ОЛЕКСАНДР МИКОЛАЙОВИЧ ГАРКАВЕЦЬ – 70

Abstract

Alexander Harkavets is a well known turkologist, specialist in the less known Turkik languages which do not exist nowadays (Qypchaq) or are spoken by a limited number of people (Urums). Besides he made an important contribution to the studies of the Kazakh and other languages of the Central Asia. After the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence he was among the first who started participating in endeavors to revive the education system of Crimean Tatars which was destroyed after the Stalinist deportation of the Crimean Tatar population from their native land. In 1970 he graduated from the Kharkiv University, post-graduate studies continued in the Institute of linguistics of the USSR, Academy of Sciences in Moscow where he obtained Candidate and Doctor’s degrees in Turcology. In Kazakhstan he founded the Eurasian Studies Center “Desht-i Qypchaq” and prepared a pioneer publication of voluminous collections of sources and dictionaries of the Urum and the Armeno-Qypchaq languages. Alexander Harkavets actively participated in social and cultural life of the Kazakh Republic, especially among the Ukrainian diaspora in that country. He was praised and received different decorations in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Turkey.