Crimean Tatar autonomy: who will give answers to the main questions?

22.07.201918:00

With the beginning of the supply blockade of the Crimea, billboards appeared on the administrative border of the Kherson region with the peninsula, informing people entering and leaving that Crimea is the “ Crimean Tatar Autonomous Republic”. After that on social networks among Ukrainian users, heated discussions and debates around the need for such autonomy in the event of a change in the geopolitical situation developed. As a result, many questions remained open, the answers to which the initiators of this idea were not given after almost six months. For this reason, the resulting informational vacuum began to be filled with a number of myths and stereotypes.

For many opponents of the idea of Crimean Tatar autonomy living in mainland Ukraine, the main questions are: in what form will a new education exist? Is there a place for Russian-speaking, Ukrainian-speaking and other citizens, what guarantees will be there for them, whether representatives of the Crimean-Tatar nation will force out other ethnic groups, whether ethnic or religious persecution will begin, and so on.

Due to the lack of necessary information, Ukrainian users began to rise to the public plane the issue of creating Crimean Tatar autonomy, talk about their fears and actively comment on the initiative of the blockade participants who installed the billboards themselves. Some openly began to compare such autonomy with the unrecognized “DPR” and “LPR”, others began to resent, they say, for some reason, nobody is interested in the opinion of Ukrainians, who are the second largest nation of the peninsula, others simply opposed, fearing persecution in the future Crimean Tatar education by ethnicity. Disputes in social networks did not lead to a common understanding between users. Moreover, after some time, this topic faded into the background, despite the promises of the participants in the blockade to hold a special press conference and answer frequently asked questions regarding this. To this day, no intelligible answers on this topic have not been heard.

Under current conditions, it would be right for the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Kurultay or the World Congress of Crimean Tatars – depending on the situation and the possibility of collecting the maximum number of members and delegates of this or that body, most likely, on the territory of mainland Ukraine – to hold a meeting/congress/ conference . Within the framework of these public events and with the involvement of the maximum number of international observers, institutions and the media, participants need to develop clear rules and principles for the existence of Crimean Tatar autonomy with unconditional guarantees for all ethnic groups living on the peninsula. Only after this will dialogue be possible.

Otherwise, the misunderstanding and mistrust of the parties will only increase, and any talk about the creation of the Crimean Tatar autonomy, albeit in the foreseeable future, will certainly cause aversion and mistrust among the majority of citizens both on the territory of mainland Ukraine and in Crimea. 


Ayder ARABADZHIEV

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Author: Редакция Avdet

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