Repressions against Tatars
- Feb 9
- 4 min read
Indicator | Number | Source |
Political prisoners in the Russian Federation | ~1218 people (2024) | |
Growth per year | +400 people | |
Crimean Tatar political prisoners | ≥180 people | |
Political prisoners of Tatarstan (estimate) | tens | human rights reports |
Political prisoners of Bashkortostan | tens (Baimak case) |
Political prisoners - Tatars
Fazyl Valiakhmetov
History: Veteran of the Tatar national movement. Arrested in December 2024 under charges of "discrediting the army" and "justifying terrorism."
Address for letters:
Pre-trial Detention Center No. 1, Yekaterinburg
620019, Yekaterinburg, Repina St., 4
Valiakhmetov Fazil Abdullovich (born in 1955)
Sources:
Engel Fattakhov
History: Former Minister of Education of Tatarstan, advocated for the mandatory teaching of the Tatar language. Arrested in 2024 on bribery charges. Held in custody for almost a year.
Address:
Pre-trial Detention Center No. 5, Chistopol
422980, RT, Chistopol, st. Dzerzhinsky, 94
Fattakhov Engel Nizamovich (1960)
Persecuted by the Russian Federation
Farit Zakiev
Former chairman of the All-Russian Society of the Conservatives (VTOC). In 2024, a case was opened against him for "fake news." He left Russia.
List of Tatars and Tatarstan residents designated as "foreign agents" as part of repressive measures
Pavel Chikov
Occupation: Head of Agora
Year of inclusion: 2023
Source: https://minjust.gov.ru
Ruslan Aysin
Occupation: political scientist
Year of inclusion: 2023
Source: https://ovdinfo.org
Mikhail Tikhonov
Activities: “Voice” Tatarstan
Year of inclusion: 2021
Source: https://zona.media
Regina Khisamova
Occupation: journalist
Year of inclusion: 2021
Source: https://svoboda.org
Regina Gimalova
Occupation: journalist
Year of inclusion: 2021
Source: https://svoboda.org
A. Grigoriev, A. Grigorieva
Occupation: journalists
Year of inclusion: 2021
Source: https://svoboda.org
Iskander Yasaveev
Occupation: sociologist
Year of inclusion: 2022
Source: https://svoboda.org
Farida Kurbangaleeva
Occupation: journalist
Year of inclusion: 2022
Source: https://svoboda.org
Rafis Kashapov
Occupation: activist/political figure
Year of inclusion: 2023
Source: https://inkazan.ru/news/2023-01-27/aktivista-iz-tatarstana-kashapova-priznali-inoagentom-2648618
Tatar organizations facing repression from the Russian Federation
Yanarysh Tatar Halyk Partiyase
Description: National Tatar political party; accused of "separatism" and "extremism"; activities completely banned by decision of the Supreme Court of Tatarstan
Status: extremist, banned in Russia
Year: 2024
The government of independent Tatarstan in exile
Description: An émigré political body associated with the Tatarstan independence movement; referred to in court documents as a "unit of an extremist movement."
Year: 2024
Status: extremist structure (as part of the Yanarysh case)
Free Idel-Ural
Description: Movement of the Volga Peoples in Exile; advocates for the rights of national republics; cooperation is a criminal offense
Year: 2019
Status: Undesirable organization
Source: https://minjust.gov.ru
World Tatar Community Center (WTC)
Description: The oldest organization of the Tatar national movement; liquidated on charges of "extremism."
Year: 2022
Status: extremist, liquidated
Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People
Description: Representative body of the Crimean Tatars; banned by the Russian Federation after the annexation of Crimea
Year: 2016
Status: extremist
Source: https://amnesty.org
History of repressions against the Tatars (1552–20th centuries)
Historical losses: After the fall of Kazan in 1552, the Tatar people suffered enormous losses—according to various estimates, tens of thousands were killed or enslaved. In the following centuries, repeated uprisings broke out, brutally suppressed (for example, the uprising of 1556-1557 was drowned in blood). In the 20th century, the Tatars experienced tragedies on a national scale: the famine of 1921-1922 claimed the lives of between 500,000 and 2 million residents of the Tatar ASSR ru.wikipedia.org ; during collectivization and "dekulakization," hundreds of thousands of peasants were dispossessed and deported. During Stalin's terror of the 1930s, tens of thousands of people were repressed in Tatarstan—party workers, imams, and cultural figures. According to historians, in 1937-38 Those executed in the Tatar ASSR alone numbered in the thousands, and the total number of those repressed amounted to tens of thousands dissercat.comdissercat.com . The cream of the nation was exterminated—for example, the prominent Tatar educator Hadi Atlasi was arrested and executed, the writer Gayaz Iskhaki died in exile, the ideologist of Tatar communism Mirsaid Sultan-Galiev died in the Gulag, and many others.
1552 — Fall of Kazan
Destruction of the khanate, massacres and forced baptism
The beginning of Russification and missionary policy, Christianization
Source: https://tatar-history.ru
16th-18th centuries - uprisings and resistance, the policy of Christianization
Uprisings of 1556–1557
Bashkir uprisings of 1704–1725
The Batyrshi Rebellion (1755)
Participation of the Tatars in Pugachev's War (1773–75)
19th century - Russification
Ilminsky Method
Restriction of Tatar schools
Bans on Tatar publications
Famine of 1921–1922
Up to 2 million people died
Reasons: food tax requisitioning, economic collapse
Stalin's repressions
1937–38: ~15 thousand Tatarstan residents were repressed, 6–8 thousand were shot
Almost the entire national intelligentsia was destroyed
Repressed: Khadi Atlasi, Amirkhan Enikeev, Musa Bigeev, others.
Deportation of Crimean Tatars (1944)
About 180 thousand people were expelled
Mortality in the first years is up to 46%
Source: https://crimean-solidarity.org
Soviet "quiet Russification" (1950s–1980s)
Reduction of Tatar schools
Severe censorship of literature
Strengthening the role of the Russian language
Perestroika and National Revival
Return of repressed names
Creation of the VTOC, the Ittifaq party
Declaration of Sovereignty of Tatarstan (1990)
Referendum 1992 (61.4% for sovereignty)
Useful materials
General lists of persecuted:
Lists by topic:
The Baimak Case: https://memopzk.org/dossier/bajmakskoe-delo/
Bashkortostan: https://memopzk.org/regions/bashkortostan/
Tatarstan: https://memopzk.org/regions/tatarstan/
Crimean Tatars: https://memopzk.org/tags/presledovanie-krymskih-tatar/
Muslim Affairs: https://memopzk.org/tags/dela-musulman/
How to help political prisoners?
Donate at https://june12.io/
Donate to https://memopzk.org/support/
Donate at https://donate.ovdinfo.legal/
