Serhii LATSHENKO,
«Independence», # 388 (15208), December 29, 1999

WHAT IS THE CRIMEA FOR UKRAINE?

Some ten years ago, for an average Ukrainian the word "Crimea" associated with the sea, sun, beaches, picturesque nature, orchards and vineyards. That is to say, it produced unambiguously positive associations. Time has changed this perception. Currently, at the threshold of the third millennium, the Crimea is perceived differently, without euphoria. The most beautiful peninsula ("Medal on bosom of the planet," as the Crimean Tatars like to say) has become a source of anxieties: too many problems have arisen at once after Ukraine acquired independence.

Firstly, the problem of separatism due to Crimea being unlike the rest of Ukraine. The related problem of Ukrainiophobia, and a well-worn Black Sea fleet problem. Not to mention the present inaccessibility of Crimea for vacationers: with our salaries, the seagulls and cypress trees somehow are not of concern...

And finally Islam — a completely new problem since “the Islamic factor” has not troubled Ukraine for nearly three hundred years. We have lost our familiarity with it.

Crimea — the motherland of the Crimean Tatars. They have no another one.

What is the main distinguishing feature of the Crimea? The fact that it belonged to Russia for a long time? Hardly so. In this case it could have been considered as a logic continuation of the whole Black Sea region, which is also a considerably Russified part of Ukraine. No, the main particularity of Crimea is the fact that it is the motherland of the Crimean Tatars...

Ports that do not freeze, convenient harbors, the nature of fairy tale beauty, and the ruins of ancient temples — all this deserves attention, but it is the presence of the indigenous people (who claim the right to the Crimean land and to no another!) that will define, in many respects, the future of the peninsula.

Certainly, for Ukrainians as well Crimea is not a foreign land. “The Ukrainian presence” on a peninsula since the times of the Tmutarakan principality is a known fact. Moreover, at the end of the XVII centuries, according to the Turkish chronicler and traveler Evliya Chelebi, Ukrainians constituted no less than 80 percents of the peninsula’ population.

However, this fact can be interpreted in various ways: one can refer to in order to claim that Crimea is “eternally ours,” or one can be more constructive and talk about the “Tatar phenomenon.”  Especially since all Crimean Ukrainians, in due course, became Crimean Tatars.... And when the majority assimilates into the minority, it signifies the greater vitality of the minority. It turns out, that God himself has taken care to ensure that Tatars sit strongly on this land, preserving their own character. The value system of such people is worthy of a thorough study.

A few words about Islam

As is well known, Crimean Tatars are Moslems. And Islam certainly has its strong aspects. The ambiguity of postulates in the Koran enables everyone to trust in his/her “own,” while nevertheless remaining in the bosom of one religion. Perhaps this is the reason why during the first two centuries of his triumph Mohammed got more supporters than Jesus did during the whole time of the existence of Christianity?

There is one more aspect. Orthodoxy rooted in the Byzantium tradition, with its irrationality and fatalism, leads to a significantly greater number of “externals” in our society (“external” is a person who thinks that his/her life wholly depends on the external circumstances. Such a person would rather adapt to the circumstances than attempt to change them). Modern sociologists think that 60 percents of the Ukrainian citizens belong to this category. By contrast, in Western countries 60 to 70 percents of the population are “interials,” people inclined to take responsibility for their actions and who believe that everything in life depends on them. As far as I know, no such researches among the Crimean Tatars have been carried out. But I think that over half of them are “interials.” Crimean Tatars do not exhibit Ukrainian passivity and humility towards their own fate, which is transferred from generation to generation of Ukrainians with a spell “It will be all right somehow ...”

Is a small motherland loved more?

Crimean Tatars differ from us not only by their religion and darker skin, but also by the fact that they love their motherland differently: humbly, devotedly, and infinitely.

Crimea – you are my religion,
You are my great pain…

In these moving verses of young poetess Lilia Budzhurova is the key to understanding the Crimean Tatar problem. Ukrainians and Russians, even the most decent and most courageous ones, love their motherland differently. Compare:

My hateful Motherland!
There are no more shameful nights than yours
You have been lucky
With the outcasts,
With the surfs and the executioners

Iryna Ratushinska wrote these verses when she was not yet 23 years old ... One cannot say that she does not love her motherland. For these and her other verses she was imprisoned, spent her jail term, but did not repent. But she just loves her motherland differently, more critically, perhaps ...

How to explain this phenomenon? My assumption is that the smaller the motherland, the more acute is the feeling of the owner and the sense of responsibility, the more sentimental the love towards it, and the higher percentage of the patriots. A Canadian cannot love his motherland as deeply as a Slovak, an Ingush or an Estonian does. His love is calmer, he can relax on the open spaces: if you are to deport him a hundred times from Prince-Rupert to Prince-George, or from Peace River to Berents River, there will be no great tragedy: both places are Canada, with its woods, lakes and first-class highways!

The Crimean Tatars, however, are so rooted in their motherland, in their native corner, that even after half a century of exile this feeling has not weakened. A Tatar from the sun-burned steppes of Dzhankoy will not be packing bags for beautiful Yalta. He is the happiest where the grave of his great-grandfather is.

For the majority of the Crimean Tatars, the Crimea is simultaneously their large and small motherland. A lot of time will pass before they will begin to feel themselves a part of Ukraine …

Crimean Tatars are no less European than we are. And perhaps even more.

Steppe, cavalry, slaves, and mosques – our historical memory connects all this with the word “Tatars,” as well as with such concepts as “wildness” and “the Orient.” But these out-of-date stereotypes we shall have to replace soon, as they do not correspond to the reality.  Certainly, it will not happen immediately. As the population of Eastern Ukraine did not immediately come to believe that Stepan Bandera followers were freedom fighters and not “slaughterers.” But eventually it happened. Therefore, the Crimean Tatars have to be regarded as who they are.

The Ukrainians are rightfully proud of their democratic traditions, thinking that this is what differentiates them from the Russians (for whom the idea of the centralized power turned out to be most acceptable). But the democratic traditions are also very strong among the Crimean Tatars. It was these traditions that have helped them to select the optimum forms of struggle, have allowed to mobilize everyone for the main goal – the return to Crimea.

The form of the movement’s leadership was indeed quite original. By the way, human rights advocate General Petro Hryhorenko highly appreciated it and described in details. When it was decided to begin petition campaign, the Crimean Tatars acted in the following way: every settlement elected its representative, who was given a written authorization to represent his or her electorate. The representatives were grouped by regions, and took turns being on duty in Moscow. After some time, the groups changed. If an important action was planned, several groups went to Moscow. Each representative was funded by those who signed his authorization. At any moment, the authorization could be taken away and transfer to someone else.

Therefore, there was no leadership in the conventional sense of the word. The representatives of settlements were ordinary people. Besides they frequently changed. Therefore, the KGB (Committee of State Security), with all its ingenuity, could not label anyone the leader or organizer.  It was practically impossible to decapitate the movement, especially since the Crimean Tatars did not have such a leader as Ocalan (the leader of Kurdish separatists). And neither had they a need for one.

The secret lies in the fact that even in exile these people have preserved themselves as a nation. Having almost lost their native language, they did not forget how to agree with each other. And this is a characteristic feature of civilized Europeans!

Here is an example on which to study democracy. There is no need to go abroad, most valuable experience is very close by, in the Crimea which used to be just a spa. But henceforth it can become something considerably larger: a treasure chest of ideas, a reservoir of the richest experience of national preservation and the strengthening of statehood. It is just necessary to take a closer look at our southern neighbor (which is now one of two indigenous peoples of Ukraine), and to try to understand it as a brother.

Do the Crimean Tatars always understand Ukrainians?

Unfortunately, not always. And there are objective reasons behind it. The Crimean Tatars cannot really understand how the titular nation – which constitutes 3/4 of the population of the country, which has never been “uprooted” or deported – can have any problems with the native language or unity. This is why they have a large temptation (and the island realities are conducive to this) to consider Ukrainians as a sub-type of Russians, something like those from Siberia or from the Urals. Journalist Tamara Solovey writes about it with bitterness in the newspaper “Krymska Svitlytsya” after talking to Ayshe Seitmuratova, a human rights activist from the Crimean Tatar movement: “I have realized with surprise and resentment that she does not distinguish the Ukrainian journalists from ‘the Russian-speaking population.’  Asking us to imagine ourselves in the place of the Crimean Tatars, the human rights activist forgets that we, Ukrainians, are not only no better off, but are even envious, in a friendly way, of her people: they have, after all, managed to achieve quite a lot in the sphere of the revival of their language and culture...”

There are also Crimean Tatars who believe that the motherland of Ukrainians begins after Perekop, and in Crimea they have same rights, as Estonians, Belorussians, or Armenians... A few years ago Eldar Isliamov in the article “Forever with Ukraine?” has expressed an opinion, that in 10-20 years the question of Crimea’s secession from Ukraine will arise, while for the time being (I quote): “we can hope to enlist its economic potential and resources for the solution of the repatriation problem of the Crimean Tatar people.” And although such articles are very exceptional, one can understand those Ukrainian politicians who are not very enthusiastic about the return of the indigenous people to Crimea. What if Ukraine is creating a problem for itself? Will yielding and tolerant Ukrainians assimilate again, just as three hundred years ago? Will Andriy become Ayder, Ostap — Оsman, and Мykola — Мustafa?

From time to time cautious politicians express such fears behind the scenes. Although, in my opinion, it is just ridiculous to regard the Crimean Tatars as the main threat to the Ukrainians! Especially taking into account that the Crimean Ukrainians are already almost assimilated. Those who originated from Sumy region and have surname ending with “ko” are practically indistinguishable from migrants from Tambov with a surname ending with “ov.” So, let us not be offended by Ayshe Seitmuratova, she did not sin against the truth: we still have to bring up our “Аndriy”s and “Оstap”s ...

By the way, many Ukrainian National-democrats pin their hopes for better future of the Crimea on the return of the Crimean Tatars.

The rapprochement gives us a chance

Overall, the relationship between the Ukrainians and the Crimean Tatars could have been rather problematic. Each of the parties could have had its reasons to accuse the neighbor of something. Historical resentments are a very serious business! And by now we could have been “disentangling” the next European Karabakh. Only this time on the territory of Ukraine. It is a credit to our mentalities that this has not happen yet. Tatars and us have proved to be equally patient and tolerant. Besides, His Majesty Chance has played not the last role. For it so happened that one of the most outstanding and most respected figures of the Crimean Tatar national movement was a Ukrainian, Petro Hryhorenko.

An ex-general, honest and adamant man, he could not remain indifferent to the fate of the deported people. Having learned the truth about the Crimean Tatar tragedy, Hryhorenko actively joined their struggle and walked the same road as the majority of the Tatar activists. He steadfastly withstood all ordeals fate had in store for him. Fighting for the Tatars’ right to returning to Crimea, he himself was forced to spend his last days abroad, in exile. He was homesick for Ukraine, and his last words uttered in an American hospital were in Ukrainian…

…He came back to Ukraine as a monument which now is proudly rising at the center of Simferopol. Streets and boulevards were named after him. The general returned to become a symbol of decency and nobility, and also a symbol of friendship between the Ukrainians and the Crimean Tatars.

Almost thirty-years long friendship between two human rights activists, Viacheslav Chornovil and Mustafa Dzhemilev, has also played a positive role. They were imprisoned practically alongside, and corresponded actively. By their position they have in many ways defined the future of the Ukrainian–Crimean Tatar relationship.

It is necessary to note that practically all seeds sown earlier also gave good shoots. Even before the war poet Pavlo Tychyna was friends with a Crimean Tatar writer Shamil Alldin (moreover, he could communicate with him in a refined Crimean Tatar language!). And later, in late 1980s, a pupil and a friend of the poet, Stanislav Telniuk, did a lot so that Ukrainians of Kyiv saw in the Crimean Tatars their friends and allies.  He consistently sough to demonstrate the need for the organization “Ukrainians for protection of the Crimean Tatars,” and only a senseless and tragic death prevented him from finishing the task he started. But this impulse did not vanish. Just like his early historic novellas in which Telniuk created many positive images of the Crimean Tatars, his active position in years of perestroika has in an important way contributed to the fact that today the majority of Ukrainian national-democrats sympathize with the indigenous people of Crimea, and consider their demand to restoration a national-territorial autonomy a just one.

Stanislav Тelniuk knew his people, their best traits, and so he was sure that among them the defenders of the Crimean Tatars are to be found. And so it happened. Even Crimean Ukrainians – despite their relatively low numbers, dissociation, a suffocating chauvinistic atmosphere of the peninsula – did a lot to establish good relations with the Tatars who returned from the deportation. A poet from Chornomorske, Оrest Коrsovetskii, has devoted several poems to his new friends. The poems turned out kind, humane, frank, just like the author himself – a former partisan, front-line soldier (and later a teacher in one of schools on Chukotka where he stood for the right of Chukotka children to study their native language). Moving to Crimea after an illness, Оrest Коrsovetskii was overtaken by the same deep sympathy for the Crimean Tatars. The ability to feel compassion is the main feature of this remarkable man’s character.

And Оrest Korsovetskii is not the only spontaneous defender of the Crimean Tatars.  A former sailor and presently a known bandura player from Yalta, Оstap Kindrachuk, has written a series of articles about these long-suffering people under the title “Eshil Ada” (“Green island”), noting all the best that has existed between us. By doing so, he tried to prepare his compatriots for the mass returning of the deportees, sincerely wishing to save them from the tatarophobia which was artificially inflated by the local authorities. By the way, for some time he took Crimean Tatar language lessons from Seyran Memetovich Useinov, and now he has not only Ukrainian, but also Crimean Tatar folk songs, in his repertory! As to the indigenous Crimeans, they have one good feature – the ability to reciprocate the good turn. On more than one occasion they have proved themselves as true Ukrainian patriots, at times being greater patriots than the Ukrainians themselves.

Such a situation is unique and inspires optimism: we will not have events similar the Yugoslav scenario.

Crimea can become Ukrainian Switzerland

That fact that the Ukrainians and the Crimean Tatars try to, and find, a common language is good. But, unfortunately, peace and accord on the peninsula depend not only on them. The Russian-speaking population – though understands that Ukraine is serious and it there to stay for a long time, and the Tatars even more so – nevertheless mostly thinks conservatively. Not all Russians are ready to share their (i.e. the Russian-language) information field, many of them don’t want new Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar schools to open, and the necessity to study these languages in the future simply frightens them.

The generation of “prewar Russians” who knew the Crimean Tatar language well is gradually disappearing from the stage, and more recent settlers from Russia are more often predisposed aggressively than benevolently. This is an imperial disease, and it is especially visible in the Crimea. Observations of a polyglot Willy Melnikov (who knows 93 languages!) about his native city of Moscow are interesting in this regard. Among friends of the polyglot only 15-20 percent have approved of his passion for learning languages. While 80-85 percent have condemned this indulgence of a young man, regarding it as a harmful “freakishness”: a Russian person only needs to know one language – Russian.

In the Crimea pro-Russian sentiments are still very strong, and the majority of the population wishes to study languages approximately as much as the Moscovites do. I write about it with great sorrow, since the Crimeans do not really have a choice. The Crimea will become either Ukrainian Switzerland, or it is doomed to “evolve” in the direction of “Ukrainian Kosovo.”

The language policy in the autonomy should be special, because the Crimean Tatars are the indigenous people with a well-developed self-preservation instinct, not some other national minority. Ignoring its problems is a delayed-action mine. However, so is their unskillful solution.

Now, while there is still time, it is necessary to quietly start studying the experience of Switzerland, Canada, Finland and other multinational states, and try to apply it to the Crimea. By the way, ethnic composition of the population of Switzerland almost corresponds to the Crimean realities. Let's compare:

The truth is, however, that peaceful coexistence of languages in Switzerland is not complicated by memories of past injuries, oppression or deportation of any of the ethnic groups. In Crimea the situation is not the same. However, one can take the Swiss experience as a model, it is better than the post-war Crimean one. Also note: the majority of Swiss know three languages, and some even four.

By the way, in Slovenia, a country which was created after the collapse of Yugoslavia, the representatives of the titular nation are obliged to study language of ethnic minorities which live nearby. Therefore, Slovenes frequently learn not at all related Hungarian or Italian, though there are only 10,000 Hungarians in the country, and even less Italians. There are more than 250,000 Crimean Tatars already in the Crimea, therefore, the population ought to be already taught at least the basics of the Crimean Tatar language.

At the same time, it is necessary to put an end to such an infamous Crimean phenomenon as Ukrainophobia. For each step forward on a way to the “Swiss” harmony, Ukrainians pay with their lives.  Two years ago, “Prosvita” activist Vitalii Mohylnyi perished tragically, last year died the editor of Saki regional newspaper “Vidrodzhennia” Oleksii Yefimenko. Chauvinists promised to break the head, but instead threw him out of the fifth floor window.

It is terrible, but our indifference is a lot more terrible. The newspaper “Vidrodzhennia” was the only Ukrainian-language regional newspaper on the peninsula. Currently, it is no more... But due to the brotherly assistance of the Crimean Tatars, the Bakhchsarai regional newspaper “Dumka” was started. Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars produce it together, in Ukrainian.

It looks like these two peoples are destined to start building a Temple of Accord on the Crimean land. It is a difficult, but an honorable mission. The Christians and Moslems of the whole world look at us.