Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars live mainly in Crimea (about 235–280 thousand), adjacent regions of Russia (2.4 thousand, mainly in the Krasnodar Territory ) and in adjacent regions of Ukraine (2.9 thousand, mainly in the Kherson region ) as well as in Turkey , Romania (24 thousand, mainly in Constanta County ), Uzbekistan (90 thousand ^[13] , estimates from 10 thousand to 150 thousand), Bulgaria (3 thousand). 5-6 million people live in Turkey, whose ancestors at different times (from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th centuries) moved to this country from the Crimea. This gives the reason for the Crimean Tatar public organizations of Turkey to assert that several million Crimean Tatars live in the country. ^[34] However, most descendants of Crimean Tatar immigrants in Turkey assimilated and consider themselves Turks. The actual number of Crimean Tatars in Turkey is unknown, since the data on the ethnic composition of the country’s population in Turkey are not published.

Ethnonym "Crimean Tatars"

The fact that the common name of the Crimean Tatars contains the word "Tatars" often causes misunderstandings and questions about whether the Crimean Tatars are not a sub-ethnic group of Tatars , and the Crimean Tatars language is a dialect of the Tatars . The name “Crimean Tatars” has remained in the Russian language since the times when almost all Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire were called Tatars ^[35] : Karachay (mountain Tatars), Azeris (Transcaucasian, or Azerbaijani Tatars), Kumyks (Dagestan Tatars), Khakasy (Abakan Tatars), etc. It is also important to note that the Kypchaks (Polovtsy), whose descendants are modern Crimean Tatars, used the ethnonym "Tatars" (the gender of tatarlar ) as their self-name, which is confirmed by the well-known written source Koumansk language - Codex Kumanikus , created in the Crimea in a language very close to the modern Crimean Tatar language ^[36] . In addition, the Crimean Tatars themselves during the Crimean Khanate , even before the formation of the Russian Empire, and until the beginning of the 1990s, exclusively the ethnonym “Tatars” ( Crimean tatarlar ) was used as self-designation ^[37] . In their titles, the Crimean khans also designated themselves as “the great padishah of all Tatars” ( Crimean Tat. Barça (böten) tatarnıñ uluğ padişahı ) ^[38] . The Crimean Tatars are descendants of the Turkic-speaking, Caucasian and other tribes that inhabited Eastern Europe.

The Crimean Tatars themselves today use two self-names: qırımtatarlar (literally “Crimeans”) and qırımlar (literally “Crimeans”) ^[30] . In everyday colloquial speech (but not in the official context), the word tatarlar ("Tatars") can also be used as a self-name.

Writing the adjective "Crimean Tatar"

Writing the adjective "Crimean-Tatar" is debatable. Two variants are widespread: combined - Crimean Tatar and hyphenated - Crimean Tatar . Despite the fact that the officially functioning “Rules of Russian Spelling and Punctuation” of 1956 require a solid spelling of the word, there are a number of publications and dictionaries recommending hyphenated spelling. At the same time, in practice, in the Crimea and in Ukraine, almost exclusively combined writing is used, in Russia - both options, but more often hyphenated. In particular, the GOST 7.75-97 standard “Codes of names of languages” in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan calls the language of the Crimean Tatars “Crimean-Tatar”, while the literature published in Crimea is “Crimean-Tatar” ^[39] .

As part of the Crimean Tatar people, there are three sub-ethnic groups formed on the southern coast of the Crimea, in the mountain-foothill part of the peninsula and in the Crimean steppe.

Southbearers - Yaly Boyle

Yalya Boyle ( Crimean Tat. Yalı boylu - “living along the coast”, from yalı - coast, boy - length, length, -lı - suffix that forms the name of the person living in it from the name of the area) - natives of the southern coast of Crimea . In the ethnogenesis of this group, the main role was played by the Greeks , Goths , Asia Minor Turks and Circassians , and in the inhabitants of the eastern part of the South Coast there is also the blood of the Italians (Genoese). The inhabitants of many villages of the Southern Coast, up to the deportation, retained elements of the Christian rites inherited from the Greek ancestors. Most yaliboylyu adopted Islam as a religion rather late compared to the other two subethnos: for example, the Ottoman census of 1542 shows that at that time most of the population of the southern coast was Christians. ^[40]

Highlanders - Tats

Tats (not to be confused with the Caucasian people of the same name ) lived before deportation in the mountains ( Crimean tat. Dağlar ) and foothills or middle belt ( Crimean tat. Orta yolaq ), that is, to the north of the South Coast and to the south of the steppe inhabitants. The ethnogenesis of tats is a very complex and not fully studied process. In the formation of this subethnos, almost all the peoples and tribes who ever lived in the Crimea took part.

Stepnyaki - legs

The legs lived in the steppe ( Crimean Tat. Çöl ) north of the conditional Nikolaevka - Guards - Theodosius line . The main part in the ethnogenesis of this group was taken by the Western Kypchaks ( Polovtsy ) and Eastern Kypchaks. Racially, the legs are Caucasians with Mongoloid elements (~ 10%) ^[41] .

The Crimean-Tatar language is the mother tongue for 92% of the Crimean Tatars living in Crimea, the rest from childhood mostly speak Russian. Almost all Crimean Tatars in Crimea are bilingual , as 86% speak Russian and 20% speak Ukrainian. ^[42] The overwhelming majority of Crimean Tatars living in Romania and Bulgaria are fluent in the languages ​​of these countries, and a significant part also speak Turkish. In Turkey, all the Crimean Tatars speak Turkish, many - only Turkish.

Each of the three sub-ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatars has its own dialect. Because of the different ethnogenesis of the subethnoi, the dialects of the Crimean Tatar language differ markedly from each other ^[43] . Thus, the South Coast dialect enters (together with Turkish, Azeri, Gagauz languages) into the Oguz group of Turkic languages, the steppe dialect (together with Karachai-Balkarian, Kumyk, Tatar, Kazakh languages) - into the Kypchak group, and the middle dialect is intermediate between the South Coast and steppe: Kypchak is basically a descendant of the Polovtsian language , which has been strongly influenced by Oguz ^{[44] [45] [46]} .

The closest to the Crimean-Tatar language from the Kypchak group are the Kumyk and Karachay-Balkar languages ​​(as well as the languages ​​of the Karaites , the Krymchaks and the Urumes formed in the Crimea, often considered ethnolects of the Crimean Tatar), and from the Oguz group the Turkish language. The Crimean Tatar and Tatar languages ​​are related and belong to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages, but they are not close relatives within this group. Because of the rather different phonetics (primarily because of the vocalism inherent in the Tatar language - the so-called “Volga disruption of vowels”), the Crimean Tatars understand by ear only individual words and phrases in Tatar speech, and vice versa, as Russians, without training, perceive only a part of the Ukrainian language by ear.

The modern literary Crimean Tatar language is based on the middle dialect.

At the end of the 19th century, Ismail Gasprinsky attempted to create a common literary language for all Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire (including the Tatars of the Volga region) on the basis of the Crimean Tatar South Coast dialect - the closest to the Turkish language However, this initiative did not have any serious success in Russia, but was used by Kemalists in creating the modern Turkish language.

The Crimean Tatars were formed as a people in the Crimea in the 13th — 17th centuries. The historical core of the Crimean Tatar ethnos are the Turkic tribes settled in the Crimea. A special place in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars belongs to the Polovtsy , who, mingling with the local descendants of the Huns , Khazars , Pechenegs , as well as representatives of the pre-Türkic population of Crimea, made up with them the ethnic basis of the Crimean Tatars, Karaites , Krymchaks . Anthropologically, 80% of the Crimean Tatars belong to the Caucasoid race, except for the steppe Crimean Tatars (legs), who have Caucasoid-Mongoloid facial features ^[47] .

Formation of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group based on the Polovtsian language culture

The main ethnic groups that inhabited the Crimea in antiquity and the Middle Ages are Tauris , Scythians , Sarmatians , Alans , Bulgars , Greeks , Crimean Goths , Khazars , Pechenegs , Polovtsy , Italians , Little Asian Turks . Over the centuries, the people who came to Crimea assimilated the people who lived here before they came, or themselves assimilated among them ^{[31] [48] [49]} .

An important role in the formation of the Crimean Tatar people belongs to the Western Kypchaks , known in Russian historiography as the Polovtsy . From the XI-XII centuries, the Kypchaks began to be settled in the Volga, Azov and Black Sea steppes (which from then until the XVIII century were called Desht-Kipchak - “Kypchak (Polovtsi) Steppe”). From the second half of the 11th century, they began to actively penetrate into the Crimea. A significant part of the Polovtsy hid in the mountains of Crimea, fleeing after the defeat of the combined Polovtsian-Russian troops from the Mongols and the subsequent defeat of the Polovtsian proto-state formations in the northern Black Sea coast.

By the end of the 15th century, basic prerequisites were created that led to the formation of an independent Crimean-Tatar ethnic group: the political dominance of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire was established in Crimea, the Turkic languages ​​(Polovtsian-Kipchak on the territory of the Khanate and Ottoman in the Ottoman possessions) became dominant, and Islam acquired the status of a state religions throughout the peninsula. As a result of the prevalence of the Polovtsian-speaking population received the name "Tatars" and the Islamic religion, the processes of assimilation and consolidation of the colorful ethnic conglomerate began, which led to the emergence of the Crimean Tatar people ^{[31] [50]} . For several centuries, the Crimean Tatar language was formed on the basis of the Polovtsian language with a noticeable Oguz influence ^[44] .

Various genetic origin of subethnic groups of the Crimean Tatars

Most of the current work on the Crimean Tatars' gene pool is related to the works and expeditions of Anastasia Agjoyan ^{[51] [52] [53]} .

According to the researchers, the gene pool of the Crimean Tatars is extremely diverse, there is no dominant variant (haplogroup) of the Y chromosome. The most common haplogroups are: R1a1a-M198 , J2-M172 , R1b-M343 , G2a3b1-P303 , E1b1b1-M35.1 , but they cover 67% of the genetic diversity represented by a large number of other haplogroups ^[52] . With a frequency of less than 5%, haplogroups C3-M172, G1-M85, I2a1-P37J1-M267, J2b-M12, L-M11, N1a1-M178, O3-M122, Q-M242, T1-M70 and others ^{[54] are found} .

The steppe subethnos of the Crimean Tatars is genetically close to the peoples of the Eurasian steppe and Ural region (the presence in the gene pool of the C-M130, Q-M242, L-M11, O3-M122 haplogroups characteristic of the Eurasian steppes). The gene pool of mountainous and southern coastal Crimean Tatars is similar to the populations of the Eastern Mediterranean (this reflects the connection of the Crimean Tatar people with the Mediterranean peoples who founded their colonies in Crimea at the beginning of our era). This indicates that the genetically Crimean Tatars were formed from two “layers”: the “Eurasian steppe” component introduced into the Crimea as a result of the ancient migrations of the Mediterranean component and introduced into the medieval migrations ^{[51] [52] [55]} .

Genetically the closest among the Türks ( genetic distance d = 0.13) to the Crimean Tatars are Balkarians (while the Karachai- related Balkarians are removed from the Crimean Tatars by a genetic distance d = 0.31, which is even longer than the genetic distance from the Crimean Tatars to the South Siberian Altai - d = 0.30), the second among the Türks (genetic distance d = ~ 0.20) are Karangayans , the third are Turks (genetic distance d = 0.22), and the fourth among the Turks (genetic distance d = 0.25) are Nogais as a whole ^{[53] [52]} .

Crimean Khanate

The final process of the formation of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group was completed in the period of the Crimean Khanate (mid-15th - late 18th centuries).

For most of its history, the Crimean Khanate was in vassal dependence on the Ottoman Empire and was its ally. The main surviving architectural monument of that time is the Khan's palace in Bakhchisarai .

From the beginning of the 16th century, the Crimean Khanate led constant wars with its neighbors, the Russian state and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , which was accompanied by the capture of a large number of prisoners from among the peaceful Russian, Ukrainian and Polish population. Captured into slavery were sold on the Crimean slave markets, among which the largest was the market in the city of Kafa (modern Theodosia ), to Turkey, Arabia, and the Middle East.

The constant threat of the raids of the Crimean Khanate contributed to the formation of the Cossacks , performing guard and sentinel functions on the border territories of the Russian state and the Commonwealth adjacent to Wild Field .

The Russian historian Vasily Klyuchevsky wrote: “ In the continuation of the XVI century. From year to year, thousands of border populations disappeared for the country, and tens of thousands of the country's best people fought on the southern border in order to shield the inhabitants of the central regions from captivity and ruin. If you imagine how much material and spiritual time and energy perished in this monotonous and rude, painful pursuit of a crafty steppe predator, you can hardly ask what the people of Eastern Europe did when Western Europe achieved its success in industry and commerce, in a hostel, in the sciences and arts " ^[56] .

Crimea joining the Russian Empire

In 1736, Russian troops led by Field Marshal Christopher (Christoph) Minich burned Bakhchisarai and ravaged the piedmont Crimea. In 1774, the Kyuchuk-Kaynardzhiysky Treaty was concluded , under which the Crimean Khanate became independent of the Ottoman Empire. The independence of the Crimean Khanate and non-interference in its affairs both in Russia and Turkey was recognized for everlasting time ^{[57] [58]} .

In 1783, the Crimean Khanate was conquered by Russia .

At the same time, the policy of the Russian imperial administration was characterized by a certain flexibility. The Russian government made its support to the ruling circles of the Crimea: all the Crimean Tatar clergy and the local feudal aristocracy were equated to the Russian aristocracy with the preservation of all rights.

The destruction of the economy of the Crimean Khanate in connection with the departure of Christians in 1778 and the mass emigration of the Crimean Tatars to Turkey

In 1778, a mass resettlement of Christians from the Crimea was organized ^[59] , led by Count Suvorov . Among the reasons for resettlement are the following ^{[60] [61] [62] [63]} :

1. The very existence of the Crimean Khanate and the constant raids on Russia did not allow Russia to settle and carry out economic activities in the southern steppes, which were therefore called the Wild Field . After their security was ensured, it was more profitable for Russia to use the Christian population for conducting economic activity on these fertile lands. The result of the resettlement was the formation of such cities and industrial centers as Mariupol and Rostov-on-Don .
2. The liquidation of the Zaporizhzhya Sich with the departure of the Cossacks beyond the Danube exacerbated the problem of the lack of population for the development of new territories of the Northern Black Sea region .
3. The Crimea could be in the zone of regular hostilities with the Turks, so the Christian clergy, loyal to Russia, feared for the safety of their community in the event of the return of the Crimea to Turkey.
4. Crimea still remained a disputed territory with the Ottoman Empire, and Russia was interested in undermining its economy and reducing the income and resources of the local nobility as a potential opposition.

Since Christian communities controlled trade and crafts in coastal cities, the exodus of Christians inevitably led to the collapse of the economy of the Crimean Khanate, which could no longer exist independently. ^[64] Khan Shahin Gerai, in a letter to Suvorov, commented on it this way ^[64] :

The destruction of trade and crafts in the Crimea has aggravated the crisis of agriculture and created the threat of famine, which led to the mass emigration of the Crimean Tatars to Turkey. This was also facilitated by the oppression of the Russian administration and the dispossession of Crimean Tatar peasants ^[65] .

The two main waves of emigration of the Crimean Tatars occurred in the 1790s and 1850s. According to researchers of the late 19th century, F. Lashkova and K. German, by the 1770s the population of the peninsular part of the Crimean Khanate was approximately 500 thousand, 92% of whom were Crimean Tatars. The first Russian census of 1793 recorded in the Crimea 127.8 thousand people, including 87.8% of the Crimean Tatars. Thus, most of the Tatars emigrated from the Crimea, according to various sources, comprised up to half of the population (from the Turkish data it is known ^[66] about 250 thousand Crimean Tatars who settled in Turkey at the end of the 18th century, mainly in Roumelia ). After the end of the Crimean War , in the 1850–1860s, about 200 thousand Crimean Tatars emigrated from the Crimea ^{[66] [67]}

It is their descendants who now make up the Crimean Tatar diaspora in Turkey , Bulgaria and Romania . ^[68] The total number of Turkish citizens, whose ancestors emigrated from the Crimea at various times, is estimated at 5-6 million people in Turkey. However, they can be considered conditionally as the Crimean Tatar diaspora, since most of these people assimilated and consider themselves not Crimean Tatars, but Turks of Crimean origin ^[34]

Secular pan-Turkism of Ismail Gasprinsky

Ismail Gasprinsky , who in fact became one of the founders of the ideology of Pan - Turkism , Jadidism , had a great influence not only on the Crimean Tatars, but on all Turkic peoples. Working on the creation of the common Turkic language, he laid the foundation of the modern Turkish language, which later became the theoretical basis of Kemalism , which determined the modern look of Turkey.

Jadidism of Ismail Gasprinsky opposed religious dogmatism and fanaticism, it was based on the European values ​​of education, equality of women's rights, the use of science and progress. The school education system developed by Ismail Gasprinsky was implemented in Tatarstan , Kazakhstan , Bashkortostan , Turkmenistan , Tajikistan , Uzbekistan , Kyrgyzstan , Azerbaijan and Turkey .

As a pan-Turkist and even more likely a globalist, Ismail Gasprinsky spoke out against nationalism and for the cooperation of the peoples, adhered to the position of “the consent of nations ”, including the Russians: “ The most numerous and main people of Russia — Russians — are gifted with a very rare and happy character to live peacefully and harmoniously with all sorts of other tribes. Envy, hostility, ill-will towards foreigners are not in the character of an ordinary Russian person. This is a good feature, an undoubted guarantee of the greatness and tranquility of Russia ... ” ^[69] .

The provision on the union of the Turkic peoples under the auspices of the Russian Empire Gasprinsky deduced not only from humanistic values. He believed that the Russian empire, which had swallowed up most of the Golden Horde, was to a certain extent the successor of the “Tatar heritage”, therefore this alliance is a harmonious reflection of the historical tradition. ^[69] It should be noted that this approach was very popular in the XIX century and among the Russian intelligentsia, in particular, N. S. Trubetskoy wrote that Moscow’s power for the Turkic peoples was natural, since it simply occurred that the Horde Khan was replaced by the Moscow Tsar with Khan's Bet to Moscow ” ^[70] .

Civil War, Crimean People's Republic

The hard test for the Crimean Tatars was the Civil War (1917-1922) . During the Civil War, the interests of the Crimean Tatars were practically ignored either by the Whites or the Reds, since both of them considered the Crimea exclusively as part of Russia.

On October 2, 1917, the Crimean People’s Republic (PRC) was proclaimed in Crimea as the autonomy of the Crimean Tatars. The party Milli Firka under the leadership of Noman Chelebidzhihan played a central role in this.

Trying to take control of the entire peninsula, on January 11 (24), 1918, the Chinese government attacked Sevastopol , but the naval garrison during the battles on January 12 (25) - 13 (26), defeated the Chinese troops. Developing success, on January 14 (27), the Sevastopol Red Guard detachment and sailors of the Black Sea Fleet drove the Tatar formations out of Simferopol . N. Celebidzhihan was detained and on February 23 he was killed without trial by revolutionary sailors, and his body was thrown into the sea ^[71] . The brutal reprisal of N. Chelebidzhikhan, an intelligent and non-violent man, who was also known as a poet and author of the Crimean Tatars anthem “ Ant etkenmen ”, shook the Crimean Tatar intelligentsia ^[72] .

With the arrival of German troops in Crimea on June 25, 1918, the Crimean regional government of MA Sulkevich was formed , which in fact was a government of collaborationists controlled by the occupation authorities.

In April 1919, units of the Ukrainian Red Army occupied the Crimea, displacing the White Guards and the Anglo-French interventionists from its territory. The Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. The winners organized a red terror in the Crimea against the remnants of the Russian army, Wrangel .

Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

In 1921 the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed as part of the RSFSR ^[73] . The article “On the proclamation of the Crimean Republic” of the People’s Commissariat of the RSFSR on national affairs indicated that the status of an autonomous republic (and not the region) was chosen taking into account the interests of the Crimean Tatars and as a political concession to them for interethnic and political compromise. The constitution of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic de facto created autonomy of the Crimean Tatars, in which they had very broad rights. The Tatar and Russian languages ​​were fixed as state languages, including in the variants of graphics of the coat of arms of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In some cases, local laws took precedence over laws of the RSFSR. Universal suffrage allowed the Crimean Tatars, who constituted the majority of the population of Crimea at that time, to actually control the formation of legislative bodies ^[74] .

The famine of 1921 and the massive death of the Crimean Tatars

Crop failure in 1921, along with the consequences of the military ruin of agriculture, caused a large-scale famine in the Crimea. Hunger on the peninsula continued from autumn 1921 to spring 1923, then subsiding, then flashing with a new force. During this time, about 100,000 people died of starvation in Crimea, or 15% of the Crimean population in 1921. The bulk of the dead was the most vulnerable poor rural population, Crimean Tatar in its national composition - up to 76,000 died of Crimean Tatars. ^[72]

According to the census of 1939 , the Crimean Tatars in Crimea numbered 218,179 people, that is, 19.4% of the population of the peninsula ^[66] . According to the National Movement of the Crimean Tatars in 1939, 513,245 Crimean Tatars lived in Crimea, that is, almost two times more than according to official data ^[75] .

Crimea under German occupation

From mid-November 1941 to May 12, 1944, the Crimea was occupied by German troops.

The participation of the Crimean Tatars in the fight against the Nazis and their allies

In the ranks of the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War, more than 35 thousand Crimean Tatars from the Crimea served, and 60 thousand Crimean Tatars fought in total. More than one and a half thousand Crimean Tatars were officers, including 97 women. According to the National Movement of the Crimean Tatars , 100,638 Crimean Tatars fought in the Red Army , 16,713 participated in the partisan movement and another 7,727 participated in underground organizations, patriotic groups, maintained contact and helped them ^[76] . Every third of the fought Crimean Tatars died on the battlefield ^[77] . For military services in the Great Patriotic War, six Crimean Tatars ( Teifuk Abdul , Uzeir Abduramanov , Abduraim Reshidov , Fetislyam Abilov , Seytnaf Seitveleviev , Amet Khan Sultan ) were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union , another 18 were presented to the title ^[78] . Two ( Seit-Nebi Abduramanov and Nasibulla Velilyaev ) became full knights of the Order of Glory .

The names of two generals from among the Crimean Tatars are known: Ismail Bulatov and Ablyakim Gafarov ^[77] .

On September 1, 2014, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin , “ for heroism, courage and bravery shown during the Great Patriotic War, ” he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation to intelligence officer Alim Abdenanova, who died in early 1944 ^[79] . In the ranks of the Polish Guard, Lyudova fought from prisoner Akmolla Adamanov ( Mishka-Tatars ), who was posthumously awarded the Order of the Grunewald 3rd degree, died .

The most famous pilot of the Crimean Tatars (by mother) and Dagestanis (by father) was Amet-khan Sultan , twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union ^[80] . In addition to 49 victories in the air, Amet Khan Sultan became famous for his air ram. After the war, he became one of the leading test test pilots who tested the Su-7 , Su-9 and Tu-16 aircraft .

Another famous fighter pilot of the Great Patriotic War from the Crimean Tatars was Colonel Emir Usein Chalbash : after the war he was a test pilot of class I, the author of the memoirs “Fight for battle! Soviet aces against the Luftwaffe.

Crimean Tatar Heroes of the Soviet Union

• Amet Khan Sultan - twice
• Abduraim Reshidov
• Abdul Teifuk
• Uzeyir Abduramanovich Abduramanov
• Seitnafe Seitviliev
• Abilov Anatoly (Fetislyam) Abilovich - awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union by the decree of the President of the USSR dated May 5, 1990 for skillful command of a rifle regiment, exemplary performance of combat tasks of the command on the front of the struggle against the German fascist aggressors and showing courage and heroism

Crimean Tatars are holders of Orders of Glory of 3 degrees , equating to Heroes of the Soviet Union

• Seit Nebi Abduramanov
• Leonid (Nasibula) Velilyaev

Crimean Tatars awarded the title of Hero of Russia for services to the Second World War

• Alime Abdennanova

Crimean Tatars awarded the Polish Order of the Grunwald Cross for merits in World War II

• Akmolla Adamanov died ("Bear-Tatars")

Participation of the Crimean Tatars in collaborationist formations

Under the German leadership, armed groups were formed from local residents to fight partisans in the Crimea — self-defense detachments. The guerrilla movement covered mainly the wooded mountainous part of the Crimea, most of whose population were Crimean Tatars. Collaborationists (including from among the Crimean Tatars), organized into the “local police” detachments of Shutsmanshaft , were also used by the German authorities as guards of death camps. The most famous concentration camp was Red on the territory of the same-named state farm. In total, on the Germans' side, according to various calculations, up to 3.5 thousand Crimean Tatars fought ^[81] . After the defeat of the Wehrmacht’s Crimean grouping by the Red Army, the remnants of the armed Crimean Tatar collaborationists were withdrawn from the Crimea together with German troops, and the Tatar Mountain Regiment of the SS was formed from them.

Deportation

The accusation of collaboration with the occupiers of the Crimean Tatars and other peoples of the Crimea was the reason for their eviction from the Crimea in accordance with the Decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR No. GOKO-5859 of May 11, 1944 ^[82] . On May 18-20, 1944, an operation took place to deport the Crimean Tatars, in June - other Crimean peoples .

Officially, the basis for expulsion was also announced the massive desertion of the Crimean Tatars from the Red Army in 1941 (the number was about 20 thousand people), good reception of German troops and the active participation of the Crimean Tatars in the units of the German army, SD , police, gendarmerie, prisons and camps ^[83] .

In total, 183 155 Crimean Tatars were evicted from Crimea according to official data; according to the National Movement of the Crimean Tatars , who collected information and conducted self-censuses in the 1960s and 1970s, 423,100 people (89.2% women and children) ^[84] , of whom about 110,000 died in the first year and a half or 195,471 people (46.2% of all deported Crimean Tatars) ^{[85] [86]} .

For 12 years until 1956, the Crimean Tatars had the status of special settlers , implying various restrictions on their rights, in particular, a ban to leave the special settlement area without permission. Unauthorized departure from the area of ​​special settlement, equated with escape, was punishable by 25 years of hard labor ^[87] . All special settlers were registered and were required to register with the commandant's offices.

Demographics and the impact of deportations and famine

Nevertheless, the majority of the Crimean Tatars did not die from deportation , and during a large-scale famine in the USSR of 1946-1947 , during which, according to M. Ellman, about 1.5 million people died, of which up to 16 thousand Crimean Tatars. ^[88] Although in the total number of USSR citizens the Crimean Tatars who died of hunger was not great, but for a small people it was a huge loss. Estimates of the number of deaths during this period vary widely: from 15–25%, according to estimates by various Soviet official bodies, to 46%, according to estimates by activists of the Crimean Tatar movement who collected information about the dead in the 1960s. Thus, according to the OSS UzSSR, only “for 6 months of 1944, that is, from the moment of arrival in the UzSSR until the end of the year, 16 052 people died. (10.6%) ” ^[89] .

In the post-war census of the population of the USSR (1959, 1970, 1979) after the deportation, the Crimean Tatars do not appear ^[90] . In the 1989 census, the number of Crimean Tatars in the USSR was recorded as 271,715 people ^[90]

Return to Crimea

On April 28, 1956, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a decree “On the removal of restrictions on special settlement from the Crimean Tatars, Balkars, Turks — citizens of the USSR, Kurds, Hemshils and members of their families evicted during the Great Patriotic War” ^[91] . This decree equalized the Crimean Tatars, who from 1944 to 1956 had the status of special settlers, had rights with the rest of the Soviet citizens, but prohibited them from returning to Crimea. The decree stated that “the removal of restrictions on special settlement from the persons listed in Article 1 of this Edict does not entail the return of property confiscated during the eviction, and that they have no right to return to the places from which they were evicted”.

On September 5, 1967, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On Citizens of Tatar Nationality Living in the Crimea” was issued. The decree was published in the local press and in the official publication of the Vedomosti Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The preamble of the document stated that “after the liberation of Crimea from fascist occupation in 1944, the facts of active cooperation with the German invaders of a certain part of the Tatars living in Crimea were unfoundedly attributed to the entire Tatar population of Crimea <...>”. The decree reversed the decisions of state bodies in the part that contained unfounded accusations against "citizens of Tatar nationality living in the Crimea," but at the same time it was stated that they were "rooted in the territory of the Uzbek and other Union republics" ^[91] .

In the 1960s - 1970s, there were many cases in the Crimea of ​​the eviction of the Crimean Tatars who tried to move home independently. The legal basis for this was a ban on the registration of persons who did not have a job, and a ban on the recruitment of persons who did not have a residence permit. With regard to people of other nationalities who migrated to Crimea, the authorities looked at them through non-observance of these rules. ^[92] However, a small number of families still managed to gain a foothold in the Crimea. In the same years, a significant number of Crimean Tatars migrated from Uzbekistan to the border areas with the Crimea of ​​the Krasnodar Territory of the RSFSR and the Kherson Region of the Ukrainian SSR.

On July 11, 1990, the USSR Council of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 666 “On Priority Measures to Address Issues Related to the Return of Crimean Tatars to the Crimean Region” ^[93] .

On October 1, 1990 in Crimea, for the first time after the eviction of the Crimean-Tatar people, on May 18, 1944, the only state body of the Crimean Tatars was formed - the Committee on the restoration of the rights of the Crimean-Tatar people and organized return to the homeland in the Crimea ", later on of the deported peoples. ”Considering that NDCT prepared the concept of organized state return, restoring the rights of the Crimean Tatar people, naturally instructed on national movement headed by Yuri Bekirovichem Osmanov ^[94]

The mass return spontaneously began in 1989, and by the beginning of the 2000s about 250 thousand Crimean Tatars lived in Crimea (243 433 people according to the all-Ukrainian census of 2001), of which more than 25 thousand in Simferopol over 33 thousand, or more than 22% of the population of the area. At the same time, a significant part of the Crimean Tatars who moved to the Crimea could not return to the districts from which they or their parents were evicted in 1944. Before the deportation, the Crimean Tatars constituted the majority of the population in the mountains and on the southern coast of Crimea and a minority in the steppe areas in the north of the peninsula, after returning many repatriates could not get land or buy housing in the regions from which they were evicted and were forced to settle in the villages steppe Crimea (see maps with a share of the Crimean Tatars in the population of the districts of Crimea in 1939 and 2001).

Crimean Tatars in Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR (1991–2013)

In 1991, two years after the start of the mass return of the Crimean Tatars to their homeland, a national congress, Kurultay of the Crimean Tatar people , was convened, which formed from its deputies the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people as the “highest plenipotentiary representative body of the Crimean Tatar people” between the sessions of Kurultay ^{[95] [96]} . Due to the fact that the Majlis actually duplicated the functions of the state bodies of Ukraine in Crimea, it was not recognized by the central government even as a public organization until 2014, when Ukraine lost control over the Crimea.

The main political competitor of the Majlis was initially NDTC , headed by Yuri Osmanov , and then it was revived in 2006, the public organization " Milli Firka ". Since 2011, the relationship between the Milli Firka and the Majlis became openly hostile ^[97] because, according to the leaders of this organization, Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov usurped power and monopolized the representation of the interests of the Crimean Tatars. Since 2011, Milli Firka has come into conflict with the government of Ukraine, demanding the adoption of a law on the rehabilitation of Crimean Tatars ^[98] .

Self-capture of land in the Crimea by the Crimean Tatars

When returning to the Crimea, for many Crimean Tatars, the question of land arose, since land plots that had previously belonged to their ancestors had long been transferred to the ownership of other legal entities and individuals. This created in the mid-2000s, the problem of mass self-capture of land (the so-called "protest fields" that swept the southern coast of Crimea, Simferopol and its outskirts). The Mejlis took advantage of spontaneous protests and led them. Refat Chubarov, who at that time served as deputy head of the Majlis, said that the people would continue to seize the land, because the Crimea’s power does not do anything to resolve the land issue: “We will continue to put pressure on the government that does not want to have an honest dialogue about land in the Crimea ... " ^[99]

In 2004, the then future President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, officially supported the Majlis and even stated that he would solve the land issue, thereby guaranteeing himself the support of the Crimean Tatar people in the elections. However, in 2007, President Yushchenko signed amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine, according to which the unauthorized seizure of land became a criminal offense. By this time, the estimated land area under the "land squatting" was estimated at 1600 hectares. Periodically, the authorities of the Crimea tried to free “protest fields”, which developed into conflicts involving the special forces “Berkut” soldiers, internal troops and even armored vehicles. During the dispersal of illegal settlers, the security forces actively used special means - smoke grenades, rubber bullets and batons ^{[99] [100]} .

Violent clashes between the security forces and the Crimean Tatars in November 2007 took place on the Ai-Petri plateau. The decision of the court to demolish all unauthorized buildings was performed by fighters of the special unit "Berkut". This led to clashes, in which three people were injured among the Crimean Tatars ^{[99] [101] [102]} .

The essential aspect of the public life of Crimea after the return of the Crimean Tatars and the revival of the Muslim community became the relations between the Muslim and Orthodox confessions, which at first developed fairly tolerant. The Mufti of the Muslims of Crimea S. Ibragimov and the Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea Lazar became co-chairmen of the Interfaith Council “Peace is a gift of God” created in November 1992, the main purpose of which was proclaimed “... coordination of interfaith dialogue in Crimea”. However, after the change of leadership of the muftiat that occurred in 1995, the first signs of aggravation of interfaith relations appeared in Crimea, caused primarily by the politicization of the activities of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea. This led to conflicts between the Orthodox and Muslim communities, as well as between state authorities and Muslim religious organizations ^[103] .

Interfaith relations have worsened in connection with the preparation in Crimea for the celebration of the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ. The Simferopol and Crimean Diocese organized mass actions for the installation of worship crosses near settlements and on major highways. Despite the fact that the massive installation of crosses and posters with the inscriptions "Crimea is the cradle of Orthodoxy" was negatively perceived by the Muslim population, this action continued unilaterally, without the supposed "interfaith dialogue." The response of the Muslim community to these actions were the so-called “crusaders”, which led to a sharp aggravation of Muslim-Orthodox relations. In order to legislatively resolve the interfaith conflict, the Government of Crimea in February 2001 adopted a decree “On some measures to stabilize interfaith relations in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea”, which made significant changes to the rules for building or locating religious objects. In protest against the inactivity of the Interconfessional Council "Peace - God's Gift", the Crimean Mufti Emirali Ablaev suspended the membership of the SAMK in this body, which later gave reason to talk about the crisis in Orthodox-Muslim relations in the Crimea. Meanwhile, attempts to install the worship crosses continued. The incidents that accompanied these actions, fortunately, did not result in serious interfaith conflicts, but contributed to xenophobic and Islamophobic manifestations ^[103] .

Under Viktor Yanukovych, in the Council of Representatives of the Crimean Tatar People under the President of Ukraine, the Majlis was given less than half of the seats, with some of the members of the Council representing Milli Firka. In the Crimean authorities, members of the Majlis were replaced by those loyal to the new Ukrainian leadership. As a result, the Majlis boycotted the activities of the Council, which was headed by Party Member of the Regions Lentun Beziev (his deputy was Milli Firka chairman Vasvi Abduraimov ). As a result of the introduction of new electoral legislation, the Crimean Tatars were represented in the Ukrainian parliament by only one deputy. In 2013, the first direct elections to Kurultay were held, in which more than half of the Crimean Tatars took part ^[104] .

In 2011, after seven years of disputes and litigation ^[105] , accompanied by an indefinite protest organized by the Crimean Muftiat and collective complaints against authorities from disgruntled local residents ^[103] , the Religious Board of Muslims of Crimea was allotted in Simferopol a plot for the construction of the Cathedral Mosque (Juma Jami), which up to 4 thousand worshipers can use at the same time. The construction of the largest Islamic religious structure in the Crimea began in September 2015, after the Crimea became part of Russia ^[106] .

Due to the opposition of the Crimean authorities, the 2012 law on regional languages ​​was never extended to the Crimean Tatar language. In Crimea, there were 15 schools with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction (the Crimean Tatar public declared the need to have 75-80 such schools; despite the fact that the Crimean Tatars, according to official statistics, made up 13.6% of the Crimean population, only 3% of schoolchildren studied in the Crimean Tatar language (another 6% studied its optional) ^[104] .

Story

The vast majority of the Crimean Tatars - Muslims - Sunnis . Historically, the Islamization of the Crimean Tatars occurred in parallel with the formation of the ethnic group itself and was very long. The first step on this road was the seizure of Sudak and its surroundings by the Seljuks in the XIII century and the beginning of the spread of Sufi brotherhoods in the region, and the last was the massive acceptance of Islam by a significant number of Crimean Christians. The main part of the population of Crimea adopted Islam in the era of the Crimean Khanate and the Golden Horde period that preceded it.

In the heyday of Islam, mosques existed in Crimea in almost all localities. In the Crimean Khanate there was an extensive structure of the Muslim clergy, Muslim clerics have traditionally been part of the management of the Khanate. The annexation of the Crimea to Russia practically did not affect the structure of the Muslim clergy, but the system of the Muslim religious structure of the Crimea was placed under the control of the Russian Empire. In 1831, the Tauride Mohammedan spiritual government (TMDP) was established in the Russian Empire, at the head of which were appointed the mufti and the cadi-asker. The TMDP also led the Muslim community in Poland and Lithuania. By the end of the 18th century, about 1,600 mosques, 25 madrasas, functioned in the Crimea, and a wide network of Muslim schools operated - mekteb ^[103] .

The completion of the Islamization of the Crimea occurred in 1778 already after its entry into the Russian Empire, during the migration of Armenians and Greeks from the Crimea to the Azov province. With the departure of the Christians, the population of the cities of Kafa , Bakhchisarai , Karasubazar , Gezlev , Aqmecid , Eski-Kyrim , Balaklava became thinner . Fully or partially depopulated 67 mountain villages. A significant part of Christians who wanted to stay in the Crimea, was forced to convert to Islam in order not to fall into the category of those who were subject to eviction. Christians who were still resettled called settlements in new places of residence by the Crimean names (Yalta, Alushta). ^{[59] [64]}

The conversion of traditionally Christian peoples from colonies to the coast to Islam , such as the Genusians, Venetians, Greeks and Goths, explains the paradox why genetically some of the Crimean Tatars are descendants of these peoples and have a different culture. The Crimean Tatars, the descendants of these Christian peoples, form a subethnos of the South Coast ( Crimean Tat. Yalı boylü ), which until the deportation in 1944 retained many elements of Christian customs. ^[43]

The large-scale policy of landlessing of the local population conducted by the Russian authorities led to a mass emigration of Crimean Tatars to Turkey, which caused the cities and villages of Crimea to become empty, which, in turn, caused the closure of many mosques, madrasas and mektebs. By 1914, only 729 mosques were already operating on the peninsula ^[103] .

A heavy blow to the Muslim community of Crimea struck the establishment of Soviet power. The policy of the Soviet state in the religious sphere was aimed at the closure of existing religious organizations, the elimination of religious buildings and the expropriation of religious property and property. The system of Islamic institutions in Crimea was eliminated in the first years of Soviet power. Anti-religious propaganda was aimed at removing from the libraries and the destruction of Muslim literature. As a result of the Stalinist repression, virtually all Muslim clergy were eliminated. In 1944, with the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, Islam in Crimea finally ceased to exist ^[103] .

Consequences of deportation

And in exile, Islamic identity continued to play an important role in the formation of national self-consciousness and the ethnoculture of the Crimean Tatars. Under the conditions of deportation, visiting the existing mosques was impossible. The language of prayer (Arabic) over time became available only to a few, and the Muslim tradition was preserved mainly in the family and household sphere. During this time, as a result of a significant separation of the Crimean Tatar people from their religious roots, religiosity has remained almost only at the level of traditions and everyday rituals. Islam was perceived by the majority of the people only as part of the cultural traditions of the Crimean Tatars, transferred from the older generation. Virtually everyone considered themselves Muslims, although by the time the Crimean Tatars returned to their historic homeland, their general religious literacy was low ^[103] .

Modernity

The return of Crimean Tatars to the peninsula, for the majority of whom Islamic identity became a factor in ethnosocial consolidation, led to the revival of the Muslim community in the late 1980s. By the beginning of the mass repatriation of the Crimean Tatars in the Crimea, there was not a single Muslim community and not a single mosque. By 1988, less than a dozen Muslim religious buildings remained here, retaining signs of mosques, some of which were declared monuments of architecture and urban planning. With the return to the historical homeland, along with the processes of domestic arrangement, the construction of mosques, the restoration of Islamic institutions, the creation of religious courses and religious schools (madrasas) began. Much help in the revival of Islam was provided by Muslim states, primarily Turkey and the countries of the Arab East ^[103] .

On August 31, 1992, the All-Crimean meeting of representatives of Muslim communities took place in Simferopol, where it was decided to establish the Muslim Muftiyat of Crimea, which became part of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea (DUMK) ^[107] - the self-governing religious association of Muslims of Crimea. Seitdzhelil-efendi Ibraimov was elected the mufti (head of the Muslims of Crimea) and the chairman of the SAMK ^[108] . During the years of his leadership (1991-1995), the number of registered Muslim communities exceeded fifty. With the assistance of foreign Islamic centers, there was an active construction of new and the return of former mosques, the opening of Muslim religious schools - madrasas and Sunday schools at mosques. At first, the relations of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and the SAMK were generally built on an equal basis, the SAMK conducted a fairly independent policy, tried to get away from the politicization of Islam in Crimea, which sometimes led to quite sharp contradictions between the mufti and the chairman of the Mejlis ^[103] .

Ambitions and independence of S. Ibragimov, his popularity among the Crimean Muslims caused discontent among the leaders of the Majlis. In 1995, he was effectively removed from the administration of the muftiat. On the Kurultai of the Muslims of Crimea, a new mufti Nuri Mustafayev was elected - an active supporter of the participation of the Muslim community of Crimea in solving the political tasks of the National Movement of the Crimean Tatars . A new post of a representative of the Majlis in the muftiate with very extensive powers was also introduced. As a result, all the activities of the SAMK were put under the control of the Majlis ^[103] . In 1999, a member of the Majlis, Haji Emirali Ablayev, became the new mufti and chairman of the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Crimea, who has since been re-elected several times (the last time in 2013). The SAMC remains the most active and influential Islamic association on the peninsula so far ^[109] . The Muslim Spiritual Board of the Crimea adheres to the Hanafi madhhab . That Hanafi trend is historically traditional for the Crimean Tatars.

In 2010, with the assistance of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Ukraine (DUMU), the first officially oppositional organization to the Crimean muftiyu was registered - the Spiritual Center of Muslims of Crimea, which united adherents of the so-called Habashite trend in Islam ^{[103] [109]} . In August 2014, the Tavricheskaya Muftiyat (the Central Spiritual Board of Muslims - the Tauridetsky Muftiyat) ^[110] was re-established on the basis of the Spiritual Center of Muslims of Crimea ^[110] , whose mufti was elected Ruslan Saitvaliyev ^[109] . The leadership of TsDUMTM hastened to establish ties with the mufti of the Chechen Republic and Tatarstan, as well as with the chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia, the supreme mufti Talgat Tajuddin , assuring his intention to fight the followers of unconventional Islamic movements in Crimea ^{[111] [112] [113]} . In the spring of 2015, however, the authorities of Crimea announced the transfer of all local mosques to the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Crimea, despite the fact that in 2014, the SAMK, together with the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, actively supported the preservation of Crimea as part of Ukraine. In particular, the Crimean authorities supported the SAMK in its claims to manage the largest Khan-Jami mosque on the peninsula in Yevpatoria, whose community in August 2014 went to the Tavrichesky Mufti. In February 2015, SAMK received title documents for activities under Russian laws ^[114] .

In addition to traditional Islam, since the 1990s, followers of unconventional movements - Wahhabism (Salafis) , Tablighi Jamaat , Ikhwan al-Muslimun and Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (authorized in Ukraine, but prohibited and prosecuted in the Russian Federation) ^[109] . Representatives of these movements are in opposition to the SAMK. Already in 2008, representatives of not only autonomous Muslim communities, but also some Muslim communities of the SAMK were not invited to the IV Kurultai Muslims ^[103] .

As shown by sociological studies in 2015, the Crimean Tatar community of Crimea is declaratively religious: the overwhelming majority of respondents said that they are Muslims (84%), and the mufti was named among the most authoritative public figures. For most of the Crimean Tatars, however, external manifestations of religiosity are primarily characteristic. The level of religious radicalism is low, but every fifth (20%) reacted positively to the idea of ​​living in a religious state ^[115] .

Sustainable Muslim associations of 10 or more people grouped around its organizational core - the imam and his assistants, operate in almost every settlement of the densely populated Crimean Tatar population. At the beginning of 2011 there were more than six hundred such associations in the Crimea, 49 Muslim registered communities, 49 autonomous Muslim communities ^[103] .

According to the data of the All-Ukrainian census of 2001, more than 245 thousand Crimean Tatars and more than 13 thousand Tatars lived in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol (about 259 thousand people in total). The population census in the Crimean Federal District (2014) recorded more than 232 thousand Crimean Tatars and almost 45 thousand Tatars (a total of more than 277 thousand people). Representatives of Rosstat after the 2014 census recognized that “part of the Crimean Tatars at the census called themselves simply Tatars” ^[116] .

Crimean Tatars and spring 2014 events

The position of the Crimean Tatar community, the third largest in the Crimea, was essential for the development of the situation in Crimea during Euromaidan and during the events that led to the annexation of Crimea to Russia . To a large extent, its position determined the attitude of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people claiming to be an authorized representative of the interests of all the Crimean Tatars.

Sociologists V. Mukomel and S. Khaikin, who conducted their research in Crimea in the fall of 2015, characterize the attitude of the Crimean Tatars to the events described as follows ^[115] : “The civil identity of the Crimean Tatars, until 2014, in the overwhelming majority of those loyal to Ukraine, has been seriously tested during and after the Crimean Spring. Crimean Tatars had something to lose. First, by this time they had occupied a certain place in the economy, politics, and the elites of Crimea. Secondly, they were completely satisfied with the vector of development of Ukraine, optimism was associated with European integration through Turkey and Ukraine (which, however, did not prevent the prevalence of pro-Islamic and anti-American sentiment). Thirdly, they had a quasi-state representation - the Majlis . An established system of grants from the West and Turkey played a certain role . ”

According to the observations of sociologists, a significant role was played by ideological and emotional motives: the recent history of the Crimean Tatars, their return to the Crimea are inextricably linked with the history of Ukrainian statehood. Ukraine is perceived as a state that adopted the Crimean Tatars during the collapse of the USSR and returned their homeland to them, as a country in the development of which they took the most active part ^[115] .

According to V. Mukomel and S. Khaikin, the obvious involvement of the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine provided the Ukrainian leadership with the opportunity to use the Crimean Tatars as an “anti-Russian factor”, as an important force in countering the separatist sentiments of the Russian majority of the peninsula ^[115] .

As sociologists point out, the ideological loyalty of the Crimean Tatars to the Ukrainian state was especially noticeable against the background of their cautious attitude towards Russia, which in the eyes of the Crimean Tatars is not only formally the legal successor of the Soviet Union, but is also responsible for the deportation ^[115] .

The American researcher Greta Uling, who studies the psychological and social consequences of the deportation and return of the Crimean Tatars to the Motherland and visited Crimea several times in 1991-2013, noted in her work, published in 2015, that for 23 years as part of Ukraine, the Crimean Tatars much has been done to restore his full, centuries-old presence on the peninsula — to achieve the mention of the deportation of 1944 in history books, the restoration of mosques, the erection of many PARTICULAR memorials and monuments in honor of military and cultural figures of the Crimean Tatar people. The return of the Crimean Tatars, however, was met with hostility by the local population - the descendants of those who occupied the lands and houses of the deportees in the second half of the 1940s. Such manifestations of hostility Greta Uling considers numerous cases of vandalism and desecration of ethnic cultural monuments, Muslim cemeteries and religious shrines ^[117] , clashes in areas of " squatting " ^[118] . A kind of counterbalance to the actions of the Crimean Tatars in memory of the victims of the deportation of 1944 was the mass actions of local public organizations aimed at glorifying the merits of Stalin. As an example, Greta Uling cites a photo exhibition timed to coincide with the birthday of JV Stalin, held on December 21, 2012 in Simferopol by the public organization Matter of Time - Crimea, despite opposition from Crimean Tatar activists and with complete non-intervention by law enforcement ^{[118] [ 119] [120]} .

The stereotypes of Soviet propaganda, which represented the Crimean Tatars as traitors, Nazi collaborationists and traitors to the Motherland, have not weakened over these years, but have become even stronger, which, according to the researcher, does not allow to hope that the Crimean Tatars can smoothly integrate into Russian civil society. The researcher points to the discrepancy between the statements of high-ranking Russian leaders about the historical injustice against the Crimean Tatars and the practical actions of local authorities related to the “Russian community of Crimea” and the members of the paramilitary volunteer formations with their pronounced attitude to the Crimean Tatars as “ to traitors to the Motherland ”, especially since in the events that took place Crimean-Tatar activists clearly acted on the side of Ukraine ^[118] .

Counteraction of the Mejlis

During the Euromaidan period, the Mejlis spoke in support of European integration and against “establishing an authoritarian regime” in Ukraine, that is, from positions that are directly opposite to the opinion of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The Mejlis regularly sent organized groups of Crimean Tatars to participate in Euromaidan ^{[121] [122]} .

On February 26, 2014, the Mejlis led his supporters to the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea with the aim of blocking it and preventing the alleged decision to join Russia ^[123] . At the same time, a rally of the “Russian community of Crimea” was held here. A conflict broke out between the participants of the two mass actions, as a result of which 30 people were injured and injured and two people died: a man who died of a heart attack and a woman trampled in a crush ^[124] .

As the OSCE mission, which visited Ukraine and the Crimea in May 2014, points out in its report, after the clash in Simferopol, the feeling of mutual distrust and fear between the communities of ethnic Russian and Crimean Tatars increased. Reports of acts of intimidation against the Crimean Tatars, especially from the so-called “people's self-defense” and unidentified persons in military uniform, began to be received regularly. Such a public harassment caused members of the Crimean Tatar community to feel increased vulnerability, anxiety and uncertainty ^[125] .

This, however, was the last mass protest with the participation of the Crimean Tatars during this period. The Crimean and Russian authorities made active efforts in order, if not to incline the Crimean Tatars to their side, then at least to achieve their neutrality in the current situation ^{[126] [127] [128] [129]} . The recognized leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, was invited to Moscow for a meeting with the former President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev ^[130] . He even had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin ^[131] . According to Dzhemilev, Putin told him that he had ordered to avoid any kind of excesses with the Crimean Tatars ^[132] .

Nevertheless, the Mejlis refused to recognize the government of Sergei Aksyonov , who replaced Anatoly Mogilyov , whom the Supreme Soviet of Crimea fired ^[133] . Chairman of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov said that the Crimean Tatars do not recognize the outcome of the upcoming referendum on the status of Crimea , and condemned the decision of the Crimean parliament to join Russia. Mustafa Dzhemilev called for the introduction of UN peacekeeping troops in the Crimea and not to take into account the results of the upcoming referendum ^[134] . On March 15, the Mejlis made an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and to all the people of Ukraine, in which he confirmed his recognition of Ukraine as a sovereign and independent state within the existing borders and declared that the referendum being prepared was not recognized as legitimate. The Mejlis declared that “categorically rejects any attempts to determine the future of Crimea without the free will of the Crimean Tatar people - the indigenous people of Crimea” and that only the Crimean Tatars have the right to decide in which country to live the Crimean Tatar people ^[135] .

Already after the referendum on the status of Crimea , which the majority of Crimean Tatars, according to reports, boycotted at the call of the Majlis, a number of incidents occurred that showed that the pressure on the community of the Crimean Tatars was beginning to grow. The murder of Reshat Ametov, who protested against the referendum , was regarded by the community as an act of terror aimed at intimidation ^[125] .

Attempts to reach a compromise

On March 18, in announcing his support for the proposal of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea to admit the republic to the Russian Federation, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that cruel injustice was shown to the Crimean Tatars in Soviet times, but the Russian people suffered repressions. Now, after the Crimean Tatars have returned to their land, political, legislative decisions are needed that “ complete the process of rehabilitating the Crimean Tatar people, <...> will restore their rights, a good name in full ”.

On the same day, the Majlis declared non-recognition of the treaty on the accession of Crimea to Russia ^[136] .

Meanwhile, the Crimean authorities were trying to find ways to cooperate with the Majlis. The candidatures of Lenur Islyamov and Zaur Smirnov proposed by the Majlis for the posts of first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea and chairman of the Republican Committee on Nationalities and Deported Citizens ^[137] , respectively, were approved. At the same time, however, the Crimean authorities refused to recognize the Majlis as a representative body of the entire Crimean Tatar community. A number of positions in government were also offered to the Crimean Tatars included in pro-Russian groups, such as Milli Firka ^[125] . A month later, however, the head of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea, Vladimir Konstantinov, stated that he could not establish normal cooperation with the leaders of the Majlis, who, in particular, did not agree to the participation of the Crimean Tatars in the work of the Crimean authorities ^[138] .

On April 12, the new Constitution of the Republic of Crimea came into force. According to this legislative act, the Republic of Crimea has three state languages ​​- Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.

On April 21, Vladimir Putin signed a decree “On measures for the rehabilitation of the Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Crimean Tatar and German peoples and state support for their revival and development” ^[139] .

On April 22, when leaving the Crimea, Mustafa Dzhemilev was presented with the “Act of notification of non-permission to enter the Russian Federation” for the period until April 19, 2019 ^{[140] [141]} . At the beginning of May, while trying to return to the Crimea, Dzhemilev could not do this either through Moscow or through the Crimean-Ukrainian border ^[142] . The action of numerous supporters of Dzhemilev, who gathered on the border between the Crimea and the Kherson region of Ukraine and tried to force him to the Crimea, was unsuccessful. This incident led to an aggravation of the situation on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars ^[143] .

Participants in mass rallies in support of Dzhemilev were fined, and the Crimean prosecutor's office sent to the FSB their views on the actions of the leaders of the Majlis, who were qualified as "extremist" ^{[144] [145]} .

On May 16, before the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Crimean Tatars from the Crimea, Vladimir Putin met with representatives of the Crimean Tatar people in Sochi. The President of the Russian Federation called for “to realize that the interests of the Crimean Tatars are today connected with Russia and that the interests of other third countries cannot be protected using the Crimean Tatar factor ... This will only harm the people. This needs to be realized. And, on the contrary, we will do everything, I want to emphasize this - everything that depends on us, so that people feel that they are full-fledged masters of their land, ”the president assured ^[146] .

Harsh measures

On the same day, Sergey Aksyonov, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea, banned mass actions in the Crimea “in order to eliminate possible provocations by extremists who have the opportunity to penetrate the territory of the Republic of Crimea” ^[147] . It happened two days before the beginning of the mourning events dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people ^[148] . The Mejlis rejected the proposal of the Crimean authorities to limit the mourning rally to events in the Muslim cemetery "Abdal" and decided instead to hold mass meetings in all cities, as well as in various memorable places in Simferopol ^[149] . Rallies were held in Simferopol and Bakhchisarai ^[150] . The mourning event in the microdistrict of compact residence of the Crimean Tatars Ak-Mosque of the city of Simferopol ended with the adoption of a resolution demanding that the Republic of Crimea be given the status of national-territorial autonomy, the restoration of historical names affected by the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, the adoption of laws guaranteeing the representation of the Crimean Tatars elected by the Crimean Tatars themselves , in the legislative and executive bodies of the Republic of Crimea, the recognition of the Kurultay and the Mejlis to Rymskotatarskogo people representative bodies of the indigenous people of Crimea ^[151] . Comparing this relatively few mourning rally, held "under the noise of helicopter propellers", with a little later celebrating the anniversary of the liberation of Sevastopol from the Nazi occupiers, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets, for whom a parade was organized with the participation of dozens of military equipment and combat aircraft, Greta Uling notes that this comparison clearly demonstrates whose side the new government really supports against the background of the official rhetoric about the equality of all before the law ^[118] .

On May 18, Sergey Aksyonov declared that recognition of Kurultay (the national congress of the Crimean Tatar people) and the Mejlis (the body of national self-government formed by it) can occur only in the case of official registration of these organizations in accordance with the requirements of Russian legislation and the “direct desire of representatives of the Crimean Tatars to go forward” ^{[ 152]} . In July 2014, a five-year ban on entry into the Crimea for inciting ethnic hatred was imposed by the Russian authorities on the chairman of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov ^[153] . In May 2015, a criminal case was initiated against Refat Chubarov under Part 2 of Art. 280.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Public calls for the implementation of actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation committed using the media”) ^[154] . The long-term arrest on suspicion of organizing and participating in mass riots (meaning the rally on February 26, 2014) was subjected to the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Ahtem Chiygoz.

On April 18, 2016, on the basis of a decision of the prosecutor of the Republic of Crimea, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people was included in the list of public associations and religious organizations whose activities in Russia were suspended in connection with their extremist activities ^[155] . On April 26 of the same year, the Supreme Court of Crimea recognized the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people as an extremist organization and banned its activities in Russia ^[156] .

In contrast to the Majlis, in October 2014, the Kyrym (Crimea) interregional public movement of the Crimean Tatar people was created, headed by Remzi Ilyasov, the vice-speaker of the Crimean parliament, who was expelled from the Majlis for cooperation with the Crimean authorities ^[157] . In the Majlis, the new organization was called the “project of power”, which is being created to “ignore the representative body of the Crimean Tatars” ^{[158] [159] [160]} .

On November 14, 2017, Human Rights Watch presented a report in which it was reported that the Russian authorities in Crimea tightened the persecution of the Crimean Tatars under various pretexts in order to completely suppress dissent on the peninsula ^[161] .

Sociological evaluation

Sociologists V. Mukomel and S. Khaikin, based on the results of their research conducted in the Crimea in the fall of 2015, concluded that after the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the structure of identities of the Crimean Tatar population underwent dramatic changes. Instead of civic identity, regional - Crimean - identity came to the fore (opposition of Crimeans to residents of mainland Russia, which became a factor of interethnic consolidation for residents of Crimea). At the same time, the decline in the share of Crimean Tatars, identifying themselves with Ukraine, was not compensated for by that period by a corresponding increase in the proportion of identifying themselves with Russia, and the majority of the Crimean Tatar population continued to hold a wait-and-see attitude, most of which did not accept Russia: in the framework of a mass survey, only 16% respondents identified themselves as Russians (with 81% of respondents identifying themselves primarily as Crimean Tatars, 58% as residents of the Crimea, 51% as Muslims) ^[115] .

Regional identity is organically, inseparably linked in the consciousness of the Crimean Tatars with a national one, partly also because a regional binding is already present in the name of the nationality. At the same time, national identity is clearly dominant. An important factor in preserving national identity is historical memory. The connection of ethnic and regional identity is based on two grounds: firstly, on the presentation of oneself as a unique ethnic group, and secondly, on the presentation of Crimea as one's only Homeland, one’s only “home”. Crimean Tatars constantly emphasize the uniqueness and exclusivity of both the ethnos itself and its history, in which the most important role is played by deportation and return home. The ideas of the Crimean Tatars about their exclusivity were transformed into a discourse about the "indigenous people of Crimea", which needed additional preferences, up to the creation of special institutions of quasi-statehood; the role of such an institution was, until its ban, performed by the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people ^[115] .

Among the Crimean Tatars, dissatisfied with the new social conditions and practices, confessional affiliation is becoming increasingly important ^[115] .

Unlike the Russians, whom the events of spring 2014 consolidated, the Crimean Tatar population split these events. Part of the Crimean Tatars (according to sociologists, the majority) did not accept the annexation of the Crimea to Russia, the other part accepted the new situation and is trying to adapt to it. Inter-ethnic confrontation has become increasingly intra-national, and often the divide has passed through friends, relatives, and families. Formal loyalty to the Russian state (registration of citizenship, Russian documents, obedience to the law) is not necessarily accompanied by emotional connection and identification with Russian society. At least, part of the Crimean Tatars is characterized by dual loyalty: formal towards Russia and real, ideologically emotional — towards Ukraine, especially considering the remaining actual civilian ties with Ukraine ^[115] .

As the key factors causing the fact that Russian identity, if not rejected, then at least questioned, sociologists call:

• too short a time, insufficient for the perception of Russian realities;
• rejection of the bureaucratic procedures imposed from above, with the introduction of which, in the opinion of the Crimean Tatars, the mechanisms for coordinating their interests with the interests of the ethnic majority and other social groups were not involved:
• the critical position of the international community, provoking a sense of temporality, incompleteness of what happened (with only a few Crimean Tatars believe in the return of the Crimea to Ukraine or another way of changing the situation) ^[115] .

V. Mukomel and S. Khaikin found significant differences in the perception of the current situation by Crimean Tatars living in Sevastopol, Simferopol and medium and small cities and villages. For the Crimean Tatars from Sevastopol, higher rates of regional (70%) and civil (30%) identity are typical compared to national (15%). Many of the Crimean Tatars who settled after returning from deportation in Sevastopol, outside the territory of compact residence and traditional settlement of the Crimean Tatars, were aimed at integration into the urban society and have now quite successfully assimilated into it. The situation is different in Simferopol, where for local Crimean Tatars, not regional, but confessional, family and gender identities turned out to be more significant. The ethnic factor for the vast majority of local residents is in the first place (96%). According to the researchers, this is due to the fact that the most urbanized, qualified layers of the Crimean Tatars living in Simferopol and found themselves in the center of events of the “ Crimean Spring ” experienced stress disproportionately greater than those living in other settlements of Crimea. Among them, in the course of the study, extremely pessimistic assessments were made of the situation regarding the possibility of exercising political, economic and socio-cultural rights; they turned out to be the most politicized. Crimean Tatars living in Simferopol claim that they cannot study the language of their people (71%) and receive education in a national school (46%). Among them, the highest proportion was not accepting new reality and showing loyalty to Ukraine: the Crimean Tatars living in Simferopol, at the last referendum, voted mainly for keeping the Crimea as part of Ukraine (92%), while respondents from other settlements - for the transition to Russia. Pro-Ukrainian sentiments persisted in Simferopol at the time of the study ^[115] .

Measures of the Crimean authorities aimed at improving relations with the Crimean Tatar community

July 30, 2014 at the session of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea in the first reading, the draft law “On the regulation of issues related to the unauthorized occupation of land in the Republic of Crimea” was adopted. A republican commission was established under the Council of Ministers of the Crimea, which oversees the provision of plots to participants of the “protest fields”. One of the conditions for obtaining land is the demolition of temporary buildings on a land seized on their own. At the end of 2016, about 3.5 thousand plots were allocated; in total, 8–9 thousand plots are planned to be allocated in the entire Crimea ^[99] .

In the autumn of 2015, the construction of the largest mosque in the Crimea began in Simferopol ^[162] .

On February 8, 2016, at the meeting of the Commission for the Restoration of the Rights of Rehabilitated Victims of Political Repressions at the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a list of historical names of the settlements of Crimea was approved ^[163] . Based on this document, 1394 locations of the Republic of Crimea will receive the second historical names. On the borders of these settlements will be installed plates with the second, historical, names ^{[164] [165]} . Information about the implementation of this proposal is not available.

Accusations of the Crimean authorities in the prosecution of the Crimean Tatar activists

Prepared by a number of Ukrainian human rights organizations, the publication Peninsula of Fear: Chronicles of Occupation and Violations of Human Rights in Crimea ^[166] , which was released in early 2015, the Crimean Tatar community of the peninsula was characterized as “systematically organized opposition to the occupation regime”: “The Crimean Tatars are systemically organized a community with its own self-government bodies with regional cells throughout the Crimea. They openly sabotaged both the pseudo-referendum on March 16, 2014, and the illegal elections on September 14, 2014. To overcome non-violent resistance, the occupation authorities launched a campaign to create an image of the “internal enemy” and to prosecute representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, both using legal mechanisms and out of law ".

Human rights organizations accuse the Crimean authorities, in particular, of the prosecution of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and its leaders, the press body of the Mejlis - the Avdet newspaper, the Crimean News information agency (QHA), the Crimea Charitable Foundation, in the violent seizure and closure of the Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR , illegal detentions, abductions and criminal prosecutions of Crimean Tatar activists ^{[166] [167]} , conducting searches in mosques and madrasas for the presence of drugs, weapons and prohibited religious literature ^[168] . Human rights activists stated their involvement in serious violations of human rights of the “Crimean self-defense” detachments, whose actions were not controlled by the new authorities of the Crimea ^[169] .

Criminal proceedings were instituted against a number of Crimean Tatar activists on charges of organizing and participating in mass riots (rally on February 26, 2014 in Simferopol), violence against a representative of power (events of May 3, 2014 near the city of Armyansk), organization of activities of a terrorist organization ( participation in the activities of Hizb ut-Tahrir) ^{[166] [170]} .

Several Crimean Tatars are missing; The Mejlis and human rights organizations suspect the Crimean security officials of their disappearance ^{[171] [172]} .

Participation of the Crimean Tatar activists in anti-Russian actions on the territory of Ukraine

In December 2015, Lenur Islyamov announced the beginning of the formation in the Kherson region of Ukraine of the Crimean Tatar volunteer battalion named Noman Chelebidzhikhan (also known as the battalion "Asker") of 560 people, whose main task will be to "guard the border of the Crimea in the Crimea" ^[173] and the return of the Crimea to Ukraine ^{[174] [175] [176]} .

Training in the Crimean Tatar language

According to the Ukrainian authorities, in the 2012/2013 school year, in secondary schools of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (without pupils of special schools (boarding schools) and special classes organized at general schools) 3,11% of pupils received education in the Crimean Tatar language ^[177] .

In the 2014/2015 academic year, according to data provided by the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Crimea Natalia Goncharova, 4,740 schoolchildren received instruction in the Crimean Tatar language as one of the state languages ​​of Crimea. Of these, 2,814 students studied in 15 schools with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction, 1,926 - in classes with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction, functioning in 62 schools of the Crimea ^[178] .

As of the beginning of the 2015/2016 school year, according to the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of the Republic of Crimea, 5,083 people (2.76% of pupils) studied in general education institutions in the Crimean Tatar language. In the republic, 15 educational institutions with the Crimean-Tatar language of instruction continue to operate; In total, in the republic, instruction in the Crimean Tatar language was organized in 53 educational institutions in 17 municipalities and urban districts ^[179] .

As reported in February 2016, the press service of the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for students of 1–9 classes of schools (classes) with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction, 45 thousand copies of textbooks translated from Russian were first published ^[180] .

Representatives of the Crimean Tatar public point to a number of problems that exist in the organization of training in the Crimean Tatar language. In the republic, the study of the Ukrainian or Crimean-Tatar languages ​​in general education institutions (at the choice of the parents) as a compulsory subject is not fixed at the legislative level. In an open letter from the Association of Crimean Tatar education workers “Maarif” to the head of the Republic of Crimea Sergey Aksenov at the beginning of the 2015/2016 school year, it was stated that this situation “infringes upon the constitutional right of the deported Crimean Tatar people to teach their children in their native language subject within the curriculum of educational organizations with the Russian language of instruction, which deprives the Crimean Tatar children of the possibility of fluency in their native language. " The Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of Crimea, in order to meet the needs of pupils in learning their native language, has developed guidelines for the development of curricula for general educational organizations for the 2015/2016 academic year, however, according to the Maarif association, the director of educational organizations with Russian as the language of instruction is almost universally ignored these recommendations. As a result, despite the fact that about 21 thousand students studied the Crimean Tatar language in various forms (12.5 thousand as a subject, more than 8 thousand - optional), about 8 thousand Crimean Tatar children of school age did not learn their native language what form ^[181] .

In the Republic, there is a practice of opening in schools with the Crimean Tatar language of first grade education with instruction in Russian, as well as administrative pressure on parents to persuade them to translate their children after receiving primary education into classes with Russian language instruction. It also indicates an insufficient number of places in preschool educational institutions with education in the Crimean Tatar language ^[181] .

Millet Channel ^[182] is a TV channel that began broadcasting around the clock from Simferopol on September 1, 2015. An analog signal covers the territory of Crimea. On April 1, 2016, satellite broadcasting via the Yamal satellite was launched. Satellite broadcasting is possible throughout Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Central Asia. More than 70% of the airtime is in the Crimean Tatar language. Subjects of the programs are the news of the Republic of Crimea, the life of the Crimean Tatars, their customs, culture and history.

In February 2017, the public Crimean Tatar radio station Vetan Sedasy (Voice of the Motherland) began work, which became a structural unit of the Millett TV and Radio Company.

Earlier, a private Crimean-Tatar ATR channel and Meydan radio station, which were part of a holding owned by the former Deputy Prime Minister of Crimea and businessman Lenur Islyamov , were working on the peninsula. The TV channel and radio station ceased broadcasting in Crimea from April 1, 2015, because they could not re-register in accordance with Russian legislation ^[183] . According to human rights activists, the reluctance of the Crimean and federal authorities to re-register these media was due to their opposition ^{[184] [185]} . Since 2015, the ATR continues to broadcast, including in the Crimean Tatar language, from Kiev.

Theater

• Crimean Tatar Academic Music and Drama Theater

The only theater in the world of the Crimean Tatars. The traditions of the theater of the Crimean Tatars originated from the XIV-XV centuries, when theatrical performances were staged at the court of the Crimean Khans. ^[186]

Literature

Prominent Crimean Tatar writers of the 20th century:

• Amdi Giraybay
• Bekir Choban-zade
• Eshref Shemii Zade
• Shakir Selim
• Shamil Alyadin
• Erwin Umerov
• Jafer Gafar
• Seitumer Emin

Crimean Tatar musicians

• ^{[187] [188] [189]}
• Alie ^[190]
• Elzara Batalova Halitovna
• Bilyalov Fevzi
• Guzel ^[191]
• Gulizar Bekirova ^{[192] [193]}
• Jamala
• Dilyaver Osmanov
• Dilyaver Settarov
• DJ Bebek ^{[189] [194] [195] [196]}
• Zarema Khanum ^{[197] [198]}
• Mustafayev Femiy Mansurovich
• Osmanova Lenara
• Refatov Mamut
• ^{[189] [199]}
• Sabrieg Eredzhepova
• Seytabla Memetov ^[189]
• Kakura Server ^[189]
• Evelina ^[200]
• Enver Izmailov

Cinema

• “ Khaytarma ” (“Return”) is the first Crimean Tatar feature film (released in 2013). The director is Akhtem Seytablaev .
• The film " Test love "

Linguistics

Ismail Gasprinsky

Poetry

• Noman Celebidzhihan
• Seitumer Emin

Politics

Prominent Crimean Tatar politicians and public figures of the twentieth century:

• Noman Celebidzhihan
• Jafer Seydamet
• Asan Sabri Aivazov
• Veli Ibraimov
• Jebbar Akimov
• Yuri Bekirovich Osmanov
• Ayse Seitmuratova

Prominent Crimean Tatar politicians and public figures of the 21st century:

• Mustafa Dzhemilev
• Refat Chubarov
• Vasvi Abdura imov

The national dishes of the Crimean Tatars are pasties (fried meat pies), yantyk (baked meat pies), burmy sarik, khanum (puff meat pie), sarma (grapes and cabbage stuffed with meat and rice), dolma (stuffed with meat and rice peppers), kobete - originally a Greek dish, as evidenced by the name (baked pie with meat, onions and potatoes), burma (puff pie with pumpkin and nuts), tatarash (dumplings), yufak ash (kashk ash) (broth with very small dumplings), shashlik , pilaf (rice with meat and dried apricots, in contrast to the Uzbek o without carrots), bacla sorbasa (meat soup with green beans, seasoned with sour milk), bacalla eriste (homemade noodles with beans), shurpa, kainatma.

National pastry: shaker kyyyk , kurabe , baklava .

Traditional drinks are coffee , ayran , potion , bouza .

• Anthem of the Crimean Tatars
• Crimean Khanate
• Crimean People's Republic
• Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people
• Milli Firka
• Self-capture of land in the Crimea
• Haytarma

• Valery Vozgrin Historical fate of the Crimean Tatars. Moscow: Thought, 1992
• Garkavets A.N. Codex Cumanicus: Polovtsian prayers, hymns and riddles of the XIII-XIV centuries // Kypchak written legacy. - Almaty: KASEAN; Baur, 2007. - T. II. - pp. 63-120.
• Dagdji T. Sh. Stalin's genocide and ethnocide of the Crimean Tatar people. Simferopol: Simferopol City Printing House OJSC, 2008.
• "Crimean Tatar Encyclopedia" / Comp. Refik Muzafarov. - Simferopol, 1993-1995.
• Litvin Mihalon. On the customs of the Tatars, Lithuanians and Muscovites ( DE MORIBUS TARTARORUM, LITUANORUM ET MOSCHORUM) . - 1550.
• N.S. Safonov. “Notes of a Lawyer: Crimean Tatars”
• A. S. Aivazov. HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN THE CRIMEA
• M. Hayruddinov. Ethnopedagogy of the Crimean Tatar People: Monograph: - K .: Sciences. svit, 2002. - 335 p.
• Khayali R.I. Essays on the history of the socio-political and cultural life of the Crimean Tatars in the XX century. Simferopol: SHARE, 2008. - 512 p.
• Peoples of Russia: Encyclopedia / Chapters. ed. V. A. Tishkov ; Ed. Collegium: V.A. Aleksandrov, S.I. Brook , N.G. Volkova, etc. - M .: The Great Russian Encyclopedia , 1994. - P. 327—328. - 480 s. - 50 000 copies - ISBN 5-85270-082-7 . (in the lane)
• V. Mukomel, S. Khaikin. Crimean Tatars after the “Crimean Spring”: Transformation of Identities // Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes, No. 3 (133) / 2016
• Vakulova T. V., Garas L. N., Makovskaya D. V. THE PECULIARITIES OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY OF THE CRIMINANS IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL SECURITY OF RUSSIA // Theory and Practice of Social Development, № 14/2014

• Alem-i Medeniye - a site dedicated to the Crimean Tatar culture
• Crimean Tatar portal of friends Dostlar.com.ua
• Crimea and the Crimean Tatars.
• Republican Crimean Tatar Library. I. Gasprinsky
• Decorative and applied art of the Crimean Tatars
• Site of the Crimean youth
• Crimean Tatar portal QIRIMTATAR.org
• Library of publications about the Crimean Tatars (95 articles)
• Portal of the Crimean Tatar Diaspora in Turkey
• Russian language of the Crimean Tatars as a reflection of national identity (in English)
• Fairy tales and legends of the Crimean Tatars
• Roslavtseva L. I. Clothes of the Crimean Tatars.
• Wedding ceremony at the Crimean Tatars.
• National Radio Meydan.fm
• National Television ATR
• Henrik Yankowski. Crimean Tatars and Nogai in Turkey
• Public organization "Bizim Kırım" (Our Crimea) ^{[ clarify ]}
• Site of the Crimean Tatar public organization "Milli Firka"
• Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people
• Crimean Tatars National Movement