Creation of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences in 1991 Prevented Mass Emigration of Scholars and Helped Other Turkic and Muslim Countries as Well

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 7 – When Kazan set up its own Academy of Sciences in 1991, most observers saw that as little more than a component of Tatarstan’s efforts to achieve independence; but today, 35 years later, the real contribution of that act was to prevent the mass emigration of scholars to other countries, Kazan officials and scholars say.

            In 1991, many even in Tatarstan opposed the idea, participants at an anniversary meeting said; but they lost out to those who said that the three Baltic republics, “whose total GDP is less than that of Tatarstan has its own Academy of Sciences and asked why can’t the Tatars have theirs?” (milliard.tatar/news/sozdanie-sobstvennoi-akademii-nauk-v-kazani-spaslo-ot-emigracii-vydayushhixsya-ucenyx-tatarstana-10524).

            Because the academy was established and continues to grow, scholars who might have left for Moscow or other foreign centers largely stopped. They have made contributions to the republic and to its ties with the Turkic and Islamic worlds, and they have helped other Turkic and Muslim peoples in the former Soviet space develop as well.