RUSSIA: THE MORE DEMOCRATIC, THE STRONGER

Have you ever tried to stay far away from your relatives, friends and just good acquaintances? Not the very best feelings, right? At the same time, many peoples of the globe live exactly like this: all over the planet Earth. The Tatars are referred to the type of peoples that live everywhere in the world but try not losing connections with each other wherever they are. The World Tatar Congress is involved in support and development of such connections. We are talking with Indus Tagirov, Chairman of the Congress Executive Committee, and trying to clarify the details of the situation that has been advancing for years

RUSSIA: THE MORE DEMOCRATIC, THE STRONGER

— It is well-known that the Tatars live dispersed in many countries of the world, Indus Tagirov says, including Russia. Only 25 percent of Russian Tatars reside in Tatarstan, and the rest are scattered over this country. For instance, there are 1 million 200 hundred thousand of Tatars in Bashkortostan, close to Tatarstan. In many other regions of the country, there are large amounts of Tatars as well. Take, for example, the Astrakhan Region: there are many Tatars, or take the Saratov Region: there are 50 --60 thousand Tatars as well.

— Are there any special features in the lifestyle of those groups of Tatar population?

— Tatars, regardless of where they live, as a rule, reveal such spiritual closeness that they always declare themselves to be an inalienable part of the Tatar people. Moreover, this feeling of being close together denies breaking the nation into groups that might be identified by ethnographers. A Kryashen from Nizhny Novgorod once jokingly told me that he would never recalled that he was a Kryashen if I did not remind him of that; all his life he believed that he was just a Tatar. To date, many people say that they would like to declare, for instance, that they are Mishars, but the point will be some separation of the nation, they reject the idea.

— There are Tatar diasporas abroad. What is the situation there?

— True, there are Tatar diasporas in other countries, even in the USA. For example, in Helsinki, the Tatar community owns a 6-storied building in downtown with a crescent on it, and they have a mosque there too. Neither Finn has ever revealed any discontent with respect to that diaspora. Finland even joined the European Charter of Languages of Small and Aboriginous Nations according to which any representative of a small nation has the right to be educated in the language of his or her nation. That is a powerful document!

— What is the role of religion in the process of Tatar unification?

— A large role. It is Islam that prevents total assimilation of Tatars. If one is a Moslem, one is going to be taken to a certain mosque, and they will never call you Ivan. When a person eventually dies, he will be buried according to quite certain rituals. Who will do that but for the community? The language has been preserved as well, despite the Tatars being dispersed over the world.

— But sometimes there occur problems...

— No doubt. Unfortunately, certain circles are initiating a compression of the Tatar nation, which often triggers self-preservation forces. The Russian nation is the people of an imperial state, and one should not forget the fact. The Russians have always stood as big brothers with regard to other nations. Of course, nobody is guilty of that, but these features of national mentality can be identified in any imperial nation. It is only necessary to get rid of such imperial ambitions, because it is necessary to provide for the unity of the Russian Federation. I, for example, have always advocated such unity of nations in Russia. As a matter of principle, I stand for preservation of the integrity of Russia as our common home. I cannot imagine myself without Russia.

— What should be the structure of Russia?

— I think, Russia should be an «asymmetric» federation, that is, federation subjects should have different rights. Not because some should have more rights than others. In his time, Boris Yeltsin was right when he said, Take as much sovereignty as you can. I am sure, some regions do not need so much sovereignty as they could obtain. One cannot swallow more than one can, so take it and try to digest. You can first take and then will have to bring it back, no way. Some regions are bringing back their agreements now. However, they want money in exchange. I believe, Russia cannot develop like that. It appears to me that Russia should raise the issue of sustainability of all the regions. That is what we strive for. If that can be achieved, then Russia will make gigantic strides forward. in the meanwhile, when all that Russian cart is drawn by some ten regions, and all other regions squeeze out all the juices from them, no progress can be expected. If all develops according to this scenario, that will only bring Russia to poverty. At the same time, Russia is a large and great country, that all the freedoms can find their place in it. There is a room for any experiments. it is only necessary to carry them out. Let us, for instance, take the poorest region and set up an experiment converting it into a self-sustainable region. Or, for example, it is possible to make regions larger. True, it is necessary to have some clear economic rationale for that. The point is not to start bringing everything to the common denominator, which is not possible in principle. If we restrain some ethnos, if it feels limiting the rights of its language or of its national identity, no doubt, that will bring about discontent and protest on its behalf. That is why separation of Russia into seven okrugs, which was carried out recently, will not bring anything positive, I think. Separation should take into account traditional national features of individual nations, and that has to be done in such a way that as large amount of mononational population as possible should reside within the territory.

— Given this situation, what is the role of the organization you are heading, the World Tatar Congress?

— The World Tatar Congress stands for the following: the Tatars should receive at last a chance to consolidate around the same language, same culture, and same education. All that is entirely in accordance with international standards and the Russian Constitution, and that is why I think that Russia as a state must guarantee this right and, where possible, work in this direction. Our Congress has already been working in that area. The Congress has over 175 local organizations, and, wherever possible, they are active in setting up national formations. The language always ranks first. That is, work is done in the national language in kindergartens, schools, and labor collectives. Large-scale work is carried out concerning the Sabantuy festival. It is great pleasure for me to state that our national Sabantuy festival is becoming a general, All-Russian festival. Can you recall what Tvardovsky said? Great Tuy, great festivity, festivity for everybody. To date, the Saratov or Tyumen Regions marked these festivities as their regional ones. On top of that, there is a tradition of inter-regional Sabantuys. Last year, eight regions took part in that festivity in the city of Togliatti. They participated with their fighters and singers. The process of national unification occurs on these grounds. That is, in particular, our work. Besides, we hold various field sessions by the regions, and each head of the region reports on what has been done with respect to Tatars for the past year. The result is that we set up a special dialogue system in the regions, where authorities have a mechanism for communicating with society. Wherever there is such a system, civil society can evolve there in due time. Therefore, our Congress works for establishing civil society in Russia. The more democratic Russia is, the stronger the country is.

— How successful are you in interaction with the republican authorities while implementing your social function?

— Being a social organization, we accumulate the opinion of the people, and then the opinion is conveyed to the republican authorities. If that opinion does not get through, that is too bad. If the authorities do not hear it, it is still worse. Fortunately, they hear it so far. Therefore, we have normal relations with the republican authorities. We solve the same problems of Tatarstan. Look at what is happening now. Russian Federation prosecutors bring endless protests in connection with the Constitution. They already have a ready protest for the new version of the Constitution. What it is done for, I cannot understand. We can find a way out appealing to the people. We do not want anything bad while that is bad for Russia.

— Has your Congress ever taken part in regulation of any present-day ethnic conflicts?

— We have been filing our suggestions many times, so that the experience of peaceful inter-ethnic coexistence could be accepted while regulating the conflicts in Chechnya. I have made trips to the region and met some people (Maskhadov, Dudayev). They considered that our experience would be of help for them. Besides, a document on the experience of regulating a conflict situation in Tatarstan was put on the table of negotiations in Rambouillet. Regrettably, our initiative has not resulted in anything so far, while Russia, it seems, should have been proud of Tatarstan experience in these issues and propagandize it everywhere.

Mikhail DOVZHENKO