184-544: The recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula , historically known as Tauris , Taurica ( Greek : Ταυρική or Ταυρικά ), and the Tauric Chersonese ( Greek : Χερσόνησος Ταυρική , "Tauric Peninsula"), begins around the 5th century BCE when several Greek colonies were established along its coast, the most important of which was Chersonesos near modern day Sevastopol , with Scythians and Tauri in
368-601: A 1997 treaty allowed Russia to continue basing its fleet in Sevastopol. In 2014, the peninsula was occupied by Russian forces and annexed by Russia , but most countries recognise Crimea as Ukrainian territory. In English, the omission of the definite article ("Crimea" rather than "the Crimea") became common during the later 20th century. The spelling "Crimea" is from the Italian form, la Crimea , since at least
552-596: A British journalist living in Ukraine, published a novel titled Dreamland that revolves around a Crimean Tatar family return to their homeland in the 1990s. The story is told from the perspective of a 12-year-old girl who moves from Uzbekistan to a demolished village with her parents, brother, and grandfather. Her grandfather tells her stories about the heroes and victims among the Crimean Tatars. The 2013 Ukrainian Crimean Tatar-language film Haytarma portrays
736-461: A Crimean Tatar mother and Lak father in Crimea, where he was born and raised, was often described as a Dagestani in post-deportation media, even though he always considered himself a Crimean Tatar. We were told that we were being evicted and we had 15 minutes to get ready to leave. We boarded boxcars – there were 60 people in each, but no one knew where we were being taken to. To be shot? Hanged? Tears and panic were taking over. — Saiid, who
920-625: A cause for concern in the eyes of the Soviet government, already wary of Turkey at the time. Soviet publications blatantly falsified information about Crimean Tatars in the Red Army, going so far as to describe Crimean Tatar Hero of the Soviet Union Uzeir Abduramanov as Azeri , not Crimean Tatar, on the cover of a 1944 issue of Ogonyok magazine - even though his family had been deported for being Crimean Tatar just
1104-695: A center of Byzantine slave trade . Slavs ( saqaliba ) were sold to Byzantium and other places in Anatolia and the Middle East during this period. In the mid-10th century, the eastern area of Crimea was conquered by Prince Sviatoslav I of Kiev and became part of the Kievan Rus' principality of Tmutarakan . The peninsula was wrested from the Byzantines by the Kievan Rus' in the 10th century;
1288-687: A cultural genocide. Crimea was downgraded to an oblast in 1945. In 1954, the USSR transferred the oblast to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Treaty in 1654. After Ukrainian independence in 1991, the central government and the Republic of Crimea clashed, with the region being granted more autonomy . The Soviet fleet in Crimea was also in contention , but
1472-545: A de-registration of the deportees and their release from administrative supervision. However, various other restrictions were still kept and the Crimean Tatars were not allowed to return to Crimea. Moreover, that same year the Ukrainian Council of Ministers banned the exiled Crimean Tatars, Greeks, Germans, Armenians and Bulgarians from relocating even to the Kherson , Zaporizhzhia , Mykolaiv and Odesa Oblasts in
1656-513: A few months earlier. The book In the Mountains of Tavria falsely claimed that volunteer partisan scout Bekir Osmanov was a German spy and shot, although the central committee later acknowledged that he never served the Germans and survived the war, ordering later editions to have corrections after still-living Osmanov and his family noticed the obvious falsehood. Amet-khan Sultan , born to
1840-438: A figure of at least 42,000 Crimean Tatars who died between 1944 and 1951, including 7,900 who died during the transit Professor Brian Glyn Williams gives a figure of between 40,000 and 44,000 deaths as a consequence of this deportation. The Crimean State Committee estimated that 45,000 Crimean Tatars died between 1944 and 1948. The official NKVD report estimated that 27 per cent of that ethnicity died. Various estimates of
2024-399: A genocidal effect remediable only by restoration of the group to its homeland." Political scientist Stephen Blank described it both as a deportation and a genocide, a centuries-long Russian "technique of self-colonial rule intended to eliminate" minorities. Soviet dissidents Ilya Gabay and Pyotr Grigorenko both classified the event as a genocide. Historian Timothy Snyder included it in
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#17327730441522208-594: A good natural harbor, great naval base and the largest city on the peninsula. At the head of Sevastopol Bay stands Inkermann /Kalamita. South of Sevastopol is the small Heracles Peninsula . South: In the south, between the Crimean Mountains and the sea runs a narrow coastal strip which was held by the Genoese and (after 1475) by the Turks. Under Russian rule it became a kind of riviera . In Soviet times
2392-535: A great slave-mart and a kind of capital for the Genoese and Turks. Unlike the other southern ports, Feodosia has no mountains to its north. At the east end of the 90 km (56 mi) Kerch Peninsula is Kerch / Panticapaeum , once the capital of the Bosporian Kingdom . Just south of Kerch the new Crimean Bridge (opened in 2018) connects Crimea to the Taman Peninsula . Sea of Azov: There
2576-605: A list of Soviet policies that “meet the standard of genocide." Historians Alexandre Bennigsen and Marie Bennigsen-Broxup included the case of Crimean Tatars and Meskhetian Turks as two examples of successful genocides by Soviet governments. They summed it up by saying that Crimean Tatars, "a nation which for over five centuries had played a major part in the history of Eastern Europe has simply ceased to exist". Polish scholar Tomasz Kamusella observed that Moscow attempted an "unmaking of Crimean Tatars and their language" by not allowing them even to be registered as Crimean Tatars since
2760-560: A major Byzantine outpost, Chersonesus , was taken in 988 CE. A year later, Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev accepted the hand of Emperor Basil II 's sister Anna in marriage, and was baptized by the local Byzantine priest at Chersonesus, thus marking the entry of Rus' into the Christian world . Chersonesus Cathedral marks the location of this historic event. During the collapse of the Byzantine state some cities fell to its creditor
2944-510: A moderate continental climate with short but cold winters and moderately hot dry summers. In the central and mountainous areas the climate is transitional between the continental climate to the north and the Mediterranean climate to the south. Winters are mild at lower altitudes (in the foothills) and colder at higher altitudes. Summers are hot at lower altitudes and warm in the mountains. A subtropical, Mediterranean climate dominates
3128-483: A nation. Crimean Tatars call this event Sürgünlik ("exile"). The perception of Crimean Tatars as "uncivilized" and deserving the deportation remains throughout the Russian and Ukrainian settlers in Crimea. Some activists, politicians, scholars, countries, and historians go even further and consider the deportation a crime of genocide or cultural genocide . Norman Naimark writes "[t]he Chechens and Ingush,
3312-518: A petition that was sent to the Kremlin . Mustafa Dzhemilev , who was only six months old when his family was deported from Crimea, grew up in Uzbekistan and became an activist for the right of the Crimean Tatars to return. In 1966 he was arrested for the first time and spent a total of 17 years in prison during the Soviet era. This earned him the nickname of "Crimean Tatar Mandela ." In 1984 he
3496-531: A symbolic recognition of some local government authority, though they were not given any political power. Many Crimean Tatar communists strongly opposed the occupation and assisted the resistance movement to provide valuable strategic and political information. Other Crimean Tatars also fought on the side of the Soviet partisans, like the Tarhanov movement of 250 Crimean Tatars which fought throughout 1942 until its destruction. Six Crimean Tatars were even named
3680-640: A total population of about a million, around 300,000 Crimean Tatars left for the Ottoman Empire . The Crimean War triggered another mass exodus of Crimean Tatars. Between 1855 and 1866 at least 500,000 Muslims, and possibly up to 900,000, left the Russian Empire and emigrated to the Ottoman Empire . Out of that number, at least one third were from Crimea, while the rest were from the Caucasus . These emigrants comprised 15–23 percent of
3864-690: A tributary of the Salhyr), the Uchan-su , and the Ulu-Uzen'. The longest river of Crimea is the Salhyr at 204 km (127 mi). The Belbek has the greatest average discharge at 2.16 cubic metres per second (76 cu ft/s). The Alma and the Kacha are the second- and third-longest rivers. There are more than fifty salt lakes and salt pans on the peninsula. The largest of them is Lake Sasyk (Сасык) on
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#17327730441524048-494: A wide detatarization campaign . Muslim graveyards and religious objects in Crimea were demolished or converted into secular places. During Stalin's rule, nobody was allowed to mention that this ethnicity even existed in the USSR. This went so far that many individuals were even forbidden to declare themselves as Crimean Tatars during the Soviet censuses of 1959 , 1970 , and 1979. They could only declare themselves as Tatars. This ban
4232-760: Is a peninsula in Eastern Europe , on the northern coast of the Black Sea , almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov . The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukraine . To the east, the Crimean Bridge , constructed in 2018, spans the Strait of Kerch , linking the peninsula with Krasnodar Krai in Russia . The Arabat Spit , located to
4416-688: Is a major waterway and transportation route that crosses the European continent from north to south and ultimately links the Black Sea with the Baltic Sea , of strategic importance since the historical trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks . The Black Sea serves as an economic thoroughfare connecting the Caucasus region and the Caspian Sea to central and Eastern Europe. According to
4600-538: Is flanked at a distance of 8–12 kilometres (5.0–7.5 mi) from the sea by a parallel range of mountains: the Crimean Mountains. These mountains are backed by secondary parallel ranges . The main range of these mountains rises with extraordinary abruptness from the deep floor of the Black Sea to an altitude of 600–1,545 metres (1,969–5,069 ft), beginning at the southwest point of the peninsula, called Cape Fiolent . Some Greek myths state that this cape
4784-625: Is little on the south shore. The west shore is marked by the Arabat Spit . Behind it is the Syvash or "Putrid Sea", a system of lakes and marshes which in the far north extend west to the Perekop Isthmus. Road- and rail-bridges cross the northern part of Syvash. Interior: Most of the former capitals of Crimea stood on the north side of the mountains. Mangup /Doros (Gothic, Theodoro). Bakhchysarai (1532–1783). Southeast of Bakhchysarai
4968-649: Is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea and on the western coast of the Sea of Azov ; the only land border is shared with Ukraine's Kherson Oblast on the north. Crimea is almost an island and only connected to the continent by the Isthmus of Perekop , a strip of land about 5–7 kilometres (3.1–4.3 mi) wide. Much of the natural border between the Crimean Peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland comprises
5152-747: Is rare for the weather to drop below freezing except in the mountains, where there is usually snow. In July mean temperatures range from 15.4 °C (59.7 °F) in Ai-Petri to 23.4 °C (74.1 °F) in the central parts of Crimea to 24.4 °C (75.9 °F) in Myskhor. The frost-free period ranges from 160 to 200 days in the steppe and mountain regions to 240–260 days on the south coast. Precipitation in Crimea varies significantly based on location; it ranges from 310 millimetres (12.2 in) in Chornomorske to 1,220 millimetres (48.0 in) at
5336-488: Is the cliff-fort of Chufut-Kale /Qirq Or which was used in more warlike times. Simferopol /Ak-Mechet, the modern capital. Karasu-Bazar /Bilohorsk was a commercial center. Solkhat/ Staryi Krym was the old Tatar capital. Towns on the northern steppe area are all modern, notably Dzhankoi , a major road- and rail-junction. Rivers: The longest is the Salhyr , which rises southeast of Simferopol and flows north and northeast to
5520-565: Is Крим ( Krym ). The city Staryi Krym ('Old Crimea'), served as a capital of the Crimean province of the Golden Horde . Between 1315 and 1329 CE, the Arab writer Abū al-Fidā recounted a political fight in 1300–1301 CE which resulted in a rival's decapitation and his head being sent "to the Crimea", apparently in reference to the peninsula, although some sources hold that the name of
5704-473: The Black Death to Western Europe. After Timur destroyed a Mongol Golden Horde army in 1399, the Crimean Tatars founded an independent Crimean Khanate under Hacı I Giray (a descendant of Genghis Khan ) by 1443. Hacı I Giray and his successors reigned first at Qırq Yer , then – from the beginning of the 15th century – at Bakhchisaray . The Crimean Tatars controlled the steppes that stretched from
History of Crimea - Misplaced Pages Continue
5888-1035: The Black Sea Coast. The Crimean War (1853–1856), a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire , the British Empire , the Ottoman Empire , the Kingdom of Sardinia , and the Duchy of Nassau , was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire . Russia and the Ottoman Empire went to war in October 1853 over Russia's rights to protect Orthodox Christians . To stop Russia's conquests, France and Britain entered in March 1854. While some of
6072-650: The Byzantine Empire (341–1204 CE), the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461 CE), and the independent Principality of Theodoro (ended 1475 CE). In the 13th century, some Crimean port cities were controlled by the Venetians and by the Genovese , but the interior was much less stable, enduring a long series of conquests and invasions . In the medieval period, it was partially conquered by Kievan Rus' whose prince
6256-633: The Crimean ASSR was abolished. Soviet propaganda sought to hide the population transfer by claiming that the Crimean Tatars had "voluntarily resettle[d] to Central Asia". In essence, though, according to historian Paul Robert Magocsi , Crimea was " ethnically cleansed ." After this act, the term Crimean Tatar was banished from the Russian-Soviet lexicon, and all Crimean Tatar toponyms (names of towns, villages, and mountains) in Crimea were changed to Russian names on all maps as part of
6440-591: The Crimean ASSR was created as an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR . During World War II , Crimea was occupied by Germany until 1944. The ASSR was downgraded to an oblast within the Russian SFSR in 1945 following the ethnic cleansing of the Crimean Tatars by the Soviet regime, and in 1954, Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR as part of celebrations of the 300th anniversary of
6624-787: The Crimean slave trade . In 1774, the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Catherine the Great . After two centuries of conflict, the Russian fleet had destroyed the Ottoman navy and the Russian army had inflicted heavy defeats on the Ottoman land forces. The ensuing Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca forced the Sublime Porte to recognize the Tatars of the Crimea as politically independent. Catherine
6808-795: The Danubian Principalities and in the Black Sea, allied troops landed in Crimea in September 1854 and besieged the city of Sevastopol , home of the Tsar's Black Sea Fleet and the associated threat of potential Russian penetration into the Mediterranean. After extensive fighting throughout Crimea, the city fell on 9 September 1855. The war ended with a Russian loss in February 1856. Crimean Peninsula Crimea ( / k r aɪ ˈ m iː ə / kry- MEE -ə )
6992-410: The Dardanelles and acquire territory in Turkey , where the Turkic ethnic kin of the Tatars lived, or remove minorities from the Soviet Union's border regions. By the end of the deportation, not a single Crimean Tatar lived in Crimea, and 80,000 houses and 360,000 acres of land were left abandoned. Nearly 8,000 Crimean Tatars died during the deportation, and tens of thousands subsequently perished due to
7176-411: The Golden Horde in the 13th century from which the Crimean Khanate emerged as a successor state. In the 15th century, the Khanate became a dependency of the Ottoman Empire. Lands controlled by Russia and Poland-Lithuania were often the target of slave raids during this period. In 1783, after the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774), the Russian Empire annexed Crimea . Crimea's strategic position led to
7360-523: The Golden Horde , the city now known as Staryi Krym . Trebizond's Perateia soon became the Principality of Theodoro and Genoese Gazaria , respectively sharing control of the south of Crimea until the Ottoman intervention of 1475. In the 13th century the Republic of Genoa seized the settlements that their rivals, the Venetians , had built along the Crimean coast and established themselves at Cembalo (present-day Balaklava), Soldaia (Sudak), Cherco (Kerch) and Caffa (Feodosiya), gaining control of
7544-422: The Heroes of the Soviet Union , and thousands more were awarded high honors in the Red Army. Up to 130,000 people died during the Axis occupation of Crimea. The Nazis implemented a brutal repression, destroying more than 70 villages that were together home to about 25 per cent of the Crimean Tatar population. Thousands of Crimean Tatars were forcibly transferred to work as Ostarbeiter in German factories under
History of Crimea - Misplaced Pages Continue
7728-468: The International Transport Workers' Federation , as of 2013 there were at least 12 operating merchant seaports in Crimea. In 2016 Crimea had Nominal GDP of US$ 7 billion and US$ 3,000 per capita. The main branches of the modern Crimean economy are agriculture and fishing oysters pearls, industry and manufacturing, tourism, and ports. Industrial plants are situated for the most part in the southern coast (Yevpatoria, Sevastopol, Feodosia, Kerch) regions of
7912-410: The Khazars , who invaded the Crimea in the mid-8th century; the Crimean Tatar language forms part of the Kipchak or Northwestern branch of the Turkic languages , although it shows substantial Oghuz influence due to historical Ottoman Turkish presence in the Crimea. A small enclave of Crimean Karaites , a people of Jewish descent practising Karaism who later adopted a Turkic language, formed in
8096-427: The Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus in 63 BC as a reward for the assistance rendered to the Romans in their war against his father. In 15 BC, it was once again restored to the king of Pontus, but from then ranked as a tributary state of Rome. In the 2nd century BC, the eastern part of Taurica became part of the Bosporan Kingdom , before becoming a client kingdom of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC. During
8280-420: The Kuban to the Dniester River , but they were unable to take control of the commercial Genoese towns in the Crimea. In 1462, Kaffa recognized Polish suzerainty, though this suzerainty was only nominal. After the Crimean Tatars asked for help from the Ottomans , an Ottoman invasion of the Genoese towns led by Gedik Ahmed Pasha in 1475 brought Kaffa and the other trading towns under their control. After
8464-472: The Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic ; and 4,286 to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic ; and the remaining 29,846 were sent to various remote regions of the Russian SFSR . When the Crimean Tatars arrived at their destination in the Uzbek SSR, they were met with hostility by Uzbek locals who threw stones at them, even their children, because they heard that the Crimean Tatars were "traitors" and "fascist collaborators." The Uzbeks objected to becoming
8648-419: The Mongol invasion of Europe , the north and centre of Crimea fell to the Mongol Golden Horde , and in the 1440s the Crimean Khanate formed out of the collapse of the horde but quite rapidly itself became subject to the Ottoman Empire , which also conquered the coastal areas which had kept independent of the Khanate. A major source of prosperity in these times was frequent raids into Russia for slaves for
8832-405: The NKGB allocated a further 20,000 armed men, together with a few thousand regular soldiers. Two of Stalin's directives from May 1944 reveal that many parts of the Soviet government, from financing to transit, were involved in executing the operation. On 14 July 1944 the GKO authorized the migration of 51,000 people, mostly Russians, to 17,000 empty collective farms on Crimea. On 30 June 1945,
9016-551: The Republic of Crimea declared independence from Ukraine following a disputed referendum supporting reunification. Russia then formally annexed Crimea , although most countries recognise Crimea as part of Ukraine. Archaeological evidence of human settlement in Crimea dates back to the Middle Paleolithic . Neanderthal remains found at Kiyik-Koba Cave have been dated to about 80,000 BP . Late Neanderthal occupations have also been found at Starosele (c. 46,000 BP) and Buran Kaya III (c. 30,000 BP). Archaeologists have found some of
9200-538: The Republic of Genoa who also conquered cities controlled by its rival the Venice . During the entirety of this period, the urban areas were Greek-speaking and eastern Christian . Throughout the ancient and medieval period the interior and north of Crimea was occupied by a changing cast of invading steppe nomads , such as the Tauri , Cimmerians , Scythians , Sarmatians , Crimean Goths , Anglo-Saxons , Alans , Bulgars , Huns , Khazars , Kipchaks and Mongols . The Bosporan Kingdom had exercised some control of
9384-416: The Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, saw the capture of 20,000 slaves. The Crimean Tatars as an ethnic group dominated the Crimean Khanate from the 15th to the 18th centuries. They descend from a complicated mixture of Turkic peoples who settled in the Crimea from the 8th century, presumably also absorbing remnants of the Crimean Goths and the Genoese . Linguistically, the Crimean Tatars are related to
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#17327730441529568-407: The Soviet Black Sea Fleet , ending the protracted Black See Fleet dispute and allowing Russia to continue basing its Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol with the lease extended in 2010. Crimea's status is disputed. In 2014, Crimea saw intense demonstrations against the removal of the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych culminating in pro-Russian forces occupying strategic points in Crimea and
9752-411: The Soviet Germans , the Meskhetian Turks , and the Crimean Tatars. In 1954, Khrushchev allowed Crimea to be included in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic since Crimea is linked by land to Ukraine and not with the Russian SFSR. On 28 April 1956, the directive "On Removing Restrictions on the Special Settlement of the Crimean Tatars... Relocated during the Great Patriotic War" was issued, ordering
9936-475: The Strait of Kerch as the Κιμμερικὸς Βόσπορος ( Kimmerikos Bosporos , romanized spelling: Bosporus Cimmerius ), its easternmost part as the Κιμμέριον Ἄκρον ( Kimmerion Akron , Roman name: Promontorium Cimmerium), as well as to the city of Cimmerium and thence the name of the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Κιμμερικοῦ Βοσπόρου). The recorded history of Crimea begins around 5th century BCE when several Greek colonies were established on its south coast ,
10120-517: The Syvash or "Rotten Sea", a large system of shallow lagoons stretching along the western shore of the Sea of Azov. Besides the isthmus of Perekop, the peninsula is connected to the Kherson Oblast's Henichesk Raion by bridges over the narrow Chonhar and Henichesk straits and over Kerch Strait to the Krasnodar Krai . The northern part of Arabat Spit is administratively part of Henichesk Raion in Kherson Oblast, including its two rural communities of Shchaslyvtseve and Strilkove . The eastern tip of
10304-399: The Taurida Oblast in 1784 but in 1796 it was divided into two counties and attached it to the Novorossiysk Governorate , with a new Taurida Governorate established in 1802 with its capital at Simferopol. The governorate included both Crimea as well as larger adjacent areas of the mainland. In 1826 Adam Mickiewicz published his seminal work The Crimean Sonnets after travelling through
10488-414: The Treaty of Pereyaslav , called the "reunification of Ukraine with Russia" in the USSR. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the Republic of Crimea was formed in 1992, although the republic was abolished in 1995, with the Autonomous Republic of Crimea established firmly under Ukrainian authority and Sevastopol being administered as a city with special status . A 1997 treaty partitioned
10672-540: The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic . The Crimean Tatars were allowed to carry up to 500 kg (1,100 lb) of their property per family. The only ones who could avoid this fate were Crimean Tatar women who were married to men of non-punished ethnic groups. The exiled Crimean Tatars travelled in overcrowded wagons for several weeks and lacked food and water. It is estimated that at least 228,392 people were deported from Crimea, of which at least 191,044 were Crimean Tatars in 47,000 families. Since 7,889 people perished in
10856-402: The classical world and the steppe . Greeks colonized its southern fringe and were absorbed by the Roman and Byzantine Empires and successor states while remaining culturally Greek. Some cities became trading colonies of Genoa , until conquered by the Ottoman Empire . Throughout this time the interior was occupied by a changing cast of steppe nomads , coming under the control of
11040-400: The de facto Soviet leader and implemented repressions that led to the deaths of at least 5.2 million Soviet citizens between 1927 and 1938. In 1940, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic had approximately 1,126,800 inhabitants, of which 218,000 people, or 19.4 percent of the population, were Crimean Tatars. In 1941, Nazi Germany invaded Eastern Europe , annexing much of
11224-406: The dissolution of the USSR , Crimea was part of Ukraine , but Kyiv gave limited support to Crimean Tatar settlers. Some 150,000 of the returnees were granted citizenship automatically under Ukraine's Citizenship Law of 1991, but 100,000 who returned after Ukraine declared independence faced several obstacles including a costly bureaucratic process. In March 2014, the annexation of Crimea by
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#173277304415211408-425: The secret police , and ordered by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin . Within those three days, the NKVD used cattle trains to deport the Crimean Tatars, even Soviet Communist Party members and Red Army members, from Crimea to the Uzbek SSR , several thousand kilometres away. They were one of several ethnicities that were subjected to Stalin's policy of population transfer in the Soviet Union . Officially,
11592-444: The "dumping ground for treasonous nations." In the coming years, several assaults against the Crimean Tatars population were registered, some of which were fatal. The mass Crimean deportations were organized by Lavrentiy Beria, the chief of the Soviet secret police, the NKVD, and his subordinates Bogdan Kobulov , Ivan Serov , B. P. Obruchnikov, M.G. Svinelupov, and A. N. Apolonov. The field operations were conducted by G. P. Dobrynin,
11776-400: The 13th century, some Crimean port cities were controlled by the Venetians and by the Genovese , but the interior was much less stable, enduring a long series of conquests and invasions . In the medieval period, it was partially conquered by Kievan Rus' whose prince Vladimir the Great was baptised at Sevastopol , which marked the beginning of the Christianization of Kievan Rus' . During
11960-424: The 13th century. It existed among the Muslim Crimean Tatars, primarily in the mountainous Çufut Qale area. In 1553–1554 Cossack Hetman Dmytro Vyshnevetsky (in office: 1550–1557) gathered together groups of Cossacks and constructed a fort designed to obstruct Tatar raids into Ukraine. With this action, he founded the Zaporozhian Sich , with which he would launch a series of attacks on the Crimean Peninsula and
12144-403: The 17th century and the "Crimean peninsula" becomes current during the 18th century, gradually replacing the classical name of Tauric Peninsula in the course of the 19th century. In English usage since the early modern period the Crimean Khanate is referred to as Crim Tartary . Today, the Crimean Tatar name of the peninsula is Qırım , while the Russian is Крым ( Krym ), and the Ukrainian
12328-443: The 1854 Crimean War and many short lived regimes following the 1917 Russian Revolution . When the Bolsheviks secured Crimea, it became an autonomous soviet republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . It was occupied by Germany during World War II . When the Soviets retook it in 1944, Crimean Tatars were ethnically cleansed and deported under the orders of Joseph Stalin , in what has been described as
12512-417: The 2nd century. The camp was abandoned by the Romans in the mid-3rd century. This de facto province would have been controlled by the legatus of one of the Legions stationed in Charax. Throughout the later centuries, Crimea was invaded or occupied successively by the Goths (AD 250), the Huns (376), the Bulgars (4th–8th century), the Khazars (8th century). Crimean Gothic , an East Germanic language,
12696-399: The AD 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries, Taurica was host to Roman legions and colonists in Charax, Crimea . The Charax colony was founded under Vespasian with the intention of protecting Chersonesos and other Bosporean trade emporiums from the Scythians . The Roman colony was protected by a vexillatio of the Legio I Italica ; it also hosted a detachment of the Legio XI Claudia at the end of
12880-433: The Black Sea coast of Crimea in the 7th or 6th century BC. Theodosia and Panticapaeum were established by Milesians . In the 5th century BC, Dorians from Heraclea Pontica founded the sea port of Chersonesos (in modern Sevastopol ). The Persian Achaemenid Empire under Darius I expanded to Crimea as part of his campaigns against the Scythians in 513 BCE. In 438 BC, the Archon (ruler) of Panticapaeum assumed
13064-438: The Crimean Khans fell under Russian influence. The Crimea was the first Muslim territory to slip from the sultan's suzerainty. The Ottoman Empire's frontiers would gradually shrink, and Russia would proceed to push her frontier westwards to the Dniester. The Khanate subsequently suffered a gradual internal collapse, particularly after a pogrom created a Russian aided exodus of Christian subjects who were overwhelmingly among
13248-556: The Crimean Tatars The deportation of the Crimean Tatars ( Crimean Tatar : Qırımtatar halqınıñ sürgünligi , Cyrillic : Къырымтатар халкъынынъ сюргюнлиги) or the Sürgünlik ('exile') was the ethnic cleansing and the cultural genocide of at least 191,044 Crimean Tatars that was carried out by Soviet Union authorities from 18 to 20 May 1944, supervised by Lavrentiy Beria , chief of Soviet state security and
13432-425: The Crimean Tatars denied that they had committed universal treason, this idea persisted during the Soviet period and Russian scholarly and popular literature. According to various estimates, around 20,000 Crimean Tatars volunteered to fight for Nazi Germany, as opposed to 40,000 who fought for the Red Army. On 10 May 1944, Lavrentiy Beria recommended to Stalin that the Crimean Tatars should be deported away from
13616-493: The Crimean Tatars, and other 'punished peoples' of the wartime period were, indeed, slated for elimination, if not physically, then as self-identifying nationalities." Professor Lyman H. Legters argued that the Soviet penal system, combined with its resettlement policies, should count as genocidal since the sentences were borne most heavily specifically on certain ethnic groups, and that a relocation of these ethnic groups, whose survival depends on ties to its particular homeland, "had
13800-518: The Crimean economy and the Black Sea commerce for two centuries. Genoa and its colonies fought a series of wars with the Mongol states between the 13th and 15th centuries. In 1346 the Golden Horde army besieging Genoese Kaffa (present-day Feodosiya) in the siege of Kaffa catapulted the bodies of Mongol warriors who had died of plague over the walls of the city. Historians have speculated that Genoese refugees from this engagement may have brought
13984-529: The Crimean interior in the early 13th century due to the Mongol invasions . In the summer of 1238 Batu Khan devastated the Crimean peninsula and pacified Mordovia , reaching Kiev by 1240. The Crimean interior came under the control of the Turco-Mongol Golden Horde from 1239 to 1441. The name Crimea (via Italian, from Turkic Qirim ) originates as the name of the provincial capital of
14168-802: The Crimean peninsula comprises the Kerch Peninsula , separated from Taman Peninsula on the Russian mainland by the Kerch Strait , which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, at a width of between 3–13 kilometres (1.9–8.1 mi). Geographers generally divide the peninsula into three zones: the steppe , the Crimean Mountains , and the Southern Coast . Given its long history and many conquerors, most towns in Crimea have several names. West: The Isthmus of Perekop / Perekop / Or Qapi , about 7 km (4 mi) wide, connects Crimea to
14352-640: The Crimean peninsula is from the Chalcolithic Ardych-Burun site, dating to the middle of the 4th millennium BC By the 3rd millennium BC, Crimea had been reached by the Yamna or "pit grave" culture , assumed to correspond to a late phase of Proto-Indo-European culture in the Kurgan hypothesis . Early Iron Age Crimea was settled by two groups separated by the Crimean Mountains , the Tauri to
14536-455: The Crimean steppes. The terrain that lies south of the sheltering Crimean Mountain range is of an altogether different character. Here, the narrow strip of coast and the slopes of the mountains are covered with greenery. This "riviera" stretches along the southeast coast from capes Fiolent and Aya , in the south, to Feodosia. There are many summer sea-bathing resorts such as Alupka , Yalta , Gurzuf , Alushta , Sudak , and Feodosia . During
14720-686: The Deputy Head of the Gulag system; G. A. Bezhanov, the Colonel of State Security; I. I. Piiashev, Major General; S. A. Klepov, Commissar of State Security; I. S. Sheredega, Lt. General; B. I. Tekayev, Lt. Colonel of State Security; and two local leaders, P. M. Fokin, head of the Crimea NKGB, and V. T. Sergjenko, Lt. General. In order to execute this deportation, the NKVD secured 5,000 armed agents and
14904-528: The Great's incorporation of the Crimea in 1783 from the defeated Ottoman Empire into the Russian Empire increased Russia's power in the Black Sea area. The Crimea was the first Muslim territory to slip from the sultan's suzerainty. The Ottoman Empire's frontiers would gradually shrink, and Russia would proceed to push her frontier westwards to the Dniester. From 1853 to 1856, the strategic position of
15088-533: The Great's incorporation of the Crimea in 1783 into the Russian Empire increased Russia's power in the Black Sea area. From 1853 to 1856, the strategic position of the peninsula in controlling the Black Sea meant that it was the site of the principal engagements of the Crimean War , where Russia lost to a French-led alliance. During the Russian Civil War , Crimea changed hands many times and
15272-546: The Jewish poet and professor Ilya Gabay committed suicide by jumping off a building in Moscow. He was one of the significant Jewish dissidents in the USSR who fought for the rights of the oppressed peoples, especially Crimean Tatars. Gabay had been arrested and sent to a labour camp but still insisted on his cause because he was convinced that the treatment of the Crimean Tatars by the USSR amounted to genocide. In 1973, Dzhemilev
15456-513: The NKVD found out that one of its units had forgotten to deport people from the Arabat Spit . Instead of preparing an additional transfer in trains, on 20 July the NKVD boarded hundreds of Crimean Tatars onto an old boat, took it to the middle of the Azov Sea , and sank the ship. Those who did not drown were finished off by machine guns . Officially, Crimean Tatars were eliminated from Crimea. The deportation encompassed every person considered by
15640-579: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that various human rights violations were recorded in Crimea, including the prevention of Crimean Tatars from marking the 71st anniversary of their deportation. Historian Edward Allworth has noted that the extent of marginalization of the Crimean Tatars was a distinct anomaly among national policy in the USSR given the party's firm commitment maintaining
15824-526: The Ottoman Turks. In 1774, the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Catherine the Great . After two centuries of conflict, the Russian fleet had destroyed the Ottoman navy and the Russian army had inflicted heavy defeats on the Ottoman land forces. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca signed in June 1774 forced the Sublime Porte to recognize the Tatars of the Crimea as politically independent, meaning that
16008-751: The Russian Federation unfolded, which was, in turn, declared illegal by the United Nations General Assembly ( United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 ) and which led to further deterioration of the rights of the Crimean Tatars. Even though the Russian Federation issued Decree No. 268 "On the Measures for the Rehabilitation of Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Crimean Tatar and German Peoples and
16192-553: The Scythian king Scilurus . The Crimean Peninsula north of the Crimean Mountains was occupied by Scythian tribes. Their center was the city of Scythian Neapolis on the outskirts of present-day Simferopol . The town ruled over a small kingdom covering the lands between the lower Dnieper River and northern Crimea . In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, Scythian Neapolis was a city "with a mixed Scythian-Greek population, strong defensive walls and large public buildings constructed using
16376-533: The Sea of Azov. The Alma flows west to reach the Black Sea between Yevpatoria and Sevastopol. The shorter Chornaya flows west to Sevastopol Bay. Nearby: East of the Kerch Strait the Ancient Greeks founded colonies at Phanagoria (at the head of Taman Bay ), Hermonassa (later Tmutarakan and Taman ), Gorgippia (later a Turkish port and now Anapa). At the northeast point of the Sea of Azov at
16560-409: The Soviet authorities counted the population of the deported ethnic groups who lived in special settlements. According to their records, there were 44,887 excess deaths in these five years, 19.6 per cent of that total group. Other sources give a figure of 44,125 deaths during that time, while a third source, using alternative NKVD archives, gives a figure of 32,107 deaths. These reports included all
16744-562: The Soviet era. After the 1917 October Revolution , Crimea received autonomous status inside the USSR on 18 October 1921, but collectivization in the 1920s led to severe famine from which up to 100,000 Crimeans perished when their crops were transported to "more important" regions of the Soviet Union. By one estimate, three-quarters of the famine victims were Crimean Tatars. Their status deteriorated further after Joseph Stalin became
16928-601: The Soviet government presented the deportation as a policy of collective punishment , based on its claim that some Crimean Tatars collaborated with Nazi Germany in World War II, despite the fact that the 20,000 who collaborated with the Axis powers were half the 40,000 who served in the Soviet Red Army. Several modern scholars believe rather that the government deported them as a part of its plan to gain access to
17112-598: The Soviets regained control in 1944, they deported the Crimean Tartars and several other nationalities to elsewhere in the USSR. The autonomous republic was dissolved in 1945, and Crimea became an oblast of the Russian SFSR. It was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954, on the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav . With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991 most of
17296-945: The Soviets replaced it with Krym ( Ukrainian : Крим ; Russian : Крым ) depriving it of official status since 1921, it is still used by some institutions in Crimea, such as the Taurida National University established by the Crimean Regional Government in 1918, the Tavriya Simferopol football club so named in 1963, and the Tavrida federal highway being built under Russian occupation from 2017. Other suggestions either unsupported or contradicted by sources, apparently based on similarity in sound, include: Strabo ( Geography vii 4.3, xi. 2.5), Polybius , ( Histories 4.39.4), and Ptolemy ( Geographia . II, v 9.5) refer variously to
17480-544: The State Support of Their Revival and Development" on 21 April 2014, in practice Russia has intensified persecution of Crimean Tatars and their human rights situation has significantly deteriorated. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a warning against the Kremlin in 2016 because it "intimidated, harassed and jailed Crimean Tatar representatives, often on dubious charges", while
17664-609: The Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, under its chairman Boris Yeltsin , passed the law On the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples with Article 2 denouncing all mass deportations as "Stalin's policy of defamation and genocide ." A minority dispute defining the event as genocide. According to Alexander Statiev, the Soviet deportations resulted in a "genocidal death rate ", but Stalin did not have
17848-624: The Taurians inspired the Greek myths of Iphigenia and Orestes . The Greeks , who eventually established colonies in Crimea during the Archaic Period , regarded the Tauri as a savage, warlike people. Even after centuries of Greek and Roman settlement, the Tauri were not pacified and continued to engage in piracy on the Black Sea. By the 2nd century BC they had become subject-allies of
18032-601: The USSR, Crimean Tatar activists were persecuted for using that high mortality figure under the guise that it was a "slander to the USSR." In order to show that Crimean Tatars were exaggerating, the KGB published figures showing that "only" 22 per cent of that ethnic group died. The Karachay demographer Dalchat Ediev estimates that 34,300 Crimean Tatars died due to the deportation, representing an 18 per cent mortality rate. Hannibal Travis estimates that overall 40,000–80,000 Crimean Tatars died in exile. Professor Michael Rywkin gives
18216-460: The USSR. 1,119 Germans and 3,652 foreign citizens were also expelled. Among the deported, there were also 283 persons of other ethnicities: Italians , Romanians, Karaims , Kurds , Czechs , Hungarians , and Croats . During 1947 and 1948, a further 2,012 veteran returnees were deported from Crimea by the local MVD . In total, 151,136 Crimean Tatars were deported to the Uzbek SSR; 8,597 to
18400-534: The Ukrainian SSR. The Crimean Tatars did not get any compensation for their lost property. In the 1950s, the Crimean Tatars started actively advocating for the right to return. In 1957, they collected 6,000 signatures in a petition that was sent to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union that demanded their political rehabilitation and return to Crimea. In 1961 25,000 signatures were collected in
18584-404: The Uzbek SSR", thereby minimizing Crimean Tatar existence and downplaying their desire for the right of return in addition to creating a premise for claims of the issue being "settled". Individuals united and formed groups that went back to Crimea in 1968 on their own, without state permission, but the Soviet authorities deported 6,000 of them once again. The most notable example of such resistance
18768-527: The Wehrmacht and Romanian Army where they joined the Eastern Turkic division. Thus, the majority of the collaborators had been evacuated from Crimea by the retreating Wehrmacht. Many Soviet officials had also recognized this and rejected claims that the Crimean Tatars had betrayed the Soviet Union en masse . The presence of Muslim Committees organized from Berlin by various Turkic foreigners appeared
18952-471: The age of 16; another 4,525 were adult women and 2,562 were adult men. During 1945, a further 13,183 people died. Thus, by the end of December 1945, at least 27,000 Crimean Tatars had already died in exile. One Crimean Tatar woman living near Tashkent recalled the events from 1944: My parents were moved from Crimea to Uzbekistan in May 1944. My parents had sisters and brothers, but when they arrived in Uzbekistan,
19136-499: The ban on the return of deported ethnicities was declared officially null and void and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union further declared the deportations criminal, paving the way for the Crimean Tatars to return. Dzhemilev returned to Crimea that year, with at least 166,000 other Tatars doing the same by January 1992. The 1991 Russian law On the Rehabilitation of Repressed Peoples rehabilitated all Soviet repressed ethnicities and abolished all previous Russian laws relating to
19320-451: The border regions due to their "traitorous actions". Stalin subsequently issued GKO Order No. 5859ss , which envisaged the resettlement of the Crimean Tatars. The deportation lasted only three days, 18–20 May 1944, during which NKVD agents went house to house collecting Crimean Tatars at gunpoint and forcing them to enter sealed-off cattle trains that would transfer them almost 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) to remote locations in
19504-510: The capital was extended to the entire peninsula at some point during Ottoman suzerainty (1441–1783). The word Qırım is derived from the Turkic term qirum ("fosse, trench"), from qori- ("to fence, protect"). Another classical name for Crimea, Tauris or Taurica , is from the Greek Ταυρική ( Taurikḗ ), after the peninsula's Scytho-Cimmerian inhabitants, the Tauri . The name
19688-537: The capture of the Genoese towns, the Ottoman Sultan held Khan Meñli I Giray captive, later releasing him in return for accepting Ottoman suzerainty over the Crimean Khans and allowing them rule as tributary princes of the Ottoman Empire . However, the Crimean Khans still had a large amount of autonomy from the Ottoman Empire, and followed the rules they thought best for them. Crimean Tatars introduced
19872-493: The collapse of the horde but quite rapidly itself became subject to the Ottoman Empire , which also conquered the coastal areas which had kept independent of the Khanate. A major source of prosperity in these times were frequents raids into Russia for slaves . In 1774, the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Catherine the Great with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca making the Tatars of the Crimea politically independent. Catherine
20056-446: The commandant's office. During this mass eviction, the Soviet authorities confiscated around 80,000 houses, 500,000 cattle , 360,000 acres of land, and 40,000 tons of agricultural provisions. Besides 191,000 deported Crimean Tatars, the Soviet authorities also evicted 9,620 Armenians , 12,420 Bulgarians , and 15,040 Greeks from the peninsula. All were collectively branded as traitors and became second-class citizens for decades in
20240-525: The conversion of Ozbeg Khan of the Golden Horde . It was the longest surviving state of the Golden Horde. They often engaged in conflicts with Moscow —from 1468 until the 17th century, Crimean Tatars fought several wars with the Tsardom of Russia . Thus, after the establishment of the Russian rule, Crimean Tatars began leaving Crimea in several waves of emigration. Between 1784 and 1790, out of
20424-483: The deportation and the attempt of liquidation of Crimean Tatars as an ethnicity in 1944 was just the final act of the centuries-long process of Russian colonization of Crimea that started in 1783. Historian Gregory Dufaud regards the Soviet accusations against Crimean Tatars as a convenient excuse for their forcible transfer through which Moscow secured an unrivalled access to the geostrategic southern Black Sea on one hand and eliminated hypothetical rebellious nations at
20608-491: The deportation; they could only declare themselves as Tatars. It wasn't until the 1989 census that Crimean Tatars were again recognized as a separate nationality. The Crimean Tatar language was only allowed to be taught again in Soviet schools in the 1980s. On 12 December 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament issued a resolution recognizing this event as genocide and established 18 May as the "Day of Remembrance for
20792-490: The deportations, calling for the "restoration and return of the cultural and spiritual values and archives which represent the heritage of the repressed people." By 2004 the Crimean Tatars formed 12 per cent of the population of Crimea. The return was fraught: with Russian nationalist protests in Crimea and clashes between locals and Crimean Tatars near Yalta , which needed army intervention. Local Soviet authorities were reluctant to help returnees with jobs or housing, After
20976-536: The directive that forbade the Crimean Tatars from returning. The Crimean Tatars remained in Central Asia for the next three decades, until the perestroika era of the late 1980s, when 260,000 of them returned to Crimea, after 45 years in exile. On 14 November 1989, the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union declared that the deportations had been a crime, and declared that the ban on their return to Crimea
21160-653: The earliest anatomically modern human remains in Europe in the Buran-Kaya caves in the Crimean Mountains (east of Simferopol ). The fossils are about 32,000 years old, with the artifacts linked to the Gravettian culture. During the Last Glacial Maximum , along with the northern coast of the Black Sea in general, Crimea was an important refuge from which north-central Europe was re-populated after
21344-545: The end of the Ice Age. The East European Plain during this time was generally occupied by periglacial loess - steppe environments, although the climate was slightly warmer during several brief interstadials and began to warm significantly after the beginning of the Late Glacial Maximum . Human site occupation density was relatively high in the Crimean region and increased as early as c. 16,000 years before
21528-644: The face of determined resistance from the Red Army. Beginning in 1942, Germans recruited Soviet prisoners of war to form support armies. The Dobrujan Tatar nationalist Fazil Ulkusal and Lipka Tatar Edige Kirimal helped in freeing Crimean Tatars from German prisoner-of-war camps and enlisting them in the independent Crimean support legion for the Wehrmacht . This legion eventually included eight battalions, although many members were of other nationalities. From November 1941, German authorities allowed Crimean Tatars to establish Muslim Committees in various towns as
21712-433: The fact that the deportations of Crimeans and Caucasians was due to Soviet foreign policy rather than any real "universal mass crimes". Modern interpretations by scholars and historians sometimes classify this mass deportation of civilians as a crime against humanity , ethnic cleansing , depopulation , an act of Stalinist repression , or an " ethnocide ", meaning a deliberate wiping out of an identity and culture of
21896-446: The floor to sleep on. The sole transport to these remote areas and labour colonies was equally as strenuous. Theoretically, the NKVD loaded 50 people into each railroad car, together with their property. One witness claimed that 133 people were in her wagon. They had only one hole in the floor of the wagon which was used as a toilet. Some pregnant women were forced to give birth inside these sealed-off railroad cars. The conditions in
22080-559: The flow of water was restored however the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam could lead to problems with water supply again. Seventy-five percent of the remaining area of Crimea consists of semiarid prairie lands, a southward continuation of the Pontic–Caspian steppe, which slope gently to the northwest from the foothills of the Crimean Mountains. Numerous kurgans , or burial mounds , of the ancient Scythians are scattered across
22264-533: The government to be Crimean Tatar, including children, women, and the elderly, and even those who had been members of the Communist Party or the Red Army . As such, they were legally designated as special settlers , which meant that they were officially second-class citizens, prohibited from leaving the perimeter of their assigned area, attending prestigious universities, and had to regularly appear before
22448-421: The harsh desert climate of Uzbekistan. The exiles were frequently assigned to the heaviest construction sites. The Uzbek medical facilities filled with Crimean Tatars who were susceptible to the local Asian diseases not found on the Crimean peninsula where the water was purer, including yellow fever , dystrophy , malaria , and intestinal illness. The death toll was the highest during the first five years. In 1949
22632-472: The harsh living conditions in which they were forced to live during their exile. After the deportation, the Soviet government launched an intense detatarization campaign in an attempt to erase the remaining traces of Crimean Tatar existence. In 1956, the new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev condemned Stalin's policies, including the deportation of various ethnic groups, and he allowed most of these ethnic groups to return to their homelands, but he did not lift
22816-406: The highest altitudes in the Crimean mountains. The Crimean mountains greatly influence the amount of precipitation present in the peninsula. However, most of Crimea (88.5%) receives 300 to 500 millimetres (11.8 to 19.7 in) of precipitation per year. The plains usually receive 300 to 400 millimetres (11.8 to 15.7 in) of precipitation per year, increasing to 560 millimetres (22.0 in) in
23000-508: The hinterland to the north. The southern coast gradually consolidated into the Bosporan Kingdom which was annexed by Pontus and then became a client kingdom of Rome (63 BC – 341 AD). The south coast remained Greek in culture for almost two thousand years including under Roman successor states, the Byzantine Empire (341–1204), the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461), and the independent Principality of Theodoro (ended 1475). In
23184-561: The history of the Crimean Tatars. Between 2015 and 2024, the deportation was formally recognised as a genocide by Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Canada, Poland and Estonia. The Crimean Tatars controlled the Crimean Khanate from 1441 to 1783, when Crimea was annexed by the Russian Empire as a target of Russian expansion . By the 14th century, most of the Turkic-speaking population of Crimea had adopted Islam , following
23368-741: The integrity of Ukraine in Simferopol at 12,000 people, opposed by several thousand pro-Russian protesters. On 27 February, Russian forces occupied parliament and government buildings and other strategic points in Crimea and the Russian-organized Republic of Crimea declared independence from Ukraine following an illegal and internationally unrecognized referendum . Russia then annexed Crimea, although most countries (100 votes in favour, 11 against, 58 abstentions) continued to recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine. Covering an area of 27,000 km (10,425 sq mi), Crimea
23552-444: The intent to exterminate these peoples . He considers such deportations merely an example of Soviet assimilation of "unwanted nations." According to Amir Weiner , the Soviet regime sought to eradicate "only" their "territorial identity". Such views were criticized by Jon Chang as "gentrified racism " and historical revisionism . He noted that the deportations had been in fact based on ethnicity of victims. In 2008, Lily Hyde ,
23736-720: The largest are the Simferopolskoye, Alminskoye, the Taygansky and the Belogorsky just south of Bilohirsk in Bilohirsk Raion . The North Crimea Canal , which transports water from the Dnieper , is the largest of the man-made irrigation channels on the peninsula. Crimea was facing an unprecedented water shortage crisis following the blocking of the canal by Ukraine in 2014. After the 2022 Russian invasion,
23920-464: The long transit in sealed-off railcars, the NKVD registered the 183,155 living Crimean Tatars who arrived at their destinations in Central Asia. The majority of the deportees were rounded up from the Crimean countryside. Only 18,983 of the exiles were from Crimean cities. On 4 July 1944, the NKVD officially informed Stalin that the resettlement was complete. However, not long after that report,
24104-608: The mainland. It was often fortified and sometimes garrisoned by the Turks. The North Crimean Canal now crosses it to bring water from the Dnieper. To the west Karkinit Bay separates the Tarkhankut Peninsula from the mainland. On the north side of the peninsula is Chernomorskoe /Kalos Limen . On the south side is the large Donuzlav Bay and the port and ancient Greek settlement of Yevpatoria /Kerkinitis/Gözleve. The coast then runs south to Sevastopol / Chersonesus ,
24288-439: The majority of the peninsula at the height of its power, with Kievan Rus' also having some control of the interior of Crimea after the tenth century. The overseas territories of Trebizond , Perateia , had already been subjected to pressure from the Genoese and Kipchaks by the time Alexios I of Trebizond died in 1222, before the Mongol invasions began its western sweep through Volga Bulgaria in 1223. Kiev lost its hold on
24472-489: The many palaces were replaced with dachas and health resorts. From west to east are: Heracles Peninsula ; Balaklava /Symbalon/Cembalo, a smaller natural harbor south of Sevastopol; Foros , the southernmost point; Alupka with the Vorontsov Palace (Alupka) ; Gaspra ; Yalta ; Gurzuf ; Alushta . Further east is Sudak /Sougdia/Soldaia with its Genoese fort. Further east still is Theodosia/Kaffa/ Feodosia , once
24656-554: The meeting, the Crimean Tatars demanded a correction of all the injustices of the USSR against their people. In September 1967, the Supreme Soviet issued a decree that acknowledged the charge of treason against the entire nation was "unreasonable" but that did not allow Crimean Tatars the same full rehabilitation encompassing the right of return that other deported peoples were given. The carefully worded decree referred to them not as "Crimean Tatars" but as "citizens of Tatar nationality who having formerly lived in Crimea […] have taken root in
24840-632: The mortality rates of the Crimean Tatars: Stalin's government denied the Crimean Tatars the right to education or publication in their native language. Despite the prohibition, and although they had to study in Russian or Uzbek , they maintained their cultural identity. In 1956 the new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev , held a speech in which he condemned Stalin's policies, including the mass deportations of various ethnicities. Still, even though many peoples were allowed to return to their homes, three groups were forced to stay in exile:
25024-535: The most important of which was Chersonesos near modern-day Sevastopol , with Scythians and Tauri in the hinterland to the north. The Tauri gave the name the Tauric Peninsula, which Crimea was called into the early modern period . The southern coast gradually consolidated into the Bosporan Kingdom which was annexed by Pontus in Asia Minor and later became a client kingdom of Rome from 63 BCE to 341 CE. The south coast remained Greek in culture for almost two thousand years including under Roman successor states,
25208-446: The mouth of the Don River were Tanais , Azak/ Azov and now Rostov-on-Don . North of the peninsula the Dnieper turns westward and enters the Black Sea through the east–west Dnieper-Bug Estuary which also receives the Bug River. At the mouth of the Bug stood Olvia . At the mouth of the estuary is Ochakiv . Odesa stands where the coast turns southwest. Further southwest is Tyras /Akkerman/ Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi . The southeast coast
25392-419: The northeast, is a narrow strip of land that separates the Syvash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. Across the Black Sea to the west lies Romania and to the south is Turkey. The population is 2.4 million, and the largest city is Sevastopol . The region has been under Russian occupation since 2014 . Called the Tauric Peninsula until the early modern period , Crimea has historically been at the boundary between
25576-417: The only survivors were themselves. My parents' sisters and brothers and parents all died in transit because of catching bad colds and other diseases.... My mother was left completely alone and her first work was to cut trees. Estimates produced by Crimean Tatars indicate mortality figures that were far higher and amounted to 46% of their population living in exile. In 1968, when Leonid Brezhnev presided over
25760-446: The orders of Greek architecture". The city was eventually destroyed in the mid-3rd century AD by the Goths . The ancient Greeks were the first to name the region Taurica after the Tauri . As the Tauri inhabited only the mountainous regions of southern Crimea, the name Taurica was originally used only for this southern part, but was later extended to refer to the whole peninsula. Greek city-states began establishing colonies along
25944-643: The overcrowded train wagons were exacerbated by a lack of hygiene , leading to cases of typhus . Since the trains only stopped to open the doors at rare occasions during the trip, the sick inevitably contaminated others in the wagons. It was only when they arrived at their destination in the Uzbek SSR that the Crimean Tatars were released from the sealed-off railroad cars. Still, some were redirected to other destinations in Central Asia and had to continue their journey. Some witnesses claimed that they travelled for 24 consecutive days. During this whole time, they were given very little food or water while trapped inside. There
26128-415: The peninsula in controlling the Black Sea meant that it was the site of the principal engagements of the Crimean War , where Russia lost to a French-led alliance. During the Russian Civil War , Crimea changed hands many times and was where Wrangel 's anti-Bolshevik White Army made their last stand in 1920, with tens of thousands of those who remained being murdered as part of the Red Terror . In 1921,
26312-486: The peninsula the maritime influence is weak and does not play an important role. Because a high-pressure system is located north of Crimea in both summer and winter, winds predominantly come from the north and northeast year-round. In winter these winds bring in cold, dry continental air, while in summer they bring in dry and hot weather. Winds from the northwest bring warm and wet air from the Atlantic Ocean, causing precipitation during spring and summer. As well, winds from
26496-483: The peninsula was reorganized as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea . A 1997 treaty partitioned the Soviet Black Sea Fleet , allowing Russia to continue basing its fleet in Sevastopol, with the lease extended in 2010. In 2014, Crimea saw demonstrations against the removal of the Russia-leaning Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in Kyiv and protests in support of Euromaidan . Ukrainian historian Volodymyr Holovko estimates 26 February protest in support of
26680-465: The people resettled from Crimea (including Armenians, Bulgarians, and Greeks), but the Crimean Tatars formed a majority in this group. It took five years until the number of births among the deported people started to surpass the number of deaths. Soviet archives reveal that between May 1944 and January 1945 a total of 13,592 Crimean Tatars perished in exile, about 7 per cent of their entire population. Almost half of all deaths (6,096) were of children under
26864-415: The practice of raids into Eastern Slavic lands (the Wild Fields ), in which they captured slaves for sale. For example, from 1450 to 1586, eighty-six Tatar raids were recorded, and from 1600 to 1647, seventy. In the 1570s close to 20,000 slaves a year went on sale in Kaffa . Slaves and freedmen formed approximately 75% of the Crimean population. In 1769 a last major Tatar raid, which took place during
27048-413: The preceding Russo-Turkish Wars, and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire to maintain the balance of power in the Concert of Europe. It has widely been noted that the causes, in one case involving an argument over a key, had never revealed a "greater confusion of purpose" but led to a war that stood out for its "notoriously incompetent international butchery". Following action in
27232-454: The present. Proponents of the Black Sea deluge hypothesis believe Crimea did not become a peninsula until relatively recently, with the rising of the Black Sea level in the 6th millennium BC. The beginning of the Neolithic in Crimea is not associated with agriculture, but instead with the beginning of pottery production, changes in flint tool-making technologies, and local domestication of pigs. The earliest evidence of domesticated wheat in
27416-414: The representative body the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People was banned. The UN reported that of the over 10,000 people left Crimea after the annexation in 2014, most were Crimean Tatars, which caused a further decline of their fragile community. Crimean Tatars stated several reasons for their departure, among them insecurity, fear, and intimidation from the new Russian authorities. In its 2015 report,
27600-420: The republic, few northern (Armiansk, Krasnoperekopsk, Dzhankoi), aside from the central area, mainly Simferopol okrug and eastern region in Nizhnegorsk (few plants, same for Dzhankoj) city. Important industrial cities include Dzhankoi , housing a major railway connection, Krasnoperekopsk and Armiansk , among others. After the Russian annexation of Crimea in early 2014 and subsequent sanctions targeting Crimea,
27784-401: The same time. Professor of Russian and Soviet history Rebecca Manley similarly concluded that the real aim of the Soviet government was to "cleanse" the border regions of "unreliable elements". Professor Brian Glyn Williams states that the deportations of Meskhetian Turks , despite never being close to the scene of combat and never being charged with any crime, lends the strongest credence to
27968-430: The south and the Iranic Scythians in the north. Taurians intermixed with the Scythians starting from the end of 3rd century BC were mentioned as "Tauroscythians" and "Scythotaurians" in the works of ancient Greek writers. In Geographica , Strabo refers to the Tauri as a Scythian tribe. However, Herodotus states that the Tauri tribes were geographically inhabited by the Scythians , but they are not Scythians. Also,
28152-454: The southern coast are part of the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex ecoregion. The natural vegetation consists of scrublands, woodlands, and forests, with a climate and vegetation similar to the Mediterranean Basin . Crimea is located between the temperate and subtropical climate belts and is characterized by warm and sunny weather. It is characterized by diversity and the presence of microclimates. The northern parts of Crimea have
28336-510: The southern coast at sea level. The western parts of the Crimean mountains receive more than 1,000 millimetres (39.4 in) of precipitation per year. Snowfall is common in the mountains during winter. Most of the peninsula receives more than 2,000 sunshine hours per year; it reaches up to 2,505 sunshine hours in Qarabiy yayla in the Crimean Mountains. As a result, the climate favors recreation and tourism. Because of its climate and subsidized travel-packages from Russian state-run companies,
28520-436: The southern coast has remained a popular resort for Russian tourists. The Black Sea ports of Crimea provide quick access to the Eastern Mediterranean , Balkans and Middle East. Historically , possession of the southern coast of Crimea was sought after by most empires of the greater region since antiquity ( Roman , Byzantine , Ottoman , Russian , British and French , Nazi German , Soviet ). The nearby Dnieper River
28704-412: The southern coastal regions, is characterized by mild winters and moderately hot, dry summers. The climate of Crimea is influenced by its geographic location, relief, and influences from the Black Sea . The Southern Coast is shielded from cold air masses coming from the north and, as a result, has milder winters. Maritime influences from the Black Sea are restricted to coastal areas; in the interior of
28888-743: The southwest bring very warm and wet air from the subtropical latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean sea and cause precipitation during fall and winter. Mean annual temperatures range from 10 °C (50.0 °F) in the far north ( Armiansk ) to 13 °C (55.4 °F) in the far south ( Yalta ). In the mountains, the mean annual temperature is around 5.7 °C (42.3 °F). For every 100 m (330 ft) increase in altitude, temperatures decrease by 0.65 °C (1.17 °F) while precipitation increases. In January mean temperatures range from −3 °C (26.6 °F) in Armiansk to 4.4 °C (39.9 °F) in Myskhor . Cool-season temperatures average around 7 °C (44.6 °F) and it
29072-405: The southwest coast; others include Aqtas , Koyashskoye, Kiyatskoe, Kirleutskoe, Kizil-Yar, Bakalskoe, and Donuzlav . The general trend is for the former lakes to become salt pans. Lake Syvash (Sıvaş or Сива́ш) is a system of interconnected shallow lagoons on the north-eastern coast, covering an area of around 2,560 km (988 sq mi). A number of dams have created reservoirs; among
29256-411: The status quo of not recognizing them as a distinct ethnic group in addition to assimilating and "rooting" them in exile, in sharp contrast to the rehabilitation other deported ethnic groups such as the Chechens, Ingush, Karachays, Balkars, and Kalmyks experienced in the Khrushchev era. Between 1989 and 1994, around a quarter of a million Crimean Tatars returned to Crimea from exile in Central Asia. This
29440-407: The summer. The largest rivers are the Salhyr (Salğır, Салгир), the Kacha (Кача), the Alma (Альма), and the Belbek (Бельбек). Also important are the Kokozka (Kökköz or Коккозка), the Indole (Indol or Индо́л), the Chorna (Çorğun, Chernaya or Чёрная), the Derekoika (Dereköy or Дерекойка), the Karasu-Bashi (Biyuk-Karasu or Биюк-Карасу) (a tributary of the Salhyr river), the Burulcha (Бурульча) (also
29624-401: The supervision of the Gestapo in what were described as "vast slave workshops", resulting in loss of all Crimean Tatar support. In April 1944 the Red Army managed to repel the Axis forces from the peninsula in the Crimean Offensive . A majority of the hiwis (helpers), their families and all those associated with the Muslim Committees were evacuated to Germany and Hungary or Dobruja by
29808-424: The supervision of the NKVD. Deserters were executed. Special settlers routinely worked eleven to twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Despite this difficult physical labor, the Crimean Tatars were given only around 200 grams (7.1 oz) to 400 grams (14 oz) of bread per day. Accommodations were insufficient; some were forced to live in mud huts where "there were no doors or windows, nothing, just reeds" on
29992-501: The thousands of Crimean Tatars in the Red Army when it attacked Berlin , the Crimean Tatars continued to be seen and treated as a fifth column for decades. Some historians explain this as part of Stalin's plan to take complete control of Crimea. The Soviet sought access to the Dardanelles and control of territory in Turkey , where the Crimean Tatars had ethnic kin. By painting the Crimean Tatars as traitors, this taint could be extended to their kin. Scholar Walter Kolarz alleges that
30176-421: The title of the King of Cimmerian Bosporus , a state that maintained close relations with Athens , supplying the city with wheat, honey and other commodities. The last of that line of kings, Paerisades V, being hard-pressed by the Scythians, put himself under the protection of Mithridates VI , the king of Pontus , in 114 BC. After the death of this sovereign, his son, Pharnaces II , was invested by Pompey with
30360-514: The total population of Crimea. The Russian Empire used that fact as the ideological foundation to further Russify " New Russia ". Eventually, the Crimean Tatars became a minority in Crimea; in 1783, they comprised 98 per cent of the population, but by 1897, this was down to 34.1 per cent. While Crimean Tatars were emigrating, the Russian government encouraged Russification of the peninsula, populating it with Russians , Ukrainians , and other Slavic ethnic groups; this Russification continued during
30544-399: The tourist industry suffered major losses for two years. The flow of holidaymakers dropped 35 percent in the first half of 2014 over the same period of 2013. The number of tourist arrivals reached a record in 2012 at 6.1 million. According to the Russian administration of Crimea, they dropped to 3.8 million in 2014, and rebounded to 5.6 million by 2016. Deportation of
30728-401: The urban classes and created cities such as Mariupol . On 28 December 1783 the Sublime Porte negotiated a trade agreement with the Russian diplomat Bulgakov that recognised the loss of Crimea and other territories that had been held by the Khanate. This increased Russia's power in the Black Sea area. Crimea went through a number of administrative reforms after Russian annexation, first as
30912-430: The victims of the Crimean Tatar genocide." The parliament of Latvia recognized the event as an act of genocide on 9 May 2019. The Parliament of Lithuania did the same on 6 June 2019. The Canadian Parliament passed a motion on June 10, 2019, recognizing the Crimean Tatar deportation of 1944 (Sürgünlik) as a genocide perpetrated by Soviet dictator Stalin, designating May 18 to be a day of remembrance. On 26 April 1991
31096-411: The war was fought elsewhere, the principal engagements were in Crimea. The immediate cause of the war involved the rights of Christian minorities in Palestine, which was part of the Ottoman Empire. The French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics, and Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Longer-term causes involved the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the expansion of the Russian Empire in
31280-490: The western USSR. Crimean Tatars initially viewed the Germans as liberators from Stalinism, and they had also been positively treated by the Germans in World War I . Many of the captured Crimean Tatars serving in the Red Army were sent to POW camps after Romanians and Nazis came to occupy the bulk of Crimea. Though Nazis initially called for murder of all "Asiatic inferiors" and paraded around Crimean Tatar POW's labeled as "Mongol sub-humanity", they revised this policy in
31464-516: The years of Soviet rule, the resorts and dachas of this coast were used by leading politicians and served as prime perquisites of the politically loyal. In addition, vineyards and fruit orchards are located in the region. Fishing, mining, and the production of essential oils are also important. Numerous Crimean Tatar villages, mosques, monasteries , and palaces of the Russian imperial family and nobles are found here, as well as picturesque ancient Greek and medieval castles. The Crimean Mountains and
31648-414: Was a Crimean Tatar activist, Musa Mamut , who was deported when he was 12 and who returned to Crimea because he wanted to see his home again. When the police informed him that he would be evicted, he set himself on fire. Nevertheless, 577 families managed to obtain state permission to reside in Crimea. In 1968 unrest erupted among the Crimean Tatar people in the Uzbek city of Chirchiq . In October 1973,
31832-405: Was also arrested for his advocacy for Crimean Tatar right to return to Crimea. Despite de-Stalinization , the situation didn't change until Gorbachev 's perestroika in the late 1980s. A 1987 Tatar protest near the Kremlin prompted Gorbachev to form the Gromyko Commission which found against Tatar claims, but a second commission recommended "renewal of autonomy" for Crimean Tatars. In 1989
32016-416: Was baptized at Sevastopol starting the Christianization of Kievan Rus' . The north and centre of Crimea fell to the Mongol Golden Horde , although the south coast was still controlled by the Christian Principality of Theodoro and Genoese colonies . The Genoese–Mongol Wars were fought between the 13th and 15th centuries for control of south Crimea. In the 1440s the Crimean Khanate formed out of
32200-446: Was deported with his family from Yevpatoria when he was 10 Officially due to the collaboration with the Axis powers during World War II , the Soviet government collectively punished ten ethnic minorities, among them the Crimean Tatars. Punishment included deportation to distant regions of Central Asia and Siberia . Soviet accounts of the late 1940s indict the Crimean Tatars collectively as an ethnicity of traitors. Although
32384-543: Was lifted during the Soviet census of 1989 . The first deportees started arriving in the Uzbek SSR on 29 May 1944 and most had arrived by 8 June 1944. The consequent mortality rate remains disputed; the NKVD kept incomplete records of the death rate among the resettled ethnicities living in exile. Like the other deported peoples, the Crimean Tatars were placed under the regime of special settlements . Many of those deported performed forced labor : their tasks included working in coal mines and construction battalions, under
32568-537: Was no fresh air since the doors and windows were bolted shut. In Kazakh SSR , the transport guards unlocked the door only to toss out the corpses along the railroad. The Crimean Tatars thus called these railcars " crematoria on wheels." The records show that at least 7,889 Crimean Tatars died during this long journey, amounting to about 4 per cent of their entire ethnicity. The high mortality rate continued for several years in exile due to malnutrition , labor exploitation , diseases, lack of medical care, and exposure to
32752-400: Was officially null and void. By 2004, the number of Crimean Tatars who had returned to Crimea had increased their share of the peninsula's population to 12 percent. The Soviet authorities had not assisted them during their return to Crimea nor had it compensated them for the land they lost in the deportation. The deportation and the subsequent assimilation efforts in Asia are crucial events in
32936-401: Was revived by the Russian Empire during the mass hellenization of Crimean Tatar place names after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate , including both the peninsula and mainland territories now in Ukraine's Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. In 1764 imperial authorities established the Taurida Oblast ( Tavricheskaia oblast ), and reorganized it as the Taurida Governorate in 1802. While
33120-524: Was seen as a symbolic victory of their efforts to return to their native land. They returned after 45 years of exile. Not one of the several ethnic groups who were deported during Stalin's era received any kind of financial compensation. Some Crimean Tatar groups and activists have called for the international community to put pressure on the Russian Federation, the successor state of the USSR, to finance rehabilitation of that ethnicity and provide financial compensation for forcible resettlement. Despite
33304-486: Was sentenced for the sixth time for "anti-Soviet activity" but was given moral support by the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov , who had observed Dzhemilev's fourth trial in 1976. When older dissidents were arrested, a new, younger generation emerged that would replace them. On 21 July 1967, representatives of the Crimean Tatars, led by the dissident Ayshe Seitmuratova , gained permission to meet with high-ranking Soviet officials in Moscow, including Yuri Andropov . During
33488-449: Was spoken by the Crimean Goths in some isolated locations in Crimea until the late 18th century. In the 9th century CE, Byzantium established the Theme of Cherson to defend against incursions by the Rus' Khaganate . The Crimean peninsula from this time was contested between Byzantium, Rus' and Khazaria . The area remained the site of overlapping interests and contact between the early medieval Slavic, Turkic and Greek spheres. It became
33672-436: Was supposedly crowned with the temple of Artemis where Iphigeneia officiated as priestess. Uchan-su , on the south slope of the mountains, is the highest waterfall in Crimea. There are 257 rivers and major streams on the Crimean peninsula; they are primarily fed by rainwater, with snowmelt playing a very minor role. This makes for significant seasonal fluctuation in water flow, with many streams drying up completely during
33856-399: Was where Wrangel 's anti-Bolshevik White Army made their last stand. Many anti-Communist fighters and civilians escaped to Istanbul but up to 150,000 were killed in Crimea. In 1921 the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . It was occupied by Germany from 1942 to 1944 during the Second World War . After
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