Crimea faced with imminent threat of religious conflict
We all know that a religious dispute between those at the head of the peninsula’s Eastern Orthodox and Muslim communities has been brewing for the past couple of months. It all started with Archbishop Lazar of the Crimea and Simferopol ruling to erect 1,000 worshipping crosses in the Crimea, commemorating the 2,000th Anniversary of the Birth of Jesus Christ and the millennium of the baptism of Kyiv Rus’. The Crimea was proclaimed a “cradle of Christianity” and the Crimean Mufti declared that such unilateral attitude toward the peninsula’s religious history was offensive to local Muslims. In a gesture of protest, he withdrew from the Peace: God’s Gift Interfaith Council, set up several years ago.
On this particular occasion, a sharp conflict was triggered off by the erection of one such cross in the vicinity of Morske, a village located not far from Sudak, a place the local Muslims claim used to accommodate an ancient Muslim cemetery. Leonid Krysov, local village council chairman, reports that a group of Crimean Tatars destroyed the cross on October 25. This met with a sharp response from the local Christian community. A crowd numbering 400 gathered and it nearly got into a fist fight. The village authorities are keeping the situation under control and the disputing parties appointed ten delegates each to conduct negotiations. So far, no solution to the conflict has been found. A possibility is the village’s general meeting (one-fifth of the residents being Muslims).
The alarming aspect is that the Crimean upper echelons of power, including Speaker Leonid Hrach (reportedly politically close to Archbishop Lazar), have not taken an unbiased approach to the conflict. In fact, they appear to be fully in favor of the stand taken by the Eastern Orthodox eparchy, saying the decision to erect the crosses was made a year ago and that the Majlis said nothing against it at the time. Tearing down the cross at Morske is invariably described as an act of vandalism against a sacred Christian memorial (sic), and that the act is subject to criminal prosecution. Sudak’s law enforcement authority is closely following the situation and its officers say that all legally envisaged measures will be taken to maintain law and order.
Leonid Hrach commented on the event: “These events are just more evidence that the Crimea is [politically] polarized, including in its interfaith attitudes. What happened yesterday is an act of outrageous barbarism and vandalism, a vivid example of utter disrespect for the religious sentiments harbored by other people. Moreover, it is [an act offending] all those showing a perfectly tolerant and respectful attitude toward the sentiments and views of people professing the Muslim creed. The obvious question is: How about the Eastern Orthodox community preparing to celebrate its greatest holiday? There are sentiments inherent in the people professing Orthodoxy and these people abide by the rules established by the Church. There is Archbishop Lazar’s express desire to begin a dialogue. And then, all of a sudden, such an act of vandalism perpetrated by Majlis people who were perfectly aware of what they were doing. What they did was not just an act aimed at destroying a religious object held sacred by adherents; they showed for all to see that they cared nothing about the law, they did as they wanted to and to hell with everyone else. In this case, even if the Majlis believes that either of the sides was the wrongdoer, they had a right to turn to authorities, and that should be the only alternative under the circumstances. That way they could have resolved the problem in a lawful manner, rather than using dump trucks, gas torches, or muscled arms. This fact is a very alarming one and similar facts are registered, because people continue to ignore the law; because those legally entitled to protect citizens and their religious convictions prove inactive. This should be regarded as a very serious signal, something even the innately deaf officials on high must hear. I know that every effort will be made to cope with the situation at Morske, so I address everyone involved in the process: peace in the Crimea must be uppermost on your mind. You all must be perfectly aware of the fact and act accordingly. I would further appeal to some of the Majlis people, those that have allowed themselves the liberty of acting rampant, to please hold their emotions and ambitions in check. There is the law, there is our society, and we live in our state; there are civil sentiments and rights to be observed. So please treat them with due respect.”
Mustafa Dzhemilev, Speaker of the Crimean Tatar Majlis [Parliament] and People’s Deputy, stated that “we condemn the erection of those crosses as an act of violence, but we also condemn their being forcefully torn down. However, I do not understand why should those crosses have been put up in the first place? Why should the whole affair be so provocative? Did they want to trigger off a conflict? Is this land to be considered purely Christian? If the local Christians have to supply their religious needs, why not turn to the Church? They can erect dozens of crosses at their homes, but this should not be done in public places visited by people professing a different religion...”
The religious conflict reached its peak on October 31. While the consensus committee, represented by both sides, held its sessions behind closed doors, over 2,500 villagers gathered at the House of Culture in Morske. People argued among themselves, each defending his view. The Muslims claimed that erecting a 8.5x4.5 meter cross, weighing three tons, atop Mt. Kamatra, the highest local elevation point, was a challenge to the Muslim community, considering that there was already another, smaller cross in the village. The Christians complained that their symbol of creed had been torn down on a mountain behind the village. The Muslims countered that someone had tried to deceive them; first, they had learned that a windmill or perhaps a television relay tower was being erected atop the hill, so the whole village would be able to watch all the programs beamed across Ukraine. Crimean Tatars further claimed that the cross is also a Muslim relic, because Jesus, according to their creed, is the second prophet after Mohammed. For this reason no one would have lifted a finger against the cross, but there were valid reasons to act in such a way. Moreover, such a huge cross towering over the local Muslim cemetery, several kilometers from the highway, could really be considered a place of Christian worship. Crimean Tatars insist that the local executive committee’s decision to erect the cross (December 2000) was a rash one, so no one had actually understood what was being erected at the time. Both sides remain adamant in presenting their case.
The consensus committee tried to hold sittings at Morske all through the day. Many options were submitted; one had it that both sides should deal with the issue amicably, meaning that the Orthodox believers should stop erecting crosses in the Crimea and the Muslims should apologize for tearing down the cross they did. In the second half of the day, the village council held an open session at the local club. After long debate, it passed a resolution made up of four clauses, suspending the previous executive council’s decision On the Erection of a Memorial Sign on Mt. Kamatra until November 20. The executive council proposed the Christian and Muslim communities to submit their options for settling the conflict before that date.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Lazar of the Crimea and Simferopol met with Crimean Mufti Emirali Efendi in Simferopol. The meeting was supervised by Viktor Antypenko, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers. The outcome is still unknown and local analysts doubt the meeting could bear fruit.
