Tatarstan emerged from the
former Kazan Khanate (1438-1552), which itself was a successor
state to the Golden Horde. Tatarstan is now an autonomous republic
within the Russian Federation. As with most of the entities that
make up the Russian Federation, the ethnic group after which the
republic was named does not form an absolute majority.
Just under half of the total
population of 4 million call themselves Tatar, and ethnic Russians
make up about 40%. Tatarstan is home to about one hundred different
ethnic groups, in fact, hence the constitution of the republic does
not speak of "Tatars" but of "the people of Tatarstan". Roughly
seven million Tatars live in the former Soviet Union countries, and
they are the second largest ethnic group in the Russian Federation.
The Third World Tatar Congress was held in Kazan in August, 2002
under the motto "We are one individisible nation".
Ruffled feathers
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Unfortunately, the name ‘Tatar' has traditionally had a derogatory meaning among Russians who have tended to see themselves as the saviors of Europe and civilization from the "Tatar-Mongol yoke". The depiction of Tatars in Russian literature as servants and untrustworthy heathens does not do justice to their achievements or to history. Ivan the Terrible gave Tatar officers high positions in his government after the conquest of Kazan, and one of them, known by his Christian name Simeon Bekboelatovitch, was even appointed acting czar during the 1570's. "Scratch any Russian and you will find a Tatar" is an often-heard ambiguous phrase, said to have been coined by Napoleon.
Oil
Today, oil-rich Tatarstan is one of the most economically developed areas of Russia. Under its president, Mintimer Shaimiev, Tatarstan has made quite a name for itself and its much talked about "Tatarstan model", which basically advocates a pragmatic, gradual and peaceful transition to democracy and to a high-tech market economy based on European standards.
Unlike Chechnya, Tatarstan is not pushing for
secession from the Russian Federation, but Chechnya is a sensitive
issue, particularly among Muslims, and Tatarstan's autonomous
status allows it to refuse to send conscripts to fight in Chechnya.
Other points of contention with Moscow include oil revenue and the
recent replacement of the Cyrillic alphabet used in the Russian
language by the Latin alphabet. The authorities say this is in
keeping with trends in other Turkic-speaking societies and is more
suited for Internet. So Tatarstan continues to walk a fine line
between autonomy and central rule from Moscow, between cultural
independence and Russian assimilation, and between world Islam and
the tolerance and secularism espoused by the Tatarstan model.It was by presidential decree that the new Kul-Sharif mosque was built in the Kazan kremlin, not far from the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation built after Ivan the Terrible's conquest of the city in 1552. There are few places in the world where you will see a cathedral and a main mosque so close to each other.
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