I appeal to the Tatars!

If you look through chats and forums with the participation of the Tatars / Bashkorts, then your eye will immediately catch disputes (I call them “which came first, a Tatar egg or a Bashkort chicken?”). Mutual misunderstanding does not allow our peoples to see their main enemy – the Empire! Representatives of both one and the other ethnic group do not want to talk about the fight against Russia, they have already got used to it, everyone makes claims to their neighbors, starting to remember the grievances of three hundred years ago. There can be only one conclusion from this: the Federal Security Service is overjoyed. It is enough to send one provocateur to the forum – and away we go … a holiday of stupidity, malice and boorishness begins… Everyone considers the opponent an insidious politician and refuses to listen to his arguments, accusing him of deviating from the provisions of international law and the principles of democracy. And the Russians are laughing on the sidelines!

According to many Tatars, the Bashkort democratic leader Ruslan Gabbasov calls for building a state where the Bashkorts will be the dominant ethnic minority. He is blamed for the following: “the policy of isolation from Tatarstan, the search for an older brother (first Russians, now Kazakhs), ethnocide and assimilation, and now he sees the war with the Tatars as the foundation of a new Bashkort nation. And when he is offered democratic instruments (a referendum on secession or simply the recognition of the Tatar language as one of the state languages), he avoids and leads the conversation into discussions about some future possible conflicts and wars, so as not to discuss the use of democratic instruments. In order to avoid conflicts in the future, democratic tools should be applied.” End of the sad quote!

Gabbasov rather explores the degree of likelihood of potential conflicts between national republics. In this matter, one should make a correct diagnosis in order to find an effective method of treatment. It would hardly be correct to conclude that Gabbasov is bloodthirsty.

It seems it is high time to understand that the program of reconciliation can be implemented with only one concept: to agree with the existence of state (today administrative) borders of the republics, without making claims on the territory of a foreign state (republic). Are you ready for such a step? In response, we hear, “Ready! But first let the neighbor do this, this and this… Otherwise, he is not a democrat, not a patriot and not a good neighbor!”

Here it is worth recalling that the principles of the UN recognize the right of nations to self-determination (up to armed struggle) in case of violation of their rights, including the development of the national culture. If the national culture of the people can be developed in an already existing state, then a representative of a non-titular ethnic group in a democratic country is given a choice:

– to assimilate;

– to go to his native country and continue to develop the national culture there;

– to preserve the native culture in the diaspora within the legal framework of the country of residence:

• to create his own national schools, national cultural centers,

• to publish books and magazines in his own language (print and online editions),

• to develop relations with the country of mother culture,

• to support talented youth, pay for their education at the national universities of the country with a mother culture,

• etc. 

Therefore, it is unlawful to insist on the mandatory recognition of the language of a non-titular nation as the second state language. This is already the struggle for political influence, political privileges, priority, the democratic norms have nothing to do with it. And taking a neighbor by the throat, threatening a referendum and raising the issue of secession of territories (in the context of the titular nation minority) is a direct path to escalation. After all, it is not at all difficult to simulate a similar situation for the Free Tatarstan, when, using absolutely identical arguments, the Russians want to chop off part of the Tatar Volga region. What then?

And there are people who advocate using the example of the Kosovo enclave! Do you want to live like in Kosovo?

Where there will never be a quiet life? Poor, poor fools!

And there is no need to blame Gabbasov – he cares about the future of his nation, trying to choose democratic ways to achieve true independence.

And I suggest to my countrymen in the future Free Tatarstan to support and protect the Bashkorts – then we will have the right to count on the same support of the Tatars in the Free Bashkortostan!

Let’s not delight the Federal Security Service with our internecine strife!