The Tartars are originary from the Central and Eastern Asia and are related to the Turks. In the context of the many conquest campaign during the Gingis Han`s time, his nephew Batu obtains a great victory against the Russians in 1223, which opens the door to the conquest of the North shore of Black Sea. The kingdom that he founds -the Golden Hoard- will extend its authority over Dobrogea, as well.
After the Kingdom of Crimeea, a remnant of the Golden Hoard, was conquered by Russia in 1783, many Tartars migrated, in many waves, to the Ottoman empire. Here, in Dobrogea, they adapted their steppe civilization to their new home.
After the Independence War, Ubicini was the first person to estimate the number of Tartars in Dobrogea. His number is imprecise, as he included both Turks and Tartars in the census. In 1879, in Dobrogea there were 134 000 Muslims. The first exact census of the Tartars from Dobrogea was done in 1911, and they numbered 25 086, that is 7.3% of the prvince`s population.
After Dobrogea was united to Romania in 1878, a new era came for the Tartars, due to their public educational institutions. The Tartars from Dobrogea have created their own culture inspired by history and traditions. They celebrate national (Nawrez and Kidirlez) and religious (Kurban Bayrami and Ramazan Bayrami) holidays.
Immediately after the 1989 Revolution, the Turkish-Muslim Democratic Union from Romania is founded, aiming to be a ethno-religious organization for the Turkish and Tartar population from Romania. Soon, the organization breaks in two, in the Turkish Democratic Union from Romania and the Democratic Union of the Turkish-Muslim Tartars from Romania. The latter has now 22 branches, in the most important centers with Tartar population: Constanta, Medgidia, Mangalis, Valu lui Traian, Bucuresti, Techirghiol, Basarabi, Ovidiu, Brasov, Tulcea, etc.
The organization helped organize networks of school children for Turkish-Tartar language and Islamic religion classes. Recently a program was started for teachers that want to use the Turkish-Tartar language in their classes. During the past few years, the education committee of the Union worked towards a strategy for the development and preservation of the Tartar culture.
The Tartar Union publishes books of classic and contemporary authors, as well as two monthly magazines: KaradenizCas (The Young). (The Black Sea) and
In 1998, there were 80 Muslim religious establishment, and among them a mosque. In 1995, following an agreement between the Romanian and the Turkish government, the Muslim seminar in Medgidia gets transformed into the Muslim Theological High School Kemal Ataturk, financially supported by the Ankara government.