SUMMARY:

This article by a scholar from Tatarstan looks at the recent debates around the “Tatar problem” from the level of the “Federation subject”. Criticizing Sokolovsky’s historical argument, Iskhakov cites a number of sources to prove that by the beginning of the 20th century the Tatar ethnic group was a reality, rather than a composite made by imperial administrative or scientific authorities. Accordingly, the author argues that a number of “nationalities” separately treated by the recent census list are, in fact, subconfessional or historically formed groups within the Tatar ethnos. The author sees a political entrepreneurship at work in the attempts to promote subethnic groups within the Tatar nation. At the same time, he believes that the separation of certain groups outside the Republic of Tatarstan from the Tatar nation will lead to these groups’ speedy Russification. The author also notes a political will behind the fact that while the Tatars are being divided into a number of nationalities, in the neighboring Bashkortostan these groups disappeared from the list.