Finnish Tatars

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The Finnish Tatars (Finnish Tatar: Finlandiya tatarları; Finnish: Suomen tataarit, Tatar: Финляндия татарлары, romanized: Finləndiyə tatarları;) are a Tatar ethnic group and minority in Finland, consisting of approximately 600–700 people. Tatars practice Sunni Islam and speak the Turkic Tatar language. The community was formed between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, when Mishar Tatar merchants emigrated from the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate of the Russian Empire and eventually settled in Finland. Tatars have the main building of their congregation in Helsinki. They have also founded cultural associations in different cities. They are the oldest Muslim community in Finland. The identity of the Finnish Tatars has had different reference points throughout their history. In the early days, they were known by their religious identity (Muslims). When the Republic of Turkey was established, Finnish Tatars, who speak a Turkic language, began identifying themselves as "Turks". They were influenced by Turkish culture; for example, they adopted the Latin alphabet, which replaced the previously used Arabic one. Nowadays, Finnish Tatars once again identify as Tatars and are very connected to Tatarstan. Its head, Rustam Minnikhanov, has visited the community. Finnish Tatars have also maintained their connections to Turkey, however. President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, among others, has visited their congregation. In 2024, a history book of the Finnish Tatars by Dr. Ramil Belyaev, imam of the Finnish-Islamic congregation, was translated into Turkish and released in Ankara.