The Crimean Tatars : from Soviet genocide to Putin’s conquest

237 Pages·2016·2.082 MB·English

by  Brian Glyn Williams

THE CRIMEAN TATARS

BRIAN GLYN WILLIAMS
The Crimean Tatars
From Soviet Genocide to Putin’s Conquest
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3
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Printed by Edwards Brothers, USA
For Eren “Pasha” Altindag, Yetkin Altindag, Feruzan and Kemal Altindag
and Ryan and Justin Williams

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Prologue xi
1. The Pearl in the Tsar’s Crown 1
2. Dispossession: The Loss of the Crimean Homeland 9
3. Dar al Harb: The Nineteenth-Century Crimean Tatar
Migrations to the Ottoman Empire 19
4. Vatan: The Construction of the Crimean Fatherland 33
5. Soviet Homeland: The Nationalization of the Crimean
Tatar Identity in the USSR 57
6. Surgun: The Crimean Tatar Exile in Central Asia 89
7. Return: The Crimean Tatar Migrations from
Central Asia to the Crimean Peninsula 117
Notes 161
Bibliography 177
About the Author 199
Index 201
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost I would like to thank the numerous Crimean Tatars who
invited me into their simple stone homes in the settlements of the Crimea and
greeted me with their people’s legendary hospitality, despite their often tragic
circumstances. In particular, I would like to thank Nuri Shevkiev and his won-
derful wife Lilia and his children Emir and Elmaz for letting me live with
them in their samostroi (self-built) home in the settlement of Marino near
Simferopol. I still fondly recall the evenings gathered with the Shevkievs and
Tatars from the surrounding houses eating homemade cigborek and drinking
tea while collecting stories of the deportation, exile and return.
I would also like to thank Mustafa Dzhemilev for taking the time to grant
me interviews during my stay. It was a real honor to get to know the “Crimean
Tatar Mandela” who sacrificed so much to lead his people from exile to their
homeland. I would also like to thank Lilia Bujurova, Izzet Khairov, Alie Aki-
mov, Fevzi Yakubov, Abdullah Balich, Reshat Dzhemilev and Server Karimov
for the time they took to grant me interviews.
In addition, I would like to thank my parents, Donna and Gareth, for
encouraging me to travel the world as a young man and to respect other cul-
tures. I would not be who I am today without their inspiration and guidance
over these many years. I am also grateful to my wife Feyza Altindag for her
support and patience with my obsession with the Crimean Tatars’ history.
I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to my advisors at the University of Wis-
consin who taught me Central Asian history, Uli Schamiloglu and Kemal
Karpat. I would also like to say thanks to my colleagues at the University of
Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Mark Santow and Len Travers, who provided me
with the invaluable support I needed to produce this work. And as always I
owe a huge debt of gratitude to my indispensable secretary, Sue Foley.
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