Tatarstan and the Prospects for Federalism in Russia

1 Due to calls by Kazan's political leaders to boycott the election, only 14% of Tatarstanis cast votes. Bruce J. Allyn, `One Enclave's Solution to Ties with Mother Russia', Christian Science Monitor, 3 September 1993, p. 6.

2 It seems appropriate here to use the term `Tatarstani' when referring to interests, national identity or other characteristics that apply to the citizens and leaders of Tatarstan regardless of their ethnic heritage. The term `Tatar', by contrast, implies a connection to the Tatar ethnic group.

3 Mintimer Shaimiev (President of the Republic of Tatarstan), `Introduction', International Affairs (Moscow), no. 1 (1995), p. 4. See also John W.R. Lepingwell, Alexander Rahr, Elizabeth Teague & Vera Tolz, `Russia: A Troubled Future,' RFE/RL Research Report, vol. 3, no. 24 (17 June 1994), p. 9.

4 Elizabeth Teague, `Russia and Tatarstan Sign Power-Sharing Treaty', RFE/RL Research Report, vol. 3, no. 14 (8 April 1994), p. 22.

5 Cited in Valery Tishkov, `What is Rossia? Prospects for Nation-Building', Security Dialogue, vol. 26, no. 1, March 1995, p. 49.

6 Ann Sheehy, `Tatarstan Asserts Its Sovereignty', RFE/RL Research Report, vol. 1, no 14 (3 April 1992), p. 1.

7 For more detail on the law of self-determination and the argument that it applies solely to peoples in the process of decolonization, see Laurence S. Hanauer, `The Irrelevance of Self-Determination Law to Ethno-National Conflict: A New Look at the Western Sahara', Emory International Law Review, vol. 9, no. 1, Spring 1995, pp. 133-177.

8 Although it could be argued that Tatarstan's borders are the result of colonial domination, the international legal community has generally applied the `salt water test' to a territory to determine if it qualifies as a colony; in other words, it must be territorially distinct from the metropole. As a result, internal colonies - which could include Basque territory, Scotland, Wales, Katanga, Biafra, Kurdistan and a host of other regions deemed `internal struggles' - are thus denied the legal right to self-determination. Legal status aside, however, claims to self-determination based on ethnicity and history do make a compelling moral-political argument and have considerable influence over political events.

9 Raphael Khakimov, `Russia and the Process of Federalization', Ethnic Conflict Management in the Former Soviet Union: Bulletin (Cambridge, MA.: Conflict Management Group, June 1995), p. 12. Dr. Khakimov takes the quotation from an article by Hurst Hannum, Professor of international law and self-determination at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, in the Financial Times, 25-26 Feb. 1995, p. 9.

10 For an interesting discussion of the morality of `political divorce' in different political and historical circumstances, see Allen Buchanan, Secession (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991).

11 Teague, `Russia and Tatarstan Sign Power-Sharing Treaty', p. 27.