Statehood is an important stage in the life of every nation. Its formation took place at different rates, had its own peculiarities, but at the dawn of the formation of such an institution as the state, direct democracy bodies had great influence even with a fairly developed class system, and the meaning of the word “kurultai” is a designation of democracy among the Türks, and its formation and functioning fully fits into the historical trend of that era.
Classical People's Assembly
Now we make a brief historical excursion and get acquainted with the concept of "kurultai". What is this word, what does it matter, and has its purpose changed over the centuries. So, studying the history of the ancient world, one can come across such a concept as a “popular assembly”. The term itself is quite simple and directly speaks for itself. The ruler and the privileged part of society could not solve all the important issues of that period on their own and had to turn to the general representation of the people in order to legitimize their orders.
In ancient Greece, despite the fact that it was divided into a large number of city-states (policies), everywhere such a body as ecclesia acted. He exercised legislative, executive and judicial powers. At different periods in the history of ancient Greece, he possessed greater or lesser powers. Only in tyrannical and oligarchic states was it significantly limited by various kinds of advice, but nevertheless carried out its work. According to the same principle, comitia acted in ancient Rome during the period of the republic, then, already in the imperial era, the organs of the assembly disappear.
European and Russian origins of democracy
But the traditions established by classical Greece and Rome continued to exist with the advent of our era. Let us turn to the history of our country. In the VIII-XV centuries. here acted "veche". This term refers to the already familiar to us national assembly in relation to the history of Russia. The functions and powers of this authority were somewhat narrower than those of its ancient counterparts, but during the formation of statehood, they played a legislative, judicial and partially executive role. Gradually, the princes tried to level the importance of this body, taking away its powers. In the end, the veche turns into a decorative application of princely power, and then completely liquidates, only in Novgorod, due to established republican traditions, it survived until it was absorbed by the Moscow state in the fifteenth century. And similar processes were going on in Europe, only their temporary existence and some kind of variability of functions were different.
Nomadic Democracy
Now back to the concept of kurultai. What it is? The answer is simple. This is already a popular assembly for us, but among the Mongol and Turkic peoples it has several varieties (hural, hurul, etc.). Such an organ existed among the Turkic peoples of the ancient and medieval period. Initially, he had rather extensive rights, but the nuance is that in Kurultai she always knew strong positions, which influenced decision-making. If in European countries this trend was already visible towards the end of the existence of the national assembly as a special power institution, then the kurultai was initially under the actual control of rich people, this was also due to the psychology of the Turkic peoples, as well as to the nomadic way of life and the dependence of the ordinary steppe on the grace of the khan.
Kurultay: what is it in the modern era
This concept still exists, but its meaning has changed. The structure of our country includes many Turkic peoples. Almost all of them have their own statehood. Following the traditions of their ancestors, the legislative bodies of many Russian republics are called the Kurultay. In other words, it can be called parliament. Recently, the Republic of Crimea has rejoined the Russian Federation. One of the peoples living on its territory are the Tatars, who received national-state self-determination as part of our country. It is concentrated in such a concept as the Kurultay of the Crimean Tatar people. This is a representative body of the Crimean Tatars, with the right to create law, but strictly in accordance with federal standards and the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Now it’s clear what Kurultay does, what kind of organ of traditional power it is, and what its powers are.