‘The flag of Tatarstan has caused heated debates among deputies’

“They made attempts to realise their future in the new state”

The history of Tatarstan's flags is displayed in the main exhibition of the Museum of the History of Statehood of the Tatar People and the Republic of Tatarstan. However, the earliest flags, represented by full-size copies, are not true predecessors of the modern flag. These are banners of military units from the first half of the 18th century located in the Kazan Governorate. Nevertheless, they feature the familiar figure of the winged serpent Zilant, later adopted as the provincial coat of arms. The image of the serpent dates back to the Kazan Khanate period and, like the Bars, was used by Russian heraldists.

Marina Davydova, the head of the Historical Museums Department at the Kazan Kremlin Museum-Reserve, introduces the evolution of Tatarstan's state symbols. According to her, the emergence of the first flags is linked to the formation of the Tatar Republic in the 20th century, which took place under challenging conditions.

In 1917, All-Russian Muslim congresses were convened to discuss the vision for the future amidst the major changes initiated by the February Revolution. In 1918, attempts were made to implement the Idel-Ural State project, followed by the Tatar-Bashkir Republic, which aimed to unite the Volga and Ural regions. This area also became a battleground during the Civil War, delaying the resolution of the region’s political structure for a long time. After the Civil War, the Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic was established by a decree on May 27, 1920.

“But even at that moment, we are not yet approaching the banner — it appeared a little later," explained an employee of the museum-reserve.

In 1920, young artist Baki Urmanche created a coat of arms with attributes characteristic of those Soviet years: the sun, a wreath, a bow, arrows, symbols of labour, but with a national component. Here, a worker and a collective farmer are depicted — Tatars, as can be seen from their vestments. This coat of arms was not officially approved, it was used as a project, but at official events, in photographs of the 1920s it can often be seen.

“In 1923, the first banner appeared, though it was also unofficial. The original is kept at the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan. The banner is a red cloth with gold fringe and embroidery. It is based on the flag of the USSR, established in 1922. Accordingly, the banner features the coat of arms of the Soviet Union, supplemented by embroidered inscriptions in the Tatar language using Arabic script. It reads 'Workers of the world, unite!' and 'Tatar Socialist Soviet Republic, established in 1920,'" translated Marina Davydova.

In 1926, a new design for the flag of the Tatar Republic emerged. Its appearance was linked to the discussion of the draft Constitution of the Tatar Socialist Soviet Republic (TSSR), which was not approved at the union-wide level. The new flag, a red cloth with gold lettering, was also not officially adopted.

The first officially approved symbols of the republic — the coat of arms and the flag — appeared in 1937. Following the adoption of the USSR Constitution in 1936, the constitution of our republic was approved in 1937. It was then that the legal designation 'TASSR' was established, along with its symbols. Copies of these symbols can be seen in the museum's exhibition. The flag at that time was based on the red flag of the RSFSR, with gold lettering in the upper left corner displaying 'RSFSR' and 'TASSR'. The inscriptions were also reproduced in the Tatar language using Latin script, specifically Yanalif, which was widely adopted in the late 1920s and 1930s.

“The thing is that back in 1921 there was a decree that raised the status of the Tatar language. All state regulations and documents had to be duplicated in both Russian and Tatar within the Tatar Republic. Initially, Arabic graphics were used, and since 1924, the Latin alphabet, the so-called Yanalif, gradually began to be discussed and introduced. At the turn of the 20-30s, the use of Yanalif was almost ubiquitous. In the 1930s, the use of the Latin alphabet was abandoned and the Cyrillic spelling for all Turkic languages was approved at the all-Union level," the expert said.

The museum exhibits documents in Arabic, Latin, and Cyrillic scripts. A new version of the flag appeared in the 1950s. In 1947, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR recommended that the union republics develop new symbols. These were to include the main elements of Soviet symbolism: a red field, the hammer and sickle, and a star, while also reflecting the national and cultural characteristics of the republics. In 1954, a new RSFSR flag with a light blue stripe near the hoist was introduced. Consequently, the flag of the TASSR also changed. It featured a blue stripe along the hoist, a star, the hammer and sickle, and the inscriptions 'RSFSR' and 'Tatar ASSR' in Cyrillic script. The flag's official approval was linked to the 1978 Constitution of the republic. The symbolism of the 1978 flag can be seen in Soviet-era paintings, commemorative sets prepared for the republic's 50th anniversary, and deputies' badges.

With the transformation of the republic, the symbolism began to change. On August 30, 1990, the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the Republic of Tatarstan was adopted. The Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan was approved in November 1992, then the development of new state symbols began. The modern flag of Tatarstan was approved on November 29, 1992. “It is a flag consisting of stripes of green, white, and red, where green symbolises spring and renewal, white represents the purity of the thoughts of the citizens of Tatarstan, and red stands for vitality, energy, and the resilience of Tatarstan," explained the expert.

“The works in the competition were anonymous”

After the adoption of the declaration of sovereignty, a constitutional commission was established, chaired by Mintimer Shaimiev, which included Renat Kharis, a poet, playwright, and literary critic. A statesman and public figure, he became the author of two articles of the Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan — on state symbols and on the capital of Tatarstan. A working group was organised to determine the state symbols, which he headed.

“We started working in October 1990. Then a competition was announced to create the national flag, coat of arms and anthem. This activity lasted for three years. We started when the Soviet Union still existed, and in 1991 it was gone. I must say that not only residents of Tatarstan took part in the competition for state symbols, but also Tatars from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Astrakhan, Orenburg and many other regions. By the last stage of the selection, there were several variants of the flag, the works were presented anonymously, but together with the mottos, Renat Kharis said.

The winners of the closed stage of the competition were KAMAZ worker S.M. Timergaleev (motto “Today is better than yesterday”), artist of the Tatar Book Publishing house B.A. Chukomin (motto “Azatlyk”) and People's Artist of Tatarstan, laureate of the State Prize named after G. Tukay, famous graph T.G. Khaziakhmetov (the motto is “Lily”).

“Heated debates broke out among the deputies”

“The projects under the motto Azatlyk and Lily reached the final. The first one had an image of a crescent moon, which referred to religion, so the choice fell on the secular version of “Lily”. I remember there was a very heated debate at the session about the colours of the new flag. Someone did not like the colour red, it was called the colour of blood or the colour of communism, and just shortly before that, the Communist Party ceased to exist. Others were against the green colour, explaining that it is the colour of Islam and it should not be present on the state banner," said the chairman of that working group.

According to him, the third did not like white, they say, this is a defeatist colour, they drew an analogy with the white flag of surrender. Heated debates also broke out over why these colours are arranged in this order and not in another, why one stripe is narrower and the other is wider. “Then, as the head of the working group, I had to answer a lot of questions. Farid Mukhametshin, the chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, after everyone calmed down, gave me the final word, and I just read from the podium a poem from my book “Sun Worshipper”.

The whole hall greeted these lines with loud applause, and Farid Mukhametshin announced the vote. Only three or four people spoke out against it, so the new flag was adopted almost unanimously. “Immediately, someone picked up the new republican banner and ran to plant it on the roof of the State Council building," recalls Renat Kharis.

“Tatarstan became a pillar of Russia”

The approval of own national flag for the Tatar people was of particular importance, the public figure is sure.

“We were the first of all the Soviet republics to adopt our Constitution and our state symbols. Then others followed our example. That is, it became a big event not only for Tatarstan, but also for Russia as a whole. It is not for nothing that the first president Mintimer Shaimiev was awarded the title of Hero of Labour by decree of the president of the Russian Federation with the wording “for special labour services to the state and the people”.

According to the source, when Tatarstan adopted its Constitution, the federal centre looked at it with some caution. “Suddenly we want to secede from Russia and other republics will follow our example. But these fears were in vain. We have always seen ourselves inside the Russian Federation, but not only within the framework of autonomy, but in the status of a union republic. Even today, we see ourselves only as part of Russia and remain the most faithful and reliable support of the Russian Federation, as President Vladimir Putin also said.”

“Thanks to the Declaration of State Sovereignty and the Constitution, we established our own institutions of statehood, including the Academy of Sciences, the 'Tatar Encyclopedia,' and much more," concluded Renat Haris.