While the head of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan, Engel Fattakhov, who according to rumors is about to leave his post, went to the Russian capital to convince Federal Minister Olga Vasilyeva to maintain the compulsory Tatar language in the republic’s schools, inspectors from Rosobrnadzor and the prosecutor’s office are working in Tatarstan, rolling up their sleeves: they travel around the cities and villages, study curricula and school schedule and even look into student notebooks and textbooks. At the same time, school administrations are working hard with parents, by hook or by crook forcing them to sign consent to the compulsory study of Tatar.

Landing from the departments of Yuri Chaika and Sergei Kravtsov on behalf of President Vladimir Putin from October 17 to 27. Today, Moscow inspectors, as sources told Vechernaya Kazan, held a video conference with district prosecutors. Judging by the hot news from the educational front, they had a lot to discuss.

Something unimaginable is happening in schools now. Tatar language textbooks are hidden somewhere from inspectors: for example, the parents of Chelny high school students said that they were asked to urgently return the books to school library, they say, they will issue new, more modern ones later. Somewhere they are rewriting the school schedule, replacing the lessons of the “Tatar language” with the “native language,” the head told VK public organization“Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Russian-Speaking Parents and Students of the Republic of Tatarstan” Edward Nosov. “But most importantly, directors and head teachers, in accordance with prosecutorial orders, urgently hold parent-teacher meetings in order to draw up the required protocols for “taking into account parental opinion when choosing curricula.” For example, in one of the schools in Almetyevsk, parents were called as early as Sunday evening so that those of the four curricula recommended by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation would choose plan No. 3, in the variable part of which three hours a week are provided for studying the native language. Parents were informed that these three hours would be devoted to studying state Tatar and this is not discussed... Now almost all schools in Tatarstan are taught according to curriculum No. 4 for schools with Russian as a non-native language, where the compulsory part includes lessons in the “native language” and " literary reading in their native language,” that is, Tatar, for which grades are given in the certificate. If parents choose plan No. 3, the grading system will remain. In fact, nothing will change, only the number of Tatar lessons will be reduced.

Looks like an option with curriculum No. 3 is now in Moscow and Engel Fattakhov. The Tatarstan minister does not lose faith in the success of his enterprise, despite the fact that last week his audience with the head of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Olga Vasilyeva, on the “language” issue did not take place.

Meanwhile, opponents of compulsory Tatar insist exclusively on its voluntary study by schoolchildren for whom it is not their native language ( UP No. 1 and UP No. 2 are “exempted” from compulsory Tatar for schools with Russian as the language of instruction. - "VC"). They en masse write corresponding statements to school principals.

At the same time, many school heads still refer to the Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan and the postulate of two state languages. The administration calls two or three people from parent committees, that is, people loyal to the administration, to parent meetings, and they sign the necessary documents on behalf of the entire class,” said Ekaterina Matveeva, the founder of the “Extortions in Schools and Kindergartens” group. - There are also parental signals that rural areas, for example, in Novosheshminsky, administrative pressure is exerted on parents who are state employees. They are forced to agree to the compulsory Tatar language for children. We immediately inform the inspectors about all these facts. By the way, they were unpleasantly surprised that compulsory Tatar is present not only in schools, but also in a number of kindergartens in Tatarstan, and they teach it to children during the hours allotted by federal standards for modeling, drawing and speech development.

According to Matveeva, in their “portfolio” the auditors also included a letter signed by the Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan - head of the department of supervision and control in the field of education Gulnara Gabdrakhmanova, in which she asks the heads of regional educational institutions and state educational institutions to “prepare documents for inspection (according to the attachment) by October 13 "

Inspectors collect not only documentary material. As one of the auditors told me, they are interested in the “moral and emotional atmosphere” in schools and kindergartens. For example, they were interested in Kazan, where, according to unofficial data, they allegedly want to introduce Sharia lessons and open a prayer room... Therefore, inspectors monitor social networks, parent chats, personally meet with families, in a word, they work the same way as in Bashkortostan, he noted Edward Nosov.

In early childhood I was very interested in the Tatar language. So much so that I asked to see it. Probably, my curiosity remained unsatisfied, because in the third grade I made an attempt to get into elective classes in the Tatar language (in the 70s in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the Tatar language in schools was compulsory for the Tatars and they studied it in separate lessons).

The Tatar language teacher then told me: “Why do you, a Russian boy, need the Tatar language? Better go and chase the dogs!”

I remember this teacher. Because with a Tatar mother, I somehow should have turned out to be not quite a Russian boy. And I also met this “teacher” twenty years later at a rally of national radicals dedicated to the capture of Kazan Ivan the Terrible. She was drooling while looking at the leader of the National Hawks Fauzia Bayramova. And with unseeing, glassy eyes she chanted: “Azatlyk!” Azatlyk"! Azatlyk!" (Freedom!)

She didn't recognize me. I remained a journalist from Moscow, that is, an “occupier.”

Now, more than a quarter of a century later, I see Bayramova on stage again. She still burns and hates as much as in the early 90s, when Tajikistan fought with the federal center for its privileges. As then, some of its slogans cannot be quoted in the press without fear of immediately being prosecuted for inciting ethnic hatred. Fauzia Khanum is such a trump card in the deck of those forces that are trying to scare Moscow with popular Tatar anger. Bayramov is always shown when to raise the temperature. And then they hide it away again.

In the early 90s people went to see this performance in Moscow. They covered their liberal face with a glove so as not to see the crescent flags and not hear the tramp of the Horde cavalry. Oh, scary! Oh, what should I do?!

It was funny for me, a Kazan resident, to see how the scenery was then dismantled, the puppets were put into a mothball chest, and the gramophone with the worn-out record was turned off, on which the crowd roared, the horsemen hooted, the lassos whistled, and the Russian Polonians cried.

And here we go again. This time we are protecting the Tatar language. What's wrong with him? Moscow insists that one cannot be forced to study it, but in Kazan they talk about its obligatory nature.

Well, that’s how it’s actually been for the last decade. Tatar language Russian schoolchildren taught it as "Our Father". I personally would not mind because of my affinity for the Tatar language. But some parents of Russian children were unhappy. In fact, it turned out that less time was spent on the Russian language than on the Tatar language, almost twice as much.

Knowing the Tatar language is useful, important and necessary. Especially if you live in Tatarstan. But with a bad Russian, the rest of Russia is nowhere. That’s why parents of Russian children held rallies in Kazan for several years. But they weren’t heard, and they didn’t really want to.

But the thunder still struck. Now Tatarstan is in danger, they have encroached on the tongue! Prayer services are held in republican mosques. And the media pumps up hidden, and sometimes openly, emotions: “We won’t give it! We won't allow it! Oh woe... Who will protect the Tatar language... Are there any warriors...".

No, of course, the republican rulers seem to be keeping aloof. This is understandable. After the collapse of the system-forming TFB, you won’t be spoiled much. A careless statement, and the investors will simply take the rulers out of the Kazan Kremlin and carefully place them on the ground somewhere on the border with Bashkortostan. But every Tatarstan resident knows that in the republic not a single hair will fall without... In general, the reader understands what we are talking about.

Therefore, the scenery is being built again, and on the stage, in addition to the already well-known “grandmother of Tatar nationalism” Bayramova, there are new characters. Take, for example, the Minister of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan Engel Fattakhov. A worthy man, he graduated from the Agricultural Institute. Mechanical engineer, however. Usually, he is very pleased with himself, as if he had just eaten a ton of pancakes. When talking about schools, he almost always turns to problems of potato and fodder crop yields. He speaks judo techniques more confidently than the Russian language. This probably somehow helps him in communicating with the Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, Mrs. Vasilyeva. But in all their joint photos, Mrs. Vasilyeva looks very surprised...

Just don’t think that I’m against the Tatar language. It’s just clear to me that focusing the problem on him is just an excuse. In fact, this is a reason to bargain for power. Just an excuse!

Probably, Tatarstan really needs a special status. I wouldn't mind. Although how can I explain this to the Bashkirs, Mordovians and Chuvashs? And yet, if the demon of nationalism is periodically released to the public, are the manipulators sure that the process is under control?

But if we return to the language, I am perplexed. How did it happen that during the years of sovereignty the Tatar language did not become attractive and desirable for Russians, and for Tatars in many ways too? Why is he so provincial? Why is his teaching so bad? Why, in more than a quarter of a century, the Union of Writers of the Republic, except for “Zuleikha” by Yakhina, did not give birth to a single more or less significant work? Why do people who categorically insist on Tatarism in republican TV and cinema look like sacks of potatoes? And they give the impression that they have only recently realized the importance of shampoo. What, knowing the Tatar language, can you learn that will take your breath away?

Here I will say a phrase that will not be well understood in Moscow, but will be highly appreciated in Kazan: “You can take a girl out of the village, but never take the village out of the girl!”

However, I would like to end on a positive note. Not everything is so sad with the Tatar language and culture. Now the generation of young Tatar intelligentsia has grown up in the republic. These new Tatars will be able to make the Tatar language fashionable. And then you won’t need to force anyone to teach him. The Russians themselves will run to master it in order to be in the mainstream. We just need to move the mediocre and useless women a little. They have already become ossified in clanism... (not to be confused with “Babai”, in the republic everyone knows who we are talking about).

One of these new Tatars is a Kazan director Rustam Rashitov. He is not yet thirty, but he already has work behind him that has excited Tatarstan. His film "Aisylu" became a phenomenon for information space republics. And now Rashitov has finished the film “Kire” (“Stubborn Man”), it’s a comedy. The genre was not chosen by chance. This way, according to Rashitov, it is easier to convey those problems with language and mentality that were voiced above.

The plot centers on a babay who refuses to communicate with the world in any other way than in Tatar. And he ends up in comical situations. But Rashitov's film has a happy ending. And no Maidan or Maidanchik, which is what some people in Tatarstan are afraid of.

Of course, the film was made with private money, and the Republic of Tatarstan did not take part in it.

The official media of Tatarstan are broadcasting and retelling the statement of the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation with all their might. Olga Vasilyeva on the teaching of national languages ​​in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, voiced on August 30 at the all-Russian parent meeting. Judging by how actively the media mouthpieces of the Kazan Kremlin seized on the minister’s speech, Kazan clearly wants to present Vasilyeva as their federal ally. And, therefore, a saboteur of the orders of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and Rosobrnadzor.

“According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, republics have the right to establish their own state languages ​​and study state languages in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation does not in itself violate the parent’s right to choose educational institution with one or another language of education and training and are consistent with state policy,” Vasilyeva said at the parent forum. - When a similar story arose, in particular in Tatarstan, the Constitutional Court Russian Federation investigated the issue of compulsory study of the Tatar language in schools of the republic and came to the conclusion that its study in itself does not violate everyone’s right to free choice of the language of education and training, enshrined in Article 26 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”

This speech by Vasilyeva was broadcast by the Tatarstan publications “Business Online”, “ Real time" and "InKazan" "in the original" - without comments from media speakers. Such a presentation may indicate the following. Vasilyeva’s opinion is used as a “constructive” counterbalance to Putin’s orders and his statements about the forced Tatarization of everything in Tatarstan, starting from kindergarten ending with university. To put it even more simply, Vasiliev’s “not entirely correct if you were born and live on the territory of Bashkiria or Tatarstan and do not know the language at the everyday level” was “put” by the Kazan Kremlin in conjunction with Kazan’s recent attempts to show that Putin’s “national language” order to the Prosecutor General’s Office and Rosobrnadzor - “this is not about Tatarstan,” because “in Tatarstan everything is according to the law.”

With these statements, Vasilyeva’s Tatarstan colleague tried to disavow the president’s actions Engel Fattakhov- fighter of the “old guard” Mintimera Shaimieva and one of the main ethnocratic speakers on education and the national question. It is worth mentioning in what context Fattakhov spoke on August 16 about the fact that Moscow’s “linguistic” measures towards national regions, if any, will not affect Tatarstan. This happened at the all-republican teachers' council - the Tatarstan analogue of the all-Russian parent meeting. Fattakhov said at the teachers' council: Tatarstan has surpassed St. Petersburg in terms of performance in passing the Unified State Exam and is second only to Moscow; in terms of the number of Olympiad winners, it is in third place after both capitals. Moreover, Fattakhov then said that Tatarstan is in the next academic year will take part “as a separate state” in the international comparative study of the quality of education PISA.

Two things follow from the speech of the Republican minister. First: Kazan, if not seriously demonstrated, then made it clear that, as in past years, Moscow will take into account the appetites of the local ethnocracy. Second: It was not without reason that Fattakhov focused on formal quantitative indicators of the effectiveness of the education system, such as the “success index” for passing the Unified State Exam. In this manner, Kazan in past years easily came out of a tailspin, when unpleasant questions were heard from Moscow about the situation of local Russians and the situation with the Russian language. At the end of 2015, in the parliament of Tatarstan, discussing the education system in the republic, they became emboldened to the point that they accepted for consideration the proposal for the resignation of the head of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Dmitry Livanov, predecessor of Olga Vasilyeva. Initiator of Livanov's resignation, Right Russia deputy Rushaniya Bilgildeeva said that the concept of education in Russia proposed by Livanov’s department does not take into account the specifics of language development in national republics Oh. “An increase in the volume of teaching the Russian language can occur by reducing the volume and hours of teaching the Tatar language,” said Bilgildeeva, breaking into a scream. Earlier, she apologized that her speech was only partially in the Tatar language, since during her school years one or two lessons a week were allocated to the Tatar language, and not six hours, as now.

The negatively colored speech of the Socialist Revolutionary deputy was the “highlight” to the parade speech in parliament by Engel Fattakhov, who stated that since 2014 Tatarstan has been in the top five in terms of average Unified State Exam score, schools, colleges and kindergartens are being repaired and built in the republic, and a “progressive selection” of subject teachers is underway. In a word, efficiency indicators are growing in the republic educational services population - what ministers Dmitry Livanov and Andrey Fursenko. Riding on “sum indicators”, “efficiency coefficients” and other bureaucratic masterpieces (empty in actual content), Fattakhov’s department intended to avoid the painful issue with the Russian language in the future. In particular, when the “effective manager” Livanov was replaced by Olga Vasilyeva, who at the time of her appointment had the image of a technocrat-patriot.

The way Vasilyeva is perceived now in Tatarstan is a pure joke. At the end of last year, when the head of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science drew attention to the Salafi enclave in the Tatar village of Belozerye in Mordovia, Tatar nationalists were ready to tear the minister to pieces. And after the laudatory phrases of the minister and her colleague from MGIMO Yuri Vyazemsky about such a rich Tatar language, hatred was replaced by oriental praise. The “good”, “Tatar-loving” Minister of Education of Russia - as an opposition to the “bad” President of Russia.

Is Olga Vasilyeva, who does not accept hijabs, really Tatar schools Mordovia, has nothing against Shaimiev’s course of forced Tatarization of the education system, from which the Tatars also suffer? “Olga Yuryevna Vasilyeva is a smart enough woman not to go ahead, but to behave, as they say, flexibly. To live with wolves is to howl like a wolf, - the chairman of the Society of Russian Culture of Tatarstan told EADaily Mikhail Shcheglov. - If she had expressed herself the way, say, Putin expressed himself on July 20 in Yoshkar-Ola, then she would definitely have been “eaten.” She represents the situation in Tatarstan and has no illusions. The Russian Ministry of Education and Science received a lot of requests from Tatarstan. She gave a clear hint to the parents of the republic to write to the Ministry about the forced study of the Tatar language, and that she would look into the parents’ complaints personally.”

Shcheglov said: on the eve of Vasilyeva’s laudatory speech about the Tatar language, she was given a folder from Tatarstan, where more than 40 requests from parents were collected. “She hinted to the parents: they say, guys, write, you are not armless... I think these appeals are good ammunition for the Prosecutor General’s Office, Rosobrnadzor and Vladimir Putin to consider the federal situation with national languages. It’s not for nothing that Putin’s order regarding language policy in regional education was published on the eve of the all-Russian parent meeting. The President clearly indicated that the Prosecutor General's Office is obliged to check the voluntary nature of learning regional languages. No one will dare joke with the Prosecutor General’s Office.”

The expert fears that Tatarstan officials, frightened by the formidable “eye of the sovereign,” will begin to replace coercion with voluntariness, using administrative resources. “The leadership and the Ministry of Education of Tatarstan can, in particular, launch some kind of collective statement from Russian parents. They say that the collective Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich does not object to his children studying Tatar from kindergarten to high school, to the extent prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Tatarstan, says Shcheglov. - Parents of Russian children may well become cowardly and give up before the almighty administrative resource. In addition, in the schools of the republic, forgery and falsification of decisions of parent committees cannot be ruled out. It is the parent committees that approve or reject learning programs. Parent committees are dependent on school directorates, school directorates - on territorial education departments and further above.

Classroom teacher or the head teacher from Nizhnekamsk or Naberezhnye Chelny can force parents to sign an appeal from the unknown Ivan Ivanov, where he allegedly begs for his children to study the Tatar language more than Russian. And those parents who dare to object will be hinted that “they live in the Republic of Tatarstan.” The parent will be faint-hearted and sign. I fully accept this option. Moreover, the general inspection appointed by the Russian President will hit directly the Minister of Education of Tatarstan Engel Fattakhov. Previously, Fattakhov headed the Aktanysh region, and he became the Minister of Education purely by accident. They say that when the district head Fattakhov was drinking tea in his office and he received a call from the administration of the President of Tatarstan, saying that he had been appointed Minister of Education, he almost doused himself with tea. But then I got used to it. He has everything in his hands: legislation, subordinates, carte blanche from his superiors and a “blessing” as from the current president Rustam Minnikhanov, and from the old guard Mintimer Shaimiev. To understand what Engel Navapovich really thinks about parents who do not want to force them to learn Tatar, it is enough to look at his expressive face at least once. But this does not mean that you should give up. If the parents in Tatarstan do not act, no Father Tsar from Moscow will help.”

Today it is important for the federal center to send clear signals - to show that Moscow does not intend to put up with language discrimination in the regional education system, he said EADaily President of the Institute for National Strategy Mikhail Remizov. “The discrimination lies in the fact that the Russian language in the national regions cannot be chosen in that component of the load, which is designated as native language. The fact that parents and children of Russian nationality cannot choose their native language to study is ethnic discrimination. This must be eliminated. Voluntariness of study non-native language- another question. Mandatory learning of a non-native language is not advisable. If the clock compulsory language will be supplemented by electives for those for whom this language is not their native language - this is an acceptable compromise. But even this compromise is not accepted in Tatarstan. In Bashkiria the situation is somewhat better, judging by statements from there. Consequently, the position of the federal Center should be more definite and persistent. If, as before, it consists of indistinct signals contradicting each other, then the linguistic conflict will not receive any resolution, and the situation will better side Will not change".

The expert emphasized that at present there is no vertical communication between the federal Center and the administrations of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which is why Moscow’s directives, which are correct in content, are not implemented as needed at the local level, or are even sabotaged. “This is especially relevant for national republics, and concerns not only languages, but also, say, the content of history education. It is necessary to combat the distortion of substantive approaches in this area: so that what is taught in schools and universities of the national republics historical material often leads to the formation of parallel and often conflicting models of historical memory.” What the expert said is especially relevant for Tatarstan and Bashkiria. Nationalists from both republics, belonging to the same language group, hate each other. The degree of this hatred is minimized when the “nationalists” from Kazan and Ufa rally against “Russia - the evil empire.”

Speaking about the ambiguous impression of Vasilyeva’s speech on the issue of national languages, Mikhail Remizov remembered how Olga Vasilyeva’s struggle for secular standards in Tatar schools ended. “The Parliament of Chechnya with the approval Ramzan Kadyrov then he adopted a law on the legalization of hijabs and other religious paraphernalia in the schools of the republic. Some national republics have much greater lobbying capabilities than the leadership of a single ministry. Therefore, cases like what happened with hijabs in Chechnya are not surprising. In practice, the issue of hijabs was referred to the regional level.” Mikhail Remizov outlined: the language programs offered by Tatarstan, Bashkiria, the Komi Republic and other regions, where, following the example of Tatarstan, they are introducing or want to introduce “nationally oriented” education, are “raw” in content and practically unsuitable.

The expert mentioned that in Tatarstan and Bashkiria there are no dictionaries and methodological manuals, therefore, parents of schoolchildren are forced to turn for help to familiar representatives of “indigenous” nationalities. “The level of proficiency in the native language of the latter also leaves much to be desired. It is now much more convenient for many Tatars, Bashkirs, and Komi to communicate in Russian in an ethnically close environment. Due to the fact that language “compulsory” is carried out prescriptively and in a hurry, lessons of national languages ​​in schools of national regions are time wasted by schoolchildren. The very “indigenization” of education has turned into a profanation of a full-fledged educational process and psychotraumatic practices for both Russians and “indigenous” peoples. This factor must also be taken into account by the federal center. Here the question of discrimination is joined to the question of motivation. As the old saying goes, you can lead a donkey to water, but you can't make him drink. It is impossible to force students to sit in lessons of national languages ​​when there is no public demand for these languages. The problem of studying national languages ​​cannot be solved, let alone short time, and over many years. If the goal of this course is to preserve these languages, then we should not hammer these languages ​​into everyone’s throats, but look for other tools to preserve and increase the area of ​​use. The current models for preserving national languages ​​do not actually work.”

“Until recently, Georgian children from the Leningorsky region of South Ossetia studied their native Georgian language on manuals published in Georgia, - said EADaily historian and political scientist from South Ossetia Kosta Dzugaev. - Our citizens taught them, then the Georgian graduates left the Republic of South Ossetia. It turns out that we financed the cultural and educational development of a state hostile to us. Another trend has been noticed: 4-5 times more Georgian children come to study in Russian-speaking schools in the Leningorsky district than in Georgian ones. Parents and schoolchildren can understand: knowing the Russian language provides enormous life opportunities.”

News agency correspondent EADaily I also asked the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for comment on Olga Vasilyeva’s language statement. The department's press service has not yet responded to the request.

Musa Ibragimbekov, especially for EADaily

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Today, November 8, the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov At a meeting of the State Council of the Republic, he announced that he had managed to come to an agreement with Moscow on the “language issue” - the forced teaching of Tatar to schoolchildren, albeit in an extremely reduced form, would continue.

“We have prepared a version that takes into account all the norms of federal legislation and the laws of the republic. It was previously agreed upon with specialists from the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. This document has been submitted,” Minnikhanov said, adding that he had held negotiations with the administration of the President of the Russian Federation. According to Minnikhanov, the Tatarstan authorities propose to make changes to the Federal State educational standard, adding a special clause to the compulsory study of the state languages ​​of the republics.

Minister of Education and Science of Tatarstan speaking at the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan Engel Fattakhov(whom the republic's prosecutor's office is unsuccessfully demanding to be fired) also assured that the Minister of Education and Science of Russia Olga Vasilyeva agreed, he said, to compromise. “Yesterday, November 7, she confirmed her readiness to agree on this compromise solution. We expect written confirmation next week,” the minister said. It is difficult to understand how true this is, especially since Fattakhov also said earlier that he met with Vasilyeva, although there was no meeting.

At the meeting, Minnikhanov addressed the prosecutor of Tatarstan with in the following words: “At the same time, I want to address Ildus Saidovich (Nafikov), the prosecutor of the republic. There are a lot of emotions on both sides - Tatars and Russians. These national feelings should not be touched. This issue will find a solution. Any such statements have dire consequences. Whoever it is, if it does not correspond to the situation that we have, then you must react quickly.” At the same time, it remains unclear to most what Minnikhanov was hinting at and how the prosecutor’s office should react if it already has a direct order from the President of Russia?

Judging by the bravura comments on the forums of Tatar nationalists, as well as the presentation of information in publications close to the Kazan Kremlin, the Tatarstan authorities are trying to create the impression that they were able to “agree” - they were allowed to maintain “coercion” in Tatar language, contrary to federal legislation, the Federal State Educational Standard and the instructions of Vladimir Putin .

And here are the impressions of today’s meeting in the Tatarstan parliament from specialists, representatives of the parent community of Tatarstan and social activists.

Head of the Center for Ethnocultural Strategy of Education, Federal Institute for Educational Development, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Olga Artemenko surprised by the position of the Tatarstan authorities: “For me, Putin’s orders are not discussed, but carried out. There should be no compromise solutions, no equivocations.” “It amazes me how one of the regional leaders or civil servants promises something to the population, contrary to the instructions of the president of the country,” Artemenko sums up, adding that “the only thing that can be discussed is how quickly the instructions will be carried out, and not the instructions themselves."

Coordinator of the online community “Russian language in schools of national republics”, herself a mother of two children Ekaterina Belyaeva, assessing the general mood of the speeches in the State Council of Tatarstan, believes that the Tatarstan authorities are wishful thinking. “Judging by the fact that Engel Fattakhov constantly emphasizes that consultations are underway with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, its head Olga Vasilyeva is not particularly cooperative,” believes Belyaeva. She also recalled that the existing Federal State Educational Standard allows everyone to learn the Tatar language, and does not prohibit anyone from doing so. “It feels like the Tatarstan authorities are deliberately whipping up hysteria among the Tatar-speaking population, misleading them, scaring them with bans on learning the Tatar language, although there is nothing like that,” the social activist argues, suspecting that “this is being used to put pressure on Moscow.” When asked if she thought that Minnikhanov’s words about the need for the prosecutor’s office to “respond promptly” contained a hint of repression against parents who express their indignation, Belyaeva replied that she herself moderates the parent group in in social networks. But giving such instructions on the part of the Tatarstan president is, to say the least, short-sighted: “If repressions begin, it will raise even more big wave indignation." According to Belyaeva, she herself tries to clear out all harsh comments, realizing that this can lead to undesirable consequences. “It is clear that the possibility of repression cannot be ruled out, but still the republican prosecutor’s office is subordinate to the Prosecutor General’s Office, and parents are outraged by the fact that the language educational policy in the region was carried out with numerous violations of federal legislation and the Federal State Educational Standard, which the Tatarstan prosecutor’s office itself admitted,” hopes the social activist .

Chairman of the Society of Russian Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan Mikhail Shcheglov does not understand the position of the Tatarstan authorities: “Putin gave clear instructions, what else is not clear? Is everyone who wants to learn the Tatar language deprived of this opportunity?! No. Well then why so much hysteria?!” According to Shcheglov, Minnikhanov is partly a hostage of the nationalist Fronde entrenched in the Kazan Kremlin: “Does Minnikhanov lack the courage to break with the Tatar nationalists?” The leader of ORKT himself still tries to think optimistically: “It’s time to end the games of a sovereign state, no matter how much the rope twists, the end will still come.” However, as the social activist believes, if Moscow retreats from its position and follows the lead of the Tatar nationalists, then this will be an image defeat for Putin in the eyes of the Russian-speaking population of Tatarstan, which now sees him as a defender of its interests.

At the same time, Shcheglov clearly interprets Minnikhanov’s appeal to the prosecutor’s office as a call for repression: “I clearly understood this as a call to label one of the Russian-speaking parents as extremists, to arrange a public flogging in order to intimidate the rest.”

Observers in Tatarstan have the feeling that the Tatarstan authorities are counting precisely on the fact that Moscow will again “bend” on the language issue. Moreover, there were precedents for “deflections”. The Kazan Kremlin ignored federal legislation from 2010 in its demand to rename the position of the head of the republic, despite the fact that a clear time period was designated - until January 1, 2015. When all the leaders of the republics changed the names of their positions, removing the word “president,” Tatarstan first received a deferment for a year, and then declared the elections of the President of Tatarstan in 2015 “a referendum on retaining the title of the position of the first person of the region.” Even the failure to renegotiate the agreement on the division of powers with Moscow, although it became a kind of defeat for the ethnocracy in Tatarstan, is perceived as a political bargaining: after all, the title of the post of president of the republic was preserved, if only until 2020 (which, however, does not mean that the hidden the game for saving it will not continue closer to the end of this period). What is important for Tatar nationalists and ethnocracy is that “Moscow gave in,” allowing one of the attributes of the era of the “parade of sovereignties” of the early 1990s to be preserved.

As for the parents of schoolchildren, who have been under linguistic oppression for decades, they really hope that Moscow “will not give up” and will firmly stand its ground. Because the “compromise solution” that the authorities in Tatarstan are so advocating for is not only the preservation of “compulsory teaching” in Tatar for schoolchildren. This is the preservation of the previous system of power “based on nationality and kinship,” which the population of the republic is so tired of. And if Putin “gives way” on this issue, then there is no doubt that the ethnocracy in Tatarstan will try to take revenge. Just as it happened at the dawn of the 1990s.

Sergey Nikolaev, political scientist

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“Initially, the press conference was dedicated to priority projects. Therefore, it seems to me that your colleagues find themselves in an unequal position with you; they would also like to ask me about the Tatar language. I will not answer. But not because I don't want to. I believe that everyone should be in equal conditions. We are now discussing projects,” the publication quotes Vasilyeva.

The minister said that she has answers to questions about the format of teaching Tatar, and she will voice them at another event, but at which one is unknown.

“I will give you answers to exactly the questions you asked me, just not in this audience. I will give answers to the questions, they are there, they are ready. But we gathered on projects. You all wanted to ask about the Tatar language, right? I think that in the near future there will be a press conference dedicated to this issue, among other things,” Vasilyeva said.

Today, RBC, citing its own sources, reported that the Kremlin makes exceptions for none of the regions in the matter of studying national languages. “Everything will be in accordance with the law - national languages ​​are studied on a voluntary basis. This is the rule for all national republics, there will be no exceptions for anyone,” RBC quoted its anonymous interlocutor from among the federal officials.

In addition, the publication reported that the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov in response to the question whether the federal center really does not intend to change its position on the voluntary principle of studying national languages ​​in schools, he answered: “Yes. Really".

Let us recall that at the meeting on November 8, the head of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan Engel Fattakhov presented