Idel-Ural State
Idel-Ural literally means "Volga-Ural" in
Tatar.
Historically it refers to a short-lived
Muslim republic with its centre in
Kazan which united
Tatars,
Bashkirs and the Chuvash in the turmoil of the
Russian Civil War. Often viewed as an attempt to recreate the
Khanate of Kazan, the
republic was proclaimed on December 12, 1917 by a Congress of Muslims from
Russia's interior and
Siberia.
Initially it comprised only Tatars and Bashkirs in the former
Kazan and
Ufa governorates, although other, non-Muslim and non-Turkic, nations of the area joined in a few months later: the Komi peoples, Mari, and Udmurt, who speak Finnic languages and practice either Orthodox Christianity or
shamanism.
Encyclopedia
Idel-Ural literally means "Volga-Ural" in
Tatar.
Historically it refers to a short-lived
Muslim republic with its centre in
Kazan which united
Tatars,
Bashkirs and the Chuvash in the turmoil of the
Russian Civil War. Often viewed as an attempt to recreate the
Khanate of Kazan, the
republic was proclaimed on December 12, 1917 by a Congress of Muslims from
Russia's interior and
Siberia.
Initially it comprised only Tatars and Bashkirs in the former
Kazan and
Ufa governorates, although other, non-Muslim and non-Turkic, nations of the area joined in a few months later: the Komi peoples, Mari, and Udmurt, who speak Finnic languages and practice either Orthodox Christianity or
shamanism. Defeated by the
Red Army in April 1918, the republic was restored by the Czech Legion in the same July and finally dissolved at the end of the year.
The president of Idel-Ural, Sadrí Maqsudí Arsal, escaped to
Finland in 1918. He was well-received by the Finnish foreign minister, who remembered his valiant defences of the national self-determination and constitutional rights of Finland in the Russian
Duma. The president-in-exile also met officials from
Estonia before continuing in 1919 to
Sweden,
Germany and
France, in a quest for Western support.
Now the name
Idel-Ural is used among Tatar
nationalists as idea of creation of a
Turkic state independent of the
Russian Federation.
See also
External links
