ETHNICITY in RUSSIA

The Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

Russia’s Russia’s YakutYakut region region

YAKUTIA and the YAKUTS

YAKUTIA | The Sakha Republic

• 1/5 of Russia’s land area• Region poorly linked to rest of world• Enormous resource reserves• Yakut/Sakha speak an Altaic (Turkic)

language• Ethnic are concentrated in 10 urban areas• Sakha predominate in rural areas

Rising ethnic demands as nationalism grows

• Events of 1990– Declaration of “state sovereignty”– Elected president and parliament– Adopted coat of arms and constitution

• Has obtained special rights– Controls mineral rights– Does not allow nuclear testing in Yakutia– 1997, withheld some tax revenue from Moscow

• 1995 survey found most Yakuts more loyal to Sakha than Russia– Surprisingly – a third of all Russians in Yakutia felt the same

• Russians continue to emigrate from the region

vocab RECAP