Paul Goble
Staunton, June 12 – “Moscow has always looked with some fear at the Tatars,” Rafael Khakimov says, in sharp contrast to its historically more positive view of those like the Ukrainians and Belarusians whom Russians have seen as “Slavic brothers” and Central Asians and Transcaucasians whom they have defined as “younger brothers.”
“What’s the problem with the Tatars?” the former political advisor to Tatarstan President Mintimir Shaymiyev and head of the Kazan Institute of History asks in the latest excerpt of his memoirs (milliard.tatar/news/rafael-xakimov-straxi-moskvy-preuveliceny-tatary-nikogda-ne-vystupali-protiv-russkix-oni-poedali-drug-druga-1817).
“Moscow’s fears are exaggerated,” he continues. Indeed, they are almost absurd given not only the power of the Russian state but also and more importantly to the fact that the Tatars have never opposed the Russians in modern times. Tatars view all of Russia as “the birthplace of the Tatars” and see “no need to separate from our homeland.”
In reality, Khakimov argues, “Tatar separatism is an invention of the Kremlin ideologists in Moscow” who have advanced it not because it is true but because it is useful for Russia to posit a threat in order to justify the kind of hyper-centralist policies that Moscow has invariably favored.
One thing that clearly irritates some in Moscow is that Tatars no longer suffer from the inferiority complex they used to have. “All Tatars speak Russian and there are even some who do not speak their native language at all. They have caught u with Russians in terms of education, qualifications and employment.
Tatars are ready, willing and able if they are given a chance, Khakimov says. They can succeed at anything they are allowed to take part in. Unfortunately, he says, many Tatars who don’t make an effort talk down those who do, a jealously that today is on display in too many Tatars.
No comments:
Post a Comment