Bulgar-Tatar discussions in the context of the problem of the ethnonym “Crimean Tatars”

In the process of mass return of the Crimean Tatar people from places of deportation to their historical homeland in Crimea (1987–2000), along with the political, social, ethnocultural problems of the revival and formation of the people in new conditions, unexpected and unpredictable situations related to the self-identification of the people arose and, quite likely, will arise in the future. As you know, one of the signs of self-identification is the self-designation of the people. In the 90s of the twentieth century, the first attempts to change the ethnonym “Crimean Tatars” appeared in Crimea. The situation that arose in Crimea is similar to the processes of renaming the ethnonym “Tatars” into the ethnonym “Bulgars” that took place in Tatarstan in the 80s of the twentieth century. The analysis of the discussions on renaming the ethnonym “Tatars” in Kazan and the ethnonym “Crimean Tatars” in Crimea demonstrated the historically formed status quo of the ethnonyms “Tatars” and “Crimean Tatars” in the mass consciousness of the two peoples and the futility of attempts to rename them.