Hello, I am a Kazan Tatar. I want to ask you: how do you feel about us? It is known that we have common ancestors. Previously, Tatarstan was called Volga Bulgaria. What do you think of it? Do you like us, hate us because we are Muslims, or are you neutral because you don’t know anything about us?
25 comments
There are a lot of muslim Bulgarians so I wouldn’t say that we hate muslims in any way.
My opinion is that we don’t know much about you other than that you are descendants of the other Bulgaria as you have pointed. Also I know that the flag of Tatarstan resemble the Bulgarian one. Maybe you could give us more information on your society and views.
Yeah, we know about you, that you exist and that you’re descendants of Volga Bulgaria. I think most people wouldn’t hate you for your religion. We don’t know too much about you, since you’re in the middle of Russia, far away from us. We hardly ever hear anything about you.
A few months ago one of my favourite Bulgarian YT channels, which is about Bulgarian history made a short documentary about Volga Bulgaria. It’s in Bulgarian, but it has subtitles in English.
https://youtu.be/em-gEw34hhE
We don’t know much about you. Its cool that you are decendants of Volga Bulgaria! 🐴🐎💪👍Cool, I like these old Bulgarians! I would like to know more. Fun fact: some neighbours are calling us bugari-tatari😂🤷
Why would anyone hate you ? There are plenty of (Danube) Bulgarian muslims, christians and atheist along with other.
I think it is quite cool that ancestors* of the (true) Bulgarians still remember their heritage even if today we are quite different.
I do think most Bulgarians have heard of Volga Bulgaria but know nothing of it beside the name and that it was in modern day Russia.
*Meant successors.
We dont know much about you but we definitely need to have better diplomatic relations! Unite the Bulgarias
For my father-in-law, when a Tatar does well in the Olympics/sports, they’re Bulgarian. Otherwise you cool.
i personally don’t have muslims and i don’t hate you!
But we don’t know much about you
Love you Volga Bulgar brothers. I always wanted to visit Kazan and explore more of Kotrag Bulgaria. As a part time history teacher, I have been gradually adding more understanding of Volga Bulgaria and introducing pieces in the curiculum. Can you recommend good books, articles and also share more about organizations and how to learn more and connect with you.
I had a Tatar girlfriend once and she said her grandad told her they are Bulgarians
Tbh I feel everyone as brothers if they feel us that way, I have seen on internet many forum and etc that you embrace your Bulgarian ancestors and you speak about us like brothers. So I’m personally have very positive feelings.
Brothers ❤️
I didn’t know that tatarstan was a successor of Volga Bulgaria, I just assumed they were assimilated in Russia. I love reading about Volga Bulgaria, but it isn’t well known sadly.
Much love❤
Hi, last year met a guy from Tatarstan. Gave him online language lessons and we used Russian as medium. Was surprised whenever I couldn’t remember a word in Russian and it turned out it was similar or the same in both of our languages. Like: Тефтер. The guy seemed like he knew much more about us than I heard about you tho. Good and ambitious fella.
No, why would we hate you because of your religion? 😀 You guys are awesome! Sadly we really don’t know much about you guys except what you mentioned in the post. Would love to know more!
I would say most Bulgarians are indifferent. Apart of ancient origins and history there is nothing common between us.
Bulgars in Dunabe Bulgaria have created a strong culture which through the process of ethnogenesis has created the new ethnicity of modern Bulgarians.
Whilst the Volga Bulgars have slowly assimilated with the wider Russian muslim culture in the region and through the same process of ethnogenesis created different ethnicities.
Bulgar and Bulgarian are two entirely different ethnicities in the timeframe of almost two millennia of cultural genesises.
I don’t think you’ll like the answer but I think it’s a mix of we don’t know anything about modern Tatars and we don’t have high opinion of the Tatars historically.
From what I remember from history lessons, there were times (around 10th century I think) when Bulgaria was very advanced culturally, we had adopted Christianity, we had our own alphabet and even a few authors. And during that time the Tatars were pegans and were considered a lot more barbaric. Some tatar tribes were regularly raiding the culturally advanced Eastern Europe. They were mostly used as mercenaries by Bulgarian Tzarz and Byzantium emperors to fight each other. I might be in the wrong here but that’s how I remember it and that’s what I think is mentioned about Tatars in our schools.
It doesn’t help that North Macedonians (which we consider to be Bulgarian) use Tatars as an insult. These are probably remnants from Yugoslavian propaganda trying to enforce the view that Bulgarians are genetically different than Macedonians.
As far as modern Tataristan is concerned, I can’t point it on the map and I consider myself to have above average knowledge in geopolitics. It’s a shame that we don’t know more really.
As far as religion is concerned, I don’t think we care. We were among the first countries to recognize Bosnia and Herzegovina
Don’t know much about you guys, religion really isn’t a big deal (the bulgars were tengri anyways, so not like our history is entirely Christian). Basically I know you exist but I know nothing of your culture.
Much love to the Tatar people ❤️ Our neighbours from North Macedonia call us Tatars as an insult however I dont see how that is a bad thing, you guys are pretty badass and you’re descendants from Volga Bulgaria meaning somewhere down the line we have common roots. Sadly we dont learn much about the Tatars in school apart from the things concerning Volga Bulgaria. But yeah, we have no reason to hate you guys
It’s been interesting learning about Tatarstan, as well as Bashkiria and Chuvashia. I think these types of connections can help both sides learn about our shared heritage. We’ve been pretty disconnected from that part of our ancestry for a long long time, so it’s interesting learning some more authentic stuff. Loved hearing Chuvash language for example, heard it’s the closest language to what the Bulgars spoke.
We don’t hate you, that’s for sure. Most people are neutral (if they don’t know anything) or positive (if they have read about Volga Bulgaria). Bulgarians are not very religious people and we also have a lot of Muslims in our own country so I wouldn’t worry about religious differences. Most people just don’t know much about you.
I don’t care about the religion. The Tatars are our brothers in the East and if I knew you 10 years ago, I would have asked you a 1000 questions about your language, because my university thesis was on ancient Bulgarian language and it’s connection to Tatar, Chuvash and numerous other Turkic languages.
Cheers from Veliko Tarnovo 🙂
Few are the people familiar enough with the history of Volga Bulgaria to know that it is called Tatarstan today, even fewer know the capital is Kazan, or that the Volga Bulgarians were/are muslim.
Remember seeing pictures of “Булгария жива” graffities in kazan a couple years back.
All my love to our eastern brothers in the republic
I’d say most Bulgarians don’t know much about your republic and rarely consider it in their thoughts but whenever it’s brought up it evokes so many feelings.
We have all been brought up with the stories about the five brothers which went their separate ways despite their father’s council not to do so and which founded 5 different Bulgarian states – one of which – Volga Bulgaria. I believe stories such as this one have deeply ingrained in our ethos a sense of grief for the people we have been separated from and a longing to reunite. This feeling has been reenforced time and again throughout history by many events which have resulted in the creation of diasporas outside of Bulgaria – Banat, Bessarabia, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Thrace and in the past 30 years – throughout the world. Just as an example – since the liberation from Ottoman rule right up to WWII our foreign policy was dictated by irredentism – the strive for national reunification and bringing all Bulgarians in the Balkans back in one state. Our failure to do so has scarred us deeply – even today we can’t reconcile with the fact that Macedonia is a separate self-determined nation.
So if you ask me how do I feel about you – there is pride in our common ancestors, there’s sorrow and grief for all that our peoples have had to endure, there’s fear and doubt if our cultures can persist, there bewilderment and joy that a group of people so far away consider themselves Bulgarians despite all, and then there’s hope that one day our peoples can culturally reconnect.
P.S. I don’t think anyone sensible cares about your religion.
We actually don’t know much about you, realistically speaking. We know your territories were once a part of Volga-Kama Bolghar (or Volga Bulgaria), we know we have a common ancestor, and that there are those of you who identify with our common ancestor as we do. This isn’t part of our school curriculum but most people have at least heard about this mysterious “other Bulgaria”.
We don’t really know much about your way of life, your specific history throughout the ages after the collapse of Volga-Kama Bolghar. For instance, I’ve read that Chuvash is believed to be the only remaining descendant of the Bulgar language. While interesting, we aren’t part of the same language group (Slavic is IE, yours is Turkic) and that makes studying your language(s) difficult. In this instance, Turks or Bulgarian Turks would have a much easier time understanding your tongue.
We also don’t really know much about Turkic traditions, the way Russia has influenced you, or who is the “purest” descendant of the Volga Bulgars (I say this because I’ve heard there’s some “competition” among Turkics in Russia about the heritage). We know some interesting facts and what we can find online, but nothing beyond that. And no, I doubt anyone would have an issue with your religion, especially in a day and age when people aren’t as religious as in the past.
That being said, a lot of us would be interested in learning more about it.