Cäğfär Taríxı
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- The title of this article contains the character ğ. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Caghfar Tarixi.
The Cäğfär Taríxı (often mistakely spelled as Djagfar tarikhy ; pronounced ʓæɣfær` tʌrɯɪxɯ` "jagh-far tar-rikh-ee" Cyrillic: Җәгъфәр тарихы; Tatar for History of Cäğfär (Ja'far)) is a controversial text purporting to be a compilation of early historical material on the Bulgars, Khazars and other Eurasian nomads. According to its advocates, the Cäğfär Taríxı was written in its present form in the late 17th century in Tatarstan. It refers to numerous persons and historical events unattested to in other sources; for example, it makes references to mid 7th century Khazar rulers named Khalga and Kaban, who do not appear in the account of al-Tabari, in the Schechter Letter, in the Khazar Correspondence, or any other extant document.
The majority of scholars view the work as a mixture of factual data and outright fabrications. Its critics claim that it is a forgery created either by or at the request of the NKVD to promote the notion that the Volga Tatars were an ancient, autochthonous ethnic group quite distinct from the Crimean Tatars and other groups of Tatar. It is known that the Soviet government did create spurious historical documents on several occasions[citation needed], with the intent of creating divisiveness and factionalism among its constituent peoples.
