Crimean News No15
The archives of a famous linguist have been returned to their homeland
Will the Chairman of the Mejlis be replaced in the autumn?
"Konsol" Construction firm made more flats
The Exercises of Ukrainian and U.S. NAVY
The archives of a famous linguist have been returned to their homeland
The archives of a famous linguist Usein Kurkchi, which include a hand-written Crimean Tatar dictionary of phrases, have been given to the I.Gasprinskiy Republican Crimean Tatar Library. Usein Kurkchi was 90 years old when he died in December of 1997 in Margilan, Uzbekistan. He dedicated many years of his life to searching problems in the Tatar language and to the creation of a Crimean Tatar dictionary. Kurkchi’s important contribution to learning could be compared with the work of Vladimir Dal, the author of the Russian dictionary. One of Kurkchi’s relatives saved his works after his death. In the autumn of 1998, representatives of the Gasprinskiy Crimean Tatar Library and the Crimean Ministry of Culture went to Uzbekistan in order to co-ordinate the transfer of the archives to the library. The library will publish the dictionary if it manages to collect enough money.
Gulnara Useinova, newspaper "Golos Kryma" ("Voice of Crimea"), No 30 (297), 23July 1999, p. 1.
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On Customs incident.
On July 14 a meeting took place between one of the Representatives of Ukraine, Remzi Havadzi and Reshide Izzetova, a woman who was sent back to Uzbekistan when she tried to return to Crimea. The staff of the Customs Service of the "Simferopol" airport took part in the meeting as well. It was decided that some of the employees of the Customs Service did in fact violate the airport's policy when they turned back Izzetova. The guilty members of the airport staff will be subjected to disciplinary action.
Information Service of the Mejlis, newspaper "Krim" ("Crimea"), No 30 (527), 24 July 1999, p. 1.
News of the Mejlis
On July 14 the Chairman of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People Mustafa Dzhemilev was invitated by the French Ambassador to participate in the celebration of the French national holiday at the "Ukrainian House" in Kiev.
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The International Institute lead the seminar called "Youth in Politics" in Kiev from July 15 to July 18 for NGOs of Ukraine. The main purpose of the seminar was to encourage the participation of youth in the presidential elections and politics in general.
Informational Service of the Mejlis, newspaper "Golos Kryma" ("Voice of Crimea"), No 30 (297), 23July 1999, p. 1.
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Will the Chairman of the Mejlis be replaced in the autumn?
The next session of the Kurultay will be held in August and September, 1999. The delegates of the Kurultay have the right to change the Chairman of Mejlis.
Vasfi Abduraimov, member of the Informational Working Group of the National Movement of the Crimean Tatars (NMCT) said, "…in order to promote democracy within the "democratic body", one person should not be a Chairman for more than two terms…". To the question, does NMCT have some of its members within the Kurultay? he said, "we think that this organization [Kurultay] does not reflect the mentality of the Crimean Tatars. We think that Mejlis-Kurultay is a harmful organization. Even the idea of creating self-governing bodies is dangerous, harmful and unnecessary. That’s why we do not have representatives within these organizations".
Refat Dzhemilev, member of the Council of Aksakals (Elders) under the Chairman of the Verkhovnaya Rada (Parliament) of Crimea said, "The issue is that Mustafa Dzhemilev wants to be the "commander" of all Crimean Tatars in the world. Not too long ago there was talk of establishing a Global Congress of Crimean Tatars with Mustafa Dzhemilev as its president".
Lenur Arifov, the Chairman of the "Millet" (Nation) movement said, "In September there will be a session of the Kurultay. Kurultay is more important than Global Congress because Congress is an NGO, but Kurultay is a representative body of the people. I will support the idea of replacing the Chairman of the Mejlis, but I do not know who should replace him".
Alexey Nezhivoy, newspaper "Krymskoe Vremya" ("Crimean Time"), No 131 (752), 17 July 1999, p. 6.
Our comment.
Within the Crimean Tatar National Movement there are some small groups which oppose the idea of a democratically elected representative body – Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and Kurultay. These groups (NMCT, Council of Aksakals (Elders), "Millet" (Nation) Movement) conduct their own activities: giving interviews, organizing meetings, playing political games with official powers, etc. They want to diminish the influence of the Mejlis and the Kurultay.
"Konsol" Construction firm made more flats
On July 16 the "Konsol" firm finished the second building in Feodosia that contains 30 apartments. This building was constructed for the formerly deported Crimean Tatars. At the end of 1998 the Feodosia administration and the Republican Committee on Nationalities and Deported People signed an agreement with "Konsol" to construct a number of buildings. On April 20 the construction firm began the work and in two and a half months constructed two five-story buildings for 70 families.
V.Frolov, newspaper "Krymskaya Pravda" ("Crimean Truth"), No 131 (22303), 20 July 1999, p. 1.
The Exercises of Ukrainian and U.S. NAVY
A few ships of the Ukrainian and U.S. NAVY conducted exercises called "Sea-Breeze-99". The exercises, which took place in the Mediterranean Sea on July 22, were part of a program called "The Partnership for Peace". The main purpose of the exercises was to train for peace-keeping operations.
Interfax-Ukraine, newspaper "Krymskie Izvestiya" ("Crimean News"), No 145 (1897), 27 July 1999, p. 8.
The Autonomy’s economic pride
Last Wednesday (July 14) the Verkhovnaya Rada (Parliament) of Crimea agreed on a budget and formed a Budget Code. The Autonomy intends to pay Kiev for "all-state needs" only $10 million, which is less then 5% of the amount that is needed for all-state needs.
The government of Crimea sent a draft of its plan to the President of Ukraine for his approval. Here we have a legal collision: this decision is within the Crimean Constitution, but contradicts the budget and tax legislation of Ukraine. Will Kiev agree with such an initiative of the Autonomy? Verkhovnaya Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine accepted the Crimean Constitution and at same time created the Budget Code of Ukraine and the two documents contradict each other.
The Speaker of the Crimean Parliament Leonid Gratch said many times that the Autonomy should have the right to be economically self-sufficient. He said that Crimea should not be given subsidies and that it should be economically independent. The Head of the Main Budget Department in the Ministry of Finance, Anatoliy Msksuta said, "5 percent is not enough".
Nikolay Semena, newspaper "Zerkalo Nedeli" ("Week Mirror"), No29 (250), 24 July 1999, p.7.