By Mubeyyin Batu Altan

The Crimean Tatar national movement in reality began with the annexation of Crimea by Tsarist Russia on April 8,1783. Therefore, when one uses the term “Crimean Tatar National Movement” one must go back over two hundred years to trace the struggle of the Crimean Tatar people first against the Tsarist Russia and then against the Bolshevik regime. In doing so one will notice that the Crimean Tatars have been uprooted from their ancestral homeland before 1944, but it was a partial removal during the Crimean War. They were never completely uprooted from the Crimea until May 18,1944 when the entire Crimean Tatar Nation was brutally deported . Therefore, the most recent national movement is chosen as the subject of this short updated article which is part of a larger article published in the last issue (1995 Special Issue) of the Crimean Review.

A Brief Historical Background

The Crimean Tatars are a Turkic-Muslim people, the remnants of the Crimean Khans who ruled the northern Black Sea region for over three hundred years. The Crimean Khanate was established as an independent khanate in 1441 by Haci Giray Khan, after the disintegration of the Golden Horde. The Giray dynasty ruled Crimea continuously until Tsarist Russia's annexation of Crimea on April 8, 1783.

It will not be wrong to state that the Crimean Tatars are victims of their geography. The geopolitical importance of their ancestral homeland has drawn the attention of almost every nation who wanted to have a voice in the northern Black Sea region. The geopolitical importance of the Crimea was first discovered by "a Croat nationalist, pan-slavist Uiri Krizhanich in 1660 who urged the Russian tsar that if Russia wants to aid the Slavs under Ottoman domination, she must capture the Crimea and have access to the Black Sea." Since then, to annex Crimea and to have a Crimea without the Crimean Tatars has become Russia's political goal. From Peter the Great on, every Russian tsar wanted to conquer this prized peninsula, a task that was accomplished by Catherine II on April 8, 1783.

The extensive russification policy of Catherine II and her successors forced the Crimean Tatars to abandon their homeland in large numbers. Due to waves of mass emigration from the Crimea to various parts of the Ottoman Empire, population of Crimea declined from about six million during Crimean Khanate's peak years, to less than 300,000 on the eve of the Bolshevik revolution.

The Crimean Tatars succeeded in establishing a short lived independence under the leadership of Numan Celebi Cihan, on November 26, 1917, which was taken over by Bolsheviks shortly after. With Lenin's orders, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was established on October 18, 1921. Despite the fact that the Crimean Tatars constituted only 25% of the total population of Crimea, Crimean Tatar was made the official language along with Russian. From 1921 until 1927 the Crimean Tatars lived their Golden Age, under Veli Ibrahim's rule when the Crimean Tatar culture flourished. After 1927 the Crimean Tatars underwent the same tragic changes and oppression as the rest of the Soviet people.

Soon the oppressive policies of Stalin fell on the Crimean Tatars as well. Veli Ibrahimov was arrested and charged for being a "bourgeois nationalist" and executed. Hundreds and thousands of peasants were arrested as "Kulaks" and deported from the Crimea.

Within ten years, between 1928 and 1938, the Crimean Tatar alphabet was first changed from Arabic script to Latin script, and then again to Cyrillic script. These changes made it quite difficult for Crimean Tatars to learn their history, literature and their culture. Most of the Crimean Tatar intellectuals and the ruling elite perished during the purges of 1930s. On the eve of the Second World War, the Crimean Tatars were totally demoralized, politically weakened and highly vulnerable for any disaster. It was during this period that the second part of the Russian political goal that is to have "A Crimea without the Crimean Tatars" was accomplished by Josef Stalin. While most able bodied Crimean Tatars were serving in the Soviet Armed Forces defending the Soviet motherland, the rest of the Crimean Tatars, mostly women, children and the elderly, were uprooted from the Crimea with a stroke of a pen signed by Stalin. On May 18, 1944, "in one single day defenseless women, children and infirm persons were, without warning, driven out of their homes," loaded on trucks and taken to the nearest train station where they were loaded on cattle wagons and shipped off to Central Asia, Urals and other remote areas of the Soviet Union. Due to hunger, thirst and disease 46,2% of the total Crimean Tatar population perished during this mass deportation. Ironically, most able bodied Crimean Tatars were defending their Soviet motherland while their families were on their way to death.

No one, except a few Crimean Tatar fishing villages on the strip of Arabat, was able to escape this state sponsored mass terror. "On July 19, 1944, during the victory banquet given in honor of the participants of the Crimean Tatar Mass-Deportation, Bogdan Kobulov, L. P. Beria's deputy in the Crimea, was informed that some Crimean Tatar villages were overlooked and they have escaped the mass deportation. Kobulov became furious and outraged because he already had informed his superior L. P. Beria that Crimea was totally 'cleaned of Tatars'. He ordered the local officials to get rid of those Crimean Tatars within two hours or their heads will roll." Once again, the last remaining Crimean Tatars were rounded up by Soviet soldiers, loaded on a special boat and taken to the deepest part of Azov Sea. There, under the watchful eyes of the Soviet soldiers their boat was deliberately sunk. Soldiers with machine guns were ordered to make sure that this time there are no survivors. Thus, by July 19, 1944, the centuries old Russian political dream to have "Crimea without Crimean Tatars" was finally fulfilled by Josef Stalin.

The Crimean ASSR was officially abolished with a decree published on June 30, 1945. The survivors of this mass deportation were confined to highly regimented and strict "special settlements" until 1956, unable to even visit their relatives or friends in case of emergency without the permission of the camp's commander.

On February 19, 1954, Nikita Khruschev decided to transfer the entire Crimean oblast to the Ukrainian SSR, as a special gift to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Ukrainian Russian friendship. Thus, Ukraine inherited one of the most volatile nationalities problem, the problem of the Crimean Tatars.

Birth of the modern Crimean Tatar National Movement

Secretary General of Communist Party, Nikita S. Khrushchev had stunned the world with his denunciation of Josef Stalin's crimes. In his secret speech to the XXth Party Congress on February 24-25, 1956, Mr.Khrushchev among other revelations, mentioned the plight of the deported nationalities. All the deported nationalities, except the Crimean Tatars, Ahiska Turks and Volga Germans, were rehabilitated and their autonomous republics were reinstated.

The only benefit the Crimean Tatars received from the so-called de Stalinization policy of Nikita S. Khrushchev, was their release from the "special settlement" camps. In a special unpublished decree dated April 28, 1956, the Soviet government almost freed the Crimean Tatars. The catch was that "their properties confiscated at the time of deportation would not be returned, and they did not have the right to return to Crimea". Despite its limitations, this limited freedom was enough for the Crimean Tatars to get organized and launch an unprecedented human rights movement in the history of the Soviet Union, the Crimean Tatar National Movement. The importance of this movement is that almost the entire nation, from the youngest to the oldest Crimean Tatars were participating. This movement can be divided into four periods:

* The Beginning Period: 1956-1964.
* The Most Active Period: 1964-1969.
* The Crisis Period: 1969-1987.
* The Rejuvenation Period: 1987 to present.

The Beginning Period (1956-1964)

The early participants of the "Movement" were the elderly Crimean Tatars who were party members and believed that the party would resolve the Crimean Tatar problem if they individually appealed to the party. Thus, thousands of individual letters of appeal and telegrams were sent to proper party and government bodies. Later on the letter campaign was escalated to a "petition campaign". "Between July 1957, and March 1961 five major appeals with 6,000 - 18,000 signatures were sent to leading Party and government bodies.

The Most Active period of The Movement (1964-1969)

The Crimean Tatar National movement reached its peak during the Brezhnev era. More and more people were actively participating in the movement, and as a result petitions with over 100,000 signatures were delivered to the government organs. "On the eve of the XXIII Party Congress (1966), 14, 284 letters and a petition signed by more than 120,000 Crimean Tatars, together with seven volumes of data was handed to the Central Committee."

The most important development during this period was the establishment of a permanent Crimean Tatar lobby in Moscow. "...up to 1968 over 4,000 representatives had been sent to the capital." The Crimean Tatar representatives were able to establish contact with the leading Moscow based Soviet human rights activist such as Alexei Kosterin, Pyotr Grigorenko, Alexander Lavut, Ilya Gabai and Andrei Sakharov. It has been largely through the work of such prominent figures that the western observers have become interested in the Crimean Tatar question.

The intensified lobbying and determination of the Crimean Tatars finally convinced the Soviet authorities to promulgate a decree on September 5, 1967, which exonerated the Crimean Tatars from any wrong doing during World War II. As previous decrees, "The Decree of September 5" also had a catch. Nowhere in this decree the proper name of the Crimean Tatars was mentioned. Instead, it referred to them as "the citizens of Tatar nationality formerly residents in the Crimea." Thus, the Soviet government was still denying the existence of the Crimean Tatars as a nationality. Nevertheless, the Crimean Tatars began to return to Crimea and tried to resettle there.

The Crisis Period (1969-1987)

The returning Crimean Tatars soon found out that they were not welcomed in their ancestral homeland. This period can be characterized by mass arrests of the returning Crimean Tatars and their re deportations dramatized in the self immolation of Musa Mamut on June 28, 1978. Musa Mamut who attempted to purchase a house for his family was prevented from doing so by the local authorities. He became extremely agitated when the local militia came to take him in for questioning, Musa Mamut poured gasoline on himself and set himself on fire. He died on June 28, 1978.

The Tashkent Trials, and the struggle of individual dissidents such as Mustafa Jemilev, Resat Jemilev, Mamedi Cobanov who kept the "Movement" alive, were the other important events of the "Crisis Period."

The Tashkent Trials

Ten Crimean Tatar activists, among them the famous physicist Dr. Rolan K. Kadiev, were put on trial on July 1, 1969, for slandering the Soviet motherland. They all received various terms of imprisonment simply for asking the restoration of their national rights.

The Tashkent Trials of 1969, was important both for the Crimean Tatars in the Soviet Union and in the West, especially for us in the United States. The Crimean Tatars in the United States became actively involved in the struggle of their compatriots in Central Asia, after learning the details of the Crimean Tatar national movement from the reports of Tashkent Trials of 1969.

The "Crisis Period" will not be complete without mentioning Mustafa Jemilev who was imprisoned six separate times (1966, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1984), for actively participating in the "Movement."

Mustafa's two hundred and eighty-five day hunger strike in 1975 drew a world wide attention and brought international support to the Crimean Tatars' struggle. The Crimean Foundation had organized numerous meetings and demonstrations to save Mustafa Jemilev's life. In the Soviet Union, Dr. Andrei Sakharov and his wife Elena Bonner traveled to Omsk in 1976 to attend his trial. Mustafa Jemilev's struggle against the Soviet government's oppressive policy towards Crimean Tatars along with other Crimean Tatar activists such as Roland Kadiev, Reshat Jemilev, Jelal Celebiev, Yuri Osmanov and many others, occupied the rest of this period of the Crimean Tatar national movement.

The Rejuvenation Period: 1987 to Present

The Crimean Tatar people's hopes increased with every change in the Soviet leadership. Their expectations were higher this time because a democratic, reform minded leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev was selected to lead the Soviet Union. A petition was drafted and signed by 30. 000 Crimean Tatars and sent to President Gorbachev in March of 1987, appealing to him to review the Crimean Tatars' national problem with seriousness. There was no response at all which prompted the Crimean Tatars to stage one of the most important demonstrations in their history.

The Demonstration Heard Around the World

In July 1987, over two thousand Crimean Tatars, young and old including infants, gathered in Moscow's Red Square chanting Gorbachev's name, carrying his Posters and demanding to meet with him. After several days, the Gorbachev government finally agreed to meet with the Crimean Tatar delegation.

On July 29, 1987, a group of Crimean Tatar representatives met with Andrei Gromyko. It took the Gromyko Commission eleven months to study the Crimean Tatar problem, and on July 9, 1988, it declared that due to the demographic changes in the Crimea it was not possible for the Crimean Tatars to return to Crimea and have their autonomous republic reinstated.

The Gromyko Commission's recommendations were embarrassing even for the government that was in the middle of democratic changes itself. Therefore, a new commission under the chairmanship of Gennady Yanayev was formed on July 12, 1989, which on November 28, 1989, recommended that the Crimean Tatars should be returned to Crimea under a government sponsored plan, and have their autonomy restored. Yanayev Commission also recommended that a new commission should be formed to implement this plan and further study the Crimean Tatar problem.

The new commission was formed on January 29, 1990, under the chairmanship of V.X. Dogochiev which included five Crimean Tatars without a veto power.

President Gorbachev's policy towards the Crimean Tatars was nothing less than a "Matrushka Doll Policy." Formation of all these commissions reminds one the nesting Matrushka dolls, more you open the dolls, more commissions you find formed to study the Crimean Tatar problem. The "Matrushka doll" policy of Mikhail Gorbachev failed to resolve the Crimean Tatar problem.

The Crimean Tatar National Movement Organization -- Organizatsya KrimskoTatarskogo Natsyonalnogo Dvijenya (OKND)

Until 1989, the Crimean Tatars' national struggle to return to Crimea was carried out in an informal way, not officially recognized as the representative of the Crimean Tatar people. Most of their activities were carried out by the "Action Groups", formed in the areas where the Crimean Tatars lived. On May 2, 1989, the Crimean Tatar National Organization was officially established and elected Mustafa Jemilev as its first chairman. There is also an opposition group under the leadership of Yuri Osmanov, called NDKT (Natsyonalynia Dvijenia Krimsky Tatar), but the great majority of the Crimean Tatars support the Crimean Tatar National Movement Organization (OKND).

Samozakhvats -- The Squatters Camps

The mass return of the Crimean Tatars to Crimea is another important development associated with the Gorbachev era. Due to the more relaxed political conditions of Glasnost and Perestroika, Crimean Tatars who could afford to return to Crimea began their move. The number of returnees steadily increased from 10,000 in 1985 to 240,000 in 1993. The local government unwilling to help the Crimean Tatars delayed the applications for land sometimes for six months, which forced many Crimean Tatars to live in tents or primitive underground shelters that they build on squatter's camps. There are thousands of Crimean Tatars who live in very poor shelters, awaiting for a just solution to their national problem.

The Second Crimean Tatar Kurultay

One of the most important political development during the Gorbachev era was the convening of the Crimean Tatar Kurultay on June 26-30, 1991, only the second one in this century. Let us briefly look at some of the events that led to convening of this historic Kurultay. On November 14, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, adopted a declaration "to recognize the repressive Act Against people who suffered forced deportation as illegal and Criminal Acts" and also declaring the restoration of the national rights of all the deported nationalities. On January 20, 1991, a referendum concerning the status of Crimea was held despite the boycott by the Crimean Tatars which led to the reinstatement of the Crimean ASSR on February 12, 1991.

Realizing that the only option they have left to prove that the Crimean Tatar people do really exist and Crimea is the only homeland they have, the Crimean Tatars began preparation to convene their Kurultay. On June 26, 1991, the historic Second Crimean Tatar Kurultay was convened and Mustafa Jemilev was elected the chairman and Refat Chubarov as the deputy chairman of the thirty-three member Crimean Tatar Mejlis.

The Gorbachev era ended with the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States on December 8, 1991.

Special Kurultays

The Crimean Tatars have made some political progress since the second Crimean Tatar Kurultay. There was a special Kurultay convened on July 27, 1993 to elect certain portion of the Mejlis members. Refat Chubarov and most of the original members were reelected. Chairmanship was not up for reelection until the third Kurultay.

Another special Kurultay was convened on November 27, 1993 to consider the following critical issues that concerned the political future of the Crimean Tatar people.

* Whether or not to participate in the upcoming parliamentary election and elect Crimean Tatar deputies.
* Whether or not to support any of the Presidential candidates.

After long and heated debates, Kurultay decided, by 167 to 25 vote, in favor of participating in the parliamentary elections and left it up to Mejlis to decide on participation in the presidential elections. The Crimean Tatar Mejlis later decided to participate in the presidential elections and support the pro-Ukrainian candidate Bagrov who eventually lost to pro-Russian candidate Yuri Meshkov.

A Historical Event -- The first Crimean Tatar Deputies Elected

On March 29, 1994 parliamentary elections were held in the Crimea, for the first time since the mass deportation of May 18,1944, fourteen nominees of Mejlis were elected. Furthermore, Ilmi Umerov was selected as one of the deputy Prime Ministers; Ennan Ennanov as Minister of Social Affair and Minister. Later on Refat Chubarov was selected as the deputy speaker of the Crimean Parliament.

The Third Crimean Tatar Kurultay

The Third Crimean Tatar Kurultay was held in Akmescit (Simferopol) in June 26- 30,1996. Mustafa Jemilev and Refat Cubarov were reelected as the chairman and deputy chairman of Mejlis, respectively. It is quite interesting to note that a representative from Tashkent, a long time fighter for the rights of the Crimean Tatar people, Izzet Khairov, has joined the new Mejlis for the first time. It is a strong indication that the new Mejlis is going to pay more attention to the plight of the Crimean Tatars currently still unable to return to Crimea.

The Soviet Empire is gone, replaced by fifteen independent nations who are engaged in a tough economic and political struggle to solidify their independence. There is a new world order, a march towards democratization. The Crimean Tatars are forced to follow this new "march" a few steps behind everyone else. Their long struggle for total rehabilitation as a people and as a nation continues.

Conclusion

Despite all the political changes since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and despite the courageous struggle of the Crimean Tatar people to regain their national and human rights, the Crimean Tatar problem remains unresolved. The only difference is that now Ukraine as a newly independent nation, is responsible to handle this problem. The Crimean Tatar question is Ukraine's nationality problem that has not yet caught the attention of the media as such. It is sad to say that Ukraine alone can not resolve the Crimean Tatar problem; she needs the cooperation of Uzbekistan and Russia, say the least. Since Crimea is part of Ukraine, Ukraine will remain accountable to resolve the Crimean Tatar tragedy.

What do the Crimean Tatars want? The Crimean Tatar people simply want:
* Recognition of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis as the official representative of the Crimean Tatar people.
* A government sponsored return of the Crimean Tatar people to Crimea.
* A judicious representation of the Crimean Tatars in the Crimean Parliament.
* Automatic Ukrainian citizenship should be granted to every Crimean Tatar who lives in Crimea now, and to those who will be arriving later. Citizenship should not be an issue with the Crimean Tatars who have no other homeland other than Crimea; and since Crimea is considered to be an integral part of Ukraine, her indigenous people should not be subjected to citizenship issue.

These demands are not simple demands that could be fulfilled overnight; yet they are deliverable demands, and Ukraine is in a better position than Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan or Armenia to resolve her most crucial nationalities' issue because of the uniqueness of her nationality problem. The Crimean Tatar problem is easier to resolve than for instance the Abkhazian, Chechen or Nagorna-Karabag problems, because:
* Crimean Tatars have no territorial claim against any nation; they just want to resettle in their ancestral homeland and peacefully co- exist with the people who are already there.
* The Crimean Tatars, despite all their suffering have not resorted to violence, they always advocated a peaceful solution for their problems.
* The Crimean Tatars are not antagonistic against Ukraine or the local Crimean government.
* The Crimean Tatars are willing to meet Ukraine and the local Crimean government more than half way in terms of their return and resettlement in Crimea. Ukraine can start with recognizing the Crimean Tatar National Mejlis as the de jure representative of the Crimean Tatar people.

Let us hope that the peaceful tactics of the Crimean Tatar people is not misunderstood as a sign of weakness. Crimean Tatars' plight has the potential of becoming the "cause ce'le'ber" of the Turkic-Islamic world. The aforementioned incidents in Alushta, Akmescit and Karasubazar are beginning to draw the attention of the Islamic world. When the Islamic world diverts its full attention to the sufferings of the Crimean Tatar people the Crimean Tatars have the potential of becoming the new Palestinians and a new rallying point of the Islamic world. The last thing that the Crimean Tatars want is bloodshed in their ancestral homeland, because they believe that enough blood has already been spilled there for the past two hundred and ten years.

Ukraine has a historic opportunity to right the two-centuries old wrong done to the Crimean Tatars by planning and implementing a government sponsored return of the Crimean Tatars to the Crimea, and totally and genuinely rehabilitating them once and for all. So far Ukraine has been the only country who has financially helped the Crimean Tatars as best as she could. The Crimean Tatars are now collecting signatures to send a petition to the current Ukrainian government asking her to resolve the Crimean Tatar problem. Everyone realizes that Ukraine alone, financially, can not afford to resolve the Crimean Tatar problem. There are, however, certain actions that Ukraine can take unilaterally, such as recognizing the Crimean Tatar National Mejlis as the sole representative of the Crimean Tatar people. Also, taking the initiative in engaging other countries, such as Uzbekistan and Russia even western countries, to work towards genuinely rehabilitating the Crimean Tatar people will go a long way. It will definitely benefit all parties involved and a potential conflict might be prevented without bloodshed.

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