When the world discusses Crimea, the dialog usually begins and ends with the query: to whom does it belong? Not noted of this binary is the voice of Crimea’s Indigenous individuals: the Crimean Tatars. As a Crimean Tatar myself, I’m struck by how invisible our story stays within the worldwide info area. But it’s exactly our historical past, our id and our survival that challenges the dominant Russian narrative and supplies the clearest reply to the query of Crimea’s rightful future.
The historical past of the Crimean Tatars is lengthy, advanced and largely untold. We’re not merely a “minority” residing in Crimea—we’re its authentic nation. The Crimean Khanate was functioning as an impartial state from the fifteenth to the 18th century. With refined diplomacy, navy ability and financial commerce, our khanate formed regional politics for hundreds of years. It isn’t hyperbole to say that Crimea, earlier than 1783, was a centre of tradition and energy. This modified when the Russian Empire annexed Crimea, reworking the bulk Tatar inhabitants right into a marginalised and colonised minority inside a technology.
Erasure
What adopted was not assimilation, however erasure. The Russian after which Soviet authorities launched into a scientific marketing campaign to strip the Crimean Tatars of land, rights and cultural reminiscence. In 1944, the Soviet Union deported almost 200,000 of us—largely ladies, youngsters and the aged—to Central Asia, the Urals and Siberia. Practically half perished in exile. We have been banned from returning for many years. Those that survived needed to rebuild not simply lives, however a collective id denied by the very state that when referred to as us residents.
Our return to Crimea was something however straightforward—it was the end result of a protracted, sacrificial and non-violent battle in opposition to the Soviet regime. Alongside the best way, many Crimean Tatars paid a heavy worth—enduring years of imprisonment, exile and struggling of their struggle to return residence.
Complicating the parable
In 2014, historical past repeated itself. Russia’s unlawful annexation of Crimea was not only a geopolitical transfer—it was a continuation of its colonial mission. It aimed not solely to say territory, however to erase the individuals who complicate its fantasy of Crimea as “eternally Russian”. I witnessed this with my very own eyes. I noticed the tanks. I noticed our leaders exiled and imprisoned. I noticed my Tatar pal Ervin Ibragimov disappear, by no means to be discovered once more. My own residence was raided by armed males. I used to be humiliated for being a girl, a Muslim and a Crimean Tatar. This isn’t historic historical past. That is 2014. That is now.
The Russian occupation has unleashed what I name “humanitarian aggression”. It doesn’t goal the physique—it targets id. Colleges are “Russified”. Cemeteries and historic Tatar settlements are bulldozed to make manner for highways. Museums are looted. The Khan’s Palace in Bakhchysarai, one of many final seen symbols of our statehood, is being “restored” in a manner that destroys its authenticity and which means. Cultural erasure shouldn’t be collateral injury; it’s the technique.
This is the reason Crimea issues far past Ukraine’s borders. What is going on in Crimea isn’t just an area injustice—it’s a check case for the way the world responds to genocide within the twenty first century. The worldwide authorized framework is evident: the destruction of id, tradition and heritage is a violation of human rights. But the worldwide response has been muted. Why?
In silence, lies flourish
Maybe it’s as a result of the story of Crimea is being informed with out the Crimean Tatars. Our voice has been absent from negotiations, from diplomacy, from headlines. When our historical past shouldn’t be identified, the lie of Crimea as “at all times Russian” turns into simpler to imagine. And but, each destroyed cemetery, each renamed monument, each reprogrammed college curriculum, screams the straightforward reality: if Crimea have been actually Russian, none of this could have existed.
The world should perceive that cultural heritage isn’t just in regards to the previous, it’s a battleground for the longer term. When a individuals’s historical past is erased, their proper to belong is erased too. This is the reason id has develop into a weapon in immediately’s wars. Russia is aware of this. It’s why it invests so closely in disinformation, historic revisionism and cultural appropriation.
Elmira Ablyalimova-Chyihoz
Courtesy of Elmira Ablyalimova-Chyihoz
We should reply in type—not with lies, however with reality. Not with silence, however with testimony. Recognising the 1944 deportation as a genocide is a essential first step. Supporting Ukrainian sovereignty should embody defending the rights of Indigenous peoples just like the Crimean Tatars. And any future dialogue of Crimea’s standing should start with those that have lived, died and resisted the longest.
The Crimean Tatars aren’t a footnote on this story—we’re its coronary heart. Our resilience isn’t just survival. It’s a declaration: we’re nonetheless right here. We keep in mind. And we’ll return.
Elmira Ablyalimova-Chyihoz is a mission supervisor on the Crimean Institute for Strategic Research and an knowledgeable in cultural research
