Address of the Tatar Council on the occasion of the 34th anniversary of the Tatarstan independence referendum

Dear compatriots, members of the international community!

On March 21, 1992, a historic referendum was held in which the people of Tatarstan made their unequivocal choice. With a turnout of over 81% of citizens, 61.4% of participants answered “YES” to the question: “Do you agree that the Republic of Tatarstan is a sovereign state, a subject of international law, building its relations with the Russian Federation and other republics and states on the basis of equal treaties?”

This expression of will constituted the highest direct manifestation of the people’s authority, and was subsequently enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, adopted in November 1992. The Fundamental Law proclaimed Tatarstan a sovereign democratic state expressing the will of the entire multi-ethnic people, established equality, and laid the foundations for treaty-based relations with the Russian Federation.

Today, 34 years later, we note with deep concern: the outcomes of the 1992 referendum and the spirit of the November Constitution have never been fully implemented.

In the 2000s, and definitively in 2017, with the expiration of the Treaty on the Delimitation of Powers between Tatarstan and the Russian Federation, the republic lost key elements of its sovereignty. Provisions concerning the supremacy of republican laws, the management of natural resources, the rejection of the propaganda of violence and war, and — most importantly — state sovereignty itself were removed from the republic’s Constitution.

This was done without regard for the will of the people expressed in the referendum, under pressure from Moscow, which adopted a course toward the unification of the country, the effective elimination of dissent, and the curtailment even of the limited sovereignty of the federation’s constituent entities.

We are convinced that:

– the results of the referendum of March 21, 1992 retain their legal and moral force. The will of the people expressed through direct voting cannot be annulled by decisions taken in Moscow or by any political expediency whatsoever;

– the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan in its 1992 version is the foundation of the statehood of the Tatar and multi-ethnic people of the republic. The provisions on sovereignty, citizenship and the primacy of human rights enshrined therein must be restored;

– the survival of the Tatar nation, our language and culture is impossible without the restoration of genuine sovereignty and economic independence for the republic.

We insist on returning to the implementation of the principles of the 1990 Declaration of Sovereignty and the 1992 referendum.

We call on international organizations to pay attention to the violation of the right of peoples to self-determination and to the consistent dismantling of the national-state rights of Tatarstan.

We call upon the leadership of the Republic of Tatarstan to return to defending the interests of its people — for which the republic has every historical and legal basis.

Only the fulfillment of the will of the people expressed on March 21, 1992, and the restoration of the sovereign rights enshrined in the 1992 Constitution, can guarantee the preservation of the Tatar nation, the prosperity of our land, and peace in the region.

The Tatar Council

21.03.2026