Zakiev Mirfatyh is a Türkology

Turkology

Turkology is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative context...

 scholar, philologist, teacher, and a Tatarstan

Tatarstan

The Republic of Tatarstan is a federal subject of Russia located in the Volga Federal District. Its capital is the city of Kazan, which is one of Russia's largest and most prosperous cities. The republic borders with Kirov, Ulyanovsk, Samara, and Orenburg Oblasts, and with the Mari El, Udmurt,...

 public figure, Doctor of Philology

Philology

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

, professor, full member of Academy of Sciences of the Tatarstan Republic. M.Zakiev served as a Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Tatar ASSR (Chairman of the republican parliament in the Tatarstan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the former USSR).

M.Zakiev conducted major scientific research in the field of the Tatar Linguistics, Türkology. fundamental research in syntactic architecture of the Tatar language. Academician B.A. Serebrennikov commented about the work on syntactic architecture: "This is the first most full and logically faultless monograph about the syntax of the Türkic languages".

Zakiev published five to six hundred scientific works, including thirty-five monographs, brochures, textbooks and instruction manuals for the Tatar language

Tatar language

The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...

, history of the Tatar school of Türkologists, ethnic history of the Turkic peoples

Turkic peoples

The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...

, inter-ethnic and interlingual contacts, bilinguality and multilinguality.

Zakiev served in a number of higher schools and institutes as a Rector, Director and Department Head (KGPI 1967-1986, IJALI 1986-1997), created Departments of Ethnography

Ethnography

Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...

, Manuscripts and Textology, Lexicology

Lexicology

Lexicology is the part of linguistics which studies words, their nature and meaning, words' elements, relations between words , word groups and the whole lexicon....

 and Lexicography

Lexicography

Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....

, was instrumental in compiling a Collection of Monuments of History and Culture, creating of Tatar Encyclopedia. Zakiev headed the Scientific Commission of the Education Ministry of the Russian Federation for the philological sciences. M.Zakiev is a member of Presidium of AN RT.

Zakiev created scientific schools in the fields of language, interethnic and interlingual contacts, bilinguality and multilinguality. Zakiev prepared thirty Ph.D.s and Doctors of Science, twelve of his pupils became Doctors of Science and Professors. Under his guidance the Department of Linguistics in the IJALI created a three-volume Academic Grammar of the Tatar Language, prepared multivolume Tatar Lexicology.

Main publications

1. "Hezerge Tatar edebi tele, Syntax", Kazan, 1958, in Tatar ("Хәзерге татар әдәби теле. Синтаксис", Казан, 1958)
2. "Syntactic structure of the Tatar language", Kazan, 1963 , in Russian ("Синтаксический строй татарского языка", Казань, 1963)
3. School textbooks on Tatar language for upper grades of Tatar schools, republished from 1964 on. (Школьные учебники по татарскому языку для 8,9,10,11 классов татарских школ, начиная с 1964 года по наст. время выдержали по нескольку изданий)
4. "Tatar halky telenen barlykka kilüe", Kazan, 1977 ("Татар халкы теленең барлыкка килүе", Казан, 1977, in Tatar). Examination of the Bulgarian Middle Age epitaphs found that contrary to the sanctioned doctrine, the first epitaph style belonged to the Bulgars of various local Turkic-speaking tribes which later developed into Tatar people, and the second epitaph style belonged to the Moslem Chuvashes who were assimilating Bulgarian language (Изучение булгарских сердневековых эпитафий показало что вопреки санкционированной доктрине, первый стиль эпитафий принадлежал булгарам различных местных тюрко-говорящих племен, которые позже развились в татарский народ, а второй стиль эпитафий принадлежал чувашам-мусульманам ассимилировавшим булгарский язык)
5. "Volga Bulgars and their descendants", co-author Ya.F.Kuzmin-Yumanadi, Kazan, 1993, in Russian ("Волжские булгары и их потомки", соавт. Я.Ф.Кузьмин-Юманади, Казань, 1993, in Russian). Study established that Tatars are descendants of Bulgars, instead of Chuvashes, postulated by the sanctioned doctrine (Изучение доказывает что потомками булгар являются татары, а не чуваши, как это ошибочно утверждается в санкционированной доктрине).
6. "Problems of language and origin of Volga Tatars", Kazan, 1986, in Russian ("Проблемы языка и происхождения волжских татар", Казань, 1986)
7. "Tatars: Problems of a history and language", Kazan, 1995, in Russian ("Татары: Проблемы истории и языка", Казань, 1995)
8. "Tatar grammar, Vol 3, Syntax", Kazan, 1992 and 1995 in Russian, Moscow - Kazan, 1999 in Tatar ("Татарская грамматика, Том 3, Синтаксис". Издания на русском: Казань, 1992 и 1995. Издание на татарском: - Москва-Казань, 1999)
9. "Törki-Tatar ethnogenesis", Moscow-Kazan, 1998, in Tatar. ("Төрки-татар этногенезы", Мәскәü-Казан, 1998) Study discredits the sanctioned doctrine of Mongolo-Tatar origin of the modern Tatars. (В книге раскрыты древние местные этнические корни татар. На основе изучения имеющихся всевозможных источников доказывается несостоятельность мнения о монголо-татарском происхождении современных татар.)
10. "Origin of Türks and Tatars", Moscow, 2003, in Russian ("Происхождение тюрков и татар, Москва, 2003). Study of local ethnic roots of Türks and Tatars discredits the sanctioned doctrine of Türkic late migration in 4th-6th centuries AD from Altai to Central and Middle Asia, Near East, Asia Minor, Western Siberia, Ural-Itil region, Caucasus and Balkans; and migration of Tatar-Bulgar ancestors to Ural-Itil region in 7th century AD from N.Pontic. (Впервые излагается научная точка зрения о местных этнических корнях тюрков и татар, доказывается несостоятельность мнения о приходе тюрков лишь в 4-6 вв. н.э. из Алтая в Центральную, Среднюю, Переднюю, Малую Азию, Западную Сибирь, Урало-Поволжье, на Кавказ и Балканы; о приходе предковтатар-булгар в Урало-Поволжье лишь в 7 в. н.э. якобы из Северного Причерноморья)