Simone Donati (Italy)
Crimean Tatars - Return to the Motherland
The Crimean Tatars are a Turkic people who inhabited the Crimean peninsula, now a part of Ukraine, for over seven centuries. They established their own Khanate in the 1440s and remained an important power in Eastern Europe until 1783, when Crimea was annexed to Russia. During World War II, the entire Tatar population in Crimea fell victims to Stalin’s oppressive policies. In 1944, they were unjustly accused of being Nazi collaborators and deported en masse to Central Asia and other lands of the Soviet Union. Many died of disease and malnutrition. Although a 1967 Soviet decree removed the charges against Crimean Tatars, the Soviet government did nothing to facilitate their resettlement to Crimea and to make reparations for lost lives and confiscated property. Today, more than 250,000 Crimean Tatars are back in their homeland, struggling to reestablish their lives and reclaim their national and cultural rights against many social and economic obstacles.
