Karakeev, Kurman-Gali

Born Nov. 7, 1913, in the village of Kurmenty, present-day Tiup Raion, Issyk-Kul’ Oblast, Kirghiz SSR. Soviet historian. Academician (1960) and president (from 1960) of the Academy of Sciences of the Kirghiz SSR. Corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1968). Member of the CPSU from 1938.

Karakeev, the son of peasants, graduated from the Higher Party School (1946) and the Academy of Social Sciences (1959) under the Central Committee of the CPSU. From 1939 to 1959 he was the secretary of the Tien-Shan and Issyk-Kul’ oblast commitees of the party, an editor of the republic newspaper Kyzyl Kyrgystan (Red Kirghizia), the head of the propaganda and agitation section of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kirghizia, and the secretary (from 1947) of the party’s Central Committee. His primary fields of research were cultural construction, the history of the CPSU, and the history of the USSR. Karakeev translated the classic Marxist-Leninist works into Kirghiz; he also edited other translations of these works. He was the coauthor and editor of several publications, including Studies of the Communist Party of Kirghizia (1966), History of the Kirghiz SSR (3rd ed., 1967), History of the Communists Organizations of Middle Asia (1967), and the fundamental work The Victory of Soviet Power in Middle Asia and Kazakhstan (1967).

Karakeev was a deputy to the sixth, seventh, and eighth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was also a delegate to the Twenty-second (1961) and Twenty-third (1966) Congresses of the CPSU. Karakeev has been awarded the Order of Lenin, four other orders, and various medals.