There is panic among the Russian occupiers and collaborators in Crimea, says Crimean Tatar historian Gulnar Abdulayeva. She comes from the peninsula herself, but had to leave it nine years ago. In an interview with the online daily Aktuálně.cz, he describes the first moments of the Russian occupation and, for example, replacing books in schools with those paid for by the Russian regime.
The current development of the war gives her hope that she could look home again, to the Ukrainian Crimea. But if she were to come now, when Russia controls it, she would face criminal prosecution and prison.
Historian Gulnar Abdulayeva, who has lived in Kyiv since the occupation of Crimea in 2014, is the author of several books, such as Crimean Tatars: From Ethnogenesis to Statehood. She was invited to Prague by the foundation fund Prague Civil Society Center.
How do you remember the arrival of occupying soldiers in Crimea nine years ago? Men in unmarked uniforms called “little green men”?
When the Russian occupation of Crimea began in February 2014, it was clear to me what was going to happen, because as a historian I know Russia well. It was clear to me that the occupation would be for a long time, because the Russians justify their claims to Crimea with history. The Ukrainian army was weak then, it was shortly after the Maidan revolution. The Russians attacked Ukraine at the exact moment when it was destabilized and weakened. The people were not prepared for the Russian invasion and the defense against it.
I decided that if nothing changes by the end of March 2014, I will leave Crimea. I have already received threats on social networks for my statement. It was only a matter of time before the occupation administration would convict me of a criminal. So I went to Kiev. I could not imagine that I would live under occupation.
Crimean Tatars
The Crimean Tatars are a nation of Turkic origin. They speak Crimean Tatar and most of them live on the Crimean Peninsula.
Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea, their language has become one of the official languages on the peninsula, but the ethnic group complains of physical violence, kidnappings and terror. This is also confirmed by the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW).
According to data from the Russian Statistical Office from January 2019, about a quarter of a million Tatars live in Crimea. They make up roughly 12 percent of the population of the peninsula.
It would probably not be possible to work there as a historian dealing with the history of the Crimean Tatars…
That’s one thing. And I also worked for one magazine that was immediately shut down because it rejected the occupation and did not comply with the new Russian registration rules.
The Russians also immediately targeted schools and libraries, removing and throwing away all books and textbooks that did not conform to the regime’s propaganda. Russia has always tried to rewrite history, but when I saw what books and textbooks they brought to Crimea afterwards, it was something unreal. For example, the history textbook said that Russia did not lose the Crimean War in 1856, when it is clear that it did.
Footage of books being thrown and destroyed – for example, those in Ukrainian – appeared again last year in Mariupol or Kherson, when the Russians occupied them…
This was also the case in Donetsk and Luhansk before that. When I remember how they did it in the Crimea, those were terrible days. But unarmed civilians are powerless against Russian troops. Every day the situation worsened, new and new Russian rules were added every day, so many Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars decided to leave the peninsula.
Now more are leaving, many families. To Georgia or Azerbaijan. They are running away from being drafted into the Russian army.
So is it true that Moscow is sending Crimean Tatars to Ukraine to fight?
Unfortunately yes. It’s a terrible tragedy, they’re being sent to fight against their own country they were born into. I know from acquaintances that Russian soldiers often knock on the doors of apartments and houses at night and take young men away. At the same time, the great majority of Crimean Tatars feel that they are Ukrainians in the sense of nationality.
There are also collaborators who work with the regime and try to gain benefits for themselves, but it is a small group. And everyone knows them and remembers them. For example, they are not invited to weddings or funerals, even though these are big and important events in the Crimean Tatar culture. Others avoid these collaborators.
The pro-Russian administrator of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said on Wednesday that there will be no traditional military parade on the peninsula on May 9 this year for security reasons. Is there something wrong? Is there nervousness in the occupation authorities?
The Ukrainian media is constantly writing and talking about the counter-offensive, the plan to liberate Crimea and destroy the Kerch Bridge. So Crimea will actually be an island for a certain period of time. Of course, this is part of psychological warfare, and indeed I have reports that there is panic among the occupiers and the collaborators. The families of the occupiers and occupation soldiers are selling their apartments, leaving. After all, Crimea also experienced many explosions in military facilities. The fact that Aksyonov is canceling the military parade is a clear signal.
Many people in the world were surprised by the dogged and ultimately successful Ukrainian defense in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other places. Did you expect that?
Ukrainians are just like that, they don’t give up. It was clear to me from the beginning. February 24, 2022 was indeed a shock and one did not want to believe it, but even that evening I saw long lines of men in front of the military administrations. People did not want to allow the same thing to happen in the whole of Ukraine as in Crimea. Unity helped us, many Ukrainians united and subordinated everything to the goal of not succumbing to the occupiers. When it became clear that there had been massacres of civilians in Bucha, it fueled even more resentment against Russia and a determination to stand up to it.
We are also grateful to everyone who supports us. And the Czech Republic. On the contrary, I don’t understand why Hungary is so pro-Russian.
Today, however, I think it is clear that Ukraine is winning and Russia is much weaker than many thought. However, we must take it to the point where Russia is punished and made to pay for its crimes.
