The article examines parallel Turkic toponyms found in the territories of Tatarstan and Azerbaijan, as they can shed light on the history of the Turkic-speaking peoples’ settlement in these vast territories. Nowadays, when the origin of the toponyms and the processes of their formation over a long historical period are being clarified, their distribution area is of current interest. As toponyms are our cultural heritage, they enable us to make a mental journey to the historical origins of our people. Parallel toponyms, like puzzles, help recreate the map of the settlement and formation of such peoples as Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Bashkirs, Kirghiz, Kumyks, etc. Further studies of parallel toponyms will shed light on many onomastics issues. The studied toponymic data prove the complexity of the Turkic peoples’ migration routes in the course of global historical processes across vast territories.

The article studies the achievements of Adkham Tenishev (born 24.04.1921, died 1.07.2004), a world-renowned scientist and one of the most prominent figures in Turkic linguistics, in the field of the history of the Turkic and Tatar literary languages. The scientist’s works and linguistic philosophy are analyzed through his contribution to the modern linguistic theory and the development of Tatar linguistics. The article presents a general overview of A. Tenishev’s research, related to ancient Turkic written monuments, modern languages of the peoples of Central Asia, historical-comparative grammar, and the history of Turkic languages. Of great importance is the contribution made by the six-volume collective work, a comparative study of the history of the Turkic languages, which is significant for the research into the rich heritage of the Turkic peoples, for it describes the historical development and the changes that occurred in different Turkic languages. Based on the achievements of world science, the article presents A. Tenishev’s general theoretical views on the history of the Turkic literary language and thoroughly analyzes the features and conditions that influenced the formation of the literary language. It was found that the works of the scholar opened up great scientific and methodological opportunities for writing the history of the modern Tatar literary language, which makes it possible to find answers to many questions.

The article systematizes the material on the history of the Karakalpak and Tatar poets’ literary contacts. It has been proved that the common folklore heritage is the foundation for the literary connections between the two fraternal peoples. One of the incentives for its development is the readers’ persistent interest in the literature of the Karakalpak and Tatar peoples. Translations of the works also play a huge part in strengthening friendship between these peoples. The article analyzes the work by the contemporary poets Tleubergen Zhumamuratov (1915–1990) and Robert Minnullin (1948–2020). It reveals the originality of the Tatar and Karakalpak themes in their heritage.

The article describes the life and work of Nazip Gasri, who played an important role in the development of literature and culture of the Tatar people at the beginning of the 20th century. The study is based on his articles on literary criticism, history of literature and personalities who ensured the development of education, as well as his individual literary works. N. Gasri’s public views, the features of his artistic thinking, the focus of his interests and the range of his works are depicted in the context of literature and culture of the early 20th century. The article highlights the connection between the spiritual heritage of the writer and Arab and Oriental literature.
The article analyzes and systematizes information and facts from various sources and attempts to recreate the scientific biography of N. Gasri. For the first time, the articles and memoirs of N. Gasri have become the object of scientific evaluation. Our research is based on the comparative-historical, typological and hermeneutic methods, and the rules and principles of the School of Culture and History

The article describes the life and work of the Bashkir and Tatar poet Shehzade Babich in the context of the socio-political situation and culture. It systematizes new materials from public and private archives, newspapers and magazines, memoirs, and letters related to the poet’s life and literary heritage, clarifying the history and chronology of some of his works. Our study evaluates the contribution made by G. Ibragimov, Z. Iskuzhin, T. Chenakay, А. Kudashev, A. Nasyri, N. Isanbet and others to the preservation of Sh. Babich’s literary heritage, and their activities in this area. The history of his poetry collections, both published and unpublished, is described against the background of the country’s ideological and political atmosphere.

The article studies the biography of Abai Kunanbayev (1845–1904), more precisely, the particular aspects of its representation in the Russian publishing space. In 2008, by order of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a new Russian systemic biography of Abai was published in the series “The Life of Remarkable People”: The book “Abai: The Severity of the Flight” by the famous Russian Americanist N. Anastasyev (Moscow: “Molodaia Gvardiia”, Astana: “Folio”, 383 p.). This book makes a favorable impression owing to the involved historical and cultural material, its thoughtful composition and literary language. However, its event scheme and biographical outline have one notable “gap” among other ones, which is connected with the early life of the Kazakh literature classic. Nothing is said about the stay of young Abai and his father Kunanbay Uskenbaev in the Karkaraly house of the Tatar merchant Khaliulla Khamitovich Bekmetov, described in the documentary novel “The Way of Abai” by M. Auezov, which the author actively and reasonably refers to on other occasions. Meanwhile, the fact of close business and kinship-family relations between Abai’s father (agha-sultan of the Karkaralinskaya volost) and Khaliulla Bekmetov deserves special attention, as it contains indirect information about the nature of Abai’s rising interest in books and educational traditions. The Tatar cultural context as a whole must be taken into account in order to understand the Kazakh public consciousness of the 19th–early 20th centuries.

The article fills in “blank spots” in the biography of the great Tatar writer, folklorist, scholarencyclopedist Naki Isanbet (1899-1992), a native of Bashkortostan. Our study is based on local history and archival materials as well as fictional and folklore texts of the writer. The purpose of the work is to identify the significance of the Lakly village page in Naki Isanbet’s biography in order to understand the features of his worldview and the meaning of his activity as an enlightener.

The article analyzes the artists’ works at the Exhibition of Works of Art depicting the significant events, related to the history of the TASSR formation (September 26–30, 2020). The winners of the competition for the grant of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan were Nailya Kumysnikova’s interior panel “Altyn Kosh” (“the Golden Bird”), Rustem Shamsutov’s triptych “The History of the Tatar Written Language”, Anvar Sayfutdinov’s painting “My Mother”, Marina Samakaeva’s triptych “Festivities in Kazan”, Farit Valiullin’s “Laying the Stone of the Bulgarian Academy of Islam”, the painting “The Birth of Energy” by Grigory Eydinov and others, as well as Alexander Drevsyannikov’s sculptural composition “Gabdulla Kariev” and Rustam Gabbasov’s “The Artist”. The purpose of the research is to reveal the features of historicism in the works of the artists, participating in the exhibition.

Bukharaev Rais Gataevich (April 24, 1929 – July 31, 2009) was the founder of the School of Mathematical Cybernetics and Informatics of Kazan State University. He was Doctor of Technical Sciences (1968) and Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1981), Professor. He was also Honored Scientist of the TASSR, awarded with the badge “Honored Worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation”. He wrote more than 130 scientific papers, including 9 monographs, and had 10 author’s certificates for inventions. His main scientific interest was in the area of the theory of probable automata.

Nil Gafurovich Yuziev (1931 –1996) was a linguist, Doctor of Philology, Professor, Honored Scholar of the TASSR (1981), Laureate of the G. Tukay State Prize of the Republic of Tatarstan (1974), literary critic, the author of 36 monographs and more than 300 articles. In 1958, he presented his Ph.D. thesis “Poems of Musa Jalil” and, in 1974, his Doctoral thesis “Poetics of Tatar Soviet Poetry” was completed. He taught at Kazan State University from 1960 to 1975. He was the head of the Literature Sector at G. Ibragimov Institute of Language, Literature and History of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now – G. Ibragimov Institute of Language, Literature and Arts of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan) from 1975 to 1985. N. Yuziev was the Head of the Department of Manuscripts and Textology of G. Ibragimov Institute of Language, Literature and Arts of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan from 1986 to 1996.

Zhiganov Nazib Gayazovich (January 15, 1911 –June 2, 1988) was a composer, music and public figure, teacher, Honored Art Worker of the TASSR (1939), RSFSR (1940), the first chairman of the Union of Composers of Tatarstan, the Secretary of the Union of Composers of the USSR (from 1962) and the RSFSR (from 1957), People's Artist of the USSR (1957), professor (1953), laureate of State Prizes, holder of numerous orders and meals, Hero of Socialist Labor. In 1938, he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, G. Litinsky class of composition. In 1939–1977, he was the Chairman of the Board of the Union of the TASSR Composers’ Organizing Committee. In 1941 –1943, Nazib Zhiganov was the artistic director of the Tatar Opera and Ballet Theater. 1945–1988, he was the rector of the Kazan Conservatory. Zhiganov was also: a member of the Committee for the Republican Prize named after G. Tukay (from 1958); a member of the committees for awarding the Lenin and State Prizes in the field of literature and art under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (from 1961); a Deputy of the Supreme Soviets of the RSFSR (1951 –1959), the TASSR (1963–1967 and 1971 –1988) and the USSR (1966–1970). The composer's creative heritage consists of 17 symphonies, 8 operas, 3 ballets, program symphonic works, chamber instrumental works, vocal and choral compositions.

The article reviews the series “Folk Art of the Tatars of Bashkortostan”, which was published in Kazan in 2021. The reviewer notes the richness and diversity of the collected folklore material, as well as the accuracy of scientific tools. The article emphasizes the value and significance of this academic series in the cultural life of the two Turkic republics.

This article reviews the monograph “Modern Tatar Spoken Language: Identification Signs and Social Differences”, written by G. Galiullina, E. Kadirova, G. Khadieva, researchers from the Tatar Linguistics Department of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University and published by the Kazan University Publishing House in 2020. The work explores the peculiarities of the modern Tatar spoken language in the fields of lexicon, phonetics, morphology and syntax. The main focus is on the functional capabilities of language units, widespread in spoken language, and the scope of their distribution. The monograph contains about 1,460 audio recordings of unprepared spontaneous speech patterns by the middle and western dialect representatives of different ages and social statuses. The authors of the monograph managed to distinguish the identifying marks of the modern Tatar spoken language and to determine their distribution in public groups, using complex research techniques. The work promotes the development of the theory of the Tatar language, and makes a significant contribution to the fields of dialectology, communicative linguistics, sociolinguistics and linguoculturology