Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 3 – Both before
and after the Anschluss, the Crimean Tatars have been the most consistent
opponents of the illegal Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula that is
their homeland. As a result, the occupation authorities have treated them
badly, radicalizing a fundamentally pragmatic group rather than intimidating its
members.
In a 5800-word survey of what the
Russians have done, Ilya Azar, a Meduza.io journalist, says Russia has treated
the Crimean Tatars as if they were restive North Caucasians, something the
Crimean Tatars say “isn’t necessary” because “we are not mountaineers,” can’t
be bought off with money as some Chechens were, and must be treated with
dignity if Moscow expects cooperation (meduza.io/feature/2014/12/02/my-ne-gortsy-s-nami-tak-ne-nado).
But if Russian officials continue to
behave otherwise, the situation could get out of hand. According to Lilia
Bujurova, “if Russia is interested that there will be a mobilized ethnic group
in Crimea and which will consider itself an enemy of Russia,” it will find out
what that means “when Russia weakens” and this group can act on behalf of its
nation.
The current generation may not be
passionate about taking such actions, but “a passionate one will come to
replace it,” she said. But if Russia treats the Crimean Tatars with respect,
then the nation will respond in kind and might even protest against the
restoration of Ukrainian power on the peninsula if that should happen in 20 to
25 years.
Since the occupation began, Russian officials
in Crimea have failed to stop if they are not in fact implicated in a wave of
kidnappings and disappearance, have blocked the return to Crimea of two of the
most important Crimean Tatar leaders, have banned meetings, attacked the
Mejlis, and conducted innumerable searches for illegal literature, drugs, and
weapons.
None
of these things has led most Crimean Tatars to change their view that
acknowledging that Crimea is now part of Russia would be an act of betrayal. Instead, these actions have infuriated most, reduced the
possibility of any cooperation, and radicalized many Crimean Tatars, especially
the younger ones.
Some Crimean Tatars either out of
careerist considerations or out of a belief that they have no choice but to
cooperate are doing so, but most are holding back. The one institution that has
gone over to the Russian side as it were is the Muslim Spiritual Directorate
(MSD), which is rooted in the Russian tradition of religious governance rather
than in the Crimean Tatar.
Initially, Azar says, some Crimean
Tatars hoped that the annexation of the peninsula would open the way for the
restoration of a national republic for them. After all, there are many national
republics in the Russian Federation and none in Ukraine, and some of those
republics have a titular nationality which forms, as the Crimean Tatars do,
only a small fraction of the population.
But Russian officials were not
willing to make any concessions in this regard, and Putin’s promises of aid to
help the Crimean Tatars overcome their deportation have proven hollow. Instead,
Azar says, the occupation authorities have tried to buy loyalty, something that
doesn’t work with the Crimean Tatars.
The Russian authorities have also sought to undermine the
authority of Mustafa Cemilev, the longtime leader of the Crimean Tatars. They
have banned him and his successor from entering Crimea, and they have tried to
bend him to Russia’s will by arresting his son and promising the latter’s
release in Cemilev goes along.
Had
the Russian actions against him and the community been less blunt, they might
have been more effective, Azar suggests. On the one hand, some Crimean Tatars
do not agree with the radical pro-Ukrainian position Cemilev has adopted. And
on the other, some do not blame Russia for all that has happened, given that
Kyiv was not prepared to do much for them until after Crimea was occupied.
Moreover,
as Bujurova says, the Russian authorities have shown that they have no respect
for the Crimean Tatars and are ready to repress them. “For people in Russia,”
she says, “apparently this has become the norm, but for us it is something
unaccustomed. In Ukraine, people could express their point of view.” Now, they
risk repression.
And
Russia is creating a new group of angry Crimean Tatars: former government
employees. When Crimea was controlled by
Ukraine, 15 percent of government jobs there were held by Crimean Tatars. Now,
only three percent of them are Crimean Tatars. Moreover, Crimean Tatars have
been fired from various jobs simply because they are Crimean Tatars.
The
occupation authorities have tried to undercut the Mejlis by forming an
alternative Crimean Tatar organization, the Kyyrym; but it has few supporters
and even the Russian occupation officials with whom Azar spoke say that “it has
no chance” of achieving what its organizers hoped for. “Today, there is no
alternative to the Mejlis.”
The
occupation authorities are now promising that they are working on “a
fundamental law” about the Crimean Tatar language, but most Crimean Tatars are
skeptical and fear that they will see many of the 15 Crimean Tatar language
schools they opened in Ukrainian times closed as a result.
The
situation in these schools is already dire, Dilyara Seyitveliyeva, the sister
of Mustafa Cemilev says. One reason is that the authorities will not allow
children to use the textbooks that they had been using. She said she was
grateful to “little uncle Soros” for them, but now the books he gave can’t be
used “because they were published in Ukraine.”
All
this is intensifying the alienation many Crimean Tatars feel with regard to
Russia and the occupation. Changing their feelings will take time and a
different approach by the occupation authorities. “Imagine,” one Crimean Tatar
told the journalist who was visiting from Latvia, that “tomorrow, the Finns
came and said they’ve held a referendum and now this is Finland.”
“Would
you in that event immediately become a patriot of Finland?”
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