The Problems of Relations of Ethnic and Muslim Confessional Identity in Modern Tatarstan

INTRODUCTION The relevance of change of tendencies of ethnic and religious identity is associated with the growing influence of the Muslim religious factor in modern society. With the advent of globalization and the information revolution, the problems of growth and even the "revival" of the religious world view has not only minimized but, on the contrary, become one of the leading tendencies in the ethno-social processes. Of particular importance are these processes in modern Tatarstan, where in recent decades, much attention has been paid to the support of the ruling Russian confessions - Orthodoxy and Sunni Islam. A striking fact is that the mass communication media promote the traditional Muslim values, aimed at establishing social peace and traditional values. The same tendency of positive evaluation of these processes is observed in the contemporary scientific publications (Mukhametshin et al., 2012), (Delokarov, 20015). On the other hand, the same publication notes the threat of Salafi (radical-conservative) tendencies among Russian Muslims, especially in connection with the revitalization of ISIL (a forbidden organization in the Russian Federation). Indeed, in the period of 1990-2010 the Russian society was faced with a number of ethnic and religious conflicts in which the slogans of radical Islam had been used. In this connection it is necessary to review the basic tendencies in the development of ethno-cultural and confessional identity, which occur in the spiritual realm. In the course of the study "The Stratification of Russian Society" (the Institute of Public Planning, 2005) the data concerning the opinion of Russian citizens on the importance of the threat of international conflicts, according to which Tatarstan could not be attributed to the areas of ethno-political tensions, were obtained. The Republic of Tatarstan is a region with dynamic migration processes. The economic modernization of Tatarstan of 1960-1980s caused the wave of immigration of the Russians to the republic. In 1990-2000s in Tatarstan against the background of the processes of "ethnic magnetism" (i. e. attractiveness of the ethnic homeland for the Tatars), inherent of the Tatars in this period, there was a significant increase in the proportion of the Tatars and the decline in the Russians due to intensive immigration of the first in the republic and emigration of the latter (Gabdrakhmanova, 2004; Fayzullina, 2015). Russia is characterized historically as a multicultural state that is why the importance of cultural diversity, the need for it plays a vital role in the life of the state. Ethno-cultural development in the Russian Federation is determined by the basic documents: 1. The Fundamentals of Legislation of the Russian Federation on Culture (1992); 2. The Constitution of the Russian Federation (1993); 3. The conception of the state national policy of the Russian Federation (1996). The important cultural issues were solved at the level of the legislation of the republics, including the definition of cultural policies and the adoption of the legislation of the republic on culture. Tatarstan is a unique kind of model of multi-ethnic and public education in Russia. Its territory is home to more than a hundred of peoples, each has its own distinctive history, traditions, customs, habits. The centuries-old experience of cultural communication in the region of two largest ethnic groups--the Tatars and the Russians, in the presence of national minorities promotes the dialogue via the exchange of spiritual values, knowledge, information. The variety and uniqueness of our region is in the close interweaving of cultural ties community of historical-genetic roots of cultural genesis. For a long period of joint residence objective regularities are manifested, according to which no national culture can exist in isolation, no nation can live and develop in isolation. The modern world strengthens the processes of interference and interaction, the growth of intensity of contacts in the intercultural cooperation. …