The «VATANCHI» movement was founded on August 6, 2020 by a group of Tatar youth from Tatarstan.
How it all began. The starting point of the report for the Movement was 2010. The mosques of Tatarstan were filled with Tatar youth and representatives of other nations. There were many active young people among us. Then we were engaged in various social activities - participated in rallies, resolved humanitarian issues. The surge in religiosity in Tatarstan could not help but worry the Russian intelligence services. Thus, in 2011, under the pretext of fighting terrorism in Tatarstan, the Mufti of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate of the Republic of Tatarstan, Gusman Hazrat Iskhakov, as well as other Hazrat leaders in the republic, were removed from office. Active Muslims began to be persecuted. The state began to ban religious literature. Religion prescribes studying science, reflecting on events, which is why many young Tatars began to study their history and began to understand the problems that people have today. Religion awakened in us feelings for our nation.
Meeting Rafis Kashapov. In April 2011, my like-minded people and I participated in a rally against the appointment of Ildus Faizov as mufti of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate of the Republic of Tatarstan. The protest took place on the square of the G. Kamal Theater in Kazan. Then famous figures of national Tatar movements were present on the square. After the meeting in the dining room of the «Nurulla» mosque, we met Rafis Kashapov.
Emigration. Realizing that the political situation in Tatarstan is worsening, they begin to pursue Tatar activists. In 2013, some of us decide to continue our active work abroad. Based on certain goals, everyone chose the country for emigration. The first years in emigration were spent adapting to new living conditions. It should be noted here that in general we are against emigration; we need to live at home. Wherever you end up you will always be a stranger. Emigration is a last resort when it is impossible to stay in your homeland when you are in danger. Therefore, you should not bring your affairs to such a state where you have to leave your native land forever. It is important to understand when trials and new challenges come, you don’t need to run away from them, but you need to look for solutions.
Our activities. In September 2016, Tatar activists opened the YouTube channel «TATNEWS» (the earlier channel had a different name). The main theme of the channel is events in Tatarstan, the Volga region and in the Tatar world. In January 2021, the telegram channel «TATNEWS» was launched. Today, our media resource «TATNEWS» actively covers the social problems of the Tatars, inciting intolerance towards indigenous peoples in Russia, xenophobia, and oppression of the indigenous peoples of Russia on national and religious grounds. We constantly monitor the activities of Russian nationalists.
We also pay attention to the problem of assimilation of the Tatars. We opened the «VATANCHI» channel on social networks. The theme of the channel is Tatar identity, history. A regular reminder to the Tatars about the more than 1000-year history of our people and the continuity of generations.
Based on our 10 years of activity, in 2020 we decided to create our own Movement. Then Azatlyk Radiosy (Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Liberty) published a mention of us. Today we are working on implementing our program and continuing to structure the organization. The «VATANCHI» movement was created for specific goals that we must achieve.