March 1, 2018 at 16 o’clock at the Chelyabinsk State Academic Drama Theater named after Naum Orlov  the jubilee celebrations dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Tatar Congress of the Chelyabinsk region will take place.

For celebration  are invited Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk Region Vladimir Myakush,  Administration of the World Congress of Tatars and the Republic of Tatarstan. The jubilee has been  conceived and organized by Lena Rafikovna Kolesnikova, chairman of the executive committee of the regional public organization “The Tatar Congress of the Chelyabinsk oblast”, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region.

In November 2009, she was elected  the chairman of the executive committee of the regional public organization ” The  Tatar Congress of the Chelyabinsk region”. Since 2010 she  is a member of the Public Chamber of the Chelyabinsk region. In 2012, under the guidance of Lena Rafikovna Kolesnikova, the Union of Maecenas of the regional public organization “The Congress of Tatars of the Chelyabinsk oblast” was created, which included  major businessmen of the city of Chelyabinsk and the region. The main goal of this organization is to support and develop the Tatar national culture in the region. March 4, 2012 she  was elected  deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region for the Lenin constituency No. 15.

For nine years as chairman of the executive committee of the Congress of Tatars of the Chelyabinsk region, L.R. Kolesnikova  has  organized and conducted hundreds of events, actions, competitions and festivals with the Tatars of the region.

Eight years among schoolchildren of the region held a contest of readers of the works of Hero of the Soviet Union Musa Jalil. Together with the governor of the region, B.A. Doubrovsky and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, I. Sh. Khalikov, on the initiative of L.R. Kolesnikova, in 2015 a monument to Musa Jalil was opened. In honor of the 20th anniversary of the public organization, on the initiative of L.R. Kolesnikova and the funds of the Tatar Chelyabinsk Region Congress, preparations are underway to open a monument to Tatar educator Gabdulla Tukai in Chelyabinsk in 2018.

With the personal support of L.R. Kolesnikova over the past seven years, 16 books of South Ural writers, poets and scientists in Tatar and Russian languages ​​have been published. Since 2010 the newspaper “Khazina” and TV programs with the same name in Russian and Tatar have started periodically to promote the culture of the Tatar people with the support of the Tatar Chelyabinsk Region Congress.

A thousand students in the schools of the Chelyabinsk region are studying the Tatar native language. Children in the winter holidays have been visiting the Republic of Tatarstan for 15 years already with excursions. L.N. Kolesnikova is a member of the executive committee of the World Congress of Tatars.

Seven years in the region there is a unique contest of beauty and talent “Tatar kyzy”. Five years of competition for little Tatar girls “Little Pearls” is held on the personal initiative of L.R. Kolesnikova, the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Tatar Congress of the Chelyabinsk Region.

In March 2015, it was decided to establish a Consultative Council for National Policy under the Governor of the Chelyabinsk region B.N. Dubrovsky, thanks to active work in this council, L. R. Kolesnikova and members of the Congress of Tatars of the Chelyabinsk region in the same year, a number of agreements were signed, aimed at strengthening cooperation between traditional faiths and society as a whole.

L.R. Kolesnikova was decorated with public awards – the Order “The Golden Star of Maecenas”, the medal “The Good Angel of the World”. In 2012, she received a prize and a diploma of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan “Philanthropist of the Year”, a public award of the administration of the city of Chelyabinsk “Recognition”.

In December 2017, in connection with the great experience of organization of regional competitions at a high level, the World Congress of Tatars in Kazan elected Lena Rafikovna Kolesnikova, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Tatar Congress of Chelyabinsk Region, as President of the Directorate of the International Competition “Tatar Kyzi”. This is an increase in status for the executive director of the competition management L.R. Kolesnikova.

Today, almost 200 thousand Tatars will live in the territory of the Southern Urals: the third territory in Russia for the representation of this nationality after the Republic of Tatarstan and the Republic of Bashkortostan. That is why the 20th anniversary of the Tatar Congress of the Chelyabinsk region is a great holiday not only for South Uralians, but also for all Tatars of Russia.

At the celebration of the anniversary, the best representatives of the Tatar Congress of the Chelyabinsk region will receive awards from the government of the Chelyabinsk region and the Republic of Tatarstan. In turn,  chairman of the executive committee of the Congress of Tatars of the Chelyabinsk region,  deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region Lena Kolesnikova will award a commemorative medal “20 Years of the Tatar Chelyabinsk Region Congress” to honor guests and participants in a solemn meeting that had  made a significant contribution to the implementation of the state national policy of Russia.

The celebrities will be attended by the most famous artists of the Republic of Tatarstan – permanent partners of all events of the Tatar Congress of the Chelyabinsk region. Renowned artists of the Chelyabinsk State Philharmonic Society, Chelyabinsk State Institute of Culture and folklore collectives of the South Urals will perform as well.