The Construction of the Tatar Identity and Ethnic Survival of the Astrakhan Turkmens

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of effectiveness of the construction of ethnic identities by the state, taking the case of the Astrakhan Turkmens. What were the results of “Tatarization”, and how did the ethnic community and its borders change? In the 18th–19th centuries, it was believed that the Turkmens partly disappeared among the Tatars and the Nogai, having adopted their language and culture. In the early Soviet period of the 1930s, the Turkmens were officially by force registered as Tatars, and the Tatar language became their language of instruction at schools. Up until the 1990s, this ethnic group did not receive any organizational, cultural, or administrative support from the state. History has shown that the Astrakhan Turkmens, despite the pressure from the state, managed to preserve their identity owing to their autonomy and ties with the neighboring Turkmenistan. In the post-Soviet period, the Astrakhan Turkmens found themselves in an advantageous position as a border group. This was instrumental in turning the vector of construction and redirecting the efforts of Russia and Turkmenistan towards supporting their ethnic identity.