So what kind of people live in Tatarstan? Asians or Whites, Tatars or Bulgars?! The "eternal" question: who are the Russians - Europeans or Asians.

Basically, the Tatars do not consider themselves descendants of the Mongols. They identify themselves as descendants of the Volga Bulgars.

Muslim Tatars or pagan Bulgars

Bulgarism is an ethno-nationalism that is gaining momentum in Tatarstan, which arose as a response to the Islamization of the region and the Golden Horde rhetoric of the authorities. Bulgarists stand up for the return of the Tatars pre-revolutionary name(Bulgars) and identify themselves as part of the European world. The representative of the Bulgarian underground Artem Veselov spoke about the return to the roots and the departure from the imposed stereotypes.

— Kazan is an enclave of the East in European Russia. Who does the “titular” ethnic group feel like anyway?

- I would not say that the Volga Tatars are oriental people. You can't really call them Asians. Basically, the Tatars do not consider themselves descendants of the Mongols. They identify themselves as descendants of the Volga Bulgars. And they do not see themselves as related to the Asian peoples from the CIS countries. But this is a topic for a separate discussion. The population here is mostly mixed. It is not always even possible to determine the nationality of a person by appearance. Accordingly, the problems and their perception are common for Russians and Tatars.

- A mixed population is fertile ground for conflicting ideas. One of these is Bulgarism?

— Bulgarism in its essence is a liberation nationalism. It relies on the white heritage of the Bulgars and their non-Turkic origin. This is his fundamental difference from the Tatarists. Also, part of the Bulgarists, mostly young people, are not Muslims, but gravitate toward paganism. Bulgar paganism is called Tengriism. From the word "Tengri" - the name of the Supreme God in the Bulgarian Pantheon. But today there are no active cults of belief. Therefore, Bulgarism is a secular phenomenon that does not fall into dubious hoaxes.

Bulgarism, as an idea, appeared in the early years Soviet power when the Bulgars were renamed Tatars. The ideology was developed by the efforts of F. G.-H. Nurutdinova, R. Kh. Barieva, M. Z. Zakieva, Z. Z. Miftakhova, R.M. Kadyrov. In the 1990s went new wave Bulgarism; an attempt to return the name of the Bulgars, but it failed due to the harsh opposition of the Tatars in power. In general, there is a tendency for the emergence and development of nationalisms of small ethnic groups throughout the country. Due to the fatigue of the regions from the center. It is expressed in one capacious slogan "Stop feeding Moscow!". Imperial ideas, the concept of civic nationalism, superpower, the great dream of "washing the boots of Russian soldiers in Indian Ocean"and other stamps no longer work. The people want a decent life, self-government, in general - a life, and not participation in military adventures in the name of the Motherland. The time for centralism is running out. What is worth understanding, although this is not yet so clearly visible to an inexperienced eye.

— What are the claims of the Bulgarists to political system RF?

- They are trying to rename the Tatars into Bulgars. The main claim to the authorities, federal and local. The Bulgarists also strive for territorial and cultural autonomy. By the way, Chuvashs, Maris, Udmurts, and partly Bashkirs are also Bulgars.

- Does the rejection of Tatarism entail a division into Bulgars and "another race"?

— Bulgarists, as far as I know, do not measure skulls. Unless the Crimean Tatars are not considered Bulgars and a related ethnic group, of course. What is their diametrical difference from the notorious "Azatlyk".

- Now the carriers of the ideology belong to the intellectuals or the street?

– Initially, Bulgarism was the lot of people of mature age – urban intellectuals and public figures. Now there are actually two circles. Until Bulgarism has grown into a powerful self-sufficient movement, it is a matter of time, like any ideological phenomenon. Judging by the public mood, more than 10 thousand people sympathize with Bulgarism.

As a street youth movement, Bulgarism appeared in 2008, especially in football. There are many Bulgarists at "Kamaz" from Naberezhnye Chelny, "Sputnik", Agrikh, Kazan "Zarya" and even in "Ruby". The streets are on anti-capitalist, socialist, populist positions. The Young-Bulgarists have not yet matured to a full-fledged movement, although they are a noticeable protest and cultural phenomenon. There is no doubt that the movement has everything ahead. However, Bulgarism does not influence the greater political life in the republic. The reason is that he has nowhere to wait for support, unlike the same Russian nationalists.

- What is the attitude to the territorial arrangement on the streets?

- Regarding the personal vision of the territorial structure, I can say the following. There is something that you want to see ideally, and something that you have to expect realistically. Ideally, a completely self-governing population, united by cultural, ethnic, confessional or other characteristics into communes, or communities - if someone likes it by ear. But for now, the prospect of a broader and more balanced federalism is real. Raising all subjects in the status to the level of republics. This is exactly what can be achieved and expected.

- It seems that the unpopular national democrats advocate federalism more. Is there a certain discrimination against Russians by Tatars in Tatarstan?

- This is not a fight for federalism, but a scenario that is most expected in general. The process of the passage of nationalists to power is a matter of time, and the Kremlin understands this. It is most obvious that the National Democrats will go there. Having passed, they will stand up for federalism. Nothing personal, just a vision of the development of events.

If we consider separately the ruling elite and the ordinary population, it is obvious that the government in the republic is ethnocratic and consists almost exclusively of Tatars. It is enough to look at the national composition of the leadership in the republic. Clanism in Tatarstan is a common thing, as in Russia. Ordinary people do not conflict on national grounds among themselves.

- How reliable is the information about the replacement of urban Tatars by people from the hinterland. If so, does it cause negative processes?

- It is noteworthy that people from the villages are in power. Both presidents are rural. It is logical that there is an appropriate environment around them. Closer, which is noticeable. This causes discontent, of course, especially among the urban Tatars. But not only for them, but for the whole population. The point is not that people from the villages hold power, but that those who are in power steal.

— How real is the neo-Horde rhetoric of the Tatar Islamists and authorities?

“Neohordeship is not dangerous at all. This mythology exists in the minds of a handful of Azatlyk activists, and not at the level of public sentiment among the Tatars. But the republican authorities are using the "Golden Horde threat" as a tool for building relations with the federal center and obtaining certain bonuses for themselves.

Are there any Tatar anti-Islamic initiatives outside of Bulgarism?

There are no specific anti-Islamist movements and organizations. There is a branch of the Russian Institute for Social Research. Rais Suleymanov, head of the branch, regularly arranges scientific conferences on the topic "Problems of Islamism". For which he is constantly burned by Azatlyk people, who are just moderate Islamists.

- Do the Bulgarists have any points of contact with "Azatlyk"?

- Relations with "Azatlyk" and similar pan-Islamic and pro-Turkish groups of near-politics are purely hostile and uncompromising.

How conflicting are relations with Islamists. Or is everything limited to statements to the police, as in the case of the Altyn Urda lawsuit against Suleymanov?

Conflicts, in addition to ideological "showdowns", are generally limited to slandering Islamists in the law enforcement agencies of the republic. As for actions that go beyond the realm of denunciation into the realm of public conflict, then it is worth recalling the recent high-profile case of Mikhail Sharov. He was accused of desecrating the Koran, which caused ferment in Islamic circles. Although there was a slander with the subsequent initiation of a criminal case.

“Before the Bulgarists, there were skinheads whose culture is based on white racism. How did the Tatars solve the problem by adopting a subculture, being mostly Muslims?

- Tatar skinheads gravitate towards European culture and recognize themselves as Europeans, not Asians. Here lies the whole secret of the phenomenon and its popularity in the republic. Local Tatars do not consider visitors from Central Asia kindred peoples and the confessional issue fades into the background. Otherwise, the rhetoric of local skinheads justifying the movement is standard: immigrants bring drugs, crime, etc. with them.

- The "Front of Kazan Patriots" also beat the Tatars.

- There were Chuvashs, Tatars and Russians in the FKP. These beatings can be called involuntary errors. There is not much to talk about here. This was clearly not part of the group's plans.

- Russians and Tatars are against migrants on the streets, so they are not apart?

- There are no national distinctions. The distinctions are made in the area of ​​the very content of the activity. Street groups are mixed in proportion to the national composition of the republic. Like our antifa, by the way.

- Do Russian nationalists have a tangible policy in the republic on the Tatar issue?

- No, Russian nationalists do not have such. But they do not engage in any anti-Tatar rhetoric or activity either. Which speaks positively in their favor.

— Generally speaking, what is the picture of nationalist movements?

Of the Russian nationalist organizations, there are "Resistance", "Russian Jogging", the NDP, the "Russian Alliance", the Kazan Nazi Crew street group, the Society of Russian Culture. There was the NBP, which became the "Other Russia". Ethnic composition mixed, like most movements here. In terms of activity, the National Bolsheviks have always been the vanguard. A couple of years ago, criminal cases were initiated against DR activists - allegedly they tried to create a cell of the NBP. This is absurd. There is a "Bulgar community", but there is no active organization. Young Bulgarists in near-football and on the streets. There are pro-Kremlin Turkish provocateurs "Azatlyk", a small desk of 5-6 people. Volnitsa stood apart - it took part in the protests of 2011-2012 from the very beginning. She made her column at the March of Millions on June 12, 2012, defended civil activists during the elections, when there was a danger of attacks and provocations from bandits bribed by the authorities. Conducted environmental campaigns. For example, against deforestation within the city. But the most prominent and active organization is the Society of Russian Culture. It has been operating, if I am not mistaken, since 1993. The ORC is actively dealing with the issue of uneven teaching of Russian and Tatar languages ​​in schools.

— Is it true that the action "Russian March" in Kazan is not entirely Russian?

- Here a laconic answer suggests itself: what is the region, such is the "Russian March". Local specifics characteristic of similar regions. Since many Tatars are "mixed" and gravitate towards Europe, it turns out that they come to the Russian nationalists. Which, for their part, do not measure the supporters of the skull.

Are the authorities afraid of Russian nationalism?

- The local authorities really do not like Russian nationalism in any of its forms. Center "E" is very tough. The persecution of nationalism is initiated. All attempts at activity are met with increased resistance from the authorities. The coverage in the controlled media is extremely negative.

- Discounts for Tatars - opponents of migration are also not made?

- No, they just imprison with pomp. So, the high-profile case of the "Front of Kazan Patriots" is a complete farce and window dressing. The prosecutor even said that the defendants "declared the superiority of the Slavic nation." For weightiness, the guys added storage of weapons. What can be the storage of weapons when there is only one cartridge in the case? And then, it is not known how he was found during the search.

Maxim Sobesky and supporter of the Bulgarian identity Artem Veselov

Scratch a Tatar - you will find a Russian
Multinational Russia

There are many strangers in our country. It is not right. We should not be strangers to each other. I'll start with Tatars - the second largest ethnic group in Russia, there are almost 6 million of them.

Shot from the film "Mongol"

Who are the Tatars? The history of this ethnonym, as often happened in the Middle Ages, is the history of ethnographic confusion.
IN XI-XII centuries steppes Central Asia inhabited by different Mongol-speaking tribes: Naimans, Mongols, Kereits, Merkits and Tatars. The latter wandered along the borders of the Chinese state. Therefore, in China, the name of the Tatars was transferred to other Mongolian tribes in the meaning of "barbarians". Actually, the Chinese called the Tatars white Tatars, the Mongols who lived to the north were called black Tatars, and the Mongolian tribes who lived even further, in the Siberian forests, were called wild Tatars.

At the beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan undertook a punitive campaign against real Tatars in retaliation for the poisoning of his father. The order that the lord of the Mongols gave to his soldiers has been preserved: to destroy everyone who is taller than the cart axle. As a result of this massacre, the Tatars as a military-political force were wiped off the face of the earth. But, as the Persian historian Rashid ad-Din testifies, “due to their extraordinary greatness and honorary position, other Turkic clans, with all the difference in their ranks and names, became known under their name, and everyone was called Tatars.”

The Mongols themselves never called themselves Tatars. However, the Khorezm and Arab merchants who were constantly in contact with the Chinese brought the name "Tatars" to Europe even before the arrival of Batu Khan's troops here. Europeans brought together the ethnonym "Tatars" with the Greek name for hell - Tartarus. Later, European historians and geographers used the term Tartaria as a synonym for the "barbarian East". For example, on some European maps of the 15th-16th centuries, Moscow Rus' is designated as "Moscow Tartaria" or "European Tartaria".

As for the modern Tatars, they have absolutely nothing to do with the Tatars of the XII-XIII centuries, neither by origin nor by language. The Volga, Crimean, Astrakhan and other modern Tatars inherited only the name from the Central Asian Tatars.

Modern Tatar people there is no single ethnic origin. Among his ancestors were the Huns, Volga Bulgars, Kipchaks, Nogais, Mongols, Kimaks and other Turkic-Mongolian peoples. But even more, the formation of modern Tatars was influenced by the Finno-Ugric peoples and Russians. According to anthropological data, more than 60% of Tatars have Caucasoid features, and only 30% have Turkic-Mongolian features.

The appearance on the banks of the Volga Ulus Jochi was milestone in the history of the Tatars. In the era of Genghisides, Tatar history became truly global. The system of state administration and finance, the postal (Yamskaya) service, inherited by Moscow, has reached perfection. More than 150 cities arose where the boundless Polovtsian steppes recently stretched. Some of their names sound like fairy tale: Gulstan (land of flowers), Saray (palace), Aktobe (white vault).

Some cities in size and population far exceeded those of Western Europe. For example, if Rome in the XIV century had 35 thousand inhabitants, and Paris - 58 thousand, then the capital of the Horde, the city of Saray, has more than 100 thousand. According to Arab travelers, there were palaces, mosques, temples of other religions, schools, public gardens, baths, and water supply in Saray. Not only merchants and warriors lived here, but also poets. All religions in the Golden Horde enjoyed the same freedom. According to the laws of Genghis Khan, insulting religion was punishable by death. The clergy of each religion were exempted from paying taxes.

In the era of the Golden Horde, a huge potential for reproduction was laid Tatar culture. But the Kazan Khanate continued this path for the most part by inertia. Among the fragments of the Golden Horde, scattered along the borders of Rus', Kazan was of the greatest importance for Moscow due to its geographical proximity. Spread out on the banks of the Volga, among dense forests, the Muslim state was a curious phenomenon. How public education The Kazan Khanate arose in the 30s of the 15th century and during the short period of its existence managed to show its cultural identity in the Islamic world.

The 120-year neighborhood of Moscow and Kazan was marked by fourteen major wars, not counting the almost annual border skirmishes. However, for a long time, both sides did not seek to conquer each other. Everything changed when Moscow recognized itself as the "third Rome", that is, the last defender of the Orthodox faith. Already in 1523, Metropolitan Daniel planned further way Moscow politics, saying: "The Grand Duke will take all the land of Kazan." Three decades later, Ivan the Terrible fulfilled this prediction.

August 20, 1552 50,000th Russian army camped under the walls of Kazan. The city was defended by 35 thousand selected soldiers. About ten thousand more Tatar horsemen hid in the surrounding forests and disturbed the Russians with sudden raids from the rear.

The siege of Kazan lasted five weeks. After the sudden attacks of the Tatars from the side of the forest, the cold autumn rains annoyed the Russian army most of all. The soaking wet warriors even thought that Kazan sorcerers sent bad weather on them, who, according to Prince Kurbsky, went out onto the wall at sunrise and performed all sorts of spells. All this time, a tunnel was being built under one of the Kazan towers. On the night of October 1, the work was completed. 48 barrels of gunpowder were laid in the tunnel. At dawn there was a huge explosion. It was terrible to see, wrote the chronicler, many tormented corpses and crippled people flying in the air at a terrible height.

The Russian army rushed to the attack. The royal banners were already fluttering on the city walls, when Ivan the Terrible himself drove up to the city with guards regiments. The presence of the tsar gave the Moscow warriors new strength. Despite the fierce resistance of the Tatars, Kazan fell a few hours later. There were so many killed on both sides that in some places the piles of bodies lay flush with the city walls.

The death of the Kazan Khanate, of course, did not mean the death of the Tatar people. On the contrary, exactly

as part of Russia, in fact, it has developed Tatar nation, which finally received its truly national-state education - the Republic of Tatarstan.

The Muscovite state has never closed itself in a narrow national-religious framework. Historians have calculated that among the nine hundred most ancient noble families of Russia, the Great Russians make up only one third, while 300 families come from Lithuania, and the other 300 from the Tatar lands.

Moscow of Ivan the Terrible seemed to Western Europeans an Asian city not only in its unusual architecture and buildings, but also in terms of the number of Muslims living in it. One English traveler who visited Moscow in 1557 and was invited to the royal feast noted that the tsar himself with his sons and Kazan tsars sat at the first table, Metropolitan Macarius with the Orthodox clergy at the second table, and the third table was entirely reserved for the Circassian princes. In addition, another two thousand noble Tatars feasted in other chambers. In the state service, they were given not the last place. Subsequently, the Tatar clans gave Russia great amount representatives of the intelligentsia, prominent military and public and political figures.

Over the centuries, the culture of the Tatars was also absorbed by Russia, and now many native Tatar words, household items, culinary dishes have entered the consciousness of a Russian person as if they were their own. According to Valishevsky, going out into the street, a Russian person put on a shoe, an army coat, a zipun, a caftan, a hood, a cap. In a fight, he used his fist. As a judge, he ordered to put shackles on the convict and give him a whip. Going on a long journey, he got into a sleigh to the coachman. And getting up from the mail sleigh, he went into a tavern, which replaced the old Russian tavern.

After the capture of Kazan in 1552, the culture of the Tatar people was preserved, first of all, thanks to Islam. Islam (in its Sunni version) is the traditional religion of the Tatars. The exception is a small group of them, which XVI-XVIII centuries was converted to Orthodoxy. This is how they call themselves: "Kryashen" - baptized.

Islam in the Volga region was established as early as 922, when the ruler of the Volga Bulgaria voluntarily converted to the Muslim faith. But even more important was the "Islamic revolution" of Khan Uzbek, who at the beginning of the XIV century made Islam state religion Golden Horde (by the way, contrary to the laws of Genghis Khan on the equality of religions). As a result, the Kazan Khanate became the northernmost stronghold of world Islam.

In Russian-Tatar history there was a sad period of acute religious confrontation. The first decades after the capture of Kazan were marked by the persecution of Islam and the forcible planting of Christianity among the Tatars. Only the reforms of Catherine II fully legalized the Muslim clergy. In 1788, the Orenburg Spiritual Assembly was opened - the governing body of Muslims, with its center in Ufa.

And what can be said about the “Kazan orphan” or about uninvited guests? The Russians have long said that "an old proverb is not said in vain" and therefore "there is no trial or reprisal against the proverb." Hush up inconvenient proverbs - not The best way achieve international understanding.

So, " Dictionary Russian language" Ushakov explains the origin of the expression "Kazan orphan" as follows. Initially, this was said "about the Tatar mirzas (princes), who, after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate by Ivan the Terrible, tried to receive all kinds of indulgences from the Russian tsars, complaining about their bitter fate."

Indeed, the Moscow sovereigns considered it their duty to ingratiate the Tatar murzas, especially if they decided to change their faith. According to the documents, such "Kazan orphans" received about a thousand rubles of annual salary. Whereas, for example, a Russian doctor was entitled to only 30 rubles a year. Naturally, this state of affairs gave rise to envy among Russian service people. Later, the idiom "Kazan orphan" lost its historical and ethnic coloring - this is how they began to talk about anyone who only pretends to be unhappy, trying to arouse sympathy.

Now about the Tatar and the guest: which of them is “worse”, and which is “better”. The Tatars of the times of the Golden Horde, if they happened to come to a subordinate country, behaved like masters in it. Our chronicles are full of stories about oppression by the Tatar Baskaks and about the greed of the Khan's courtiers. It was then that they began to say: “A guest in the yard - and trouble in the yard”; “And the guests did not know how the host was tied up”; "The edge is not great, but the devil brings a guest - and the last one will be carried away." Well, and - "an uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar." When times changed, the Tatars, in turn, knew what he was like - the Russian "uninvited guest". Tatars also have a lot of offensive sayings about Russians. What can you do about it?

History is the irreparable past. What was, was. Only the truth heals morals, politics, interethnic relations. But it should be remembered that the truth of history is not bare facts, but an understanding of the past in order to live correctly in the present and future.

Discussing the "eternal" question of who the Russians are - Europeans or Asians - many, either intentionally or because of little experience in communicating with the "yellow race", are trying to prove that the Russian people are identical to Genghis Khan's "Mongols" and are one hundred percent percent Asian.
The reality is that Europeans are as different from Asians as Russians are from both. Therefore, by Russians I will mean those who have no other native language than Russian. "Asians" I will call the Japanese, Chinese, Mongols, all Turkic-speaking peoples, and in some cases the peoples of the North Caucasus. Mongol-Tatars - modern Tatars, as well as Kazakhs, who formed the basis of Genghis Khan's army.
I am a Russian Asian, in the fifth generation. Living in Kazakhstan, I have the opportunity to study the issue under discussion in comparison. Therefore, I will try to justify the difference between Russians and Europeans using the example of “Russian” Germans. The Germans, despite 300 years of living in Russia, retained the main features of their national character. We, in contact with the Mongol-Tatars, were also able to preserve national characteristics.

In rural areas of Kazakhstan, one can accurately determine: this is a German village, this is a Kazakh aul, and this is a Russian village. In German villages, accuracy even in small things, cleanliness, painted front gardens. There is a lot of greenery around the houses. In the Kazakh village there is no greenery at all, the fences are tumbled down, the plaster on the houses is peeled off. There is a lot of greenery in Russian villages, the buildings are in good condition, but they do not have the sleekness that the Germans have.
Russians consider Germans greedy, Germans consider Russians wasteful. Germans are punctual, Russians are not. The Germans strive for order in everything, the Russians are annoyed by such order. For Russians, enthusiasm for work is typical, the process of work itself can bring joy, and in order to achieve the result of creativity, a Russian is often ready to sacrifice personal time. The Germans do not have this; even if the German raised the hammer, but at that time the signal for the end of the shift sounded, he would not strike the workpiece, but would lower the hammer and begin to go home.
A German will not work if the pay is insufficient. A Russian, if the work is of public importance, will work even for minimal pay.
It is generally accepted that Russians and Germans are good soldiers, and they are equal in such a quality as stamina. However, the resilience of German soldiers was developed by a subconscious, at the level of genetic memory, desire for order. The resilience of Russian soldiers is due to an innate sense of social duty and the need to accomplish a feat (at least to prove their own viability), as well as a completely conscious desire to die beautifully, as evidenced by the sayings: “In the world and death is red”, “Die, so with music” etc.
Russian in battle is completely different from that in a peaceful environment. Many Russians are only in battle and understand that they complete people(I say this because I have combat experience, I have seen various national groups in combat). At the same time, many Germans do not understand the motives of the Russian. For example, why did Alexander Matrosov rush to the pillbox without an order? Many Germans, by the way, could repeat this feat if they had a specific order.
It will probably take a long time before the realization of the fact that in world goes not so much a struggle of ideologies as a struggle of ethnic groups. And the domination of one of the ethnic groups will become logical conclusion next stage in the development of the planet. It is characteristic, after all, that an ideology aimed at limiting its numbers is used against the Russian people.
What are the differences between Russians and Asians?
First, the attitude towards women. We have an unofficial cult Mother of God, and in most houses the “red” corners are decorated with this particular icon. Many Asian peoples a woman is in the next place after the donkey.
Secondly, humanism (not Western humanism in relation to maniacs, but humanism in relation to women, children, who surrendered to enemies). Asians, on the other hand, women and children, even their own, can push machine guns ahead of them, mock the prisoners and the wounded. We use the principle: "Do not beat the recumbent." Asians adhere to the rule: "Beat if you fell." We teach children: "Take care of the old people because they are old and weak, take care of the little ones because they are small and weak." An Asian, seeing a strong one, breaks into a smile and is ready to turn inside out to please him, but if a weak one gets in the way, he will sit on him astride. The formation of differences in character traits took place already when, according to fairy tales, our ancestors fought to the death with the “Snakes Gorynychs”. In the east, at the same time, dragons were deified and sacrificed to them.
Thirdly, among Russians, honesty and directness are considered positive qualities. Asiatics hold cunning and cunning in high esteem. Such a feeling as shame is completely absent.
Fourthly, in the fighting qualities of the soldiers, we have no similarities with the Asians at all. In comparison with the Germans, stamina has already been mentioned. Asians practically cannot fight on the defensive. When meeting with strong in spirit troops, they experience a psychological breakdown, leading them to flee. But if the enemy is weak, they will fight with new bitterness.
Fighting the Asians only on the defensive, there are chances of being defeated; they need to be constantly attacked. But the tactics of war is a topic for a separate discussion.
... Democracy for Asians is chaos and Civil War until the complete annihilation of each other, or until one conquers the rest. Even in family artels, without physical violence against relatives, any labor achievements are impossible.
The Russians, even if they are under foreign oppression, do not want to wage a fratricidal war, they are waiting for leaders worthy of promotion to the “throne” to appear.
It can be said with certainty that the Mongol-Tatars took almost no part in the formation of the Russian ethnos, since they did not settle among the Russians, and the Russians, in turn, did not marry Tatars (with the exception of the Cossacks, in short period the time when there was a shortage of women on the Don). At the same time, it is possible that the Russians contributed to the ethnogenesis of the “horde”, since the Tatars took Russian women away and took them as wives. If anyone objects that, they say, some noble families mixed with the Tatars, then it is worth recalling that the Russian ethnos was “cleansed” of this back in 1918-1937, while the rest mixed with Jews and do not consider themselves Russians.
Features of the national character and psychology of the Russian people were formed thousands of years before the Mongol-Tatar invasion. Russians need to know this and not try to imitate either the Europeans or the Asians, because acting according to someone else's rules, we will lose to both.
The Russian people have no chronic trouble; the ethnos develops, experiencing ups and downs (all processes are cyclical). We are overcoming another recession, but another rise is already visible, as evidenced by the signs of the formation of a national ideology.

To the question of the Tatars - Europeans or Asians? Evidence please. given by the author Russian Bismarck the best answer is Russian Europeans or Asians?
Russians are 99% in Asia, by origin 50% Finno-Ugric, 50% Turkic.
And only the Slavic language was forcibly introduced.
Russian Bismarck
Enlightened
(32455)
According to them they are subhuman.

Answer from Respektus[guru]
Summarizing the results of more than a century of study of the anthropological appearance of the Tatars, we note their racial heterogeneity both within the main ethnic groups, and between them, which probably reflects the specifics of their racegenesis and ethnogenetic ties. So, in the composition of the Volga-Ural Tatars, four main anthropological types are distinguished.
Pontic type - characterized by mesocephaly, dark or mixed pigmentation of the hair and eyes, high nose bridge, convex nasal bridge, with a lowered tip and base, significant beard growth. Growth is average with an upward trend.
Light Caucasoid type - characterized by subbrachycephaly, light pigmentation of hair and eyes, medium or high nose with a straight back of the nose, moderately developed beard, medium height. Whole line morphological features- the structure of the nose, the size of the face, pigmentation and a number of others - brings this type closer to the Pontic.
Sublaponoid type (Volgo-Kama) - characterized by meso-subbrachycephaly, mixed pigmentation of hair and eyes, wide and low nose, weak beard growth and a low, medium-wide face with a tendency to flattening. Quite often there is a fold of the eyelid with a weak development of the epicanthus.
Mongoloid type (South Siberian) - characterized by brachycephaly, dark shades of hair and eyes, a wide and flattened face and low nose bridge, often occurring epicanthus and weak beard development. Growth, on a European scale, is average.
Each of these types is not expressed in its pure form in any of the groups, but their reality in the composition of the Tatars is confirmed by the accumulation of signs of the corresponding types in separate territorial groups. Only the Caucasoid type with relatively light pigmentation does not have a distinct geographical localization in the composition of the Tatars and can only be assumed as an admixture. According to T. A. Trofimova, among all the studied Tatars, the dark Caucasoid (Pontic) type prevails (33.5%), then - light Caucasoid (27.5%), sublaponoid 24.5%) and, finally, Mongoloid (14, 5%) (Trofimova, 1949, p. 231).
Thus, the formation of the anthropological appearance of the Volga-Ural Tatars and neighboring nations took place in close ethnogenetic interaction, which had a different focus and intensity depending on the specific historical situation in this region.
The Middle Volga and the Urals, occupying a geographically advantageous position between Europe and Asia, between the forest and the steppe, and possessing rich biological resources, has long been a zone of contacts between peoples that differ not only in origin, language and culture, but also in anthropological appearance. Thus, judging by the materials of paleoanthropology, the first contacts at the genetic level between the forest population (representatives of the western variants of the Ural race) and the inhabitants of the steppe zone, who are generally characterized by a Caucasoid appearance, are recorded already in the Neolithic and Eneolithic eras (Yablonsky, 1992). In the Bronze and Early Iron Age, the region under study becomes the scene of migration flows, going both in the latitudinal and in the meridional direction. As a result of these migrations and extensive marriage ties between the local and newcomer population, the formation of that anthropological type, which stands out among the Volga Tatars as sublaponoid. This type in its various variants is the main one for the local Finnish-speaking population (Akimova, 1973; Efimova, 1991).
With the beginning of the Turkic era and the arrival of the Bulgarians to the Middle Volga, active ethnocultural and ethnogenetic relations between the Turkic-speaking tribes and the Finno-Ugric population are observed within the framework of the newly formed state association - Volga Bulgaria. These assimilation processes, which lasted more than 300 years, on the eve of the Mongol conquest, led to the formation of a new ethnic community - the Volga Bulgars.
The main factor in racial formation was miscegenation between the newcomer, Turkic-speaking and local, Finno-Ugric-speaking population.

Answer from Natalia Styazhkina[newbie]
A 50-year-old grandmother insulted me on the street now. She stopped next to me and said.
"Russians and Slavs live in Russia, not Asian muzzles. Ugh (in my direction)."
How to talk to such people?
She just said it back to her. "Get out, fool!"
I am a Tatar by nationality, since the times of the USSR no one called me names at school, especially with an Asian muzzle. My child is a mixed Russian and Tatar. Completely blonde and white. And it's not a shame what kind of upbringing Russians sometimes have.
Asia or Europe I don't know the roots of my ancestors. Great-grandmother and great-grandfather already lived in the Urals, and I don’t know where they came from before them. In our family there are different ones, both fair-haired and swarthy. Who the hell am I? Is it right for me strangers to say such things and call them an Asian muzzle?
So embarrassing. To horror.

Answer from Mikhail Basmanov[expert]
The word Tatars, like the Mongols, was invented on paper, after the reign of Tsar Peter 1. Before that, there were people - the Tartars. The inhabitants of the empire - the Great Tartaria, which existed for more than 100 thousand years. The territory of the Great Tartary was originally both in Asia and in Europe. Tartarians are the people of the Rus. Many old maps, etc., have been preserved, confirming this. Other peoples also lived in the empire of Great Tartaria along with the Rus.

Answer from Norik7785[newbie]
This is disinformation. The Russian gene pool is typically European, only larger than the Aryan hoplogroup. The Finno-Ugric peoples are not related to us, but related are all Slavic and especially East Slavs and the South Baltic peoples. Research talks about common ancestors. But the so-called Turks, many are not related to each other and are not related to the Mongols. Tatars have hoplogroups with subclades of Asian origin.

Answer from Maloy[master]
what the hell?? who told you that the Tatars are of Asian origin?

Answer from Sardar...[guru]
Eurasians :)

Answer from Aldar kose[guru]
Europe primarily means territory, not culture.
likewise Asia

Answer from Always On The Run[guru]
of course Asians

Answer from Gipno Cat[guru]
nomads

Answer from User deleted[guru]
And what if a European is a caste? Yes Asians are better and smarter

Answer from There is no plan in the field for three weeks[guru]
Altai family, that says it all

Answer from Said Gataullin[guru]
they have partly Asian and partly European, read about the Bulgars, and according to history, real Tatars came from Siberia ...

Answer from Spiny[guru]
Kazan Tatars and Mishars inhabited the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region to the Caspian Sea and the North Caucasus, so it cannot be said that they are of Asian origin.

Answer from Galina Dorofeeva[guru]
But what about the mangolo Tatars, that Mongolia is the same in Europe? Of course the Asians

Answer from Qazaq_ad[guru]
Turks
Turks are a separate race

Answer from Mont[guru]
Turanids (Turks) are not Europeans for sure. The proof of their language and culture with customs is one with other Turks such as Kazakhs, but they are not Europeans. But I don’t agree about their location in Europe, Russia is all in Asia

Answer from bunny show[newbie]
* for I am a Tatar, and the appearance can be said like that of Russians or Europeans (Tatars are not Asians, but Bashkirs are them)

Answer from Adilya Zagidulina[newbie]
By the way, the Türks are bigger Europioids than some Indo-Europeans. Like romance, for example. They have a large part of the ethnic group made up of peoples from America, those who assimilated with the local Mongoloids and the blacks brought there. And the Turks are almost pure-blooded Europeans, except for some small peoples. Let's say Turks are the largest Turkic ethnic group, about half of all Turks and all purebred Caucasians. Then the Uzbeks are the second largest,
which are almost all assimilated by Iranians and also almost all Europeans. Well, there go the Azerbaijanis, also pure Europeans. Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, among other things, are half European, and it is on the Internet, it’s just that Russians don’t see the difference. Do you think that Arabs and Iranians and Indians are Mongoloids, and Europioids are everywhere and in Asia they are full of them among the indigenous population.

But the image of the Tatars as the fiends of hell will be present in the subconscious of the inhabitants of the Old World for a long time.

HISTORIANS LOOK LIKE NOBODY NEEDED

Ages that have passed over the world,
With a drawling voice of shadows
Still crying out to our lyres
Because of the Stygian reeds.

And we, hearing the groan and rattle,
Stepping on the Orpheus way
And our tune, like the sun, undead
Their cooling chest.

The resurrector of past unrest,
Brings the shadows of any of us
To their inconsolable abode
Your delightful story.

But woe! we sometimes dare
Put everything into the tunes of the lyre,
Than we torment our own age,
What was his stamp on?

And the shadows listen motionless
Raising the corners of high shoulders,
And dead ancestors are incomprehensible
Descendants vain speech.

Vladislav Khodasevich (1912)

European historians in post-war years made a fundamental turn in scientific terms, offering a new look at the events of the past. They began to study not so much the description of events, “as they actually happened” (as the German classical school taught), but the deep essence of social changes, social structure, mentality, economics, everyday life. The main merit in this, of course, is the French Annales school. Following the French, similar works appeared in other countries. The new generation of historians approached history not as traditional chroniclers, writers of everyday life, chroniclers, but proceeding from the tasks of today. The problem was posed by the present, and the answers were sought in the past. Historians began to resemble sociologists and anthropologists, they brought a historical perspective to the most diverse fields of science, and taking into account the role of a particular person, and not just great personalities.

Over the past half century, European historians have taken a huge step in understanding social phenomena by incorporating history into all human studies. In terms of the level, scale, depth of analysis, European humanists have advanced so much that it is difficult to compare them with Russian scientists who are stuck somewhere in late nineteenth century. In Russia, historical science is not only lagging behind, it is also extremely politicized. God forbid you find something positive in Tatar history, you will immediately fall into the category of separatists, nationalists and destroyers of Russian statehood. And God forbid you find something negative in Russian history, then you will be accused of all mortal sins, you will become an enemy of the human race. The situation in Russia is aggravated by the fact that the next generation of historians will not appear soon - they have ceased to be trained. Nobody seems to need historians, just like a true story. Nobody welcomes an honest story, it’s calmer when old myths are promoted.

It is characteristic that the new generation of European historians, in order to understand the present, intensively studies the Middle Ages. Medieval studies has become one of the most popular areas historical science. In fact, many contemporary phenomena in the world have origins precisely European Middle Ages more precisely, they appeared as overcoming the past. In Russia modern processes it is also impossible to understand without analyzing the past, but unlike Europe, the country cannot get out of the Middle Ages in any way, either the absolutism of the monarchy or Stalinist absolutism hinders it.

YOU NEVER HAVE ANYONE MARRIED

Nothing changes as often as the past.

Jean Paul Sartre

Despite the obvious successes of European historians, nevertheless, they have a significant gap - they do not know the times of the Golden Horde well, despite the fact that capitalism in Genoa and Venice was born thanks to trade with the Tatars. Moreover, the Italian states had their colonies in the Black Sea region and were closely integrated into the Horde economy. The most important export of the Golden Horde to Europe was wheat, it saved the European population from starvation. This story is curious in itself, because the Europeans consider the Tatars, like all nomads, wild, although they ate bread from their hands. It turns out that the allegedly higher agricultural culture could not feed itself, and the nomads fed both themselves and Europe with bread. All this does not fit into the stereotypes about wild nomads and a developed agricultural civilization, but it is precisely such views that continue to walk in public opinion. Europeans do not try to understand why the Tatars built hundreds of cities, had the best weapons in the world from the best steel, built roads and seaports, introduced paper money called "balish", etc. into circulation. and so on.

All of Eastern (and partly Central) Europe depended in one form or another on the Golden Horde. First of all, this is Hungary, conquered by Batu in retaliation for harboring the Polovtsians (Cumans), who fought with the Tatars. Bulgaria paid tribute to Nogai and his son Cheka; the city of Isakchi (in Tat. Sakcha) in Dobruja became their capital. Nogai and Cheke minted coins in Isakchi, thereby emphasizing the relative autonomy of Bulgaria.

Along with the influence of the Tatars in the Balkans, relations with Byzantium escalated, but relations with the Egyptian Mamluks, relatives of the Volga, Crimean Tatars and modern Kazakhs, strengthened. Sultan Baybars wanted to establish official relations with Berke, who converted to Islam, for which he sent ambassadors, but they were arrested in Constantinople. This complicated the relations of the Mamluks and Tatars with Byzantium. In addition, the Sultan of Iconium (Konya in Anatolia) ‘Izz ad-Din was captured by the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, which the Tatars were unhappy with. All this served as the basis for the start of military operations, as a result of which the Tatars freed the Mamluk captives and ‘Izz ad-Din, to whom Berke Khan granted lands in the Crimea (Stary Krym and Sughdaya / Sudak). Byzantium has since tried to maintain friendly relations with the Tatars. In particular, Nogai married the Byzantine princess Euphrosyne in 1272, the third wife of Uzbek Khan was the daughter of Emperor Andronik III.

Today, Russian historians have built a whole theory about the Byzantine roots of the Russian Empire from the marriage of Ivan III with Sophia Paleolog. Allegedly, Sophia brought the double-headed eagle symbol of the empire to Moscow and strengthened Rus''s adherence to Orthodoxy. If wives determined the nature of empires, then world history would have to be rewritten. Few people married. Monarchs took wives for political reasons, this is also part of history, but the nature of the country is not determined by this. In addition, Sophia was already a Catholic by the time of her marriage, and the double-headed eagle came to Muscovy during the time of Janibek, who minted a copper coin with a double-headed eagle. How the double-headed eagle got into the Horde is another question. But why look for a roundabout and very dubious path of the double-headed eagle, when its image rang in the wallet in the form of a hard coin and the Russians knew its denomination well.

And in general, by the time the Golden Horde flourished, Byzantium was already a “decrepit old woman,” as one of the Russian historians put it. Devastation of Constantinople by the Knights of the Fourth crusade in 1204 it undermined the forces of Byzantium, then in the fourteenth century the Serbs expanded their territory at the expense of Byzantium, and the issue was finally resolved in 1453 by the capture of the capital by the Turks. Byzantium could not be for Russia positive example. In general, empires are not built by the emanation of ephemeral spiritual forces; for their emergence, specific structures are needed, human experience in conducting large-scale state affairs, modern weapons, a financial system, and an economy capable of supporting a large army. All this was in the Golden Horde, at hand, which became the source for the construction of the Russian Empire. The ideology formulated by the Pskov monk Philotheus in a message to Grand Duke Vasily III: “Watch and listen, pious tsar, as if the whole Christian kingdom descended into yours as one, like two Romes fell, and the third [Moscow] stands, and the fourth will not be” says not about the mechanism of building an empire, but about the ambitions of Russian monarchs, claiming the Golden Horde heritage, but in an Orthodox shell. This is the imperialistic temptation of the messianic consciousness (Nikolai Berdyaev).

THE INFLUENCE OF THE HORDE ON EUROPE WAS RELATIVELY SHORT, BUT NOTICEABLE

Almost every event is already a moment later after it happened,
may be interpreted in different ways.

Stefan Zweig

Tatars participated in all political events in the Balkans until the 14th century. This concerned the territory of present-day Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, and Moldova. In addition, their Danube Cumans (Polovtsy) participated in all these campaigns, speaking practically the Tatar language, and in Bulgaria the influence of the Asen family, the ancestors of the Turkic Khagans Ashin, people from Altai and the Volga region, was still felt. After the death of Uzbek Khan, the influence central government The Golden Horde to the Balkans weakens and the Tatar clans in Dobruja and Budzhak gain independence (today they are called Romanian Tatars). At the same time, Turkish influence in the Balkans is growing.

No less actively did the Tatars intervene in the events of medieval Poland and Lithuania, which not only were in vassal relations with the Golden Horde, but also sought to influence its policy in Eastern and Central Europe. Moreover, it is difficult to talk about Lithuania and Poland only in terms of vassalage, because they were on friendly and even family relations with the Horde. Suffice it to say that after the Battle of Kulikovo, the defeated troops of Mamai fled to friendly Lithuania, where they received the reign of the Glina tract, from where the Glinsky family originated, who at one time ruled in Rus'. Ivan the Terrible comes from this family (after his grandmother). The appearance in Muscovy of the Time of Troubles of “Lithuanian people” is not an accident - these are the same Tatar warriors.

The descendants of Khan Tokhtamysh, who, after the Battle of Kulikovo, actually finished off Mamai, driving him to the Crimea, later, after the collapse of the Golden Horde, also found themselves in exile and found refuge in Poland. They served faithfully to the Polish king in his guards and became famous as brave uhlans. The contribution of the Tatar cavalry during the Battle of Grundval was especially memorable, for which grateful descendants erected a monument to the Tatar warrior in Gdansk. The appearance of Polish uhlans near Moscow in the Time of Troubles was by no means an accident, the Tatars in Rus' were not strangers.

Of course, the influence of the Horde on Europe was relatively short-lived, about 150 years, but noticeable. The influence itself cannot be represented as political pressure or in the form of raids, the borders with the customs office where the duty was collected were precisely established. Autonomous formations in Eastern Europe could be headed by local leaders, but they were proteges of the Horde and, accordingly, paid tribute, were responsible for order in the territory and participated with their troops in the military operations of the Tatars. At that time, the Tatars represented high culture both in military affairs and civil affairs: the management of the empire, financial matters, road construction, etc. Europe imitated the Tatars not only in terms of weapons (bows, sabers, cavalry tactics), but even in fashion. Tatar clothes were considered beautiful, and military art and finance were unsurpassed.

ATTITUDE TO TATARS MAY CHANGE AFTER SEVERAL HOLLYWOOD FILMS

The whole history of the world, as if in focus, is concentrated in the following position: when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they want to be just, they are often no longer strong.

Winston Churchill

The relationship between the Golden Horde and the Italian states was exceptionally fruitful until Pope Innocent IV in 1234 announced a crusade against the Tatars as "messengers of Satan and servants of Tartarus." He not only wanted the liberation of the Catholic countries of Europe from the Tatars, who, by the way, did not interfere in religious affairs, but he wanted to set the Mamluks against the Golden Horde and convert the Slavs to Catholicism. Alexander Nevsky flatly refused to participate in the Crusade against the Tatars, saying to the Polish ambassadors Gold and Gement in 1248: "We do not accept teachings from you." On the other hand, the South Russian prince Daniil Galitsky accepted the title of "King of Rus'" from the hands of the Pope, although real help did not receive to fight the Horde.

The European peoples were in no hurry to respond to the call of the Pope, but with the weakening of the Horde, the strengthening of maritime trade, new prospects appeared before Europe, and the Tatars began to be considered (according to the ancient Roman tradition) as wild barbarians. Some Russian historians like to contrast Russians and Tatars in the Roman paradigm, i.e. consider themselves part of European civilization, as opposed to the Tatars - backward Asians. I hasten to warn you: in those days, Europeans considered Russians as natural Tatars, and on the maps Muscovy was designated “Moscow Tataria”, in contrast to Novgorod Rus'. In fact, Russians are no more European than Tatars.

No man is rich enough to buy his past.

Oscar Wilde

Such a preface was necessary to understand the significance of the conference on the Golden Horde, which this month was organized by the University of Leiden (together with Oxford and the European University at St. Petersburg). The scientific forum was attended by well-known experts on the history of the Golden Horde from different countries. Prior to that, at the Institute of History. Marjani hosted the next Golden Horde forum, where scientists from 11 countries participated. It was very informative. In Leiden, the conversation started in Kazan continued, but there was one significant difference - the conference was held in the Netherlands at the initiative of European universities. This is a landmark event. Oxford, following Cambridge, included the Golden Horde in the theme of its historical research. For the Institute of History, this was a new step for the international recognition of the Tatars as a significant part of world history.

It is characteristic that not only Russian, but also European universities acted as partners of the Golden Horde Review, published at the Institute of History. I am glad that a detachment of "Horde" is growing in Russia. Interest in this period of history is so high that candidates and doctors of sciences on the Golden Horde appeared not only in Moscow, but practically throughout the country. In fact, there is an accumulation of the potential of a detachment of a new generation of scientists who, under favorable political conditions, will write true story countries.

Changing public opinion, especially one imposed by the Pope as a crusade, turns out to be extremely difficult. The image of the Tatars as the fiends of hell will be present in the subconscious of Europeans for a long time to come. Changes in public opinion in the West always begin with universities, where scientific works, after the scientists are included in the work of journalists and the media. And only after several Hollywood films can one count on a change in attitude towards the Tatars. But the first step in this thorny path made at the famous Leiden University.

Whistle, O wind, with sleepless strength
All through the lonely night
The melancholy of your desert-dreary song
Still I undertake to overcome.
I will dream majestically and harmoniously
About the future of our country -
In a trusting thought light and calm,
Dreams seem like a thing to me.
I will remember the past, the life of the heart,
Mysterious whisper of virgins,
And childish drowsiness I will forget carelessly
To your funeral chant.

Nikolai Ogarev (1859)