[ÉMIGRÉ UKRAINIAN PROPAGANDIST IN ISTANBUL / DPs] Ukrayna ve istiklâl mücahedeleri [i.e., Ukraine and its Struggle for Independence]. Preface by Cafer Seydahmet [Kirimer]

VOLODIMIR MURSKY [VOLODYMYR MURSKIY] (1888-1935), Cümhuriyet Matbaasi, Istanbul, [1930].

Contemporary half leather bdg. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Turkish. 226 p., one plate of Andre Livitzkiy (Ukranian President), Symon Petliura (First Ukranian president murdered in Paris 1926 by Sholom Schwartzbard), and one folded map of Ukraine. Chippings and wear on the spine; otherwise, a very good copy.

First and only edition of this book originally written in Turkish language by Ukrainian political activist and publicist Murskiy who was deported from Galicia by Russian forces during the First World War.

As he was an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian National Republic and director of the press and propaganda department, Murskiy published two books in Turkish: "Ukraine and its Struggle for Independence" (1930) and "The Real Face of the New Russia" (1932) (see the next item), in where he actively promoted the need to reinstate independent Ukraine and destruction of Bolshevik regime. This is the first book he wrote in Turkish presented to the President of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and received glowing reviews in the Turkish and Azerbaijan emigrant press. Murskiy also maintained close relations with the leaders of the Crimean Tatar diaspora in Turkey, with Cafer Seydamet Qirimer (1889-1960). Qirimer would write forewords for his books.

"…after the Battle of Poltava in 1709, Ukraine had been occupied by Moscow. Moscovites managed to crush the last of the Ukrainian forces. The Army was defeated, the Cossacks were at a loss, and the very country of Ukraine was renamed Malorossiya. Ukrainian patriots had either been heading to Siberian labor camps, or forced to emigrate, forever leaving their Motherland. Moscow’s oppression lasted for two centuries. It [Moscow] did everything in its power to undermine the will of the Ukrainian people but failed to obliterate it. And today, despite seeming political and economic ruin, despite Russia’s denial of not only Ukrainian national characteristics but of the very fact of the existence of Ukraine, Ukrainian people prove - they will not submit…" (Translation a passage from the book. Source: Istoritsna Pravda).

Murskiy was a civic and political activist and publicist. A teacher by profession, he was deported from Galicia by Russian forces during the First World War. During Ukraine’s struggle for independence (1917–20) he was an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ukrainian National Republic and director of the press and propaganda department. In 1921 he became a member of the Council of the Republic in Poland. After emigrating to Austria, he served the Government-in-exile of the Ukrainian National Republic as its envoy to Turkey. In addition to journalistic articles in Ukrainian, Polish, and Turkish, he wrote two books on Ukraine in Turkish, as well as several translations.” (The Encyclopaedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 - 1993).

As of 2023 September, OCLC shows only four copies: Bogaziçi University Library, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, LoC, and the University of Michigan.