The preservation of language, health, demography and the Bashkir ethnos proper is the chief task of the participants of the 6th interregional research and practice conference 'Urban Bashkirs: problems of language and demography', which is to take place in Oktyabrsky City within the framework of preparation for the 3d World National Assembly of the Bashkirs.
       Such conferences have become traditional. They have already been held five times in different cities of our republic. The first two conferences were held in Ufa, they were followed by the same conferences in Sterlitamak, Neftekamsk and Birsk. The next conference is going to take place in Uchaly. Problems of the Bashkirs living in cities and urban-type settlements subject to the processes of urbanization and assimilation are discussed there.
       "We call these conferences interregional," Firdaus Khisamitdinova, the director of the Institute of History, Language and History of the Ufa Scientific Centre under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Philology, said speaking about the coming event. "We invite representatives of the Bashkir ethos from neighbouring regions - the Samara, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and other regions. The cities are very active - they make reports, exchange practical observations, and take an active part in preparation of the resolution. The thing is that we, scientists, look at the problem from one point of view and educational workers regard it differently.
       Even in the 80s of the last century, our Institute held opinion polls and did researches, which showed that the Bashkirs were going through the active process of urbanization. The Bashkirs used to be mostly rural population. And there was no problems of the loss of language and culture in the countryside. Television was not so popular at that time. And when the Bashkirs started to move into the cities, it became clear that children of those Bashkirs who had changed the life in the village for the city life could not already speak their native language. The most important thing is teaching. I can say about children of my generation. They know Russian better; their native language is on the second place for them. The reason is that in the city, everyday language both at work, in the transport, and in shops is, of course, Russian. But language is not only a means of communication. It is both soul and mentality of a nation. It is a means of entry to the world. If a little kid starts to lose his language even in the kindergarten, so he loses the mentality as well. That is where the ethnos faces extinction. The process of urbanization cannot be stopped. It means that the Bashkirs should learn to live in the city in such a way that they can be preserved in conditions of urbanization. That is why the research and practice conference "Urban Bashkirs" was planned. Many small nations have the same problems. The Buryats and Kalmycs visited us; their situation with assimilation is even more difficult."
       "I think that every nation is a flower that adds its charm into the common bunch," Firdaus Khisamitdinova said. "And we must preserve all of them. If people of every nation teach their children to love their native language and other languages equally, they will become only richer with this. It will be easier for them to live. That is what we will talk about at the conference. Teachers participating in it must teach not suffixes and affixes, but the beauty of the native land to their pupils. Even a foreign language may become close to you if being taught by a good teacher."
       Rinat Yusupov, the head of the ethnology department of the Institute of History, Language and History, added:
       "In urban conditions both in Russia and abroad ethnic differences always blend, especially if there is a state language. That is why it is natural that the rising generation of other nationalities mostly speaks this language. If families, kindergartens and schools pay too little attention to the native language, so both language and culture will be forgotten and disappear. Now owing to the activity of the RB Ministry for Culture and National Policy and the Ministry of Education, the Bashkir language is revived. It is taught as a state language in all schools and it is taught as a native language to Bashkir children."
       Gulfina Yulamanova, the head of the sector of the executive committee of the World Bashkir's National Assembly, told about the preparation for the 3d World National Assembly that would take place in June.
       "For the Bashkirs not to lose their culture in conditions of the city, ethno- pedagogical elements need to be introduced both in schools and kindergartens. Parents must practise their children in the native language at home. The Bashkirs' National Assembly in every possible way supports the ideas of the research and practice conference 'Urban Bashkirs: problems of language and demography'. The problems raised by its participants will be discussed on the 3d World Bashkirs' National Assembly as well. There will 12 working sections, two of which will be devoted to the Bashkir language - 'The Bashkir National Education: its condition and prospects' and 'Modern Bashkir Language'."
       Photo by Andrey Starostin.