Mari El Republic (;
Mari: Марий Эл Республик) is a
federal subject of
Russia (a
republic). The direct
romanization of the republic's Russian and Mari names are
Respublika Mariy El and
Marii El Respublik, respectively. The republic is also sometimes called
Mariy El or
Marii El in
English. The indigenous Mari people are undergoing what most neutral observers see as ethnic persecution, with noted foreign leaders and diplomats, the European Parliament and the UNHCR calling for outside pressure to end this repression.
Geography
The Republic is located in the eastern part of the
East European Plain of the Russian Federation, along the
Volga River. The swampy
Mari Depression is located in the west of the republic. 57% of the republic's territory is covered by forests.
Time zone
Mari El is located in the
Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD).
UTC offset is
UTC+3 (MSK)/
UTC+4 (MSD).
Rivers
There are 476 rivers in Mari El. Most of them are considered to be minor: 10-50 m wide and 0.5-1.4 m deep. They usually freeze from mid-November till mid-April. Major rivers include:
Lakes
There are over two hundred lakes in Mari El, most of them with an area less than 1 km² and depth of 1-3 m. Many lakes are located among swamps. Swamps cover large areas (10-70 km², up to 100 km²), and usually freeze in December. Average depth of the swamps is .5-1.5 m (up to 3 m), but they are impassable in fall and spring due to flooding.
Major lakes include:
Natural resources
There are virtually no natural resources of industrial significance in the republic. Other resources include
peat,
mineral waters, and
limestone.
Climate
Climate is moderately
continental. Winters are moderately cold and snowy. Summers are warm and often rainy.
- Average January temperature:
- Average July temperature:
Administrative divisions
Demographics
- Population: 727,979 (2002)
- Females per 1000 males: 1,151
- Number of households: 263,382 (with 717,938 people)
- *Urban: 173,246 (with 455,006 people)
- *Rural: 90,136 (with 262,932 people)
- *Births: 7,475 (birth rate 10.5)
- *Deaths: 12,256 (death rate 17.2)
Though the Mari people have lived in the area for millennia, they did not have a designated territory before
Russian Revolution of 1917. According to the
2002 Census only 51.7% of the Mari within Russia live in Mari El, while 17.5% live in
Bashkortostan. During the last Soviet Census (1989) 4% of the Mari of the Soviet Union lived outside of Russia.
Since World War Two, more ethnic Russians and Tatars have moved into the area. According to the
2002 Census,
Russians make up 47.5% of the republic's population, while the ethnic
Mari make up 42.3%. Other groups include
Tatars (6.0%),
Chuvash (1.0%),
Ukrainians (5,097, or 0.7%), and a host of smaller groups, each accounting for less than 0.5% of the total population. 2,911 people (0.4%) did not indicate their nationalities during the Census.
History
Map of Mari El
Ancient Mari tribes were known since the 5th century, though archeologists suspect Mari culture to be much older in its roots. Later their area was a tributary of
Volga Bulgaria and the
Golden Horde. In the 1440s it was incorporated into the
Khanate of Kazan and was occupied by
Russia after the fall of
Kazan in 1552.
Mari Autonomous Oblast was established on
November 4,
1920. It was re-organized into
Mari ASSR on
December 5,
1936.
In its present form the Mari El Republic was formed on
December 22,
1990.
Politics
The head of government in the Mari El Republic is the President. As of 2008, the president is
Leonid Markelov, who was elected in January 2001.
The ethnic Mari people are under heavy Russification and
Leonid Markelov has ordered many
Mari language newspapers to close. Many ethnic Mari activists live under fear of violence. The Mari activist and chief editor Vladimir Kozlov was badly beaten after he published criticism toward Leonid Markelov's politics. Other Mari leaders have been the subjects of violence, legal persecution and intimidation
The
Marla faith of the
Mari people has encountered hostility as well. Vitaly Tanakov was charged with inciting religious, national, social and linguistic hatred after publishing the book
The Priest Speaks.
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) in an exhaustive 2006 report "Russian Federation: The Human Rights Situation of the Mari Minority of the Republic of Mari El," found widespread evidence of political and cultural persecution of Mari people, and of "a broader trend of repression of dissidents in the republic." They note that because of the relative obscurity of the Mari people and culture in the global context, no major NGOs have yet taken up the cause of protecting their rights.
Economy
The most developed industries are machine construction, metal working, timber, woodworking, and food industries. Most of the industrial enterprises are located in the capital Yoshkar-Ola, as well as in the towns of
Kozmodemyansk,
Volzhsk, and
ZvenigovoTransportation
Traveling cheaply and quickly to various towns and villages in Mari El is made possible through a network of fifteen train stations, fifty-three bus stations, and numerous
marshrutkas. The republic is connected to different regions throughout Russia by daily trains to and from
Moscow and
Kazan, an airport located near Yoshkar-Ola, and a port on the Volga River in Kozmodemyansk. There are also four other minor river ports in Mari El.
Communication
Telephony,
Internet service, and
cable television are provided by
Volga Telecom.
Culture
There are many museums located throughout the territory of Mari El. The largest ones include the National Museum, the Museum of History, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Yoshkar-Ola; the Museum of Arts and History, the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, and the Merchant Life Museum in Kozmodemyansk; and the Sheremetevo Castle Museum-reserve in Yurino. There are also museums dedicated to the poet Nikolay Mukhin and the composer Ivan Klyuchnikov-Palantay in Yoshkar-Ola and the house-museum of writer Sergei Chavayn in Chavaynur.
Five theaters are located in Yoshkar-Ola with performances in both the Russian and Mari languages, though it should be noted that the Mari Nationa Theater, a major ethnic institution, was closed by the government. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) in their 2006 report "Russian Federation: The Human Rights Situation of the Mari Minority of the Republic of Mari El, reported "The closure of the Mari National Theater, which had been a key element of Mari cultural life ever since its foundation in 1919, was perceived as a direct attack on Mari culture."
Education
The most important facilities of higher education are and , both located in Yoshkar-Ola. There are also more than 900 primary and secondary schools located throughout the republic.
For the past few years, the Mari El Republic has been participating in the national project "Education" ("Oбразование"), which is designed to improve education throughout Russia by bringing new technology into the classroom, improving material conditions in schools, and providing financial awards to extraordinary students and teachers.
Despite the fact that Mari language is officially a state language, Mari educators and administrators have been forced from their positions in recent years and Mari-language education has been defunded, according to the U.S. State Department, the European Union and others.
Religion
The most common religions in Mari El include
Russian Orthodoxy,
Old Believers, and
Islam. The traditional Mari
pagan faith is still practiced to some degree by many Mari people, as is the
Marla faith, which is a combination of these traditional beliefs and modern Christianity. The Mari religious practices have come under increasing pressure, according to human rights groups.
Tourism
Mari El is one of the more ecologically pure areas of the European part of Russia with numerous lakes, rivers, and forests. As a result, it is a popular destination for tourists looking to enjoy nature. One of the most popular destinations is
Marii Chodra national park in the Ilet valley, where visitors can enjoy various activities such as boating, horseback riding, fishing, and mushrooming. Another is the Bolshaya Kokshaga National Reserve, where visitors can walk through virgin forests and observe local wildlife.
Mari El is also the site of several mineral springs, many of which are located in the Ilet valley. Many small resorts and children's camps are also located on the various lakes throughout the republic.
Crime
There have been allegations that Mari El, and in particular its capital city
Yoshkar-Ola, is a centre of operation for a number of international criminal gangs who obtain money from people by fraudulent means.
A number of dating scams are said to originate in Mari El, whereby criminals will place profiles on dating sites, often using fake identities and photographs (although the profiles will typically state that they come from a variety of locations in Russia and other former Soviet Union states). Young women typically establish a correspondence with people, "fall in love" in a very short time, and then attempt to obtain money on various pretexts.
Reports vary as to the extent of the problem, with some sources indicating that as many as 50% of the male and 90% of the female profiles on dating sites are bogus. Other sources are more conservative, however, and estimate that only about 10% of the profiles are false. The extent of fraud will vary from site to site, as some dating sites carry out more stringent checks and vetting procedures than others.
Arrests
13 September 2006More than a hundred people were detained in the course of a special police operation, which had been held on September 13, 2006 by the
Federal Security Service Department of Mari El. The operation was aimed at capturing the Internet scammers who posted introduction profiles on different sites, portraying themselves as women who wanted to get married to foreigners. In those profiles they used other people's photos illegally. Such Mari "fiancees" regularly tapped money from their men, motivating this with the necessity to learn English or paying for the driving lessons.
According to the special services, this criminal business was built on the following scheme. Organizers rented apartments in the quietest districts of Yoshkar-Ola, turned them into small offices, equipping them with satellite Internet access and several computers. The role of "fiancees" corresponding with the foreigners were mostly played by students, who received 10 or 15% of the amount they managed to tap from the clients.
August 2006It was the application from a German citizen, who had transferred 26,000 euros to his future fiancee's bank account in Yoshkar-Ola, that helped the police officers from "K" department to find the traces of the criminals. "The scammer did not appear to meet her future husband, she also never returned the money, and stopped corresponding. Later it was found out that the German citizen was sent a photo of a famous Russian ballet dancer instead of a picture of his possible fiancee", informs the press center.
Having checked up the information, officers of "K" department, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Mari El republic found out that the correspondence was carried on from a so-called "office" settled in an apartment in Yoshkar-Ola, where the seven members of the criminal group were arrested. Also, the police established the identity of the two organizers of the criminal business and the two women with a good knowledge of English, who helped with phone talks with foreigners.
During the search there were found 16 computers, a large amount of money, correspondence in foreign languages, bank tickets about money transfers from foreign citizens and other exhibits.
