Siberian Tatars
Siberian Tatars or Sybyrs/Sibirs (Сыбырлар, сибиртар Sıbırlar, Sibirtar) are the indigenous Turkic-speaking population of the forests and steppes of Western Siberia, originating in areas stretching from somewhat east of the Ural Mountains to the Yenisey River in Russia. The Siberian Tatars call themselves Yerle Qalıq ("older inhabitants"), to distinguish themselves from more recent Volga Tatar immigrants to the region.
Sıbırlar, Sibirtar | |
|---|---|
Siberian Tatar folklore group Naza from Omsk Oblast | |
| Total population | |
| 6,297 — 210,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
Russia
| 6,779 (2010 census) – 210,000 |
| Languages | |
| Siberian Tatar, Russian, Tatar | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Altaians, Chulyms, Khakas, Shors, Oirats, Tuvans, Buryats, Kazakhs, Bashkirs | |
The word "Tatar" or "Tadar" is also a self-designation by some closely related Siberian ethnic groups, namely the Altaians, Chulyms, Khakas, and Shors.
The 2010 census counted more than 500,000 people in Siberia defining their ethnicity as "Tatar". About 200,000 of them are considered indigenous Siberian Tatars. However, only 6,779 of them called themselves "Siberian Tatars". It is not completely clear which part of those who called themselves "Siberian Tatars" consider themselves to be a separate ethnos and which part as a group into the Tatar people, because the census took into account the Siberian Tatars as a subgroup of the Tatar ethnos.
As of 2018, the Siberian Tatars do not yet have public education available in their own language. Lessons in the local schools are taught only in the Russian and Volga Tatar languages.