The People Who Fled from Altai

Dear audience, in Kazakh history, there are journeys remembered not merely as migrations, but as «the mournful exodus», «the black migration», «the last great departure», tales written not in ink, but in blood. These tragic days, lived by our ancestors, were never meant for the stage, yet their silent yearning to be voiced through the language of theatre has long echoed in our hearts. As we brought The People Who Fled from Altai to life, we felt that mysterious force, the breath of our forebears. Even naming its genre was a challenge, for how could one define such pain? We hesitated to call them «characters», when behind every figure lies the fate of many, and behind every caravan, the tracks of countless journeys. Our greatest duty is to convey that history and truth to the hearts of the audience through the beauty of art. May this play stand as a blue-spotted stone, an eternal monument to all those who wept for their homeland and sacrificed themselves for freedom.

Khalifa Altay: We always felt that people saw us as «traitors» or «fugitives.» That thought alone would tear our hearts apart. Yet we were souls driven from our land not by will, but by fate. The farther we moved from our homeland, the more we understood its worth. Not even a handful of its soil remained in our pockets, only longing filled our souls. We kept our native land like a sacred talisman in the depths of our hearts. If we have wronged you in any way, O Fatherland, bear witness! One day, the truth will be revealed, and future generations will see that we were innocent.

Hasan Oraltay: In the late 1960s, I was walking through the streets of Zeytinburnu in Istanbul when an elderly Kazakh woman approached me: «My dear boy, are you Qasen? You’ve grown into a fine man!» she said and kissed my cheek. «Is Qalibek Hakim well? Ah, may his soul rest in peace! He led our people alone, all the way to India. We owe it all to him», she said. They had faith, in God, and in the leader they followed. And it was this faith, faith in the Almighty and in their guide, that carried them through the Taklamakan Desert, across the Himalayas, all the way to distant Turkey.