarian professors began teaching in Ankara. Many history books in Hungarian were translated into Turkish. Later, during the 40-year socialist period, this could not be propagated. However, in the 1990s, relations were renewed. This is natural, because common history cannot be erased. I grew up listening and knowing all this, and the dream of uniting kindred peoples was in my head. I wanted to popularize our great ancestors who are connected to each other and what history they created. It is obvious that under the Soviet regime the history between related nations was distorted. Even now there are enough people who do not understand this. My goal is to show the real history. I want more people to know that we have a common history. Especially to understand the rich culture of nomads. I would like people to know that nomads are not just people, but part of civilization. Many people do not know why our grandfathers did not want to build a house and considered it convenient to live in a yurt. Most people do not know that in the territory of Kazakhstan during the Saka period, a remarkable technology for making weapons and tools was used. For this purpose, I came to Kazakhstan several times. First, in 1988, I came to the competition in Almaty as part of the Hungarian team and became the winner. However, at that time, the soldiers and police were Russians. We saw Kazakhs only on the street. Later, in 2004, I was invited to the Central State Museum of Almaty. At that time, I visited several regions of Kazakhstan.

- Then you took a group of scientists with you and made a scientific expedition to the Kostanay region. Why did you choose the Torgai district? What happened to this expedition?

- We know that in the Kostanay region, before and now, many people of the Magyar clan live. We wanted to compare and check their attitude towards us. So, we, as a group of scientists, went there on a scientific expedition in 2006. We visited areas with a large concentration of Magyars. We carefully studied their genealogies, names, legends and stories. Then we collected genetic material through saliva. We conducted a test among men. Because the Y chromosome is passed from generation to generation unchanged. Thanks to this test, you can study the paternal side and determine whether a Kazakh is related to other clans or representatives of other nationalities. 20 years ago, the database in Kazakhstan was incorrectly built. So we collected everything manually. Finally, we collected DNA material from about 120 people, brought it to the Institute of Biology in Budapest, and thoroughly studied and analyzed it. It turned out to be interesting that the Magyars in Torgai and the Magyars in Europe have a paternal connection. This means that they used to be one people, and it is no coincidence that they are called Magyars. Many Magyars went west, and a few remained in the country. As is known, the Magyars inhabited the territory of southern Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. They also live in Karaganda. Many Magyars live in the village of Karatau, now Russkoye Pole, in the Omsk region bordering Russia. They say that they are Kipchak Magyars. And the people of Torgai call themselves "pure Magyars." And those in the south call themselves Uzbek Magyars. This suggests that they were once a separate tribe. It has been proven that other Magyars of Central Asia are genetically related to each other. They were all one people at that time and retained their ancient name. In this regard, let me say something important. In Kazakhstan, we are often called Hungarians, and our country is called Hungary. When we hear this, we feel uneasy. We do not call it that ourselves, most people do not even understand it when they hear it. In Kazakh - Mazhar, in our language - Magyar. The name of the country is Mazharstan, the country of the Magyars. It is better to call it that. I hope that people will not forget this.

- Then, when you returned to the country, did you discuss the results of the expedition with the locals?

- Yes, a year later we went to Torgai and discussed the results of the expedition. The people there suggested holding a joint event to consolidate our kinship. So, we organized a kurultai of the Magyars in the village of Saga, which is located near Lake Sarykopa. We called it Kurultai Magyar. We received great support from Kurmangazy Zhandildin, a respected person who was the head of the Magyars, and Aibek Nakypov, who was born in Almaty, but whose parents were from Torgai. I took a group of qualified specialists from Hungary with me. We presented our original traditions. In addition, 25 Magyars presented archery to the public. At that time, these sports were not developed in Kazakhstan. The residents gave their names. In addition, we invited musicians. With their help, we arranged a nomad show. We did various tricks. Kazakhs competed with each other in kazak kures (Kazakh wrestling). This kurultai, which lasted three days, was very interesting. More than 8,000 people came to see this event, which took place in a village with a population of about 200 people. At the end of the evening, we consulted with the above-mentioned Kurmangazy, the Aibek brothers and local elders and decided to hold it here once every two years. However, after discussion, we decided to organize it in Hungary.

- Over time, the kurultai, which took place in Kostanay land, became the largest event in Europe and today is heard on the lips of the world community.

- That is true. At the first kurultai held in Hungary in 2008, we gathered 25 thousand people. There, we promoted the culture and sports of not only the Magyars, but also the ancient Huns and Turks in general. Two years later, at the kurultai, we presented to the public not only sports, but also scientific results. So, we have made it a tradition. Every time, we organize exhibitions on different topics. For example, this year there was an exhibition that presented a lot of information about the eastern and western Huns. In addition, exhibitions are regularly organized that reveal the history of weapons and jewelry. In addition, we held conferences on the results of archaeological and genetic research. We also rode horses and camels. We built a yurt. Every year, the scale and pace of the activities of this organization increases. About 180 thousand people gathered at the kurultai held in 2016, and as a result, it became the largest event organized in the Turkic world. In 2022, 200,000 people gathered together and once again won the title of the largest event held in Europe.

Indeed, this initiative, which originated in Kazakhstan, has become such a large-scale event that it amazes the world. It should be noted that we are always happy and welcome Kazakhstanis who come to the kurultai. Over the years, several ministers of Kazakhstan have visited us. In addition, how many people are interested and watch?! I forget to say that after the first conference held in Hungary, we, together with archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and ethnographers, opened the Magyar Turan Foundation. Of course, we were only engaged in scientific work. Later, we added to our ranks those who practice traditional sports such as sadak atu, zhamby atu, audaryspak (standing archery, horseback archery, horseback wrestling). Today, in addition to holding the conference, we carry out various projects together with other fraternal countries. Among them is Kazakhstan, with which we have established close cooperation. We hold various conferences and meetings there. For example, together with the Akimat of Almaty, we held the international ethnofestival “Spirit of the Great Steppe” in the archaeological park “Boraldaysak Kurgans”. After that, we organized the festival “World of Nomads” in the territory of the ethno village in Astana. There we were introduced to weapons and jewelry used by the Magyars in ancient times. At the nomad show, we used bows, spears and aibalta and impressed the crowd. In addition, we have close ties with Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Turkmenistan. When the Kyrgyz first organized the World Nomad Games, we supported them. The opening ceremony included 25 Hungarians on horseback. Then we led a delegation of almost eighty people from Hungary.

- At the beginning of the conversation, touching on the topic of the World Nomad Games, you said that the history of this goes further. Can we say that the Kyrgyz brothers who started the Nomad Games were influenced by the organization that you first organized in Hungary, and eventually implemented this initiative?

- You can say so. The Minister of Sports of Kyrgyzstan came to our kurultai. Then they came up with an initiative: if you promote nomadic culture in Europe, why not promote it here too. Having established contact with them and consulted, we came to the decision that we should not compete with each other, but let's show a meeting of nomads, culture and sports in Hungary, and the Kyrgyz should organize competitions in the native sport of nomads. You understand the difference, right? We are kindred countries, not competitors. If at the kurultai in Hungary information is disseminated about the origin, culture and sports of peoples, then in the Nomad Games, initiated by the Kyrgyz, priority is given only to sports. Representatives of any nationality interested in national sports can take part in it. This is a great sports festival. We always support the energetic professionals who organize these Games. We bring many athletes to all the Games. In February of this year, we visited Astana at the invitation of representatives of the Ministry of Sports of Kazakhstan and the organizers. Since March, we have been working on forming the Hungarian team. We have strong athletes who are devoted to national sports. For example, in our country, more than five thousand people practice archery. It was not easy to choose the strongest among them. The selection competitions lasted for several months. As a result, our strong team is already ready to go to Astana.

- How many athletes do you train and bring to the Nomad Games that will start in Astana in a week? What other sports do you participate in, besides archery?

- We will bring about fifty athletes from Hungary. Of course, we always want to invite more participants. Unfortunately, the number of quotas for each sport is limited. But we are not the kind of people who feel sorry for ourselves, we try to give our all in the competitions where we are strong. It is a pity that we cannot compete in kokpar on our horses. However, we will do everything possible to win. We will compete in kokpar, all types of wrestling, audaryspak, zhamby, sadak atu, tenge ilu, a total of 15 sports.

- At the end of the interview, I would like to ask one more question. You speak Kazakh well. Did you learn it during the short time you came to our country?

- I learned from my friends in Kazakhstan. In addition, I studied at home on my own. I read a lot. I read Kazakh articles, watch movies. I understand well, but I can’t always speak fluently. The reason is the lack of practice. I speak only when I am in Kazakhstan. In general, I like the Kazakh language. A beautiful, melodic language. It is very close to me, because our language has many similar words. I find it more convenient to speak Kazakh than Russian.

- Good luck! Thanks for the story!

 

interview

Aliya Tleuzhankyzy

turkystan.kz

translated by Qazalem