"Rais" can replace "president" in Tatarstan Republic

The Presidium of the Committee of Tatarstan’s State Council has proposed a bill changing the title of the president of the country.

The document proposes to call the president of the country "rais of the Republic of Tatarstan". So the title of the president sounds in Arabic and a number of other oriental languages, according to Kommersant.

Head of the Tatarstan State Council Committee on State Building and Local Self-Government Albert Khabibullin told Tatar.Inform that such an approach would reflect the historical, cultural, and national characteristics of Tatarstan. Changes are proposed to be made to the second chapter and Article 89 of the constitution of the Republic of Tatarstan.

“While giving a new title, we understand that incumbent president of our country Rustam Minnikhanov was elected president, our citizens voted for him as a presidential candidate,” Khabibullin said.

The document is expected to get approval by the end of the week.

The new title is proposed to be used after the elections. Thus, the title of president is proposed to remain in place until 2025.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law in December 2021, according to which Russian subjects cannot have presidents. It entered into force on June 1, 2022. The regions had six months to unify the titles.

The law violates the rights of “Tatars and Tatarstan,” because this issue is “an issue of the republic’s powers”, Head of the Azatlyk Tatar youth union Nail Nabiullin told Kommersant.

Tatarstan’s former minister of justice Midkhat Kurmanov suggested that "khan", "rais" or "bashlyk" could be chosen instead of "president".