On Monday, a regular meeting of the Tatar Association of the Australian state of New South Wells was held in one of the halls of the Woodstock Community Center in Sydney’s Burwood.
The meeting was attended by the Russian consul N. Vinogradov, the chairman of the SRSA M. Belkin, representatives of the local media, director of the Russian Museum in Sydney M. Ovchinnikov, representatives of the Russian and Tatar communities of the city.
The association’s chairman, Lilia Samigullina, introduced more than 60 people who had gathered with guests from Kazan, Raushanya and Ramil Minnullin. The guests told about the centuries-old history associated with the ancient Turkic-speaking people, the Volga Bulgars. In the 10th century, they accepted Islam, in the 15th century they were part of the Kazan Khanate, and from 1552, when the troops of Ivan the Terrible captured Kazan, they became part of Russia. Since 1992, this administrative entity was named the Republic of Tatarstan. About 4 million people live there today, a large number of Tatars live outside the republic and even far beyond the borders of Russia. According to L. Samigullina, at least about 300 people with Tatar roots live in Sydney.
A small exhibition of national clothes and publications about Tatarstan in Tatar and Russian languages was prepared in the hall, and national dishes Chuck Chuck and Belyashi were prepared.
