[LINK] "Crimea crisis: The Tatarstan factor"

[rfmcdonald]

Al Jazeera features an article co-written by Ildar Gabidullin and Maxim Edwards that explains one thing I've been interested in. Why has the Russian autonomous republic of Tatarstan been so involved in Russia's outreach to the Crimean Tatars? It turns out that for Tatarstan, building close relations with ethnic kin is one way the republic can exert its autonomy and identity without challenging Russia's rule.

Mustafa Djemilev, former leader of the Crimean Tatar Majlis and veteran activist for the community, has just declared to Ekho Moskvy that he is satisfied with Russian President Vladimir Putin's reassurances to him on the safety of the Crimean Tatar community. Djemilev, who initially refused to meet the Russian president, still insists on the removal of Russian forces (should they officially exist or not) from the peninsula.

Putin stated that Russia's final decision on the crisis in Crimea will be presented after the referendum on its legal status. The role of mediator in these negotiations was played by Mintimer Shaimiev, former President of Tatarstan.

[. . .]

The Crimean Tatars' anti-Russian (hence in this context, pro-European) stance was forged by their 1944 deportation to Central Asia and problematic resettlement in their ancestral homeland. They are suspicious of Russian intentions and politically mobilised under the leadership of the Crimean Tatar Majlis. The official justification for Russia's actions in Ukraine was supposedly their concern for minority groups - specifically, though not limited to, Crimean Russians. Given their mistrust and fears of repeated persecution, the Kremlin is approaching the Crimean Tatar community cautiously, with a little help from its friends, such as Shaimiev.

The related but ethnically distinct Volga Tatars, numbering some six million across the Russian Federation, are one of the country's largest ethnic minorities. They are chiefly concentrated in the gas-rich and economically successful Republic of Tatarstan. It is one of the top four regions of Russia by contributions to the federal budget.

Both Volga and Crimean Tatars traditionally trace their ancestry back to the Turkic peoples of the Golden Horde. Tatar patriots perceive them as brotherly nations, though there are significant differences: the Volga Tatar and Crimean Tatar languages are quite different.

Throughout the 1990s Tatarstan's regional leadership asserted the Republic's "sovereignty" to varying degrees (and much to Moscow's irritation) until the erosion of provincial autonomy under Vladimir Putin. Parading its supposed regional sovereignty in the 1990s, Tatarstan was one of the most flamboyant about it and went as far as opening a small number of its own delegations abroad. Yet for over twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Tatarstan maintained no official ties with Crimea. This was probably because of pressure from Moscow not to do so, as journalist Rim Gilfanov has explained.

It can be no coincidence that Crimean officials have welcomed a number of high-profile guests from Tatarstan as of late. On March 5, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov signed an agreement on co-operation between Tatarstan and the new Crimean authorities, the actual contents of which were to be established over the coming month. The agreement implies significant collaboration between ten government institutions as well as significant financial aid to Crimea from Tatarstan businesses.