В.Путин.Выступление на собрании.26.08.05.Part 1
Speech at the Ceremonial Gathering to Commemorate Kazan's 1000 th Anniversary.Part 1
August 26, 2005
Kazan
Выступление на собрании,посвященном 1000-летию Казани
26 августа 2005 года
Казань, Театр оперы и балета имени Мусы Джалиля
VLADIMIR PUTIN: Hello, my dear friends! Isaenmisez! (Hello!)
I am glad that today we have the chance to participate in Russia's celebrations for Kazan's 1000 th anniversary together.
These are everyone's celebrations, and this is an event that takes place on a national scale. This is the anniversary of one of the most ancient centres of Eurasian civilization. This city contains unique historical monuments, and is famous for its university's tradition, its contemporary science, and its advanced products. Many generations of great educators, poets, academics, experts, heroes, and military leaders have grown up here.
I would like to emphasize a few things, and for this reason I will dare to utter some words in the Tatar language:
(a fragment in Tatar)
For those who are just starting to study Tatar, and therefore did not understand everything I said, I would like to reiterate one idea among those mentioned.
Kazan played a unique historical role in the creation of a united Russian nation, and in binding the Russian people together.
It is symbolic that one meaning of the city's name the Turkic word kazan is pot. I will not go into the details of the semantic dispute, but suffice to say that in Kazan's melting-pot, a unique fusion of languages, traditions, customs, and cultures of the peoples of Russia has taken place.
Volga Bulgaria an advanced and prosperous state in the early Middle Ages is considered to be the cradle of Kazan. Many Russian peoples of the Volga region have lived on this land. It was here that a unique multiethnic, multireligious laboratory developed over many centuries, and resulted in particular ways of life of this vast territtory.
The great Idel-Volga river, an ancient trading route, has connected peoples for many years. As history can testify, the ancestors of today's Tatars respected both the customs and the beliefs of their neighbours. The Tatar people, initially a mix of different Eurasian ethnic groups, have continued to embrace this tradition.
Everyone knows that historical relations between Moscow and the Tatar Khanate developed in different ways. However, even during the difficult periods and the conflicts, there was no ethnic or religious hostility. Rather, their relations were marked by struggles for influence over new territory something that was very typical for the time.
And what is more, a number of domestic historians explicitly consider the history of the Golden Horde as part of Russia's history. Long before the creation of a centralised Russian state, there are many examples of political interaction between Russians and Tatars, both through their intensive trading relations, and their common interests. There are also testimonies of participation in each other's military endeavours; Russians fought on the side of Tatar khans, and Tatars served Muscovite rulers.
In practice, by simultaneously protecting themselves from foreign invaders, both Russians and the Volga region's khans frequently asserted their rights to their native lands together, and thus became more powerful.
This is also linked to the creation and strengthening of our common state. For Russia, who developed as a multinational country, integrating the rich heritage of the Volga region came naturally. Or, as Lev Gumilev put it, integrating: the great culture of the steppe. It is not by accident that there is a monument to him here.