Kazan and Moscow: Five Centuries of Crippling Coexistence Under Russian Imperialism, 1552-2002

DESCRIPTIVE CONTENT: This study traces the relationship between Moscow and Kazan from medieval times to the present. It analyzes the five-century long peaceable struggle of the Kazan-Tatars of Tatarstan to regain their freedom from Russian imperialism since the conquest of the Khanate of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible in l552. This book explores the Kazan-Tatar national struggle to be liberated from Russian domination through various historic Muslim Congresses in which their women played a dynamic role; their attempts at state-formation throughout the 20th century; their l8th and l9th century enlightenment through educational and religious reforms; and the first ten years of the Tatar Republic under Communism. Appendix I, for the first time, makes available, word for word translations in English of the key discussions, debates and speeches made at the May l9l7 ALL MUSLIM CONGRESS OF RUSSIA held in Moscow. Equally significant is this book's examination of the impacts! of Presidents Yeltsin and Putin of the Russian Federation on Tatarstan's successes in creating a viable democracy and market economy. President Yeltsin's liberalization program empowered Tatarstan to create an "economic success story" after the signing of the landmark l994 Treaty between Tatarstan and the Russian Federation. Under this Treaty both sides made painful concessions: Tatarstan for the first time in its history voluntarily agreed to be "UNITED WITH" Russia in return for unprecedented economic and political rights including ownership of its natural wealth. In the new century, however, President Putin's authoritarianism, his withdrawal of some of these freedoms and the exhorbitant taxes levied on Tatarstan's budget by Moscow (50-70%) threaten to reverse the advances already made. The Kazan-Tatars' pacifist tradition is underscored in Tatarstan's l992 Constitution which prohibits violence as an instrument of national policy and forbids war propaganda within the Repu! blic. Tatarstan has been recommended as a "model" for others in Russia and elsewhere to follow by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace specialists, by some world leaders and various Russian politicians themselves. General Motors executives and the renowned financier, George Soros, a few years ago, declared Tatarstan to be the only reliable place to invest in Russia. In addition, this book examines the root causes of terrorism, especially in connection with Chechnya and how best to eliminate this 21st century scourge. It discusses related subjects of wars and peace, weapons of mass destruction; the adverse effects of demonization of the enemy by dividing the world up into "good and evil;" the affinities and tensions between Islam, Christianity and Judaism and especially the peaceful Islam practiced by the Kazan-Tatars derived from the author's own experiences where, rather than focussing on ritual and dogma, it was emphasized that first one must become a good and honorable human being often using Muhammad and Jesus as examples.

Tatarstan, located in European Russia on the mid-Volga basin at the confluence of the two great rivers of the Volga and Kama, is one of the 21 republics of the Russian Federation. It is one of Russia's most prosperous, highly industrialized regions with rich natural wealth (including oil), a network of rivers and lakes, lush vegetation and a highly educated and skilled population. This ethnic republic was denied independence upon the collapse of the Soviet Union in l99l, despite the fact that it was the only Turkic entity in the USSR which had enjoyed previous legitmate independent statehood (The Bulgar Kingdom and the Khanate of Kazan) until the latter was conquered by Ivan the Terrible in l552. The indigenous peoples of Tatarstan - the Kazan-Tatars - are Turkic Muslims noted for their peaceful practice of Islam and moderate and enlightened interpretation of their scriptures.