Karaites Don’t Want to Vanish

The Second Congress of Ukraine’s Karaites took place in Yevpatoriya and Bakhchysarai, Autonomous Republic of the Crimea. The first congress took place long ago in 1917, and many of its participants were later repressed. Head of the All-Ukrainian Karaite Association Yury Katyk told The Day that 28 delegates and over 120 guests from Karaite communities throughout Ukraine and also from St. Petersburg, Moscow, and other regions were present. The Congress received dozens of greetings from Karaite communities and associations who could not attend for one reason or another: Lithuanian, Polish, Turkish, etc. Among the guests also were representatives of the Krymchaky and Crimean Tatars, two other indigenous peoples of the peninsula. Delegates visited places of the Karaites’ historical residence, Yevpatoriya and Dzhuft-Kale, where they organized a number of folk concerts, public services at the Yevpatoriya and Dzhuft-Kale kenasa temples, and visited the Balta-Tyymez cemetery. Major issues discussed at the congress were problems of preserving the ethnos, religion, and cultural and historical heritage. According to the 2001 census, 560 Karaites reside in the Crimea and 740 in Ukraine in general. All in all, according to their own calculations, there are no more than another 1200 Karaites in the whole world. Under such conditions it is impossible to completely preserve the nation, and the congress participants spoke about the need for preserving the cultural and historical heritage and giving aid to representatives of the nation in protecting its culture and traditions. In part, the presidential order On Passing to Karaite Religious Communities Temples in the Crimea and Kyiv still has not been carried out. The decision of the Council of Ministers of the Crimea On Preserving Cultural and Historical Heritage of the Krymchaky, Karaites, and Crimean Tatars has been implemented at an agonizingly slow pace. Delegates mentioned that it is necessary to establish quotas for young Karaites at the higher educational institutions of Ukraine and activate research, scholarly, and publishing work. The congress participants adopted an appeal to the president of Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and the Crimean authorities on the need to take measures to preserve this vanishing people’s cultural and historical heritage, reports Mykyta KASYANENKO, Yevpatoriya-Bakhchysarai-Simferopol.