Zeki Velidi Togan (Bashkir: Әхмәтзәки Әхмәтшаһ улы Вәлиди, romanized: Äxmätzäki Äxmätşah ulı Välidi, Russian: Ахмет-Заки Ахметшахович Валидов, romanized: Akhmet-Zaki Akhmetshakhovich Validov, Turkish: Ahmet Zeki Velidi Togan; 1890 – 1970 in Istanbul), was a Turkish-Bashkir historian,[1] Turkologist,[2] and leader of the Bashkir revolutionary and liberation movement, doctor of philosophy (1935), professor, honorary doctor of the University of Manchester (1967).

He was born in Kuzyanovo (Bashkir: Көҙән) village of Sterlitamaksky Uyezd, Ufa Governorate (in present-day Ishimbaysky District, Bashkortostan).

From 1912 to 1915 Velidi taught in the madrasa in Kazan (Qasimiyä), and from 1915 to 1917, he was a member of bureau, supporting Muslim deputies at the State Duma.

He attended the Congress of the Peoples of the East held in Baku in September 1920, where he became involved in drawing up the statutes of ERK, a Muslim Socialist organisation.

[9] During trial he was accused of having been the chair of Gürem, an organization aimed at forming a military alliance with Nazi Germany in order to liberate the Turkic people living in the Soviet Union.

Velidi was a Turkist and advocate for the removal of Persian cultural influence in the Turkic World, becoming influential in promoting this within the Jadidist movement.