Abdurrauf Fitrat (1886–1938) was the most prominent modernist figure in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

.

Fitrat was born in Bukhara

Bukhara

Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...

. In 1909 he went to Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 to study literature and history.. He returned in 1914, and became involved in cultural activities.He was involved with the Yeni Bukharlylar

Yeni Bukharlylar

Young Bukharians was a jadid secret society founded in Bukhara in 1909.They took their name from the Young Turks, mixing their ideology with a violently revolutionary emphasis. In March 1918 they tried to seize power in Bukhara, with help from the Tashkent Soviet, and the Young Bukharians had to...

 or Young Bukharians, a revolutionary group modelled on the Young Turks

Young Turks

The Young Turks , from French: Les Jeunes Turcs) were a coalition of various groups favouring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the absolute monarchy of the Ottoman Sultan and favoured a re-installation of the short-lived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...

 which was active with the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution. In 1920 he became Chief minister of economics and minister of education in the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic

Bukharan People's Soviet Republic

The Bukharan People's Soviet Republic was a short-lived Soviet state which governed the former Emirate of Bukhara during the period immediately following the Russian Revolution from 1920-1925. In 1924 its name was changed to the Bukharan Soviet Socialist Republic...

, but was ousted in 1923. He then worked as a scholar of Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...

n Turkic culture, before being arrested in 1937 as part of the Great Purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

. He was executed in 1938.