ali aksih was a preeminent leader of the tatar nationalist movement in diaspora. he was born in the city of hailar (manchuria), where he attended a local tatar elementary school before entering a russian lycee. after completing the lycee in 1936, he went to study at al-azhar university in cairo (egypt), and in 1938, along with another young nationalist, ahat ginish, went to poland. akish and ginish served as technical assistants to ayaz iskhaki at the idel-ural national center, where the newspaper “yanga milli yul" (new national path) was published. their work was interrupted by the invasion of poland by the nazi and soviet forces.