"Phenomenon" of President

"Phenomenon" of President Mintimer Shaimiev. What does it mean

By Ravil Bukharaev
FLINT RIVER PRESS Ltd, London

Even in the broad daylight of that late March morning, the Hague appeared quiet arid sleepy. The customary emptiness of its streets, the gaily blooming crocuses beside the canals, the tranquil lakes where swans slowly glided over the reflections of trees Just turning green - all this spoke volumes about the stability with which the Netherlands was heading into the next millennium of its existence. At least for a visitor from behind the erstwhile Iron Curtain, it seemed an incongruous place for any mention of the bloody ethnic and political conflicts in the former USSR, and yet it was the Hague which in January 1995 had offered the venue for the Round Table Conferences of the new "Hague initiative" launched by the joint efforts of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Harvard University and the Carnegie Foundation of the USA. In the past year, the issue dominating the Round Table discussions had been the well-known military conflict in Chechnya.

President Mintimer Shaimiev had come to the March 1996 Conference in the Hague after recent presidential elections in the Republic of Tatarstan. On that occasion, I witnessed the respect in which he was held by the other participants, among whom, needless to say, there were formidable leaders from the conflict zones, high-flying international political experts and senior officials of the OSCE. It was the same kind of respect that the President of Tatarstan always inspires in the appraisal of major political leaders of the world when he meets them in Kazan or their own capital cities. Such esteem is a natural response that I can be evoked by a statesman only through his deeds, and not by virtue of his office.

President Shaimiev, aboard whose plane all the Eastern participants, including an envoy of Chechnya, travelled to the Hague, came as the representative of the Republic of Tatarstan, a country which in the preceding six years had transformed itself from a little-known, oil-rich province of Russia into a separate and, in many ways, exemplary player on the European and world political stage. These past few years in the history of Russia and Tatarstan are an epoch in themselves and Mintimer Shaimiev, as the leader of a country which, in the words of the eminent scholar Alexandre Bennigsen, is heir to "an ancient and splendid civilisation", has become a notable figure of this dramatic and controversial epoch.

In Russia today, so much is being written on the issue of state power that all those works have created a whole new jargon, new cliches, which are even less intelligible than those used in communist times. This has made even more precious the words and concepts which have been so easily ridiculed and so hard to live by in all ages: honour, integrity, responsibility, compassion, faith. When all the upheavals of the present "time of troubles" have subsided, we shall be left with those few precious qualities and attributes, by which we are entitled to judge a nation and its leaders. While state power is best assessed by its degree of fairness, the measure of a nation is its spiritual nobility.

It is not easy to portray in words a man of power, even if, as in the case of President Mintimer Shaimiev, volumes have already been written about him in many different languages. There is, indeed, an abundance of material from which it would have been possible just to make a careful selection of appropriate quotations, seasoned with well-judged political assessments, and present this proficient compendium as a political portrait for a jubilee. But President Mintimer Shaimiev would surely refuse to recognise himself in such a portrait. He would rather see himself- his thoughts, his hopes and work - as part of a collective portrait of his great nation, which has always emerged from all the trials of history not weakened and frustrated, but with renewed strength and vigour, ever eager to strive not only for its own benefits but for the good of its neighbours. This remains true today. Tatarstan, whose indigenous people, a nation of farmers and craftsmen, merchants, scholars, poets and diplomats, has been so falsely and unfairly judged by world history, nowadays is demonstrating its worth not by political and nationalistic slogans, but by hard and conscientious work, the results of which are apparent to all.

In the present, very difficult and complex circumstances, Tatarstan sets an example of political stability. sustainable economic growth and inter-ethnic balance, seeing as a priority the need to protect the social and economic interests of all sections of its multi-ethnic population. The Republic of Tatarstan, a sovereign state united with the Russian Federation, succeeded in taking in the memorable words of Russian president Boris Yeltsin - "as much sovereignty as it could possibly carry" in the current political and economic circumstances. Guided by common sense, Tatarstan did not pursue the mirage of full independence, but defended the crucial and vital elements of sovereignty that really mattered to its people at this particular historical juncture. The ground-breaking Treaty on Mutual Delegation of Authority between Russia and Tatarstan, signed in February 1994 by Presidents Yeltsin and Shaimiev was a triumph of good sense and reasonable compromise. It paved the way for a Russian Federation that would be bound together not by administrative orders from the centre, but by constant inward gravitation in response to the common interests of the member states.

The far-sighted statesman who, in a critical situation, not only avoids resorting to extreme measures to prevent the chariot of history plunging into an abyss, but even manages to sow the seeds of future prosperity, has already earned the gratitude of his nation's posterity. The whole of the confident and, in many respects, exemplary progress in political, economic, social, cultural and national spheres achieved in such a short space by the Republic of Tatarstan has been under the leadership of Mintimer Shaimiev. Those who speak - or rather shout - about democracy often tend to forget one very important point: the process of democratic decision-making does not abrogate the strict responsibility of the state leader for the implementation of those decisions. Thus, supreme power in a truly democratic state is not a boon, as it is often regarded by those who are not yet aware of the burdens of democracy. First and foremost, it calls for strict accountability, something not at all desired by would-be politicians craving for power on the wave of democratisation.

When, in February 1996, on the eve of the presidential elections. I asked Mintlmer Shaimiev what his feelings were, he answered that they were mixed. On the one hand, he had little doubt that the electorate would entrust him with the presidency for a further term (the Communists had also by then come to the same conclusion and a few days before our conversation had withdrawn their own candidate, but at the same time he knew only too well what the job entailed and the particular problems that would have to be solved by him alone, and no one else.

In recent years, political responsibility had ceased to be a merely declamatory concept - a fact which only a handful of politicians had fully grasped. Once a well-staged Soviet state show, politics suddenly turned into human tragedy, smelling of gunpowder and blood.

Against such a background, the adoption in 1990 of the Declaration of State Sovereignty on behalf of the entire multi-ethnic population of Tatarstan and the consistent advocacy of this popular decision, confirmed by the republican referendum of 1992. not only placed a colossal responsibility on the Tatarstan leadership, but called for a great deal of courage, clear-thinking and fortitude. In spring 1992, the then Russian Vice-President, Alexander Rutskoi, called for all national careerists and separatists to be "put behind bars for ten to fifteen years, lest only Dudaevs and Shamievs remain in power". At that time, only the republican government was fully aware that the federal centre was planning to go much further than mere threats against the leadership and to turn on the people of Tatarstan. In the tense days of the 1992 republican referendum - it was then that the Chairman of the. Supreme Council of Russia Ruslan Khazbulatov, suggested bringing Mintimer Slaimiev to Moscow in an "Iron cage" - the tanks that two years later went into Chechnya were ready to enter Tatarstan. This did not happen thanks to the unity in the face of such a disaster, of the Tatarstan leadership, which fulfilled its historical duty towards the multi-ethnic population.

When one recalls that after the Declaration of State Sovereignty relations between Russia and Tatarstan became strained to breaking point, the subsequent signing in 1994 of the bilateral Treaty on Mutual Delegation of Authority appears to be not just a brilliant success of Tatarstan diplomacy, but nothing short of a miracle, in which, to be honest, it is still hard to believe. Yet this miracle did not happen overnight, as miracles sometimes do: it was the product of an immense, painstaking and united effort, and also, undoubtedly, of the patience, consistency, deep faith and statesmanship of Mintimer Shaimiev. It was he who succeeded in persuading President Boris Yeltsin, himself a man of strong will and firm convictions, shaped by the entire history of Russian statehood, of the correctness of the course adopted by the Republic of Tatarstan. The negotiations were lengthy and not easy, but the final outcome more than compensated for the price seen and unseen, that had to be paid in the preparatory period, owing the whole world the wisdom of the two Presidents, who succeeded in reaching a mutually acceptable compromise without sacrificing their national convictions.

In this quiet, behind-the-scenes exercise of patient persuasion and careful calculation of every step (Mintimer Shaimiev is a passionate chess-player), the single-mindedness of the first President of Tatarstan is very clearly demonstrated. For him, each step along the path of state leadership has been not a step towards ensuring himself a place in history, but just another lesson in the school of life, the knowledge of which Mintimer Shaimiev, in his own words, values more than any monument. This ability to view the whole, derived from his knowledge of life is categorized by some political analysts as ordinary "pragmatism", and this obviously makes it difficult for them to explain the so-called 'phenomenon' of President Mintimer Shaimiev. Indeed, what is a phenomenon? According to the Thesaurus, it is 'a marvel, miracle, prodigy, wonder...' Well, against the background of the deepening political, economic, social and inter-ethnic crisis in some of the former Soviet republics and in Russia itself, the socio-political stability and sustained economic growth in Tatarstan does, indeed, look like a wonder to be analyzed by political scientists and political hopefuls. On the basis of short-term statistical data they attempt to calculate exactly which of the selfish ambitions of the Tatarstan leadership has proved so beneficial for the Republic and the stabilization of its economy. But it was precisely these same statistics which, a few years earlier, made Russian and foreign observers criticize Tatarstan for remaining, in their opinion, "an island of Communism" in the stormy sea of market reforms. However, when the all-Russian privatization storm began to subside, those same observers started to look at the state and economic model of Tatarstan with growing interest. The secret was that Tatarstan, making its own way towards a market economy, never attempted another step forward before feeling firm ground beneath its feet.

"We knew" said President Mintimer Shaimiev "that the crucial reforms could not be carried through by obeying orders from above, particularly since these were not always well thought out. We went towards our goal knowing what we wanted, and without unnecessarily glancing sideways. Since the start of radical reforms in the Republic in 1992, our results look much better than the Russian, on average, or even in comparison with the so-called pioneering regions. The Republics on the whole, has achieved what it wanted, and at much less cost to the population than in other regions.

Having started much more slowly than was the case, on average, throughout Russia, Tatarstan later confidently gained economic momentum, making the next move only after the previous one had achieved its purpose. If, in following this course, there was any slogan at all, it was the President's words: "All reforms aren't worth a penny if they cause the people misery" The reformation of the legal basis, without which any efforts to solve the problems of market transformation prove futile, also proceeded in the Republic at a very calculated speed. However, many legal acts, such as those providing state protection of foreign investments and private property, and for the most essential land reform, were adopted in Tatarstan much earlier than in other republics. This also applies to the new Constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan, enacted as early as in November 1992.

During the ancient Tatar festival of Sabantui (Plough Festival), one of the traditional events is a race in which competitors hold in their teeth a spoon with a raw egg on it. The one who immediately gleefully dashes off ahead of the rest usually drops the egg sooner or later. It is a runner who keeps a steady pace that crosses the finishing line as the winner. The President of Tatarstan believes that the process of transformation is similar to this, not like a horse race, albeit racehorses are among his most abiding interests.

"Looking at other countries," the President said, we became convinced that those that export only natural resources do not always grow rich, quite the opposite, they much more often get poorer. We have realized that to attract foreign investment without first setting up appropriate market institutions, without skill in working with debentures and without changing our attitude to the export of oil, is an impossible task.'

The key element of Tatarstan's economic strategy can be expressed very simply: without renovating industry and equipping it with the latest technology, the Republic's present economic growth is fated to slow down. But how to finance such renovation? The President's solution through long-term credits secured on the shares of attractive republican companies and, of course, through the sales of oil - not in its crude state, but refined, which increases its value manifold. Tatarstan's oil, refined in accordance with agreements with Moscow, Ukraine and other republics and regions, is there to finance the equipping of industry with the most up-to-date technology, and not to provide for the everyday needs of the population. In other words, the country's basic resources are exchanged for other basic resources, not just consumed as though there were a limitless supply. The underlying idea actually has its origins in folk wisdom, which says that one should not use up any resource unless replacing it by something better that will serve not just the vital everyday needs, but also the needs of future generations. The socio-economic philosophy of President Mintimer Shaimiev is, thus, derived from the philosophy of people, the philosophy of common sense, which always tends to solve problems in their complex entirety, and not one by one.

The Tatarstan approach to the radical transformation of the economy consisted not in ultra-revolutionary - read, anarchic - destruction of the former financial and industrial structures, but in their revision and improvement. The process of restructuring is far from over, and there are obvious obstacles to it: Tatarstan does not live in isolation; it is an integral part of the all-Russian economic process, with all its difficulties, gains and losses. Yet, even the particular examples of how Tatarstan is dealing with oil-related and agricultural issues allow us to assert that through its new approaches the Republic is not simply resolving its own internal problems, but is also helping to create and reform business ties all over the vast economic expanses of Eurasia. In recent years, Tatarstan has managed to curb the slide in oil production and conclude several contracts with refineries in other republics. As far as the agricultural sector is concerned, the Republic has year by year increased its harvest. In consequence, Tatarstan is fully self-sufficient in basic foodstuffs and does not expect anything from the federal center.

All the actions of the President of Tatarstan thus bear the stamp of that popular pragmatism which almost always can distinguish a real possibility from wishful thinking, the most seductive myths from down-to-earth reality. Besides the myth of immediate capitalistic prosperity, there are also certain myths about democracy and inter-ethnic relations. It is not easy to tread the labyrinth of this modern mythology, for at every turn you are confronted by the ghosts of the past and mirages of the future. One of these delusions arising during the transitional period of democratic evolution is the mirage of a multi-party democracy in the absence of real parties. Every genuine party has to mature according to its own ideas and traditions. First and foremost, it should clearly realize whose interests it represents. A leader of Mintimer Shaimiev's caliber is bound to face opposition from the right and from the left, but here, too, the political acumen of the President is evident in his steady, sober approach: he is never distracted by ghostly mirages and, as a rule, sees much farther ahead than those who are ever-ready to draw people in pursuit of yet another fantasy of the day.

President Mintimer Shaimiev is well acquainted with the problems of an immature parliamentary democracy As Chairman of the Supreme Council of TASSR in 1990-1991, he presided over the parliament that took the most crucial and important legal decisions on the country's future status. In his concluding speech after the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Tatarstan, he placed special emphasis on the concept of responsibility:

By taking this important historical step in the life of the multi-ethnic people of Tatarstan, we have assumed a responsibility the like of which has never before been undertaken in the history of our Republic. If what we have done is evidence of maturity, we must also learn wisdom straight away, so that, by means of the independence we have proclaimed, we may raise the spiritual and material standards of life of the population of the Republic and, first of all, safeguard and further strengthen the friendship of peoples which evolved throughout the centuries in our land. This, dear colleagues, is the high price of that sovereignty.

Affirmation of the friendship and understanding among the peoples of the Republic is seen by the President as one of his most important duties as head of state. On the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty, Mintimer Shaimiev explicitly declared that the sovereignty of Tatarstan was devoid of any nationalistic hue, and it is not incidental tat he regards the strengthening of this friendship as the foremost principle of his life. This is certainly one reason why he enjoys the trust of the multi-ethnic nation of Tatarstan.

Recent years have proved the maturity of the choice made by the Republic. There are obviously, some who consider that the Republic has not enough sovereignty, but they are mostly people who are far removed from the real problems of government and the running of the economy. They put forward extreme slogans, forgetting that the main concept imbedded in the Muslim heritage of Tatarstan is the idea of "sabyrlyk", which in the Tatar language has a wide range of connotations: humility, patience, tolerance, steadfastness and above all, noble self-restraint, which the faithful are called upon to exercise.

The complexities of state independence have many inter-ethnic facets, since the Republics population consists of almost equal numbers of Russians and Tatars. The introduction of Russian as a state language, on the same footing as Tatar, immediately removed the tension which at one point had started to develop among the peoples of Tatarstan. However, justice demanded acknowledgment of the fact that the development of the indigenous Tatar culture and language had been held back for centuries, first by imperial and religious obstacles and subsequently by ideological objections in the Soviet era. For this reason, the fostering of the Tatar mother tongue and Tatar culture was from the outset one of the President's priorities.

"Language is the soul of the people," Mintimer Shaimiev often says. "Loss of the language would mean the loss of the national soul. We need the kind of equality which will allow us, first of all, to improve the standing of the Tatar language. Such an approach will not be a violation of the principle of equality, but only a correction of an historical injustice.

Greater knowledge of one another is the path by which individuals and entire nations come closer and attain mutual trust. Facilitating this is one of the duties of the executive and legislative powers, an obligation which along with others, is so responsibly carried out by President Mintimer Shaimiev. Despite all the problems of the past and present, Islam and Christianity peacefully co-exist in the Republic, where freedom of conscience is considered one of the main human rights safeguarded by the President. On the area of the Kazan Kremlin, work has begun simultaneously on building a full-scale replica of the medieval Kul Sharif Mosque and on restoring the old Church of the Ascension. By presidential decree, the Kremlin, the heart of the ancient capital of Tatarstan, has been designated an historical, architectural and museum reserve, in order to safeguard and foster the multi-ethnic cultural heritage.

The events of the recent past have shown that the President enjoys the full support of a genuine national movement in the Republic as it revives its historical statehood. All the peoples of Tatarstan know that this is their home. As for President Shaimievs attitude to the people of Russia at large, this can be judged by his answer when being questioned on the Chechen conflict, which he strove to resolve with such energy and compassion:

"Why look for enemies" All kinds of insults are poured on the [Chechen] nation, which in many ways was compelled to resort to arms. From time to time, someone is pleased that the other side is getting weaker. But what does 'the other side' mean'? All of them are our people.''

The time has come to respect the people more than the most acclaimed goals of the state, for the people, in fact, are the basis of statehood. This view, a corner-stone of President Shaimievs political philosophy, is evident in all his actions and judgments. From the earliest days of his leadership and all along the rather difficult path of Tatarstan's revival as a state, Mintimer Shaimiev set an outstanding example of how state objectives can be achieved not by sacrificing the people, but, quite the opposite by showing deep understanding of the multi-ethnic population of his country. We may say that instances of such respect by a leader for his people are rare in world history.

In the intentional and Russian political vocabulary of recent years the unemotional term "region" is one of the most frequently used. Tatartstan, of course, is also referred to in this way. But, in the restrained and prudent Hague, blessed with the wealth and well-being which still remains a distant dream for many countries, I was sure that during the difficult Round Table discussions the vision of this region was before the eyes of all members of the Tatarstan delegation. What they visualized, was their wonderful and long-suffering native land, the images of its towns on the banks of broad rivers (Chulman-Kama, lk, Cheremshan or Idel-Volga), that always awaken memories of the beautiful, ancient and nostalgic Tatar folk songs so loved by President Shaimiev.

Mintimer Shaimiev was born on January 20, 1937, in the village of Anyak in the Aktanysh district of Tatarstan. His childhood and early youth were spent working and studying - both in the school of life and in a village school. In order to manage all his chores around the house, Mintimer had to rise as early as five in the morning, and yet, throughout his ten-year schooling, he always brought home only the highest marks. When President Shaimiev states his conviction that the best and most reliable people most often come from the countrysides he has in mind that village life provides a proper upbringing, accompanied by constant work, and develops a keen sense of responsibility, for such work is very demanding and cannot be put off 'for tomorrow'. The fact is that every belief of the President is based upon the historical wisdom of the Tatar people, whose great urban culture was forcibly exiled into the countryside in 1552, after the fall of Kazan and loss of statehood, and forbidden to re-appear any closer than thirty miles from its orphaned capital.

Though Tatar culture had been exiled from towns, it did not die out or deteriorate in the village. On the contrary, this ancient culture, with its strength and maturity, immeasurably raised the educational and civilizational level of rural life. It was the Tatar countryside that gave poets and scholars famous far beyond the borders of the Russian Empire. Thanks to the untiring efforts of village madrassahs, the level of literacy was steadily raised. The Tatar village preserved riot just the folk wisdom and oral literature, but also great literary works, like the Kyssai Yusuf of Kul Gall, that form part of the cultural heritage of the whole of mankind. The fact that the finest and most distinguished representatives of the Tatar people have, as a rule, been born in villages, is not a matter of chance, nor does it imply the rural character of Tatar culture as a whole. It signifies, rather, the process of return of Tatar civilization to its origins, the reestablishment of the high urban culture and statehood of this ancient land.

The Tatar village is the repository of the philosophy and wisdom or the people, a fact which was seldom understood by the majority of the Soviet ruling elite. Born and brought up in a village, Mintimer Shalmiev understands the moral values of his people. In the most difficult years of the transitional period, on the basis of a specially designed program the President announced support for the agro-industrial complex as a priority of Tatarstan 's economic development. This state support proved very beneficial: as a result, agricultural production in the Republic is increasing year by year. The most welcome sight is the ever-changing face of the countryside: modern housing, buildings for civic and cultural purposes, new roads, are being constructed everywhere. In this context, Mintimer Shaimiev's path from an industrious village boy to a student of the prestigious Kazan Agricultural Institute and, further on, to chief engineer of the Muslumovo Station supplying and servicing agricultural machinery, Minister for Land Improvement and Water Resources off Republic and, eventually, President of the revived state, appears not at a surprising but very natural. In the prudence and astuteness off President's actions, the working people of Tatarstan recognize their own qualities: this is what is meant by the "social ground" of the presidency of Mintimer Shaimiev.

It is not possible to be twice elected President by political chance through some momentary whim of the electorate. The people can, of course, be deluded and misled, especially in economic matters: they are sometimes as gullible as children. But even a child cannot be taken in feigned love, and this is certainly true of the motherland.

I recall how, during one Republic Day celebration, I met the President on the shore of Lake Kaban. He was just about to embark on motor boat to cross the lake and join the citizens and guests of the ancient city of Kazan in the square in front of the Tatar Academic Theater. The skies above Kazan were bright and clear, and Lake Kaban glittered in the sunshine. The President was given a colorful send-off by personages from the fairy poems of the Tatar classical poet Gabdullah Tukai: the heroic Karakhmet and the golden-haired Mother of Water accompanied by a whole kindergarten of tiny mermaids. The smiling President behaved as naturally as he would in the Hague or any other city of the world, but one could sense the special happiness he felt to be here in his native land.

This moment was one to remember also because the President was surrounded by his comrades in the struggle to revive the state: Prime Minister Farit Mukhametshin, the Chairman of the State Council Vasily Likhachev, the Mayor of Kazan Kamil Iskhakov and, standing nearest to him, his wife, Sakina-khanum, a handsome and determined woman who has been the President's closest companion, sharer of his ideas and aspirations, though all the troubles and joys of his life. The very journey which the President was undertaking seemed symbolic on that day of celebration. Here, on one shore of the lake, the President was seen off by the personages of Cabdullah Tukai, representing the history and culture of his nation, while on the other shore the people of this multi-ethnic Republic representing its hope for the future, were gathered to welcome him.

There and then I realized that the so-called "phenomenon" of President Mitimer Shaimiev is, in fact, the phenomenon of the revival of the Tatar state and the entire multi-ethnic nation of Tatarstan. This revival, latent for nearly four and a half centuries, finally became possible when the nation at last gained the right to express its own interests, for the protection of which it elected and re-elected its President. What awaits the Republic of Tatarstan is future history. But what has so far been achieved will never be forgotten and will be forever linked with the name of Mintimer Shaimiev.

The presidential boat was heading towards the theater embankment, as if into the unknown future, and at that moment full of high hopes and aspirations, the words that came most naturally were those of the ancient Tatar valediction: Haerle Yul! Fare you well ...