When describing his own exile, Athenian tragedy writer Euripides (480 BC) wrote, "There is no greater sorrow on Earth than the loss of one's native land". Unfortunately, past centuries have been unable to erase the truth of this statement from the fate of humanity. The world's gloomy past still follows today's states and peoples like a shadow. Just like World War II and the scars it has left behind...Millions of deaths, cities and lives in ruin, exiled peoples, divided families... Among the least remembered is the exile of the Crimean Tatars.
According to the 1939 population census held in the Soviet Union, 1,123,806 people were living in Crimea at the time; 557,449 were Russian, 218,492 were Crimean Tatars and 153,478 were Ukrainian. The German army invaded Soviet territory two years after the initiation of World War II, and entered Perekop, north of Crimea, in October 1941. By November 30, 1941 they had occupied all of Crimea, expect Sevastopol. Germans were planning to annex Crimea and turn the region to a holiday resort for German officers or settle South Tirol Germans there, who were in dispute with the Italians. In order to realize this plan, they believed the exile of the settled populations living in Crimea including the Russians, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars was necessary.
Some inhabitants greeted the German army in Crimea as liberators. Among those adhering to this sentiment were Crimean Tatars who resided outside of the Crimean peninsula. They were in contact with the Germans in the hopes of acquiring the independence of their homeland. First, two well known Crimean Turks, Edige Kirimal and Mustecip Ulkusal, went to Germany through the Republic of Turkey's efforts. Kirimal and Ulkusal contacted German officials to discuss the future of their state and people. Likewise, a group of Crimean Turks were looking for ways for their homeland to break away from Russian rule and establish an independent Crimean Turkic state. Motivated with this aim, some Crimean Tatars joined battalions under the German army. Some Crimean Tatars within these "volunteer self-defense battalions" or self-defense units came from German prison camps in Nikolayev and Simferopol. As prisoners of war struggling to just survive, that they were ‘volunteers' must be carefully considered given the circumstances they were under.
The final decision to recruit ‘volunteer' soldiers from among Crimean Tatars was taken by the Fuhrer at a meeting of the 11th Army Reconnaissance Brigade on January 2, 1942 where the Special Task Force under Chief of SS Ohlendorf was appointed to deal with the issue. The number of Crimean Tatars in the self-defense battalions was approximately 20,000. It is known that the Germans granted cultural concessions to Crimean Tatars who corroborated. Crimean Tatars were also able to receive certain political privileges, such as the formation of Muslim Committees.
After a delivering a crushing defeat to the German army in November 1943 at Stalingrad, the Red Army continued their advance and returned to Crimea on April 10, 1944. After Crimea went back under Soviet rule, Crimean Tatars were put under heavy oppression by the Red Army soldiers drunk with victory; it is known that they killed many Crimean Tatars in that period.
Crimea was one of the theatres of war that witnessed some of the most intense fighting on Soviet territory during World War II. When the Red Army reoccupied the Crimean peninsula, the Soviet security agencies NKVD (Peoples Commissariat of Internal Affairs) and the KGB initiated the "cleansing" of the region from German occupiers, "anti-Soviet groups" and German corroborators. Much of this was in retaliation against the Tatar self-defense units.
Stalin signed the "top secret" resolution 5859 which was issued by the GKO (State Defense Committee) on May 11, 1944 ordering the exile of Crimean Tatars from the Crimean peninsula. The resolution accused the Crimean Tatars of a litany of crimes against the Soviet Motherland during World War II and ordered the completion of the resettlement of the Crimean Tatars by June 1, 1944. The exile started on May 18, 1944 around 3.00 a.m. Operations, highly organized and thoroughly executed, began with arrests of those who were seen as "potentially dangerous". Since most of the adult male population was recruited to the Red Army, those who were left behind mainly consisted of women, children and the elderly.
The NKVD USSR (Comrade Beria) and the People's Commissar of Transportation Kaganovich were appointed to carry out the procedures of the exile from Crimea to Uzbekistan. The exile operation was concluded successfully in three days. During the transportation, Crimean Tatars were subjected to harsh conditions. Packed into crowded wagons, forced to travel for days without food or water, unable to meet basic human needs and not told where they were being taken to, many fell ill. The elderly and children were especially hard hit, not able to cope with starvation, thirst and lack of air in the wagons. Many lost their lives.
All confiscated properties were handed over to local governments by the GKO. Buildings, furniture, land, livestock, agricultural produce, and other immovable property left by the Tatars were taken over in accordance with procedures modeled by the GKO.
The Crimean Tatars were exiled from their land on May 18, 1944. On November 26, 1948, their destiny was tied up with a harsher measure when the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet issued a decree declaring that the exile of the Crimean Tatars and other deported nationalities was permanent. The Tatars were stripped of any hope of the right to return to their homeland.
The struggle of the Crimean Tatars since 1944 to return to their lands eventually began to yield results and they began to return in large numbers. As a result, the number of Crimean Tatars settling in Crimea increased from 2,300 in 1987, to 19,300 in 1988, to 28,000 in 1989. As of May 1, 1990, 83,116 Crimean Tatars began to live in Crimea. Meanwhile, Crimea regained its status as an autonomous SSR with a decree signed by Ukrainian President L. Kravchuk on February 12, 1991. Today 3,000,000 people live in Crimea, which become an autonomous republic connected to Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The population consists of 67% Russian, 22% Ukrainians, 10% Crimean Tatars and 1% others (Karaim, Kirimcak, Greek, Armenian, German, Bulgarians and Jews).
When Crimean Tatars, who were exiled 65 years ago, returned their homeland, they found themselves in the middle of a regional conflict. This strategic peninsula on the Black Sea has vital importance for Russia. Today, it is known that thousands of Crimean were given Russian passports. As far as Ukraine is concerned, the Crimean Tatars are a problem inherited from the Soviet era. Political divisions cutting between Crimean Tatars living in Crimea and the diaspora is yet another problem alongside the longstanding and unresolved ones. Some seem more prone to the West and the Kiev government, whereas others see their future with neighboring Russia. Whatever may come, exiled from their homelands decades ago, Tatars are now at the center of a different set of challenges. What lies ahead may be more days of struggle.