The vast majority of Tatars today reside in the post-Soviet countries, primarily in Russia and also in Ukraine and Uzbekistan (Akiner, 1986; Bukharaev, 2000; Gainutdin, 2004). They originate mainly from the following Tatar groups: Volga Tatars, Astrakhan Tatars, Siberian Tatars and Crimean Tatars (Amirchanov, 2005; Frank, 1986). Other communities live in Romania in the Dobrudja region, in northern Bulgaria and some small groups live in Finland, in Helsinki and Turku (Norris, 2009). They are ethnic groups rather than a nation; they speak different languages and have different folk traditions. All Tatar groups have common roots in the North-Turkish tradition â Kiptshak. The vast majority of Tatars are Muslims (Chazbijewicz, 2009; KopaÅski, 1995).
The Tatars have also settled in the Kaliningrad Region. In 1989, there were 3,556 inhabitants of Tatar nationality on the territory of the Kaliningrad Region (Oblast) of the Russian Federation. Majority of them (81 per cent, 2,882 people) lived in towns, whereas only 674 persons resided in the countryside (Nasyrov, 2002, 53). These numbers changed in the subsequent years. In 1999, the total number of the Tatar population increased by 255 people, among them there were 145 persons from the Russian Federation. In 2001, the number of Tatars in the Kaliningrad Region reached the level of 5 thousand and about 1,700 of them live in the city of Kaliningrad (
The number of Tatars in the Kaliningrad Region did not change in the next decade. From a population of 5 thousand Tatars more than 2 thousand live in Kaliningrad, in the Bagrationovskiy district (
As early as 1991, the Kaliningrad Association of Islamic Culture and History was established consisting mainly of the Tatar people of this region (Nasyrov, 2002, 87). It was a kind of cultural-scientific and social society; its members were mainly retired soldiers and graduates from colleges and universities of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of technical intellectuals and medical professionals. Apart from the social life, the religious one started developing â previously being banned by the authorities. In October 1993, the Religious Society of Muslims of the Kaliningrad Oblast (
In the meantime, they began to solicit formally for the construction of a mosque in Kaliningrad. In 1995, the Tatar Culture Society (Obshtshestvo tatarskoy kultury) âTugan Tamyrlarâ (full official name of the association in Russian:
These two organizations often arrange common cultural-religious events to celebrate such holidays as Kurban Byjrami (the Feast of the Sacrifice) and Uraza Bayram (âFestival of Breaking the Fastâ), also called the Fast Breaking Feast, the Sugar Feast, Bayram (Bajram), the Sweet Festival and the Lesser Eid as well as Sabantuy â the Tatar ethnic feast â the âPlough Feastâ. These two communities take part in the Kaliningrad Days and organize tourist trips, concerts, lectures. Among the members of these communities one encounters the Lithuanian Tatar â Adam Adamowicz Jakubowski â residing in Kaliningrad and teaching religion (Nasyrov, 2002, 89). Both of the Kaliningrad-based Tatar societies support the local and regional libraries by collecting Tatar literature books, especially those written in the language of the Volga Tatars â a language spoken by the majority of the Tatar population in the Kaliningrad Region (Oblast).
In 2000, the Tatar Cultural Centre âMadaniyatâ (
The Kaliningrad Tatars take also care of the music and folk tradition by maintaining a youth song and dance ensemble. The number of Muslims in Kaliningrad itself is estimated to be 15 thousand. The Kaliningrad Islamic community includes Tatars, Chechens, Bashkirs and other Muslim nation representatives of the Russian Federation and the Former Soviet Union. In 2010, the construction of a mosque on the Pregola River began. The site is on one of the city squares â Komsomol Square [W Kaliningradzie]. However, part of the Kaliningrad inhabitants protested against the idea of both the very edifice and the mosque location. The construction has been going on and so far has not been completed. All Tatar organizations are part of the World Tatar Society with its headquarters in Kazan in Tatarstan (a federal republic of the Russian Federation). Therefore, they are subject to ethnic policy of the Russian Federation.
The Tatar Society of the Republic of Poland has been aiming at broadening the cooperation and integration of the Tatar groups living in Central â East Europe and the Baltic region. Mutual relations of the Tatar groups and organizations from Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Ukraine and Crimea have been established. The relation with the Tatar Diaspora in Petersburg in the Russian Federation and in the Kaliningrad Oblast was set up, too. Particular Tatar groups in the countries mentioned above have different historical and cultural traditions, which should have been overcome in order to facilitate the arrangement of general meetings and cultural events. The Tatars of Poland, Lithuania and Belarus have the same background â the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, they are often connected by family, friend, and genealogical bonds. The Crimean Tatars constitute a separate historical, cultural, ethnic, linguistic unity. They are strongly consolidated by the common trauma of the 1944 deportation and the political struggle for returning to Crimea. The Tatars came to Finland at the end of the nineteenth century; the most massive Tatar settlement in Finland occurred after 1917. They have well assimilated with the Finns. On the other hand, the Tatars in Petersburg had been settling there since the middle of the nineteenth century. It was the city of the Tatar aristocracy related with the imperial court, for example Prince Felix Yusupov â the murderer of Rasputin. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a mosque in Petersburg was built, preserved until today. It was designed by engineer Stefan KryczyÅski, an architect coming from the Polish Tatars. Tatars arrived in Latvia, Estonia, and continental Ukraine and in the Kaliningrad Oblast after the Second World War. They were settled there as Red Army officers and non-commissioned officers or as officers of other former USSR services on grounds of a work order binding them to the former Soviet Union. A lot of Tatars, especially in the Kaliningrad Oblast and Kaliningrad city, come from those officer groups. Kaliningrad used to be a garrison city which was a kind of a military facility for the Naval Base. It was a shut-off area requiring a special pass to enter the city which made this place inaccessible for tourists.
In order to integrate the Tatar groups, conferences on the topic of the Tatars from the Baltic countries, celebrations of Sabantuj, concerts, lectures and discussions have been organized. These meetings take place in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and previously in Belarus. In 1997, there was a reunion in order to celebrate the 600-year Tatar settlement in the Great Duchy of Lithuania. The meeting was held in Vilnius and one year later in Belarus. The Tatar groups were frequently invited to GdaÅsk, among them the Tatars from Kaliningrad. A great meeting of the Tatars from Poland, the Kaliningrad Oblast and Lithuania took place in Wieżyca, Poland, in 2008. Every year, Venzel Takikhivich Salakhov, the chairperson of the Tatar society from Kaliningrad, together with a smaller or bigger delegation visits GdaÅsk. The last meeting with the Tatars from Kaliningrad took place in December 2011 on the occasion of the Tatarstan Presidentâs visit to that city. He was able to visit the National Centre of Tatar Culture in the GdaÅsk Orunia Park, where in 2010 the monument of the Tatar Uhlan in the service of the historic (Polish-Lithuanian) Commonwealth of Two Nations was unveiled. Among the special guests were the former Polish President BronisÅaw Komorowski and the Tatar delegation from Kaliningrad. Between 10th and 11th May 2009, the Tatars from Kaliningrad took part in a cultural event organized together with the House of Russian Culture in GdaÅsk. This cooperation, once established, has been going on since 1997 with different dynamics. These relationships aim at both getting to know each other and the development of trans-border Polish â Russian cooperations in the dimension of NGOs and personal relations. The Tatar organizations in Poland and Lithuania cooperate fairly closely, taking into consideration political, social and cultural circumstances of the Tatar minority from the Kaliningrad Region. The relations with this minority group is maintained in the name of a good cross-border cooperation.
Works Cited
Akiner, Shirin (1986). Islamic Population of the Soviet Union. London â New York â Sydney and Melbourne: Kegan Paul International.
Amirchanov, Ravil Usmanovich (2005). ТаÑаÑÑкий наÑод и ТаÑаÑÑÑан в наÑале XX века: иÑÑоÑиÑеÑкие заÑиÑовки (The Tatar People and Tatarstan in the Early 20th Century: Historical Sketches). Kazan: Tatar Book Publishing House.
Bukharaev, Ravil (2000). Islam in Russia: The Four Seasons. New York: St. Martinâs Press.
Chazbijewicz, Selim (2009). âIslam in Russia. Problem of Methodology.â Rocznik Orientalistyczny 62.1, 13-19.
Frank, Azade-Ayse (1986). The Volga Tatars: A Profile in National Resilience. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press.
Gainutdin, Rawil Muftij (2004). ÐÑлам в ÑовÑеменной РоÑÑии (Islam in Modern Russia). Moscow: Grand Fair.
KopaÅski, Ataullah Bogdan (1995). Sabres of Two Easts: An Untold History of Muslims in Eastern Europe, Their Friends and Foes. Islamabad: Institute of Policy Studies.
Nasyrov, Garifzyan (2002). ТаÑаÑÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð´Ð¸Ð°ÑпоÑа ÑнÑаÑного кÑÐ°Ñ (Tatar Diaspora in Amber Country). Kaliningrad: Medina Publisher.
Norris, Harry (2009). Islam in the Baltic: Europeâs Early Muslim Community. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
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ТаÑаÑÑ Ð² ÐалинингÑадÑкой облаÑÑи. <http://1997-2011.tatarstan.ru/index.php@node_id=3058.html> (December 21, 2019).
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