The .TATAR domain was officially launched in late August.  Its creators aim to promote Tatar ethnic and cultural segment in the Internet. At the moment the domain is under priority registration of websites, and the general registration access will be opened in spring 2015. We discussed the perspectives of the new domain with Alexander Yelizarov, Professor of Kazan Federal University, Director General of the Coordination Center of Regional Domain of Tatarstan.

- Mr. Yelizarov, could you tell us, please, who initiated .TATAR domain and how did the work started?

- Nikolay Nikiforov, Minister of Communication and Mass Media of Russia, the graduate of Kazan University, initiated the development of this domain while serving the Minister of Informatization and Communication of Tatarstan. The idea was supported by Rustam Minnikhanov, Tatarstan President. So in 2012 when the ICNN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) announced further expansion of the world domain system, we applied to register a new top-level domain. We established a special centre to organize the application process - Coordination Center of Regional Domain of Tatarstan.

- Were you surprised to receive a proposal to head the Coordination Centre?

- I can’t say I was very surprised. They took into consideration the experience I had. Few people remember now that in 1992-2001 there was the Internet Centre at Kazan University that I organized for the Soros Fellowship. Nikolay Nikoforov studied there and I supervised the project.

- As for the application, how did you explain the need in this top-level domain?

- The regional domain of Tatarstan Republic will develop as an international domain aimed to consolidate the Tatars around the world. We should say that .TATAR is an ethnic and cultural domain, it has no political context. We emphasized this fact many times while applying to the ICANN. A similar situation occurred 9 years ago with .cat domain aimed to develop Catalan language and culture. And I believe the further expansion of domain system will go this way.

- Do you think we are at the very start of a new stage of the Internet development?

- Surely, I do. It was normal before that one country had one top-level domain. But it was not approved by any law. Today we have a different approach to the organization of the domain system. In addition to national and cultural domains, we have another type, like .BERLIN, for instance.

- Many people wonder why .TATAR instead of .tat?

- During our application process other three organizations were applying for .TAT domain – Thai Trade Agency, Indian Ministry of Trade and a music band from Europe. After long discussions, we preferred .TATAR domain showing our idea to long legal battle for .TAT.

- Did you have any problems during the application process and approval by the ICANN?

- Yes, we did. I am sure you have heard that Saudi Arabia was against the launch of .TATAR domain because of terrorist attacks in Kazan in July 2012. The representatives of this country said it was inappropriate attitude towards religious figures and religion. But the Government of the Russian Federation published a note that other countries could not interfere with the internal affairs of Russia.

- The Coordination Centre of Regional Domain of Tatarstan partners with the Internet Technical Centre that provides the operation of the domain. What responsibilities does the Coordination Centre have?

 - First of all, it is the registration of websites and here all rights belong to the Coordination Centre. We are selling the domain names now, but after the sunrise period we will delegate these responsibilities to special organizations. It is important to say that all the revenues from all the sales will not go to the Coordination Centre, they will return to Tatarstan budget that funded over 7 million rubles to the project.  

- What are the domain’s perspectives?

- We can’t say now how popular this domain will be. However, we conducted a certain research before applying for this domain. Russian experts forecast 60 thousand domain names to be registered at .TATAR.