The Legacy of volga Bulgaria as a Key Element of Modern Historical Policy in the Republic of Tatarstan

Aim.Identification of trends in the development of historical policy in the Republic of Tatarstan. Assessment of the place and role of the heritage of Volga Bulgaria in the current discourse. Analysis of the republican historical narrative for compliance with federal stratagems.

Methodology.A deep analysis of the socio-political thought of the Republic of Tatarstan (RT) in the period from the early 1990s to the present day is conducted. An important place in the work is given to the assessment of the regulatory framework of the RT, regulating historical policy and the policy of memory. The historical method is used to articulate the role and place of the Bulgar cultural heritage in the socio-political discourse of modern Tatarstan. In particular, a study of the toponymy, heraldry and traditions of the Republic of Tatarstan was conducted on the subject of the "Bulgar trace" in the cultural and everyday contour.

Results.An analysis of the rhetoric of key political figures in the republic showed a high level of loyalty of the existing political - identical to ethnic - elites to the federal center, which is manifested, among other things, through a positive assessment of the role of the Bulgar ancestors for the Tatar people. Thus, the leadership of the republic demonstrates a desire to cultivate centripetal political forces in the region. The analysis of toponymy, heraldry and ethnic holidays of the Republic of Tatarstan allowed us to identify a tendency to strengthen the Bulgar (moderate from the point of view of the federal system) historical narrative as opposed to the "Golden Horde" (imperialist). The normative and legal documents of the republican level governing historical policy have been brought into full compliance with the federal program-target and doctrinal documents. The political elites of Tatarstan managed to achieve harmony between the republican historical narrative and the position of the federal center by strengthening the position of Volga Bulgaria as the ancestor of modern Tatarstan in the socio-political discourse.

Research implications. A comprehensive approach has been formed to assessing the republican socio-political discourse for compliance of the position of the local political elite with the guidelines of the federal center. The scientific novelty of the work lies in defining the vector of socio-political thought of the Republic of Tatarstan in terms of history and analyzing the process of transformation of the historical narrative following the change in the balance of political forces at the federal level.

1. Bushuev A. S., Shafigullina L. R. [Sociocultural Development of Post-Soviet Tatarstan in the Mirror of Historiography]. In: Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo tsentra RAN [Bulletin of the Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 2013, no. 5-1, pp. 213–219.

2. Karbainov N. I. [Images of the History of Volga Bulgaria in Post-Soviet Tatarstan: Elite Version and Mass Representations]. In: Vlast i elity [Power and Elites], 2019, no. 2, pp. 107–128.

3. Karbainov N. I. [Images of the History of the "Turkic Civilization" in Post-Soviet Tatarstan: Elite Versions and Mass Representations]. In: Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii [Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology], 2018, no. 2, pp. 45–67.

4. Karbainov N. I. [The Ideologem of 1552 in Post-Soviet Tatarstan: the Elite Version and Mass Representations]. In: Duka A. V., ed. Vlast i elity [Power and Elites]. St. Petersburg, Intersotsis Publ., 2018, pp. 211–232.

5. Kirchanov M. V. [Visual Forms of Memory Politics in the Turkic Republics of Russia in 2010 – Early 2020s]. In: Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Novaya seriya. Seriya: Istoriya. Mezhdunarodnyye otnosheniya [Bulletin of the Saratov University. New Series. Series: History. International Relations], 2022, no. 22, iss. 4, pp. 477–483.

6. Mikhaleva A. V. [Ethnic Resource in the Construction of Regional Identity by the President of the Republic of Tatarstan in Social Networks]. In: Vestnik Kemerovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya: Politicheskiye, sotsiologicheskiye i obshchestvennyye nauki [Bulletin of the Kemerovo State University. Series: Political, Sociological, and Economic Sciences], 2022, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 425–434.

7. Musin D. A. [Ethnocultural Policy in the Republic of Tatarstan: Hidden Ethnocentrism in the Context of Declared Multiculturalism]. In: ARS ADMINISTRANDI, 2011, no. 4, pp. 71–88.

8. Mukhametzyanova A. R. [Stages of Transformation of Heritage Preservation Policy in Tatarstan in the Post-Soviet Years]. In: Vestnik ekonomiki, prava i sotsiologii [Bulletin of Economics, Law and Sociology], 2021, no. 2, pp. 104–107.

9. Ovchinnikov A. V. [“Revival” of Bolgar and Sviyazhsk - the Latest Experience in Constructing Historical Memory]. In: Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Seriya: Istoriya [Bulletin of Perm University. Series: History], 2017, no. 4, pp. 192–201.

10. Ozerova K. A. [The Image of Volga Bulgaria and Social Memory: Strategies of Memory Politics in the Regional Context]. In: Istoricheskaya etnologiya [Historical Ethnology], 2017, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 258–272.

11. Ozerova K. A. [The Legacy of Volga Bulgaria and Regional Identity: Memory Politics and the “Invention” of Traditions]. In: Istoricheskaya i sotsialno-obrazovatelnaya mysl [Historical and Social-Educational Thought], 2018, no. 2-2, pp. 127–132.

12. Sharafutdinov D., Khairutdinov R. [Heraldic Symbols of Tatarstan]. In: Ekho vekov [Echo of the Centuries], 2012, no. 1-2, pp. 3–6.