The Bashkirs, a Turkic people, live in Russia, mostly in the Central Asian republic of Bashkortostan, an oil rich territory. A significant number of Bashkirs also live in the republic of Tatarstan, as well as in Perm Krai and Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Kurgan, Sverdlovsk, Samara, and Saratov Oblasts of Russia.