Paul
Goble
Staunton, November 2 – Rafis Kashapov,
a leader of the All-Tatar Social Center (VTOTs), has moved to Ankara where he
is working to organize a pan-Turkic movement to attract attention to the plight
of the hard-pressed Turkic nations within the borders of the Russian Federation
and to gain support for them from other Turkic peoples.
In a post on the VTOTs portal yesterday,
Kashapov cited with approval Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s statement a half century
ago that Turkey and the Turkic peoples of the world “must be prepared” for “union”
with Turkic groups then under the rule of the communists and the Soviets (tatar-centr.blogspot.com/2014/11/blog-post_25.html).
As Kashapov points out, there are
more than 300 million people who are part of the Turkic world: the Turks, the
Tatars, the Azerbaijanis, the Kazakhs, the Crimean Tatars, the Chuvash, the
Kygyz, the Bashkirs, the Uzbeks, the Turkmens, the Tuvins, the Khakas, the
Karachays, the Balkars, the Kumyks, the Nogays and the Karaims.
Among
these peoples are many who are living under the oppression of non-Turkic
states, including the 40 million Uyghurs in China and approximately 20 million
members of Turkic-speaking nations within the borders of the Russian
Federation.
The latter
have “a significant Turkic component” in their languages and cultures,”
Kashapov says, and this means that “we Turkic peoples have the right to
establish movements for the coordination of the activities of the Turkic
peoples in Russia.” That is especially true because the situation of the Turks
of Russia is so bad.
As
evidence of that, Kashapov says that “in recent years in Russia have been
closed more than 2,000 Tatar schools and gymnasia, all Turkic academic
institutions were closed earlier” and that is despite the fact that the Tatars
are the second largest nationality in the Russian Federation after the
Russians.
“About the
rights of other Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples,” he suggests, it is better not
to speak because they are being mistreated even more severely.
After
thanking the presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan for their support
of the Turkic world, Kashapov appeals to them to “defend the rights of the
Turkic peoples in Russia” as well. To that end, he says, he seeks to establish
ties with Turkic social-political organizations.
In
addition, the VTOTs leader says, he is planning to establish “an organized
group of Tatar activists who are living in Turkey, to meet with Turkic
officials, and to promote better coverage of the Turkic peoples in the Russian
Federation by Turkey’s mass media.
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