Who wants the Crimean Tatars to get radical?

The populace is used to rallies gathering thousands of Crimean Tatars in the center of Simferopol and elsewhere on the peninsula. The one on December 10, however, proved different in terms of quantity and theme. Experts and law enforcement authorities pointed to 150-200 taking part and the rally was organized by a political association of Crimean Tatars which, after the next split at an extraordinary kurultai general assembly two years ago, had acted in opposition to the Majlis (Crimean Tatar Parliament). The association includes the NDKT (part of the ethnic movement headed at one time by Yury Osmanov, later assassinated, and which had since grown numerically weaker and lost its influence on the repatriation process), the Millet (People) Movement, the “New World” group, the Muslim Party of Ukraine, and some other trends. In July 2000, they had set up a coordinating council that organized the above-mentioned rally on the Human Rights Day.

The rally adopted a resolution demanding rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatar people, restoration of the Crimean Tatar national state; that the problem of the Crimean Tatar language be solved, and that the president and parliament enact the Law On the Rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatar People in the coordinating council’s wording. The bill is an alternative to the one drafted by the State Committee for Nationalities and Migration, aimed at restoring the rights of people deported on ethnic grounds. The rally objected to the bill being deliberated by the Verkhovna Rada and claimed they had collected 25,000 signatures under their bill, saying it had to be considered instead of the one passed by VR.

People at the rally held posters reading “Restore Crimean Tatar National State!”, “Political Rehabilitation of Crimean Tatar People — Victory of Common Sense in Ukraine!”, “Russia, Ukraine, Belarus — Different Countries But Indebted to Crimean Tatar People Same Way!”, “We Want Guaranteed Crimean Tatar Representation in All Authorities!”, “Constitution of Ukraine Ignores Crimean Tatar Existence, Sequel to State Defense Committee’s 1944 Resolution!” (i.e., Stalin’s decree deporting several ethnic groups and the entire Crimean Tatar people from the Crimean peninsula — Ed.)

The resolution reads that over the years of independence Ukraine has not enacted a single law aimed at restoring Crimean Tatar rights: “In the legal field of Ukraine, the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea has actually become a tool of resisting the restoration of an ethnic territorial autonomy and the return of the entire Crimean Tatar people to the Crimea.” Those addressing the rally claimed that the Ukrainian regime deceives the international community of nations, pretending to be resolving the Crimean Tatar problem. They were not satisfied with the ethnic-cultural autonomy established in the Crimea and wanted national-territorial autonomy instead. They demanded guaranteed Crimean Tatar representation in all structures of the state, that the Crimean Tatar language be granted the official status on the peninsula. Their social and economic demands included reimbursement of damage sustained by the Crimean Tatars and other separate individuals as a result of coercive measures taken by the state on ethnic grounds, in the course of purges and genocide; completion of the state program of repatriation and restoration of Crimean Tatar rights, higher pensions for citizens purged on ethnic grounds. “The Crimean Tatar people shall never agree to a semi decision in solving the problem of its rehabilitation,” reads the resolution.

The Day asked Refat Chubarov, MP, Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Tatar Majlis, member of the Council of People’s Representatives under the President of Ukraine, to comment on the December 10 rally.

Refat Aga, how do you feel about that rally in Simferopol and its demands?

Actually, it was nothing new in terms of the ethnic movement. The rally passed under the same slogans which very many Crimean Tatars would wholeheartedly support. There is one regrettable aspect, however. The organizers decided to hold it as their own project, rather than rely on majlis support. And so the rally gathered some 150 persons. It is evidence that the organizers had something totally different in mind.

The impression is that the Crimean Tatar ethnic movement is being made more radical. Is it?

Any matter, being vital for many people and remaining unresolved, leaves these people frustrated. The Crimean Tatars may assume, as was declared at the rally, that Ukraine doesn’t want to solve their problem. The trouble with these people is that they don’t see Ukraine as a multifaceted political community which is rather multiple-valued. There are progressive strata, they understand that solving the Crimean Tatar problem as that of a whole people is extremely important. But there are also reactionary circles akin to the Communists and former Soviet politicians; these people have not been able to alter their world view, they are against solving our problems, against the integration of the Crimean Tatars, and Muslims in general, into Ukrainian society. Therefore, we must distinguish between politicians willing and loath to solve our problems. No such approach was evident at the rally in Simferopol. Instead, it was an attempt to scold Ukraine as a state. I see this as a biased stand.

Some Internet editions read that it’s part of the Crimean Tatar ethnic movement seeking help in Russia; they respond to foreign instructions, demanding more radical efforts to destabilize the sociopolitical situation in Ukraine, antagonizing the Crimean Tatars against the Ukrainian state. Is it really so?

I must say that over the past several years Russian political forces, previously traditionally using a small part of our movement for their ends, have suffered the final fiasco. But I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that what happened was an attempt to revive such moods and create a bridgehead in the Crimea. I have browsed Internet responses to the rally. Russian media are suspiciously unanimous in noting that those addressing the rally lashed out at both Ukraine and Majlis. Quite characteristic of them. I think that such political Crimean Tatar associations, lacking mass support among their own people, are likely to be assisted not by official Russia but by reactionary Russian political circles. It has happened previously...

Do you mean that the coordinating council of these associations is not supported en masse in the Crimea?

Precisely. I know that there are many people there. Crimean Tatars ask themselves why all these movements are not with the majlis, why they urge them to take part in a separate rally. People figure out that such movements serve their organizers’ benefit. They are right. Refat Aga, we know that the Crimean Tatar ethnic movement has always marked the Human Rights Day. What about this year?

Yes, practically all of us have marked the event on December 10, we consider it the most important milestone on the road of our struggle while in the Soviet empire. This time Crimean Tatar politicians took part in the official festivities in Kyiv. We met with diplomats, representatives of foreign organizations, we held discussions with Ukrainian citizens. We uphold this tradition. That day it was pointed out that Ukraine is facing rather serious problems. I believe that, in view of the current situation in Ukraine, the Crimean Tatars cannot say that the human rights problem remains unsolved with regard only to them. It’s a big problem affecting all of this country. Of course, we want all of the Crimean Tatar problems to be solved, except that it should be done by a consolidated effort, not by ultimatum, on the principles of nationwide accord and stability.