Interview by Oleg Kusov. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Interesting interlocutors are always welcome at Vestnik Kavkaza. Oleg Kusov gives everyone in the studio an opportunity to speak. The Caucasus is not the only topic of discussions. A half hour conversation goes fast. Take My Word offers conversations in video, audio and text formats.
- Our guest here is Rustam Arifjafov, the editor-in-chief of Al-RTV and vice president of the Eurasian Television and Radio Academy. Rustam, speaking about the Crimean-Tatar society, I have a feeling that some people in the society were not happy with the return of Crimea to Russia.
- You are right. The process has several explanations. One of them is that the return of Crimean Tatars to the homeland started back in 1989. In other words, the Tatars deported from the Crimean ASSR in 1944, when the peninsula was part of Russia, were almost back in Ukraine and living in Ukraine for all those years. A generation of Crimeans who could not see themselves anywhere else than in Ukraine grew up. People aged up to 30, or maybe even 35, realized they were in the Ukrainian state.
Secondly, Crimean Tatars were under accusations for all these years, and only in Russia, in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree on rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatars, were they lifted. A cruel, unjust accusation of treachery. Fearing the accusations forced them to be more careful, suspicious, lest they should be accused of betraying the Ukrainian state in this case.
There is a third reason. It is very subjective. It is no secret that Crimean Tatars had their own liberation movement, called Kurultay Majlis, fighting for the return of Crimean Tatars to their homeland. Being there, in Crimea, it fought for the preservation and development of its language, for the rights for the rehabilitation of their people. They were struggling for that, but the leaders of the Majlis formed a stereotype that they need to fight against everything, although being part of Russia was offering a different opportunity to the Crimean Tatars and the Crimean Peninsula, and they need different leaders, leaders ready to build. The rights Russia gives them are extremely great. They need to use them and focus on their people. Instead, the struggle continues by inertia. To be perfectly honest, in this atmosphere (because the Crimean Tatars were an extraneous body to Ukraine because Ukraine was a unitary state, declaring that it was a state of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian nation) Crimean Tatars, as an integral nation, were a concern to the Security Service of Ukraine. So the security structures were working with the authorities of the Crimean Tatars very scrupulously for all those 23 years.
- There was ideological work.
- Yes. And now the authorities of the Crimean Tatars – Mr. Jemilev, Chubarov and a set of people – value the interests of Ukraine more than those of their own people. No wonder Jemilev and Chubarov have been banned from Russia for 5 years. Since none of them gave up Ukrainian citizenship, have not become Russian citizens, our laws allow us to ban foreigners from our territories if their speeches and actions create an explosive situation in the country and spread interethnic tensions. There are certainly many problems. It is a snarl of complications that influence the Crimean Tatars. It would be easiest to ignore the complications, fail to understand them and try to break them and drastically drive them out, like into collective farms sometime before, to the Russian Federation. But I think the Crimean Tatars will not move anywhere from Crimea, deporting them again is impossible, it would be lawless, it would never happen, they should live with them and cooperate. This is why they should be carried over, gradually explaining, caring about them, and taught that Russia is a multiethnic state and every nationality has its own rights on its territory, has its own obligations, has colossal opportunities for national development.
- You are saying what should be done. In other words, it has not been done yet?
- I will say honestly, Moscow has an understanding of it. Understanding of it in Simferopol will be a little more complicated. You need to understand that the elites have not been changed yet. Crimea is dominated by practically the same elite that was there during Yushchenko, Yanukovych and other leaders of Ukraine.
- Are you talking about the medium layer?
- No, I am talking about the elite. The State Council of Crimea was elected in the Ukrainian state. It is somewhat nonsense. They are people who were part of the Party of Regions, the Rukh Movement or the Fatherland Party. Some of them left Crimea but the majority of them are deputies elected in a different state. Many top posts are occupied by people from a different state. This is not our elite. Part of them, of course, realizes and rejoices that they are part of Russia. The rudiments, of course, manifest themselves in the attitude towards the Crimean Tatars as well. I think that Crimea needs a new elite, Crimea needs a fresh wind. Maybe the fresh wind would come from elections that will be held in the Crimean Republic and Sevastopol in mid-September, not just in the State Council of Crimea, on the municipal level, in the cities of Crimea etc.
- I think that discussing the issues will be part of the goals of our TV channel.
- Doubtlessly, Muslims are citizens of Russia, we care about Muslims, among other things in preventing fencing of the territory: “this is where we, Muslims, are, that is where others are.” A Muslim is in a mosque. He can be following certain rituals, certain Islamic traditions, but in all other aspects he is a Russian citizen and should live according to the laws of the country, should be treated respectfully and with care, regardless of the rites he believes in or the language he speaks.
Interview by Oleg Kusov. Exclusively for Vestnik KavkazaInteresting interlocutors are always welcome at Vestnik Kavkaza. Oleg Kusov gives everyone in the studio an opportunity to speak. The Caucasus is not the only topic of discussions. A half hour conversation goes fast. Take My Word offers conversations in video, audio and text formats._ Our guest here is Rustam Arifjafov, the editor-in-chief of Al-RTV and vice president of the Eurasian Television and Radio Academy. Rustam, speaking about the Crimean-Tatar society, I have a feeling that some people in the society were not happy with the return of Crimea to Russia.- You are right. The process has several explanations. One of them is that the return of Crimean Tatars to the homeland started back in 1989. In other words, the Tatars deported from the Crimean ASSR in 1944, when the peninsula was part of Russia, were almost back in Ukraine and living in Ukraine for all those years. A generation of Crimeans who could not see themselves anywhere else than in Ukraine grew up. People aged up to 30, or maybe even 35, realized they were in the Ukrainian state.Secondly, Crimean Tatars were under accusations for all these years, and only in Russia, in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree on rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatars, were they lifted. A cruel, unjust accusation of treachery. Fearing the accusations forced them to be more careful, suspicious, lest they should be accused of betraying the Ukrainian state in this case.There is a third reason. It is very subjective. It is no secret that Crimean Tatars had their own liberation movement, called Kurultay Majlis, fighting for the return of Crimean Tatars to their homeland. Being there, in Crimea, it fought for the preservation and development of its language, for the rights for the rehabilitation of their people. They were struggling for that, but the leaders of the Majlis formed a stereotype that they need to fight against everything, although being part of Russia was offering a different opportunity to the Crimean Tatars and the Crimean Peninsula, and they need different leaders, leaders ready to build. The rights Russia gives them are extremely great. They need to use them and focus on their people. Instead, the struggle continues by inertia. To be perfectly honest, in this atmosphere (because the Crimean Tatars were an extraneous body to Ukraine because Ukraine was a unitary state, declaring that it was a state of the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian nation) Crimean Tatars, as an integral nation, were a concern to the Security Service of Ukraine. So the security structures were working with the authorities of the Crimean Tatars very scrupulously for all those 23 years.- There was ideological work.- Yes. And now the authorities of the Crimean Tatars – Mr. Jemilev, Chubarov and a set of people – value the interests of Ukraine more than those of their own people. No wonder Jemilev and Chubarov have been banned from Russia for 5 years. Since none of them gave up Ukrainian citizenship, have not become Russian citizens, our laws allow us to ban foreigners from our territories if their speeches and actions create an explosive situation in the country and spread interethnic tensions. There are certainly many problems. It is a snarl of complications that influence the Crimean Tatars. It would be easiest to ignore the complications, fail to understand them and try to break them and drastically drive them out, like into collective farms sometime before, to the Russian Federation. But I think the Crimean Tatars will not move anywhere from Crimea, deporting them again is impossible, it would be lawless, it would never happen, they should live with them and cooperate. This is why they should be carried over, gradually explaining, caring about them, and taught that Russia is a multiethnic state and every nationality has its own rights on its territory, has its own obligations, has colossal opportunities for national development.- You are saying what should be done. In other words, it has not been done yet?- I will say honestly, Moscow has an understanding of it. Understanding of it in Simferopol will be a little more complicated. You need to understand that the elites have not been changed yet. Crimea is dominated by practically the same elite that was there during Yushchenko, Yanukovych and other leaders of Ukraine.- Are you talking about the medium layer?- No, I am talking about the elite. The State Council of Crimea was elected in the Ukrainian state. It is somewhat nonsense. They are people who were part of the Party of Regions, the Rukh Movement or the Fatherland Party. Some of them left Crimea but the majority of them are deputies elected in a different state. Many top posts are occupied by people from a different state. This is not our elite. Part of them, of course, realizes and rejoices that they are part of Russia. The rudiments, of course, manifest themselves in the attitude towards the Crimean Tatars as well. I think that Crimea needs a new elite, Crimea needs a fresh wind. Maybe the fresh wind would come from elections that will be held in the Crimean Republic and Sevastopol in mid-September, not just in the State Council of Crimea, on the municipal level, in the cities of Crimea etc.- I think that discussing the issues will be part of the goals of our TV channel.- Doubtlessly, Muslims are citizens of Russia, we care about Muslims, among other things in preventing fencing of the territory: “this is where we, Muslims, are, that is where others are.” A Muslim is in a mosque. He can be following certain rituals, certain Islamic traditions, but in all other aspects he is a Russian citizen and should live according to the laws of the country, should be treated respectfully and with care, regardless of the rites he believes in or the language he speak
