Bashkir language studied as part of the regional component curriculum- The Minister of Education of the republic Gulnaz Shafikova stated this today in an interview with the leading radio station "Radio of Russia Bashkortostan" Natalya Sannikova.
Its study is carried out within the framework of the federal state standard and is provided for by the Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the minister noted.
The decision to study the Bashkir language as the state language, according to her, is made by the collegiate council of the school. At the same time, which language will be studied as native school decides with parents. The class can be divided into groups for study different languages. However, this will only happen if there are at least 7 people in the group. According to Gulnaz Shafikova, the ministry understands that today the Bashkir language should be studied as a foreign language, and this requires a completely different teaching methodology.
Echo of Moscow - Ufa
Minister of Education Shafikova told whether the Bashkir language will be compulsory in schools?
Today, the host of the radio station "Radio of Russia Bashkortostan" Natalya Sannikova interviewed the Minister of Education Gulnaz Shafikova. She answered the most pressing questions that worried the public this spring and summer.
The Minister explained in detail how parents can teach their children their native language.
“If you, as a parent, applied to the school with a statement that you want your child to study the Bashkir language as a native language, and there is a group of such people in the class, then the school will have to provide you with such conditions. If, say, in a class of 20 children, 10 write Bashkir as their native language, and 10 write Tatar as their native language, the school will consider the possibility of dividing the class into groups and providing conditions for teaching their native language. The parent's statement is fundamental,” the minister explained, specifying that the group cannot be less than seven people.
Also, 67% of children of non-Russian nationality can choose education in their native language. These are Bashkir, Tatar, Mari, Udmurt, there are even German, Latvian, Ukrainian and other languages.
When asked about the study of Russian as a native language, the minister replied: “We don’t even consider Russian, because in all our schools they study Russian as the state language. But if the parents write in their application that they choose Russian as their native language, and they have a subject, as we talked about, chosen by them, then the school will divide the classes into groups where they will study one native language and another mother tongue.
In response to the most topical question “Will Bashkir be taught as state language in our schools?” Gulnaz Radmilovna said the following:
“This is an important division, and one must understand that Bashkir as official language is studied with us from grades 1 to 9, its study is carried out within the framework of the federal state standard and is provided by the Constitution of the Republic of Bashkortostan and our law "On Education". All children from grades 1 to 9 study Bashkir as the state language one or two hours a week. And everything else is already at the request of the parents. But Bashkir as a state language is studied by the decision of the collegiate council of the school.”
The minister's answer is not entirely clear: is the study of the Bashkir language as the state language still mandatory or by decision of the collegiate council of the school? We will investigate this question.
The minister also assured that textbooks and teaching methods would be reviewed. This is the most "painful" issue, which caused parental indignation.
This question has not advanced one iota in a quarter of a century.
Last week, the question of the obligatory study of the Bashkir language in schools suddenly escalated. The day before, the republican authorities were attacked on this issue both from above and from below: in the first case, it was about Vladimir Putin, in the second - about the “Congress of the Bashkir People”, which held a protest action in Ufa. And although the "national" slogans were not brought to the fore, they were, as it were, implied by the values and activities of this previously unknown organization.
However, everyone who remembers the history of Bashkiria over the past twenty years knows that the national map at its peak turns out to be a means, but not an end. There are at least two such moments: 1999 and 2010. In both cases, there were either rumors, or not rumors, that columns of Bashkir youth were to arrive on specially organized buses from distant regions to Sovetskaya Square in Ufa - to teach the Ufa residents about national politics. In both cases, there was a multilateral blackmail of the Moscow and Ufa elites by the people, who are about to demand respect for their special status and language tomorrow, at X-hour. At first, the first violin in this campaign was played by the Union of Bashkir Youth, an organization surrounded in Ufa-1999 by a rather sinister mythology. The townspeople were discussing in an undertone the photo sessions of the leaders of the union in the Chechen "green" almost in an embrace with Shamil Basayev: at another time they would have become material evidence in a criminal case, that autumn these pictures were respectfully exhibited in the foyer of the opera house. In Ufa-2010, the III World Kurultai of the Bashkirs, the bodies created by it and the appeals distributed by it, acted as a "collective organizer and agitator". If even in that hot June-July (and it’s not just about the drought) these declarations, communiqués and appeals were distributed somehow in an undertone, then in today’s official sources, where peace and quiet, you won’t find this evidence, even if you start find out what that "memorable" III kurultai was doing. In quotation marks, because they immediately tried to forget him. And what role did he play in the immediate resignation of Murtaza Rakhimov.
Here is the key. Despite the sonority of the slogans, the formidable question of the national policy in the region and the status of the Bashkir language has always turned out to be only a facade of much more pragmatic processes. In 1999, Rakhimov, along with some other "heavyweights" overestimating the weakness of the Yeltsin team, relied on the alliance between Luzhkov and Primakov. The tightening of the screws that happened then in some bizarre way fused the most brutal campaign in support of the “Fatherland” (with a pressure that United Russia is still far from today) with a campaign in the region national policy. This, for example, is the draft law on citizenship of the Republic of Bashkortostan - an idea that would allow anyone to be deported from Ufa - even a small group of dissenters, even large national groups. The then edition of the law on languages. Appearing next, like a genie from a bottle, Vladimir Putin, although he mixed up the plans of the sovereign "heavyweights", they nevertheless tried to fight - the first months. The severity of the issue with Bashkiria, Tatarstan (in 1999, translated the Tatar language on the sly into the Latin alphabet - but not for long) and several other republics (I’m not talking about Chechnya) was such that the newly-minted acting. President devoted even part of the New Year's speech-2000 to this. It is curious that the passages he stressed (something about the fact that the laws of the Russian Federation continue to operate in all the republics), the local authorities not only tried to openly ban them, but when they were brought to the front page by the Ufa Molodezhka newspaper, the newspaper had Problems. And for several more months Murtaza Gubaidullovich fussed, holding confused symposiums on federalism and vaguely hinting that "not a step back." It ended up that the new tsar forgave all these liberties, accepted the white flag, changed the constitution of Bashkiria (and the day off in honor of the constitution day - December 24 - was annoyedly canceled), and the question of the status and study of Bashkir was sent to the archive for a long time.
There is nothing to explain about 2010. Against the backdrop of the looming threat of resignation, our "heavyweight" again tried to intimidate the Kremlin with an imminent national uprising. Again there were gloomy discussions about language, other "materials of the third congress", and again everything magically resolved - the day after the resignation decree. In general, all this is like in a parable about a shepherdess who shouted “wolves, wolves” twice. Try to convince us that for the third time the question is really about the language, and not about the showdown for the main seat in the Bashkir White House.
Today, the language discussion has developed from four components. In addition to the aforementioned "rally and puting", these are, in their own way, remarkable statements by the head of the republic, Rustem Khamitov, and the Minister of Education of Bashkiria, Gulnaz Shafikova. As for Vladimir Putin, his role in this story can be described by the formula "God gave - God took." He “took” it now, suddenly declaring that the compulsory study of national languages in Russian schools against the will of students and their families (non-native speakers of these languages) is unacceptable. It is clear that here, in Bashkiria, both the minister and the head had to “smooth and explain” this unpopular commandment for the elites – without any desire and in such a way that it turned out to be as incomprehensible as possible.
And when did "God gave"? And Putin had such a joke at one of the press conferences of the Ufa summits of the SCO and BRICS. Answering a question about the working languages of these international organizations, the president either decided to please the hosts, or simply spontaneously joked, as is increasingly the case with him. Chinese, Brazilian and other journalists restrainedly laughed at his advice “everyone should learn Bashkir”, and even in the Bashkir environment, the presidential humor was not very actively touched. The fact that it was a joke is the key to the entire 18-year history of "Putin and National Languages". At all times, Putin reacted to this topic in a purely situational way: he could joke, he could repeat the common truths from the law (as a few days ago), he could develop a strange discussion “is it easy for a Tatar in Bashkiria, but for a Bashkir in Tatarstan”, which betrayed that he did not in the subject and is not going to dive into it. Putin makes it clear every time that he really has no point of view on this issue.
The head of the Republic of Belarus, Rustem Khamitov, could not remain silent in such a situation and had to explain himself. The head of the republic stated with extreme caution that changes would be made to the Bashkir laws, which can be understood in such a way that the Bashkir language will be studied optionally. Certainly, Rustem Khamitov supplied this pill, bitter for many, with promises that the Bashkir language “will definitely be studied”, because there are more than 1 million people in the republic, and the number of hours for Bashkir teachers will not change, and demanded that school principals not fire teachers in any case. However, the public still had questions: both those who demanded the obligatory study of the Bashkir language in schools, both state, and those who shouted about the forcible compulsion of children to learn a non-native dialect. But, given that Bashkir laws have been brought into line with federal laws for many years, it seems that the hype will subside in the near future, as it has happened many times in recent decades.
Thus, today's surge of discussions about the Bashkir language at school has no real basis. He stands on three whales of meaninglessness. First: national protests, as always, served the current issues of the struggle for power. Second: Putin has no ideas, no position, he “mirrors” the issue of national languages always in different ways and in any context-friendly form. Third: the local authorities tried to say so as not to say anything specifically. For the second week we have been discussing something that has not really changed for thirty years.
More precisely, at least twenty-seven. In August 1990, I was supposed to be registered in Ufa School No. 9, but in the end I was sent to School No. 90, because the whole discussion about languages was just unfolding. In the corridors of the clinic, at some medical examinations, in the corridors of schools. All parents discussed in the word of mouth mode: here, they introduced Bashkir lessons from the first grade, but are they mandatory, but there they say - no, but there they say - yes. Neither in the schools themselves, nor in the RONO could explain anything worthwhile. More precisely, they spoke with about the same degree of clarity as the authorities today.
This question has not moved one iota anywhere in a quarter of a century. This question is not going anywhere. This is a story that has no solution. Moreover, in my opinion, the majority of schoolchildren still do not fully understand whether they are learning Bashkir. In general, such dreams come true. Terrible for some, pleasant for others. In fact, this is the same scholastic toffee as the discussion about how many angels fit on the point of a needle: this question has been tediously and senselessly discussed for several centuries, from Thomas Aquinas to Jonathan Swift. So perhaps we are only at the beginning of the journey.
23:58 - REGNUM
In Bashkiria, after a period of relative calm, disputes have again flared up around the study of state and native languages by Russian-speaking schoolchildren in schools and classes with Russian as the language of instruction. The discussion arose after the publication of the data of the prosecutor's check and the interview of the head of the region Rustem Khamitov one of the publications where the topic of teaching the Bashkir language was touched upon. Interviewed IA REGNUM The experts agreed that the language policy in the republic should be in full compliance with federal legislation.
Alexandra Mayer © IA REGNUM
Prosecutor's inspections, together with representatives of Rosobrnadzor on the study of the Bashkir language, took place in the schools of the republic in mid-May. As the chairman of the committee for the protection of the rights of Russian-speaking schoolchildren told the agency Natalya BudilovA, about 300 schools were tested. The audit showed that in most schools of the republic, the Bashkir language, as the state language, is included in the compulsory part of the main educational program curricula as compulsory subject, while this discipline can only be included in the part of the curriculum formed by the participants in educational relations, that is, it should be included in the curriculum only at the request of the parents.
Recall that a prosecutor's check in schools revealed facts of infringement of the rights of parents to choose curricula, their inconsistency with Federal state standards(FGOS), curricula are adopted without taking into account the opinion of parents in schools in Ufa, Neftekamsk, Oktyabrsky, Arkhangelsky, Baltachevsky, Blagovarsky, Gafurysky, Davlekanovsky, Sterlitamaksky districts, which contradicts the requirements of Article 44 of the Federal Law "On Education in Russian Federation". In many schools, the Bashkir language is taught to the detriment of learning the Russian language: for example, in the compulsory part of the curriculum of the MOBU (with Russian as the language of instruction) in the village of Imendyashevo, Gafury District, the number of hours in the first grade allotted for studying the Bashkir language was 5 hours, the Russian language was allocated only 2 hours.
Parental activists believe that the violations became possible due to pressure on school leadership from the Ministry of Education of Bashkiria and representatives of district administrations, who sign a contract with school directors and may not renew the contract in case of "disobedience." Directors were forced to adopt the curriculum that is beneficial to the regional Ministry of Education and the officials, that is, the curriculum with the Bashkir language. Directors of Russian-language schools and employees of the Ministry of Education of the republic deliberately misled parents that the Bashkir language was a compulsory subject. Even on the website of the Ministry of Education there were old curricula in which the Bashkir language was a mandatory part.
According to Budilova, for several months they have been collecting complaints from parents of schoolchildren from different regions of Bashkiria, published on the website of the government of the Republic of Belarus and official responses from officials. Parents said that their children, in violation of the law, are practically deprived of the opportunity to choose any subjects to deepen their knowledge, except for the Bashkir language. There were also other facts of violation of the educational rights of students. “Parents from Sterlitamak contacted me, they said that in a regular school with teaching in Russian, despite the protests of parents, the Bashkir language was introduced already in the first grade, although according to the law, the Bashkir language as a state language can only be studied from the second grade, if this parents wish. In one of the gymnasiums in the city of Yanaul, all schoolchildren of different nationalities from the second to the 11th grade studied the Bashkir language 3 hours a week as their native language in addition to two hours of Bashkir as the state language, only 5 hours a week, ”said the consultant of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Russian-Speaking Schoolchildren Bashkiria Galina Luchkina.
According to those present at the inspection, many school directors showed complete incompetence in the field of legislation in relation to the study of native and state languages. At first, some directors flaunted: “Yes, this check is not for us, we are not afraid, there is someone to stand up for us,” but later, having become convinced of the precariousness of their position and its inconsistency with federal legislation, they changed their minds.
From the response of the republican prosecutor's office dated May 25, 2017 to Budilova, it follows that the prosecutor of the republic made a submission to the head of Bashkiria Rustem Khamitov, which "is under consideration."
Alexandra Mayer © IA REGNUM
From the history of the issue
Compulsory study of the Bashkir state language in all schools and many kindergartens of the republic was introduced in 2006 at the insistence of the then head of Bashkiria Murtaza Rakhimov. The Bashkir state language was taught to Russian-speaking students (the majority of such students in the republic) as part of the national-regional component (NRC) general education, which at that time was under the jurisdiction of the regional authorities. The most difficult, according to social activists, had Russian-speaking children with speech disorders, hyperactivity, physical and mental disabilities. In many Russian-speaking kindergartens, the positions of speech therapists were reduced, and teachers of the Bashkir language were taken in their place. The study of the Bashkir language was not easy for Russian-speaking first graders with speech problems(their share among first-graders is up to 25%).
At the initiative of the State Duma in 2007, the concept of NQF was abolished. According to the updated federal law"On Education", all schools in Russia switched to the unified federal state educational standard (FSES). According to this document, the main educational program is divided into two parts: the mandatory part and the optional part, formed by the participants in educational relations, that is, students, parents and teachers.
The language compulsory part of the program includes the Russian language, the native (non-Russian) language and foreign languages. But the Federal State Educational Standard does not provide for the mandatory teaching of a non-Russian language if it is neither native nor foreign. The teaching of regional languages belongs to the voluntary (variable) part of the educational program. Parents, as representatives of the interests of students, have the right to choose one of several options for the curriculum, both with and without the Bashkir state language.
Unnoticed meeting
Presumably, the result of the “consideration” was a meeting on the teaching of state and native languages in the region, which was held on June 15 in the House of the Republic by the head of Bashkiria, Rustem Khamitov. Members of the government of the Republic of Belarus, heads of relevant ministries and departments, representatives of the scientific community took part in the conversation. In the information from the official website of the head of the republic, it was noted that, following the results of inspections conducted by Rosobrnadzor in educational institutions region, a number of violations of legislative norms regarding the use of textbooks and teaching aids, normalization educational process, as well as inconsistencies of local acts of some schools with the norms of federal and republican legislation on education. “The priority of the activities of educational authorities and educational organizations there must be satisfaction of the needs of schoolchildren in the study of their native languages, subject to strict observance of federal and republican legislation, ”the meeting emphasized.
The fact of holding the meeting did not cause any resonance among the expert community and the public.
Alexandra Mayer © IA REGNUM
Language and career, they are, to be honest...
A surge of emotions erupted on June 20, after the publication of an interview with Rustem Khamitov on one of the resources. In this interview, the head of the republic noted that "the Bashkir state language is taught in all schools in the amount of 1 to 2 hours" starting from the second grade. “The native language can be Bashkir, and Russian, and Tatar, and Chuvash, and the program allots for the study of native languages at the choice of parents from 2 to 3, up to 4 hours a week. In total, it turns out, if about the Bashkir language, in the limit of 1 plus 4 - this is 5 hours. So, to learn your native language, you need written consent from your parents. This is the first. Second - and this is the main condition - if there is such consent, then the children learn one or another native language at school. Today we know that there are violations in a number of schools, that not all parents have received written consent to study the Bashkir language. Here again, by September 1, we want to put things in order in this part, as they say, by interviewing parents, holding classroom parent meetings”, Khamitov stated.
According to the head of the republic, "today there is no difficulty for those who would like to study the Bashkir language as their native language and for those who would like to study Russian as their native language." Khamitov gave a short historical digression: “The situation with the study of native languages in schools dates back to the 90s. Then very tough laws were adopted in the republics, when they were simply obliged and that's it. Then the legislation was modified, the conditions were softened. Then there were reforms in this part, and the last of them in the 12th, 13th year, when they stopped learning their native language in the 10th-11th grade. But it was after all - from the 1st to the 11th. Today the 1st is missing, the 10th, the 11th is missing - and nothing happened. Our citizens approached this story very sensibly and accepted it calmly, without any conflicts or contradictions. The next iteration, the next step to soften the position, of course, it will be. And there is no difficulty, terrible, moreover, when passions are pumped up, when it is spoken about, the opposing sides appear, no.
How accurate the head of the republic was in interpreting the republican legislation remains to be seen, but describing the psychological component of the linguistic conflict, he was certainly right: for the most part, the inhabitants of the republic, having own opinion on this burning issue, perceive today's linguistic realities quite calmly. There are exceptions, however. Individual representatives of individual national movements regarded the conversation between the host and the head of the republic as policy statements, which made them extremely alarmed.
The scale of the storm in a teacup caused by these words can be estimated from the headlines: “Khamitov again abolishes the Bashkir language”, “The prosecutor’s office of Bashkortostan asked the head of the republic Rustem Khamitov to deal with the Bashkir language, “Compulsory study of the Bashkir language may be canceled in schools.” The purely technical question of the choice of curricula was accompanied by tendentious statements that " compulsory knowledge language should be required of all representatives of the public sector, including doctors, police officers and politicians, and that knowledge national language, as it is done in Kazakhstan, the career of the inhabitants of the republic depended”, “Khamit’s Ministry of Education does not make any attempts to train teachers”, “opponents of the study of the Bashkir language are supported from Moscow” and the usual clichés about “anti-Bashkrian sentiments”, “disrespect” and the threat “ liquidation of the national republics.
Alexandra Mayer © IA REGNUM
Expert opinions: Bashkiria is not Kazakhstan for you!
Former leader of the World Kurultai of the Bashkirs Azamat Galin with his characteristic self-irony, he noted that the problem of learning the Bashkir language by children who are not native speakers can be attributed to the general problem of most languages, in the future, Russian. “The global economy is erasing not only borders, but also languages. For voluntary language learning, the appeal to traditions, customs and boundaries does not stimulate "non-natives". It is possible to force one to learn, but it is impossible to force one to learn a language. There must be a leading industry that motivates. For example, earlier in space everyone spoke Russian, since Russia was the leader. Now English and Chinese is a natural process. You can't stop it, you can try to slow it down. The conclusion is simple: become a leader, and everyone will learn the language themselves. In all seriousness public figure believes that the compulsory system of universal study of the Bashkir language was introduced by Rakhimov to demonstrate his loyalty to the Bashkirs.
Political scientist DmitriyMikhailichenko also called the current state of the problem with the study of the Bashkir language in the republic the inertia of Rakhimov's policy to create a special position of the "titular nation". “It is characteristic that journalists in Moscow perceive Bashkiria as a national republic. I always object to this, “but why is the Saratov region a nationless one?”. Our republic is multinational, not national, and we need to talk about preserving the traditions, culture and language of all the languages of traditional ethnic groups (Bashkirs, Russians and Tatars). In addition, there are a lot of interethnic marriages and people with a mixed (inclusive) identity in the republic,” the expert believes. The interlocutor of the agency is sure that the issue of learning the Bashkir language should become a matter of public consensus. “At the same time, of course, it is not worth imposing it directively. This elementary will not lead to a positive result, but it will certainly meet with resistance. In this case, it is important that the institutions of civil society and the citizens themselves come to an agreement in each specific case. To impose, I emphasize, it is impossible. I see the role of the republican government and, above all, the Ministry of Culture in establishing, and not imitating, this dialogue, ”the political scientist emphasized.
The expert stated with regret that some activists are trying to resolve the issue head-on. “But the situation is more complicated. If you want people to learn Bashkir, make attractive forms. Interest in the language is awakened not by orders (in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and Latvia all this has already happened), but by soft power, the creation of attractive, modern formats (gamification, for example). To say that you need to pay "tribute of respect", I think, is wrong. If I do not know Bashkir, this does not mean that I do not respect the culture of this people. I have many friends of the Bashkirs, I studied the history of the Bashkirs for five years and respect the tradition of this original people. But this does not mean that my children have to pay some kind of “tribute”. And it seems insulting to me that the director of the school or some official from the Ministry of Education will directively indicate, ”Mikhailichenko summed up.
Tatar social activists, preferring not to mention language problem(ethno-linguistic conflict) in Tataria, they believe that “language policy in the republic should be in full compliance with federal legislation, which gives student representatives the opportunity to determine whether or not their child will learn Bashkir or any other national language.”
Ordinary Ufa residents answer briefly: “Bashkiria is not Kazakhstan for you, Bashkiria is Russia, but we’ll figure it out with languages somehow, we never hit each other because of the language, they don’t hit, and they won’t”
Background
In the national republics, for many years there was a problem with the teaching of native languages, there were complaints about being forced to study native languages, in particular Tatar. Parents of Russian-speaking students complained about the prevalence Tatar language over Russian. A prosecutor’s check conducted in the republic in 2017 as part of Vladimir Putin’s instructions revealed a lot of violations, including in almost all schools in Tatarstan, the volume of Russian language lessons was below the standards approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. Violations of the rights of students have been eliminated and now parents can choose a program where they independently determine the native language for their child. In Tatarstan, over 115,000 parents have chosen Russian as their mother tongue.
In Bashkiria and Tataria today there are republican programs to support native languages.
MIN BASHKORT
I am a Bashkir, but I never thought that someday I would start screaming about it. Scream silently, could you? Shout silently when there is nothing to shout with because my tongue was cut out?
Today my tongue was cut out to leave me without a nation and culture. And tomorrow they will cut off my legs to leave me without my roots and history! And after tomorrow?
They will cut off my heart to leave me without faith and religion!
And you know what's the worst?
It's scary that I'm silent.
But I'm getting used to, because you know, we know how to survive.
We are strong.
At first we will get used to being silent, then to walk without one leg, then without both, and completely dead. Live dead.
Could you?
Or do you only know how to live on the dead? Walk on dead souls?
Yes. You don't need living people. You don't need talents and personalities. You don't need any culture! No faith!
You need fallen souls who will worship you and do what you want.
You will speak with our mouths, kill with our hands, trample us with our own feet, and bury everything sacred on our own lands with our own shovels.
Those lands that our grandfathers defended, shedding Bashkir Muslim blood, for the sake of Russia.
Minen olatay, hinen olatay!
And what do you do in response? I'm not talking about factories, Natural resources and sovereignty...
You took everything from us.
And now the native language.
And you know what's the worst?
It's scary that I'm silent.
Of course I am silent, because the language has already been cut off.
I was born in the Bashkir Muslim land. I went to a Russian school and spoke two languages from childhood.
We lived under two flags, under two anthems, cultures and religions.
We lived under the slogan and motto "Bashkortostan and Russia together forever."
And my mother always taught me kindness and tolerance, and most importantly, equality.
She taught me to love the Russian language, but at the same time to appreciate and know my native Bashkir.
I remember how my mother liked it when I spoke my native language, so the most precious words for me were “Mom”, “I love”, “I'm sorry”, “I miss you”, I spoke them only in Bashkir.
Ah, this affectionate and gentle Bashkir mother's language ...
I will always remember.
"Kyzym", "Balam", "Maturim", "Bapkesem".
When I hear these words somewhere, from other lips to other hearts, tears come to my eyes.
After all, most of all we miss words filled with care and love.
And my mother called me that. It was the warmest and most tender treatment for me.
Is it possible to forget it?
And the native language will never be forgotten. Even if I know a hundred languages. Although I do not write poetry in the Bashkir language, and speak it poorly, I pray in my native language, rejoice and cry in my native language.
Do you know why? Because my heart speaks my native language. Is it possible to take your heart and throw it away?
No, you can throw yourself out of the country, from the Motherland. And wherever I was, wherever they asked me, I always said that I was a Bashkir. And they asked in surprise, “And why not only Russians live in Russia?”. “No,” I answered naively and stupidly, “Russia is a multinational state, we are a single force”
And what will happen in ten years? If today the Bashkir native language was canceled in schools.
Who will teach our children grammar? Who will retell our history and develop our culture? Who will nurture morality and faith in us?
Who will go to defend our Motherland? Our house? Our religion? Our forests if you cut down their roots?
That's just the point, we have nothing to protect.
Leave us our native, and take everything else for yourself.
Today you made us swallow our tongue, and tomorrow you will swallow our Republic!
And you will do it not only with us. After some time, such assimilation will take place with Tatarstan, with the Chechen Republic, with Dagestan, and so on ... But whether they will allow themselves to be trampled on is another question.
And I have only one question for you.
And what if we were not called the Republic of Bashkortostan,
and the Republic of the Dumb?
Would you cancel sign language too?
And you know what's the worst?
It's scary that we're already dumb.
