For the first time in 20 years, Ukraine's Mejlis, the representative body of the Crimean Tatars, has a new leader. Refat Chubarov, 56, a former lawmaker of the national parliament and longtime Mejlis deputy head, was elected its head on Oct. 27.
But the
challenges his job brings will remain the same – discrimination, lack of self-governance
powers and radicalization of parts of the community, causing splits.
Crimean
Tatars, a community of 250,000 people, suffered deportation in the early 1940s
from Crimea to Central Asia by Josef Stalin’s order. They started returning to
their homeland only after the demise of the Soviet Union, when Ukraine gained national
independence in 1991. But getting their homes and their full rights back has
been an uphill battle ever since.
Mustafa
Jemilev, the outgoing leader of the Mejlis and a Soviet dissident, believes
that young Crimean Tatars are disappointed with democracy in Ukraine.
He says
they often remain on the fringe of the society because they face discrimination
when seeking employment, particularly when seeking public office. “There was a cleanout based on ethnic factor in all power structure,”
he says. “The number of fingers would be enough to count the
[Crimean Tatar] people who remained. That’s a
sort of an openly fascist government policy in
relation to Crimean Tatars, which
pushes some to join radical organizations.”
Jemilev
says that around 7-8 percent of his people are now supporting radical Islamic
groups, which often have about 1,000 members. A 2011 poll by Razumkov Center, a
think tank, found that about 7 percent of Crimean Tatars believed that the Mejlis fails to protect the rights of the people.
Although it seems like a small group, the radical wings are strong
enough to split the community and prevent it from acting in unison. Jemilev says the radicals are
calling on the rest of the community to sabotage the decisions of the Mejlis and Qurultai, the national
congress that assembles at least once every 2.5 years.
Nataliya
Belitser, a political analyst at the Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, a
think tank, says that it’s not the only danger. She says the radical movements
place their religious, Islamic, identity over the national identity.
One such
group, Hizb ut-Tahri, campaigns to
create Celiphate, a religious state, promotes Islam and discourages supporters
from voting in elections. Belitser believes that such organizations encourage
some young Tatars to keep away from public life.
Jemilev
says that some radical movements distort Islamic ideas to provoke conflict. For
instance, if the county’s president is not Muslim, such radicals believe that
Muslims are not obliged to obey the authorities.
Ihor
Semyvolos, director of the Kyiv-based think tank Association of Middle East Studies,
downplays the danger of radicals, though. “By preaching Islam, [they] try to
promote their political agenda,” he said, adding that these groups are trying
to compete with traditional Tatar structures.
Chubarov
says that there are also many smaller issues in Crimea that need to be
addressed, such as lack of child daycare, and schools that would teach in
Crimean Tatar, as well as cemeteries. He says the whole community is needed to
solve those issues. “Living in a modern environment requires consolidation and
coordination,” he says.
Chubarov
says that he will fight the radicals by increasing the outreach of the Muslim
clergy.
Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Trach can be reached at [email protected]
