Paul
Goble
Staunton, June 12 – As the Russian
occupation authorities in Crimea continue to force out Crimean Tatars from
positions of responsibility and exclude them from policy discussions, the
Muslim Spiritual Directorate (MSD) there is playing a more prominent role in
speaking out about Crimean Tatar concerns, especially in the area of “disappearances.”
In an appeal sent to the occupation
government, the Crimean MSD called on the new powers that be to take “all
necessary measures to investigate the disappearance of people on the territory
of the peninsula,” investigate crimes and bring those responsible to justice,
and prevent more criminal activity (qha.com.ua/muftiyat-obratilsya-k-aksenovu-po-povodu-ischeznoveniya-lyudei-v-krimu-136960.html).
Beginning in mid-March, the appeal
says, there have been a number of “disappearances” which remain unsolved. That there appears to be no progress in that direction,
it adds, threatens to undermine “the inter-ethnic and inter-confessional
concord” which had been carefully develop “over the course of the 23 years”
between the end of the USSR and the Russian Anschluss.
The Crimean MSD talks about problems
that affect far more than just the Crimean Tatar or Muslim communities of the
Ukrainian peninsula, but this appeal also reflects a disturbing new reality:
the forcing out of Crimean Tatar officials from positions of responsibility and
the exclusion of Crimean Tatars from policy discussions.
Last week, the Crimean Tatar deputy
prime minister was forced out as were a number of other Crimean Tatars at a
lower level, and this week, the occupation regime held a meeting with
representatives of virtually all the region’s ethnic minorities, with the
conspicuous exception of the Crimean Tatars (nazaccent.ru/content/12004-politiku-mezhnacionalnyh-otnoshenij-v-krymu-obsudili.html).
At least in part, this pattern
reflects the fact that the Crimean Tatars overwhelmingly reject the legitimacy
of Russia’s occupation of their homeland, seeing it as a possible prelude to “a
new deportation.” But it also appears to
reflect a decision by the new authorities to exclude and undermine anyone with
connections to the Milli Mejlis and Mustafa Cemilev.
Among the consequences of that
approach are likely to be both growing radicalism among the Crimean Tatars,
something the occupation authorities may hope for in order to exploit any such
trend among them, and an expanded role for the Crimean MSD as one of the last
effective channels of communication between the Crimean Tatars and the Russian
occupiers.
This in turn has two additional
consequences which bear watching. On the
one hand, it means that at least some of the Crimean Tatar appeals are going to
take on a Muslim shading because of who is making them, although yesterday’s
appeal is striking in its non-denominational and non-ethnic approach.
And on the other, the Russian
occupation authorities are likely to use this development, one that they have
in effect created, to portray the Crimean Tatar national movement as an Islamic
or even Islamist, something Sebastopol and Moscow undoubtedly believe would be
an effective means of reducing Western support for the Crimean Tatars.
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