Crimea annexation:'I want history to teach people'

[webfact]

Crimea annexation:'I want history to teach people'



KYIV: -- Protesters in Kyiv have held a silent commemoration for Reshat Ametov, a Tartar who along with other pro-Ukrainian activists were either killed or went missing amid Russia’s invasion of the Crimean peninsula.

According to Human Rights Watch Ametov’s death was symbolic of the lawlessness at that time.

It is now two years on from the referendum which led to Russian President Vladimir Putin signing a treaty of accession with the self-declared Republic of Crimea. During that time official figures claim around 45,000 people left Crimea, over half of them Tartars.

Things have moved on since then. Jamala is a singer who originates from Crimea but who has relatives still in Crimea. She is about to represent Ukraine in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with a song about the 1944 forced deportation of Tartars in the Stalin era.

“My aim,” she says, “is to raise this issue, tell the history of my family, tell the history of Crimean Tatars and avoid such things happening in the future. I want history to teach people.”

Nadiya Dermanska who is a euronews reporter in Kyiv, says that Ukraine’s desire to reclaim Crimea appears to have been has been over shadowed by other concerns such as economic and political problems as well as the conflict in the east of the country. There still remains, however, the unsolved problem of thousands of displaced people from the peninsula, most of whom are unemployed and forced to live on benefits.


-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-03-17

[connda]

Let's use the historical perspective of a map. Then you get the 'a picture is worth a 1000 words' historical perspective. Wow. I've been around longer that Crimea has been part of Ukraine. And the majority ethnic population is...Russian, the majority of whom democratically voted to secede. See. Democracy works!

Edited March 17, 2016 by connda

[helpisgood]

Let's use the historical perspective of a map. Then you get the 'a picture is worth a 1000 words' historical perspective. Wow. I've been around longer that Crimea has been part of Ukraine. And the majority ethnic population is...Russian, the majority of whom democratically voted to secede. See. Democracy works!

Ukraine-map.png

How do the Crimean Tartars fit into all of this, and how did the Soviet Union and Russia treat them?

[helpisgood]

If you are interested in more about the Crimean Tartars, here's an interesting documentary:

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2012/05/2012517132318999379.html

[mopar71]

Let's use the historical perspective of a map. Then you get the 'a picture is worth a 1000 words' historical perspective. Wow. I've been around longer that Crimea has been part of Ukraine. And the majority ethnic population is...Russian, the majority of whom democratically voted to secede. See. Democracy works!

While the princesses of Kievian Rus were being married off to royalty in France and elsewhere in Europe [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Kiev], Moscow didn't exist, and wouldn't for almost 300 years.

Unlike Kievian Rus, Muscovy survived the Mongol invasion by collaborating with the invaders and being subservient to them for generations. This explains the style of governance in Russia over the past few centuries and why they aren't really "European".

"Russia" has claimed to be the successor of Kievian Rus ever since they changed their name from Muscovy in the 1500's in order to appear the legitimate successor of Kievian Rus. They are not. They have banned every symbol from that period in "their history" most noticeably the symbol of Ukraine, the "trident" (which is most likely really a diving falcon).

The Grand Duchy of Muscovy (modern Russia) claiming to be the successor of Kievian Rus 200 years after it ceased to exist would be the same as if the "Grand Duchy of Finland" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Finland] decided sometime in the future, to claim to be the successor of Russia, 200 years after Russia ceases to exist.