Dec 28: Madi Kapparov- Tatarstan loses its right to have a president
Thread published on December 23, 2022
Madi Kapparov- Tatarstan loses its right to have a president
This move is another step in a decades-long process of stripping any semblance of autonomy from Tatarstan. In 1992 Tatarstan voted for sovereignty, with 62% in favor. In 1994 Tatarstan signed a bilateral agreement with moscow, granting the republic special status.
Under the treaty, Tatarstan had the authority to impose taxes, draft its budget, conduct its own foreign relations and international trade, and gave the republic control over its land and resources. Essentially the country was independent in association with the russian federation.
But there is a catch: Tatarstan is entirely landlocked by russian federal subjects. Since 2000 the russians have been continuously violating the bilateral agreement. In 2001 the 1992 Tatar sovereignty referendum and constitution were ruled to be "unconstitutional" by russia.
In 2002 Tatarstan was forced to introduce a new constitution eliminating any mention of sovereignty. Over the years moscow cracked down on Tatarstan's autonomy. The continued russification of Tatarstan also includes repression of the Tatar language: dw.com/en/russian-min…
Russian minorities fear for languages – DW – 12/05/2017 Residents of Russia's republics, which have large minority populations, fear their cultures are under attack after an announcement to significantly scale back the teaching of languages other than Russ…https://www.dw.com/en/russian-minorities-fear-for-languages-amid-new-restrictions/a-41639610
In 2008 Tatarstan's national assembly, Milli Mejlis, declared independence in response to the independence proclamations by South Ossetia and Abkhazia, kremlin projects in Georgia. The UN and the rest of the world ignored Tatarstan. web.archive.org/web/2014033011…
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF TATARSTAN
https://web.archive.org/web/20140330111914/http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-183351
In 2017 the 1994 bilateral agreement expired and was not renewed, with Tatarstan losing its special status of a de jure sovereign nation.
Now today's declaration of Tatarstan having a "rais" instead of a president is an insult to injury.
russia motivates the decision by a 2021 federal law banning the title of president for the heads of autonomous republics within the federation. Make no mistake, it is part of the russian effort to maintain the integrity of their empire.
Up to 2010, every autonomous republic within the russian federation had a president. In 2010 Ramzan Kadyrov refused the title proclaiming that "there can only be one president" and asking other autonomy presidents to follow suit. The Tatar president refused.
The next head of Tatarstan will have the title of "rais," the Tatar word for head. The new title in itself is colonial. Before the collapse of the russian empire in 1917, regional heads in russian occupied Turkestan carried the title of rais.