Fandas Safiullin
Fandas Shakirovich Safiullin (, 17 August 1936 – 10 October 2021) was a Russian politician. A member of the Fatherland – All Russia party, he served in the Third State Duma from 1999 to 2003. As an ethnic Tatar, Safiullin fought for the rights of his people; for example, the right to use the Latin alphabet instead of the Cyrillic one. In 1970, he graduated from the Belarusian State University, having already been a member of the Soviet Army since 1957. In 1990, he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Tatar ASSR, and in 1995 to its successor body, the State Council. On August 30, 1990, he proclaimed the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Tatarstan, which was passed by the Supreme Soviet and signed by its Chairman, Mintimer Shaimiev, who would later become Tatarstan's president. Safiullin died from COVID-19 in October 2021. The death of Safiullin was, according to poet Razil Valeev, "a great loss to the people and the nation". References

External links 
 Russia: Tatars try to save their language
 Декларация о суверенитете Татарстана
 Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic

1936 births
2021 deaths
Third convocation members of the State Duma (Russian Federation)
Politicians of Tatarstan
People from Aznakayevsky District
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia
Tatar people
Tatar politicians
Tatar people of Russia
Volga Tatars