January 24 is the day of memory and sorrow of the Bashkir people

On this day in 1736, the tsarist punitive troops under the command of Colonel Aleksei Tevkelev destroyed the entire Bashkir village of Seyantus (Һөyәntүҫ) of Balykchinskaya volost of Siberian road (now it is Askinskiy district of the Republic of Bashkortostan). This massacre is known in history as the Seyantus tragedy.

For sympathy and participation in the uprising against the tsarist government, the punishers shot and stabbed to death with spears and bayonets about 1 thousand Bashkirs, mostly civilians in the village, and 105 men were burned alive in the barn.

Then the punitive detachments of Tevkelev and Colonel Martynov ravaged and burned another 51 villages, killed over 2 thousand people of Balykchinskaya, Unlarskaya, Kyr-Tanipskaya volosts of Siberian road (now the territory of Askinskiy, Baltachevskiy, Karaidelskiy districts of Bashkortostan).

The style of warfare of Colonel Tevkelev is evidenced by the fact that he did not dare to cross weapons with the leaders of the rebels in open battle, although the forces of the opposing sides were approximately equal, but he preferred to crack down on the inhabitants of Balykchinskaya and other volosts “for the fear of other rebellious thieves.” In the future, the scorched earth tactics, tested by the bloody colonel, began to be used everywhere.

In memory of the atrocities of Colonel Tevkelev (Tat. Taftilyau), the Taftilyau song was composed, where they cursed him and his entire family forever and ever.

“We remember everything! There is no forgiveness for the inhuman crimes of the empire!” the Bashkirs say.

It should be noted that in 2023 there are even more such tevkelevs in Muscovy, and in terms of cruelty they are in no way inferior to him. Almost 300 years have passed and nothing has changed. The empire must be destroyed!