Idel-Ural literally means "Volga-Ural" in Tatar.
Historically it refers to a short-lived Muslim republic with its centre in Kazan which united Tatars, Bashkirs and the Chuvash in the turmoil of the Russian Civil War. Often viewed as an attempt to recreate the Khanate of Kazan, the republic was proclaimed on December 12, 1917 by a Congress of Muslims from Russia's interior and Siberia. Initially it comprised only Tatars and Bashkirs in the former Kazan and Ufa governorates, although other, non-Muslim and non-Turkic, nations of the area joined in a few months later. Defeated by the Red Army in April 1918, the republic was restored by the Czech Legion in the same July and finally dissolved at the end of the year.
The president of Idel-Ural, Sadrí Maqsudí Arsal , escaped to Finland in 1918. He was well-received by the Finnish foreign minister, who remembered his valiant defences of the national self-determination and constitutional rights of Finland in the Russian Duma. The president-in-exile also met officials from Estonia before continuing in 1919 to Sweden, Germany and France, in a quest for Western support.
Now the name Idel-Ural is used among Tatar nationalists as idea of creation of a Turkic state independent of the Russian Federation.
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Last updated: 10-12-2005 08:36:04
