The Crimean Tatars have often been ignored in the Crimean studies. Whereas the Crimean Tatars are the indigenous people, the owners of the land, faced deportations multiple times and managed to arise each time. They have returned to homeland after 50 years of struggle to build their own civilisation once they had it before the horrific deportation of 1944.
‘Every Crimean Tatar, elderly, men, women, children; they all had bright lights in their eyes. The light of hope! The hope to build their home in the land of their ancestors. They had nothing in their possessions to start with. They did not have a roof over their heads, living in tents. But they had the light of hope. Soon, it will be ten years of living under the Russian control and the light in the people’s eyes are disappearing. Once Crimea becomes free, we have a lot to do!’
Quote from Safinar Djemileva, wife of the Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Djemilev, during a visit to her in exile in Istanbul 1 July 2023
This book is a short history of the Crimean Tatars based on the Crimean Tatars perspective.
