"There was huge support to vote 'yes' and ratify sovereignty in ethnically Tatar areas... The overwhelming pluralities in rural, Tatar-ethnic regions reflect years of pent up resentment against Russia's... 'colonialist' policies" csce.gov/sites/helsinki… twitter.com/cjcmichel/stat…

"Tatarstan, together with Bashkiria... comprised a short-lived 'Idel-Ural' state stretching to the Caspian Sea that was declared in February 1918... Soon thereafter, the Bolsheviks dissolved this state and arrested its leaders."

“The boundary of the autonomous Tatar republic was drawn [by the Soviets] specifically to exclude 75% of the Tatar population but include a large population of Russians to make sure that autonomy from Moscow was never taken too seriously.” podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rev…

“The Bashkirs and Tatars… [were] not elevated to being full coequal members of [the USSR]. The difference was justified by nothing but the political and military realities that some of them were well and truly under Russia’s thumb—and some were not.” podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rev…

‘Emancipation through decolonization would mean recovering and piecing these disordered memories together and helping Tatars to come to terms with the past’ russiapost.info/regions/tatars…