News from the inside

Chairman of the Cultural Society of Narva Tatars Maryam Malysheva  was awarded the medal of the World Congress of Tatars “For great services to the Tatar people.” The award ceremony was held in Kazan, at the expanded meeting of the World Congress of Tatars and the Business Forum at the end of last year. Moreover, M. Malysheva was  invited to the Congress as one of the speakers and Maryam recognized that   she did not expect that her surname would  sound more,  in another list – rewarding one.

– I do not want to sound corny, but the medal handed to me, I see as a sign of gratitude  addressed to  all  the  Tatars living in Narva and Ida-Virumaa  county and in Estonia as a whole, who remember their homeland, actively strengthen ties with compatriots, support  national traditions, – says Maryam Malysheva.

Among the national-cultural societies in Narva,  the  Tatars community  – the oldest. 27 years ago, in 1989, it was organized on the basis of the Tatar Diaspora. On account of  this  organization,   carrying out many vivid and memorable events citywide. In 2012, by the decision of the “round table” of Tatars in the Baltic region, which is supported by the World Congress of Tatars, in Narva  the  VIII Baltic Sabantui was held. Estonia was  first  time a  mistress of this holiday. And, as they say, the main ringleaders  for  Sabantui  of  international level were  Narva Tatars. In the opinion of many guests, it was all done on a very decent level.

Today Narva Tatar cultural society numbers  a little more than 80 members.

– I must say, Tatar Diaspora was quite large in the days of the bourgeois Estonia. Mostly,  Tatars lived in Tallinn, Pärnu, Narva, among them there were a lot of merchants and artisans. In Narva, for example, near the Alexander’s Cathedral there  was once a mosque, which was built on the money of Narva Muslims, and madrassa worked. After 1940 many Estonian Tatars left the country and went to Finland – says Maryam. – But in 1948,  more than 300 Tatar families – almost all of the old village Andreevka  of the Nizhny Novgorod region (just imagine, this village is 403 years old!)  came to Estoniya. The reason for the mass “exodus” of the legendary Andreevka was that after the war began requisitioning in the countryside, and people just fled from hunger. Most Tatars settled in Tallinn, Maardu and Narva, where then  large industrial construction projects started. We thought  to  linger in Estonia for a year or two, but it turned out that many have stayed here forever.

Who is who

 Among these Tatars was also the 21-year-old young woman Alia, who had come to Narva with  eighteen months old son and two teenage sisters – mother of Marym.

– I was born in Narva, but we lived in Ivangorod, in the so-called Tatar Slobodka –  Maryam Malysheva says. – Before entering school, I did not speak  Russian, only Tatar language. Of course, they stayed  me  down for a second year. But great  thanks to   my first teacher Nina Ivanovna, who worked all summer with me in Russian, and in September I was  sent to the second grade. I studied  then only  good and excellent.

Maryam Malysheva  graduated from the Faculty of Economics of the Tallinn University of Technology, and then another, Tallinn Pedagogical. She worked at  the school,  trade  management, and then I  got the party assignment  – to improve the quality of food in  canteens of  Baltic Power Plant, Narva plant of building materials and Narva tanning. “Although the public power supply, I had nothing to do” – says Maryam. But  I have handled with the task. Yes,  so well that even received  a  Diploma of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the ESSR for the quality of cooking. For many years M.A. Malysheva   worked in Narva trade school.

– The Narva Tatar cultural society, I  came since its inception, but I confess that at first was not an activist. Just helping Rashid Izmailov, its first chairman, in some cases, such as to make the charter of the organization –  Maryam Malyshevs  says. – But all around  me  were interesting and sincere people, with time, I felt that they – home to me in spirit, found that many things we want to and can do, there was a responsibility to the younger generation, to whom we are obliged to pass on what has been accumulated by our ancestors. And now I just can not imagine myself without this activity.

Three years ago, Mary Malysheva  participated in a founding congress in Brussels, which brought together 55 delegates – representatives of the Tatar Diaspora from 18 countries of the European Union;  the Alliance of Tatars Europe   has been created. (By the way, now these associations on a national basis are present  in 17 EU countries.) Board  of the Alliance included one representative from each EU country where  the Tatar societies are represented.  Maryam Malysheva, Chairman of the Tatar Cultural Society of Narva, entered the European Alliance of Tatars board from Estonia and auditing commission of the organization.

–  the Alliance has been  established  to unite the young generation of Tatars living abroad, – says Maryam Malysheva. – And, it seems, there are first fruits: a unified database of email addresses, began to operate,  free online courses in the Tatar language (such as our Estonian keeleklikk), on March 15 in Stockholm to host a forum of Tatar youth who live in European countries.

Svetlana Zaitseva, Narva