Are the Tatars well integrated in Russia?

[abdulhay]

Hi,

I wonder if the tatars are integrated in russia, I mean do they feel like russian or turkic people. My friend says tatars dont regard themselvs turkic but rather russian, but isnt that strange since tatars asked for independence from russia than the soviet fell but didnt get it my Yeltsin.

Please enlighten me

[sarmat]

This is a strange statement because Tatars are Tatars and they can't regard themselves as
"Russians" they know very well who they are. And they know that they are Turkic. But at the same time they are very well integrated in Russia. Which is not surprising at all because they have been living together with Russian for the last 500 years. And of course due to the long coexistance the habits and culture of Tatars are very influenced by Russians. The mentality of both people is also kind of similar and intermarriages are common.

Tatarstan in Russian Federation has quite a broad authonomy and everybody is obliged to study Tatar language there even Russians.

But in any case, Tatars know very well that they are different from Russia. Some of them may think about themselves as a part of a common "Russian" state, but that doesn't in any way neglect their self-consciousness as Tatars.

[ceonni]

in 2006, the Tatar wikipedia was strictly Latin Yan'a Alif.
After the Putin decree to prohibit Latin, it is slowly switching over to Cyrillic. Now there are more and more Tatar wikipedia articles that are strictly Cyrillic.

I believe to preserve Latin Yan'a Alif, we need to apply for a Latin-Cyrillic conversion mechanism just like that one on the Kazakh, Serbian, and Kurdish wikipedias.

[abdulhay]

This is a strange statement because Tatars are Tatars and they can't regard themselves as
"Russians" they know very well who they are. And they know that they are Turkic. But at the same time they are very well integrated in Russia. Which is not surprising at all because they have been living together with Russian for the last 500 years. And of course due to the long coexistance the habits and culture of Tatars are very influenced by Russians. The mentality of both people is also kind of similar and intermarriages are common.

Tatarstan in Russian Federation has quite a broad authonomy and everybody is obliged to study Tatar language there even Russians.

But in any case, Tatars know very well that they are different from Russia. Some of them may think about themselves as a part of a common "Russian" state, but that doesn't in any way neglect their self-consciousness as Tatars.

ok, I accept what u say. than my friends is wrong than.

u should get upset at me, becasue it was something a friend told me not myself.

Anyway,

since u are tatar do u also regard yourself turkic or russian

[sarmat]

I'm not upset with you at all. Dear Abdulhay. :-)

And I'm not a Tatar. Though, I have Nogay Tatar ancestors. I'm Russian. But I know many Tatars, and believe me, they know that they are Tatars and not Russians. A problem might arise when there is a mixed Russian-Tatar family than it's unclear who children are.

But for pure Tatars it's not an issue.

I want to add however, that in Russian there may be too words which potentially can be translated into English as "Russian." It's russkiy (which means Russian in ethnic sense, no Tatar would say that he is "Russian" in that sense) and rossiyanin (it means a citizen of the Russian Federation regardless of the ethnicity, Russian, Yakut, Tatar, Chechen, etc.) so it's ok if a Tatar would say "I'm Rossianin" When the Russian president adresses to the nation he uses "Rossiane" (plural of rossianian) in a meaning of all the peoples of Russia not only ethnic Russians. May be the confusion of your friend was caused by that...

[abdulhay]

I want to add however, that in Russian there may be too words which potentially can be translated into English as "Russian." It's russkiy (which means Russian in ethnic sense, no Tatar would say that he is "Russian" in that sense) and rossiyanin (it means a citizen of the Russian Federation regardless of the ethnicity, Russian, Yakut, Tatar, Chechen, etc.) so it's ok if a Tatar would say "I'm Rossianin" When the Russian president adresses to the nation he uses "Rossiane" (plural of rossianian) in a meaning of all the peoples of Russia not only ethnic Russians. May be the confusion of your friend was caused by that...

I discussed with my friend about tatars and if they want to be a apart of future turkestan, and he said they wont becasue they were well integrated into russian society,

I dont know since I havent meet any tatars except that my great grand mother is tatar from tatarstan.

Also is it true that most tatars are blond and not asian like central asian turks. I havent seen many tatars so I dont know but one famous tatar or descent of the tatars Charles Bronson looks very turkic to me but he is not 100 % tatar, his mother is lithuainian , still he has typicall turkic look,

also I read some news and see that the president of tatarstan looks very turkic to, dont remember his name

[sarmat]

His name is Shaimiev. Tatars look very differently there are very blond and fair skinned Tatars among Volga Tatars and also there are very Mongoloid looking Tatars as well. Tatars are a very diverse group which in a sense was artificially created.

But about Turkestan? Why do you think that other Turks want that so much? There is a part of Turks surely like this. But I'm afraid they are not in majority.

[ceonni]

Uncle Mintimer did a good job during the Yeltsin Era by securing cultural autonomy by having that drunkard sign some treaty.

But he is no jujitsu blackbelt in front of Putin. Putin seems to be a nice enough guy to have fun at Sabantuy. But he really wants Tatarstan to be under his belt, and not looking West.

[Subu'atai]

Jan 12, 2010 6:16:02 GMT 3 abdulhay said:

Hi,

I wonder if the tatars are integrated in russia, I mean do they feel like russian or turkic people. My friend says tatars dont regard themselvs turkic but rather russian, but isnt that strange since tatars asked for independence from russia than the soviet fell but didnt get it my Yeltsin.

Please enlighten me

They are plainly Tatars, and thats about it.