FOREWORD FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

 It is with pleasure that I extend mymost cordial greetings 

to readers, authors and publishers of the new journal Tatarica!

When abroad, I am often asked two simple questions by the people who are far from science, politics and big business. The questions are: Who are Tatars? Where do they live? To the second question, I gladly answer: Tatars live everywhere! The answer to the first question varies each time.

Sometimes I talk about our ancestors who founded one of the earliest states in Eastern Europe – Volga Bulgaria. Or, I can just describe the famous boots with leather mosaics our craftsmen have been famous for since ancient times. In some cases I have to clarify the difference between the Tatars and the Tatar-Mongol invaders. Almost all are surprised at the fact that in the Russian Federation the Tatar population is the second biggest ethnos, and very few people have heard about Finnish or Lithuanian Tatars.

Yes, there are many people in the world who are interested both in our history and our culture and who know about the life of modern Tatars. There are also many scholars who have researched these issues throughout their scientific career. However, current scientific information about the Tatars seems to be very fragmented.

Not every person on the planet is interested in reading research papers, however, it is these papers that accumulate objective information which everyone needs. The articles published in Tatarica will certainly allow to up­date and enrich scientific information about the nation that has contributed to the history of civilization and that continues to live adequately responding to the challenges of our times.

The current times can rightly be called the age of science, so important is its role in the life of mankind. Representatives of different countries and nations make their contributions to the treasury of world science. The list of distinguished Tatar scholars includes the names of Rinat Akchurin, Kamil Valiev, Robert Nigmatullin, Renaud and Roald Sagdeev, Rashid and Shamil Sunyaev, Marat Yusupov and many others. All of them are the pride of the Tatar nation, its best representatives.

A special place among Tatar scholars is occupied by the researchers who study the life and activities of the Tatar people, their language, literature, history, culture, and education. They do not only bring glory to Tatar studies, but together with their counterparts from other regions of Russia and foreign countries make major contributions to the development of the Tatar community. The current level of Tatar scientific thought in social sciences and humanities requires integration of all intellectual potential that exists around the globe.

Our goal is to create a scholarly journal that meets the standards of a quality international periodical and offers its readers print and electronic versions of the best research of national and international scholars working in the field of language, literature, history, folklore, religious and philosophical thought, education, culture, and art of the Tatar people. The journal is divided into seven main sections: Language, Literature, History and Society, Culture, Personality, Education, Personalia, Reviews and Surveys, and Turkic World Research Chronicles. In these sections, we will publish original research papers that will describe research findings on these topics as well as book and dissertation reviews, bibliographic information about leading Tatar scholars, and chronicles of the scientific events of the Turkic world.

The international scholarly journal Tatarica, the first issue of which is in your hands, is intended to become an efficient center of scientific collaboration that will unite Tatar scholars from all the regions of the world as well as other representatives of the scientific community whose research is within the subject scope of the journal. Therefore, the main language of the journal is the language of the world scientific community – English. At the same time, the papers will provide abstracts in Tatar and Russian, and all the articles written in the Tatar or Russian language will also be presented in the original. We believe it will enable our national scholars to quickly and effectively get integrated into the international scholarly community and join their efforts with the scholars, working in the same fields abroad.

I would like to acknowledge my immense gratitudeto the President of the Republic of Tatarstan R.N.Minnikhanov and the Rector of Kazan Federal University I.G.Gafurov for their support that enabled us to develop and publish the journal in the international format. I also thank all the members of the editorial and advisory boards of Tatarica and its staff for all the work they have done, and I wish our future authors new achievements in their research and creative work!

Editor-in-Chief
Radif Zamaletdinov