Facts you need to know about Crimea and why it is

in turmoil
Published time: 27 Feb, 2014 04:51Edited time: 9 Mar, 2014 20:02

With its multinational society and a long history of conquests, the

Crimean Peninsula has always been a crossroads of cultures and a
hotbed of conflicts. Amid Ukrainian turmoil, every ethnic group of
Crimeans has its own vision of the regions future.

TagsUkraine, Protest, Politics, Egor

Piskunov,Opposition, Security, Clashes

What is Crimea?
Now known as Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the picturesque
peninsula shooting out into Black Sea from mainland Ukraine was for
centuries colonized and conquered by historic empires and nomadic
tribes. Greeks, Scythians, Byzantians and the Genoese have all left
traces of their presence in Crimean archeological sites and placenames.

The Russian Empire annexed the territory of Crimea in the last quarter of
the 18th century, after a number of bloody wars with the Ottoman
Empire.

As part of the 1774 Kuchuk-Kainarji peace treaty the Crimean Khanate,

previously subordinate to Ottomans and notorious for its brutal and
perpetual slave raids into East Slavic lands, aligned itself with Russia.
Soon Empress Catherine the Great abolished the Crimean Khanate,
giving them a historic Greek name of Taurida.
Soviet citizens got to know Crimea as an all-Union health resort, with
many of those born in the Soviet Union sharing nostalgic memories of
childrens holiday camps and seaside.

Rho libes Tere no?

The majority of those living in Crimea today are ethnic Russians almost
1,200,000 or around 58.3 percent of the population, according to the last
national census conducted back in 2001. Some 24 percent are
Ukrainians (around 500,000) and 12 percent are Crimean Tatars.
However, in the Crimeas largest city of Sevastopol, which is considered
a separate region of Crimea, there are very few Crimean Tatars and
around 22 percent of Ukrainians, with over 70 percent of the population
being Russians.

An absolute majority of the Crimean population (97 percent) use Russian

as their main language, according to a Kiev International Institute of
Sociology poll. One of the first decisions of the interim Kiev government
directly hit Crimea, as it revoked a law that allowed Russian and other
minority languages to be recognized as official in multicultural regions.

What's happening now?

After the Ukrainian President was ousted and an interim government was
established in Kiev, the Russian majority started protesting outside the
regional parliament, urging local MPs not to support it. They want the
Autonomous Region to return to the constitution of 1992, under which
Crimea briefly had its own president and independent foreign policy.

The parliament of the Crimean Autonomous Region was due to declare

on Wednesday the regions official position toward the new authorities in
Kiev. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars has spoken out sharply against
holding a parliamentary session on the issue, expressing their support
for the new central authorities. Back in 2012 members of the Mejlis ran
for parliamentary elections as part of Yulia Tymoshenkos bloc and
remain active supporters of the revolutionary Kiev government.

Two separate rallies, consisting of several thousand protesters, faced

each other in front of the parliament building in the Crimean capital,
Simferopol. Two people have died as a result of scuffles and
stampede and about 30 were injured, before the head of the Mejlis, Refat
Chubarov, called for the participants of the rally to go home peacefully.
While the Mejlis represents only around 20 percent of the minority, they
claim to be the voice of the whole Tatar population. Many of the Crimean
Tatars actually participated in the stand-off on the side of pro-Russian
forces.

Following the example of Kiev, vigilante groups are being formed, with
about 3,500 people already patrolling the streets of Crimea along with
police to prevent any provocations.
After the central government in Kiev disbanded the Berkut special police
task force, new authorities in Sevastopol have refused to comply and
welcomed all Berkut officers who feel intimidated to come to live in
Crimea with their families. Sevastopol earlier elected a new mayor after
the popular gathering ousted the local government, which tried to cling
to power by pledging allegiance to Kievs new rulers.

Impact of 2014 change of power in Kiev

Turmoil in the Crimean Autonomous Region began after the new
Ukrainian authorities revoked a law that gave legal grounds for regional
use of minority languages, including Russian. The 2012 law allowed
predominantly Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine to use Russian in
official business, education and some other areas.

The new government in Kiev has also proposed an initiative that would
prohibit members of the former regime from occupying official posts.

Abolition of the regional language law sparked controversy throughout

Ukraine. Even in the most nationalistic western regions of the country,
people spoke against the reforms.

In the stronghold of the far-right opposition, Lvov citizens announced a

day of the Russian language, calling on all locals to speak Russian for
one day in solidarity with the Russian population of Ukraine.

How was Crimea separated from Russia?

In 1954, a controversial decision of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev,
himself an ethnic Ukrainian, transferred the Crimea peninsula to the
Ukrainian SSR, extracting it from Russian territory.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Khrushchevs gift has been
widely criticized by many Russians, including the majority of those living
in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
Adding to the confusion was also the status of Soviet-era Sevastopol,
which not only remained the largest Crimean city, but also retained its
special strategic and military profile. In 1948, Sevastopol was separated
from the surrounding region and made directly subordinate to Moscow.
Serving as an important Soviet naval base, it remained a closed
city for years.
In the 1990s, the status of Sevastopol became the subject of endless
debates between Russia and Ukraine. Following negotiations, the city
with the surrounding territories was granted a special state
significance status within the Ukrainian state, and some of the naval
facilities were leased to Russia for its Black Sea Fleet until at least 2047.
However, the citys Russian majority and some outspoken Russian
politicians still consider it to be a part of Russia.

Ethnic controversy
By the beginning of the 20th century, Russians and the Crimean Tatars
were equally predominant ethnic groups in Crimea, followed by
Ukrainian, Jewish and other minorities. Crimea was both a royal resort
and an inspiration for some of the great Russian poets, writers and
artists, some of whom lived or were born there.
During WWII some 20,000 Crimean Tatars allied with the Nazi German
occupants, but many others also fought the Germans within the Soviet
Army. Citing the collaboration of Crimean Tatars with the Nazis, Joseph
Stalin ordered the whole ethnic group to be deported from Crimea to
several Central Asian Soviet republics. Officially, 183,155 people were
deported from Crimea, followed by about 9,000 Crimean Tatar WWII
veterans. That made up about 19 percent of the Crimean population on
the eve of war, almost half of which was by then Russian.

While the move was officially criticized by the communist leadership as

early as in 1967, the Tatars were de facto unable to return to Crimea
until the late 1980s. The tragic events surrounding Stalins deportation
obviously shaped the ethnic groups detestation of the Soviet regime.

Referendums and hopes

In 1991, the people of Crimea took part in several referendums. One
proclaimed the region an Autonomous Republic within the Soviet Union,
with 93.26 percent of the voters supporting the move. As the events
unfolded fast, another one was already asking if the Crimeans supported
the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union a question that
gathered 54 percent support. However, a referendum on Crimeas
independence from Ukraine was indefinitely banned from being held,
leading critics to assert that their lawful rights were oppressed by Kiev
authorities.
Complicating the issue was the return of the Crimean Tatars, who not
only started to resettle in tens of thousands, but also rivaled local
authorities. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People was formed to
represent the rights and interests of the ethnic minority. Although it was
never officially recognized as an official organization, the body has
enjoyed undisputed authority over most of Crimean Tatars and has
successfully pushed for some concessions for the ethnic group in local
laws.

While the Crimean Tatar re-settlers and the peninsulas current Russian
majority have learned to understand one another as neighbors, hardcore
politicians from both ethnic groups also created grounds for a heated
standoff. Calls for wider autonomy and aggressive lobbying for Crimean
Tatar rights have prompted several pro-Russian Crimean political leaders
to call the Mejlis an organized criminal
group leading unconstitutional activities. The remarks sparked furious
claims of discrimination from the Crimean Tatar community.

What happens next?

The ultimate goal of the ethnic Russian population protesting in Crimea
is to hold a referendum on whether the region should retain its current
status as an autonomous region in Ukraine, to become independent, or
become part of Russia again. In the meantime, they claim to have a right
to disobey orders of the illegal central government.
The Mejlis Tatar group, meanwhile, feels that ethnic Russians are trying
to tear Crimea away from Ukraine excluding them from deciding the
lands fate. They however represent only a small portion of the Tatar
minority, while the rest remain apolitical or even support the Crimeas
right for self-determination.
Right-wing radicals from Western Ukraine earlier threatened to send the
so-called trains of friendship full of armed fighters in order to crush
any signs of resistance to the revolution they were fighting so hard for.
The Kiev authorities busy with appointing roles in the revolutionary
government in the meantime embraced a soft approach towards Crimea.
The interim interior minister even did not undertake any drastic
measures to arrest fugitive ousted President Yanukovich, fearing that
may spark unrest.
Russia repeatedly confirmed it does not doubt Crimea is a part of
Ukraine, even though it understands the emotions of the residents of the
region. This week Russian MPs initiated a bill that will allow Russian
citizenship within six month if the applicant successfully proves his or
her Russian ethnicity. It is prepared especially to save Russian-speaking
Ukrainians from possible infringement of their rights.