Philosophic Potential of Gayaz Iskhakis Social and Political Essays (<i>Legitimation of National Statehood in Idel-Ural Essay</i>)
The article reveals the philosophic potential of Idel-Ural essay by Gayaz Iskhaki. It presents the writers reflection of the Soviet national-state building practice in the Ural-Volga region. Idel-Ural essay has become a political and journalistic manifesto of Tatar statehood. Geopolitical space of Idel-Ural is represented as a dualistic myth describing the unity of the opposite phenomena and symbols - the Earth and the Water. The Ural space is the Earth (Жir), the Idel space is the Water (Su). Idel-Ural essay understanding keeps within the base of the cultural nests conception. A cultural center is born on the base of a cultural nest when a cultural initiative has acquired an official status and state support. Cultural flows in the cultural center can collide and merge creating a multifaceted picture of spiritual life like in modern Ural-Volga region - Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. In a genetic aspect the Idel-Ural mythologem is regarded as an integral world outlook. It keeps the tradition of struggle between the Good (the Turkic land) and the Evil (the Russian state). Understanding the meanings of Idel-Ural essay is possible in multi-dimensional coordinates. Ethnic legitimation is a converted form of ethnic consciousness objectified as a set of texts that reflect an ethnic picture of the world and express values and value orientations.