Today, on May 18, 2000, the Crimean Tatars throughout the world will commemorate
the fifty-sixth anniversary of SURGUN, the tragic deportation of the entire
Crimean Tatar nation by the Soviet authorities.
Shekure Yusufova, a survivor of SURGUN, who now resides in the United States,
with teary eyes and trembling voice, not long ago told her audience how the
Soviet soldiers, armed with machine guns arrived at her house early in the
morning to uproot her family as well as all the other Crimean Tatars. Every
Crimean Tatar, just like Mrs. Yusufova, was brutally awakened, loaded on cattle
wagons and shipped off mainly to Central Asia, Siberia and other remote areas of
the Soviet Union. Other survivors vividly remember the screaming cries of their
cows, dogs, sheep in anticipation of what was going to happen. All these
horrifying testimonies of the survivors end with one wish: "Bizim
korduklerimizni Allah kimsege kostermesin!" (Let no one experience what we
have experienced!) Unofficial records kept by the Crimean Tatars show that 46.3
% of the Crimean Tatar population perished during this mass deportation.
It is unfortunate that half of the survivors of this tragic mass deportation
still remain in Central Asia, their original place of deportation. Those who
were able to return to Crimea continue to struggle with local authorities to
regain their human and national rights. As we enter a new millennium, the
Crimean Tatars want nothing more than to be welcomed to their ancestral homeland
both by the local authorities and the people who now occupy their homes that
they left behind, and peacefully coexist with them. The Crimean Tatars want
nothing more than to look back and say: "We have struggled for so long, but
at least we are home now, safe and sound."
It is interesting to note that the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars
constitutes the last phase of the Crimean Tatar Tragedy which officially began
with the annexation of the Crimea by Tzarist Russia on April 8,1783. Thanks to
Catherine II and her successors' oppressive policies, the Crimean Tatars were
forced to abandon their ancestral homeland in massive numbers. Because of these
mass emigrations, by the end of the nineteenth century, Crimean Tatars became a
minority in their own homeland, a status that still haunts them today.
Considering that they were treated as non-people until the Gorbachev era, the
Crimean Tatars have, indeed, come a long way. Half the Crimean Tatar population,
despite all the difficulties they face, was able to return to Crimea. For a
short period in 1993 the Crimean Tatars for the first time since the mass
deportation had fourteen deputies elected to the Crimean Parliament. Currently,
they have two members of Parliament in Kiev; Mustafa Jemilev and Refat Cubarov
representing the Crimean Tatar interest in the Ukrainian Parliament. Thanks to a
long and hard fought lobbying, the Crimean Tatar problem gained enough attention
to be discussed in the Ukrainian Parliament as well as in the Parliamentary
Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) on the same day, April 5,2000.
On the surface, these are significant accomplishments, indeed. But when one
looks at them closely, one concludes that the Crimean Tatars still have long
ways to go to become a nation and regain their human and national rights. Just
to mention a few problems:
- The Crimean Tatar National Mejlis, elected by the Crimean Tatar people, is
yet to be recognized as the de jure representative of the Crimean Tatars.
- The Crimean Tatars are yet to be recognized as the indigenous people of
the Crimea.
- The Crimean Tatar language is yet to be recognized as one of the official
languages of the Crimea.
- The Crimean Tatars yet to have equal rights under the Crimean and
Ukrainian laws.
- Most of the returning Crimean Tatars are yet to qualify for land in their
own ancestral homeland.
- Most importantly, the governments of Ukraine and Russia as well as the
local Crimean authorities still lack the "political will"' to help
resolve the Crimean Tatar problem. The deep rooted "anti-Crimean
Tatar" sentiment remains strong in the Crimea.
As long as these problems exist, the Crimean Tatars will remain "Strangers"
in their own homeland. The Crimea will remain as one of the "political hot
spots" in the world waiting to explode. As we commemorate the fifty-sixth
anniversary of the tragic mass deportation of the indigenous people of the
Crimea, it is our sincere hope that the Crimean Tatar problem is taken seriously
by the governments involved. We sincerely hope also that the Crimean Tatar
problem is resolved peacefully and resolved soon.
Mubeyyin B. Altan
President
International Committee for Crimea
