Kasim Tatars Kasim Tatars were settled in the city of Kasim in the Idyll-Ural region and the Kasim district together with the Rezan, Kazan, Tashkent, Riga and the other cities. Today, their number in the city of Kasim and its surroundings in fairly above 100 thousands of people.
Kasim Tatars are Sunnite Muslims. Although there were some people that converted their religion to Christianity, they were assimilated and became Russians. Kasim Tatars have taken their name from the centre of Kasim Khanate that was once called as the city of Miser. Miser and Kasim Tatars that had a dense population in the same city resemble to one another in respect of both their dialects and the Turkish tribes that they are rooted from. Kasim tatars are rooted from Turk-Ugor, Altinordu (Golden Army) and Nogay-Kipchaks.
The high-ranked administrative group that was composed of ban, sultan, seyit, bekov, ulan, mirza, tarhan and Kazakhs was called as Tatar under the management of Kasim Khanate. This tradition led to the appropriation of the name of Tatar within the public.They started to work in the railway cities like Petersburg in the centuries XIX-XX. These migrations decreased the number of Kasim Tatars in the centuries XIX-XX.
Christian Tatars
Christian Tatars is a group of Idyll-Ural Tatars. They call themselves as "Kreshin". They were registered as a different community under the name of Kreshin in the censuses of 1920 and 192. Their population was determined as 120.000 in the year of 1920 and 120.700 in the local census of 1926. Some groups had different names such as "Nogaybek".
Kreshins
The conversion of Tatars into Christianity occurred in two stages. Tatars that were baptised in the centuries of XVI-XVII constituted the first Christian group. In the first half of the century XVII, the "newly baptised" group occurred. Their number is 3-4 thousands of people. The number of the Tatars in Idyll-Ural region that were baptised reached to the highest number in 60s in the century of XVII and then Christian Tatars were formed upon the integration of different groups. Some of these groups returned to religion of Islam and this process got a new impetus in the beginning of the century XX. First of all, some of the Tatars that were newly baptised converted their religion into the religion of Islam again. 40% of the Christian Tatars selected the religion of Islam in the beginning of the century XX.
After the year 1917, the "Kreshin Problem" appeared in Tataristan. The issues that were on the agenda were the probability to grant Kreshins the autonomy and the integration with the other Tatars in the years of 1917-1920. As a result of severe struggles, a "Medial" way was found. Kreshins were granted a limited cultural autonomy. Afterwards, Kreshins could not maintain their characteristics since the policy of state was atheist. The process of the integration of Kreshins with the other Tatar groups has not been completed yet. The national sense and conscience of Kreshins have started to get aroused recently. The foundation of Kreshin Union of Ethnography, Culture and Education is the outcome of this change.
The traditional culture of Kreshins is fairly original. Their ethnical historical structures have not been researched thoroughly. As a result of the separation of Kreshins from the Muslim Tatars, some of the ancient cultural elements were combined with the elements of the Christian culture. While Kreshins are closer to Kazan Tatars in respect of the fundamental cultural elements, some groups have basic characteristics closer to Miser people. The spoken language of Kreshins is about the boundaries of the middle dialect. We can divide Kreshins into seven groups in respect of their ethnography and languages: Molkeev, Çittopol, Batı-Kam, Elabıug, Mengel, Bakalin ve Nogaybek.
Nogaybeks
Nogaybeks is a separate group of the Christian Tatars. They were classified as a group of Orenburg Kazaks. They lived in the cities of Nogaybek and Cebarkul connected to the province of Celyabinks. The population of Nogaybeks was 11.200 according to the census of 1926 and the language that the Nogaybeks spoke was a branch of the middle dialect of Tatar language. Nogaybeks were the Tatars, he members of the Christian religion that were baptised before the century of XVIII.
Although the name of Nogaybek is cited in the resources pertaining to the century of XIX, it is supposed that this name existed in the century of XVII. There are some suppositions that Nogaybeks were composed of Nogay, Kazan Tatars ans Finno-Ugrian people. However, there are much more evidences that show that they have the roots of Nogay-Kipchak and they lived in Caucasus before. Nogaybeks still lives in Ufa within the Eastern Kama region under the name of Novakyashen since the year of 1729. According to some references, Nogaybeks immigrated to this region in the years of 1652-56. They were accepted as Kazakhs in 1830s and recruited for military service. They were forced to immigrate to Nogaybek village with a distance of 60 km from Menzele (Manzelinsk) in the year of 1736. At the end of the century XVIII, Bogaybeks were named on account of this village. Tepters lived in the town of Bakalı. The relevance was established between these people through marriages.
In the beginning of the century XX, Nogaybeks living in this region amalgamated with the Muslim Tatars and they converted their religions into the religion of Islam. Nogaybeks who had immigrated to the High Ural region preserved their characteristics and they were separated as "Nogaybek" in the second half of the century XIX. They were registered as different communities in the censuses of 1920 and 26. The culture of Nogaybeks resembles to Kazan Tatars, and particularly to Kreshins in general. For example, the traditional clothes of men are the Kazakh clothes. Their development that lasted for centuries played an important role in the separation of them from the other Tatars, but they knew that Nogaybeks were of the same nation with Tatars.
The End
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