First European Sabantuy was celebrated in Riga

On June 7 Tatarstan Parliament Speaker, Chairman of Coordination Council for Compatriots’ Affairs under the RT President Farid Mukhametshin opened the “The First European Sabantuy” in the Vermanes Garden in Riga (Latvia). The folk festival brought together representatives of the Tatar and Bashkir communities in Europe. Compatriots from 11 countries of the world –

 Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, etc – participated in the event.

Farid Mukhametshin welcomed participants of the national holiday Sabantuy. He noted that today this folk festival is celebrated not only in Kazan and 60 regions of the Russian Federation, but also in over 25 countries of the world.

F.Mukhametshin expressed his appreciation to the Mayor of Riga Nil Ushakov and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Latvia Aleksandr Veshnyakov for supporting the initiative to celebrate this ancient holiday in the European capital. F. Mukhametshin presented Tatarstan President’s Letters of Gratitude to the most active representatives of the Tatar community in Latvia - Chairman of the Tatar-Bashkir cultural society “Chishme” Zufar Zainullin, his vice-chair Ildus Sabitov and leader of the national ensemble “Chishme” Fauzie Bulusheva.

Chairman of Riga City Council, Mayor of Riga Nil Ushakov welcomed the Tatars of Europe. He noted that this year Riga is not only the cultural capital of Europe, but also an international platform of national holiday Sabantuy. He expressed hope that celebration of this festival will become a good tradition. President of Latvia Andris Berzins has also sent his greetings to the participants.

An initiative of celebrating European Sabantuy belongs to one of the divisions of the World Congress of Tatars - Latvian Tatar-Bashkir society “Chishme” and union of Tatar Youth of Europe. The event was included into the international program “Riga – European Capital of Culture 2014”.