Ruthenius wrote:Refat Dedarov, chief executive of Bakhchysarai district in the Republic of Crimea, attempted to express the dominating point of view held by the part of Crimean Tatar people which prefers to stay neutral in their relations with the Russian government. He claimed that, "it is difficult for a nation that was unfairly convicted for the crimes it didn't commit, to establish new contacts immediately". However, he admitted that today Crimean Tatars possess much greater variety of rights, opportunities and the ways to exploit them and he refuses to be called "a bureaucrat".
http://realnoevremya.ru/today/13186
The problem with inter-ethnic relations seems to be worry the whole international society. During the congress in Ankara, Turkey, some people even spoke "genocide" in regards to the events happening with Crimean Tatars. But what is really a mere speculation and what is truth? What is actually happening in Crimea today?Life is going on its way in Crimea. As Sergey Askyonov said to us:
"We must try to make things better than now, but not worse". That's why we work for 10-12 hours every day trying to reach some milestones. Unfortunately, what we have succeeded from Ukraine lies far, far away from Russia's legal framework so nothing will change quickly. For example, the last school was built in 1972 and the last kindergarten in 1976. In order to start constructing roads we have to prepare all documents that we have never used to process in Ukraine. Today, with the help coming from Republic of Tatarstan we are building a schools for 640 pupils with the focus on the study of Crimean Tatar language and two kindergartens.
Regarding oppression. Yes, we have opponents, I call them neighbors despite that they prefer all other kinds of titles. They think only like that, but I am sure that they will understand our opinion. I have visited 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan and listened how the whole Europe was saying during the closure: "
Thank you Kazan, thank you Vladimir, thank you Russia"! Of course, Tatarstan is a democratic republic with tolerant people, but I think that in Crimea fans cheering somthing like that would've been booed and hissed away. But at the same time I saw Ukrainian flag raised over Tatneft Arena and I asked if it is true that Ukraine has sent its own team in Russia? And she really has, I confirmed it myself after scanning the whole Internet, Kiev has really sent its team in Tatarstan, to Russia, to that
"occupant who stole our Crimea" - they love to claim it very, very much, don't they? Later I called to Ukrainians and ask what was this all about? They told me:
"Refat, what does sport have to do with all this, like really??" Well, if I had a grudge against you, I would've not made the difference between your arms, eyes or the whole body. I would've been totally displeased with you without any exceptions.
Is there any rift between Crimean Tatars and others?Yes, this rift happened in the past. It is difficult for a nation that was unfairly convicted for the crimes it didn't commit, to establish new contacts just immediately. After the secession of Crimea our leaders have begun to conduct such policies that are mostly beneficial not for Tatar people but for the foreign states like Ukraine and others. I think that a leader must be with their people.
Do these Crimean Tatars, who visited the congress in Ankara, still live in the republic today?They do, ten people or more went there, but I haven't heard any kind of attack against Russia or Putin in their speeches. Their main focus was the observance of the rights of Crimean Tatars, language teaching programs and restoration of ethnic names of our villages. So when I hear someone in Kiev proposing to create an autonomous region for Crimean Tatars, I think that with the same success they can try to endorse the project of naming some airport in the USA after Amet-khan Sultan. Kiev hasn't done anything good for Crimean Tatars for 23 years, but now they are all so kind and willing?
Ukraine was not conducting any sound policies regarding Tatars?
Listen to Yatsenuk's speeches he made in the past. Listen what Petr Simonenko had to say. Listen to any Ukrainian presidents. Has anyone of them ever said something about giving privileges to us. Yatsenuk was crying bloody murder how Tatars take over land property. But that was not a choice of our own and we didn't capture private but only unused lands. Moreover, when we returned to Crimea we didn't start demanding like:
"This land belonged to my grandfather, give it back now!", no, we asked for compensations from the government. We did everything on our own, we collected all documents and money. Just take a look on our big, well-attended and decorated houses that we raised without any mortgage. Isn't this a sign of a hard-working and determined folk who lives on its homeland? Of course, today people can discuss this even while standing aside, but what kind of patriot are you if you have abandoned you homeland and scurried away? I took a huge effort studying the history of Tatarstan. I know that after Minitmer Shamiev was elected, each Saturday you had been organizing rallies attended by 50 000 people at least. Many words were spoken and Shamiev did not shut the door with a bang, but decided to stay and work together with Tatar people. Now you reap all fruits you sowed, we all can see how good Tatarstan fares today.
But what about us? The last time Crimea had water pipelines repaired was in 1968. We were waiting, voting for new presidents. One day Yushenko took this position, a good president. He won elections, came to Crimea but what next? He didn't solve any problem with land, he didn't do anything at all. When in 1988 my family was coming back here, we were returning to our Rodina, not to Russia, USSR or to Ukraine, we were coming home. But suddenly we were told that our new Rodina is Ukraine.
How many Crimean Tatars left Crimea due to their political preferences?These numbers vary. I shall say for myself, I was the chief executive in Poshtovskii village council when secession happened. This is one of the biggest villages in Bakhchysarai district with 13 big communities and many lesser ones. According to my information only one person left our district with his family. I cannot claim that he was followed by a thousand or ten thousand families. It would've been too obvious if a thousand Tatar families had left Crimea. Such numbers cannot be confirmed. The main reason for this is purely political nature of the current struggle, it doesn't have feature of inter-ethnic conflict between Russians, Ukrainians and Tatars. Alienate, divide and rule- this is the easiest method conflicting politicians can attempt to use. I don't believe in the massive exodus of Crimean Tatars, this would've been to obvious.
Maybe it is unclear because it is easy to monitor such dynamics in this particular area?I do know this right because I live here and work for real. I am not an armchair bureaucrat.
By the way, about bureaucracy - why did your predecessor, Ilmi Umerov, resign?I attended the last rally that he held with people. I saw his videos where he claimed that he is going stay to serve our people. In April he recognized Axyonov's authority, recognized Crimea as integral part of Russia and Putin as our president. Then he went to Kazan for a medical treatment and in August he resigned under the motivation that he "doesn't want to swear an oath". But was it only about an oath? If I hadn't wanted to work within Russian legal framework I would've left my position right after the referendum. But he did this only after 6 months of working and being paid for that. Why did it take so long? Just to finish all applications for his retirement and disability benefits? Something smells fishy with this.
Fortunately I can trace up his actions prior to the referendum and after that. Sometime after the referendum he attended the meeting in Khan's Palace, celebrated the Day of Russia and met with Sergey Naryshkin, but now he is telling everyone that Russia is an invader. So if Russia is an invader, why did you celebrate the invasion in the first place? Did you really need 6 months to comprehend that Russia is indeed an invader?
So what is the the main problem today? Political or managerial?Managerial of course, welfare system is the most important. Folk doesn't need any Maidan or Anti-Maidan to feel that something isn't right.
One can spend debating the whole day but ultimately they have to go home. They try to drive by the road but there is no asphalt road. They try to send their kids to a kindergarten but there is no kindergarten. No electricity, no gas supply.
So what was the point in spending the whole day screaming about politics? For many years I have always been urging Crimean Tatars to stand united and start doing the real work. And today we have so many rights and opportunities like never before. Under the legal framework offered by the Russian Federation Crimean Tatars now have the opportunity to hold all vital official positions in the areas of our compact settlement. People can enter the offices and prove their competence, because it's futile to wait for an official from a nearby village to come to your help, they have their own duties at home, there is no point in holding grudge that nobody wants to do anything for you.
So there might be a problem that Crimean Tatars don't want to participate in politics?Things change very quickly these days. Even people who preferred only to criticize and protest can be willing to work now. Frankly, the return of Crimea to Russia has greatly inspired us. And after the bridge to Russia is built Bakhchysarai will be able to catch up with Kazan . We have such a great potential in Crimea that can even leave Tatarstan envious. Just look at our forests and mountains. I don't want to boast, I am sorry, but in Tatarstan there is only one mountain barely 200 meters high, while we have Ai-Petri mountain, 1 234 meters high. Our potential is tremendous but we must start working hard.