Crimean news 36.
(Mass Media survey for 13 -17 December 1999).
Rallies held to protect rights.
Crimean Tatars intend to have
their representatives in the Bakhchisaray organs of power
End of the "Bakhchisaray
epic."
Parliamentary crisis was solved by
the Presidium resignation
New Consulting Council has been
created.
Georgian consul arrives in Crimea.
Majority of unemployed are women.
Support in learning the native
language.
Politics.
Rallies held to protect rights.
A meeting of Crimean Tatars devoted to International
Human Rights Day was held in Simferopol on December 10th. A resolution was
adopted after several speeches, which noted that discrimination against native peoples
in the Crimea still continues. In particular, we notice this in the absence of
Crimean Tatar representatives in the Supreme Court of Crimea and in the disregard
for their interests in the privatization process. The resolution also supports protest
against the war waged by the Russian government in Chechnya: "At the
moment, the Crimean Tatars and the Chechens are enduring a period of chauvinist
aggression,” notes the Resolution. “That
is why we are addressing the world communities at the UN and OSCE asking them to
force certain countries of the former USSR to solve their nationality problems in
civil ways."
The same day, a rally of Crimean Tatars was
held near the Saki city state administration. It was devoted to the restoration
of the rights they have been deprived of and also to the ending of military
actions in Chechnya. The Crimean Tatars - the real landowners - have almost no
land because of several reasons. There is no single representative of the
Crimean Tatars in Saki city council, even if there are more than 2000 Crimean
Tatars in the city. There are only 2 Crimean Tatar deputies in the city
administration out of 70 existing places. "Who will protect our
rights?"-Asked the people at the rally. But the district and city
administration representatives did not even bother to leave their warm cabinets
to come to the gathering and answer their vital questions. They just occaisionally
looked out of their windows and did not hear the peoples’ address.
A resolution calling to protect the rights of
compatriots was adopted at the end of the rally. Copies of the resolution were
given to the city, district, and republic administrations.
R.Seitmemetov, N.Halilov, "Golos Kryma," #51(318), 17 December
1999, p.1.
Crimean Tatars intend to have their
representatives in the Bakhchisaray organs of power.
The Crimean Tatars, who blocked the building of
the Bakhchisaray district administration building on December 10, ended the
action on December 11. Some 500 gathered near the building of the district
state administration demanding to discharge the head of the administration,
Leontiy Sheketa, who is a deputy of the Crimean Supreme Court and a member of
the Communist party. The Crimean Tatars demanded to nominate the chairman of Bakhchisaray
regional Mejlis, Ilmi Umerov, instead of Leontiy Sheketa. A portion of those assembled
(some 60 people) entered the administration building and stated that they would
not leave until the problem was solved.
According to M.Djemilev, the main reason for conflict
is the absence of Crimean Tatars in the district organs of power, since Crimean
Tatars make up one-fourth of the district population (25 thousand). "The
Crimean Tatars have to use these kind of methods in order get their
representatives into the organs of power” - stated the leader of the Mejlis. He
also gave the information that the action had been stopped and its participants
had left the building when the chairman of the Ministry Council of Crimea, Sergey
Kunitsyn, met with them. He promised to solve the problem of discharging L.Sheketa's.
In addition, the Crimean Tatars were promised that I. Umerov would be nominated
as the first assistant of the district administrative head.
The same day, Sergey Kunitsyn expressed his
opinion in an interview saying that Leonid Kuchma, after being elected the
President of Ukraine again, should conduct new nominations of the district administrative
leaders. He also reminded us that 2/3 of the electors in Bakhchisaray voted for
Petr Simonenko, and 1/3 - for L.Kuchma.
The chairman of Bakhchisaray Mejlis, Ilmi
Umerov, stated the following in his interview: " We will insist on having
more Crimean Tatar representatives in the power structures, and if this problem
is not solved, we will then have to resort to protest actions."
Interfax-Ukraine, "Krymskiye Izvestiya," #233(854), 14
December 1999, p.3/
The Mejlis’ action in Bakhchisaray, of course,
has not delighted the Russian population of the region. The local organization
of the Russian community in Crimea decided to conduct a rally aimed against the
Mejlis action on December 13. The
address to the Crimean government states that the purpose of the Mejlis action
is to occupy power at the district level with so-called "Native
Nations" organizations. The authors of the address demanded a careful
investigation and the punishment of those who are responsible for organizing
the occupation of the building. The Russian community members expressed their
strict objection against nominating Crimean Tatar Mejlis activists to leading
positions.
Alexey Nejivoy, "Krymskoye Vremya," #233(854), 14 December
1999, p.3.
* * *
The district dwellers held a rally supporting
the current Bakhchisaray administration leader. The participants demanded the
investigation and punishment of those who are responsible for carrying out
illegal actions on December 10. They also decided to support the decision of
the Bakhchisaray state district council to assert Leontiy Sheket in the
position of district administrative head for the next term. The Russian
community of Crimea supported the action. The same day, deputies of the Bakhchisaray
district Council were gathered for a session. They made an assurance that they
were ready to support the candidature of the current district leader.
Program "Novosty," TV-Company "Inter."
End of the "Bakhchisaray epic."
On the day when the protest meeting was held in
Bakhchisaray, Leonid Kuchma, the President of Ukraine, signed an order to
nominate kolkhoz director Vladimir Tsyganskiy to the position of district state
administrator. When he was questioned if he would nominate Ilmi Umerov as his
first assistant, he answered that he had not decided yet.
Tatyana Ryabchikova, "Krymskaya Pravda," #230(22402), 15
December 1999, p.2.
* * *
The news about nominating a new leader was not adequate
in the district. The presentation procedure became a long discussion, since there
were many supporters of Leontiy Sheketa at the presentation. People were eager
to know why the leadership term of Leontiy Sheketa was not being prolonged. The
process of changing executive leaders on the district and oblast levels is conducted
on the entire territory of Ukraine, but only in Crimea does it create a
dangerous situation on the district level. However, the nomination was held and
the president has the power to choose a candidature he thinks is the most
appropriate. There was one more problem that worried people: who would be the
assistant to the new leader, and will the problems of the Crimean Tatars be
solved in the district? Vladimir Tsyganskiy expressed his opinion in the
following way: " I think it will do all of us good if a Crimean Tatar will
be one of my assistants. But he has to have good business qualities, and have a
good knowledge of problems concerning the deported.”
"Krymskaya Gazeta," #231(15846), 17 December 1999, p.1.
Parliamentary crisis was solved by the
Presidium resignation.
The urgent Parliamentary crisis, which actually
blocked the work of the Crimean Supreme Court, was solved by the resignation of
the Presidium on 16 November. The Democratic Parliament majority headed by Crimean
Ministry Council Sergey Kunitsyn was formed before the resignation. It includes
the "Soglasiye" and "Respublika" factions. The majority
expressed its initiative to add some more details to the session agenda.
The Parliamentary speaker, Leonid Grach, made
the work of the deputies unreasonable by using some parts of regalement.
Neither attempts to compromise nor to create agreement commissions were
successful. The session could not begin its work for the whole day.
"Communists and national power" factions definitely denied obeying the
principals of the communist party - the principal of democratic centralization.
Obviously, some other rule in the fight with opponents was appropriate: all means
are good for the achievement of goals. Having made sure that the opposite
propositions of the two factions were useless, 51 deputies voted for changing
the agenda of the Supreme Court and passed a resolution dealing with staff
problems on the evening of December 15.
The Parliament crisis worsened on Thursday.
Leonid Grach refused to leave the problems of the accounts and the Presidium
members' voting rotation. Most of the deputies proposed to discharge the
Supreme Court Presidium and its chairman. 51 deputies voted for this variant as
a way out of this crisis. As a result, 51 deputies voted for conducting an extraordinary
Parliament session, which will finally decide the fate of the Crimean Supreme
Court Presidium.
However, it all depends on the President of
Ukraine, who received several addresses from both opposing sides.
"Krymskaya Gazeta," #232(15847), 18 December 1999, p.2.
The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar nation passed a
resolution related to provocation in the Russian press intended to provoke
religious and national hatred in Crimea. The ground for this resolution was the
publication of the article "Crimean breakdown” on November 24, 1999, in
the Russian newspaper "Izvestiya." It says that the peninsula can become a new center of vahabbism
and a base for preparing Islamic soldiers. The Resolution states that the
Document is not only inadequate for the real situation in the Crimea, but also
contains several fragments which are actually fiction and which do not express the
real opinions of certain persons that the author interviewed during her visit
in Crimea. She used lies, distorting evaluations and facts that she got during
interviews. She sometimes expressed the opposite of the real opinions of her
interviewers.
It is noteworthy that the conclusion of the
article is based on the speeches of Crimean communists and the Parliament,
which is famous for its anti Crimean Tatar views and activities, which have
remained after the Soviet regime.
Moslems were abused by the provocation of
distrust and enmity for people of different religions in the article. Propagation,
educational and charity activities of a religious or a public organization is a
usual occasion. The wish of the Crimean Tatars to restore destroyed mosques and
build new ones related to the traditional practice of Islam must be respected also.
In a multi-national and multi-religious society like Ukraine, the desire to
present one of the religions, and the people belonging to it, a nation or
national group, as a source of threat for the other nations or national groups and
confessions is an irresponsible and dangerous provocation.
"Kyrim," #51(548), 18 December 1999, p.3.
New Consulting Council has been created.
Under the support of the Crimean development
and integration Program of the UN (PRIK U), a consulting center has been
organized in Crimea. PRIK UN has to solve the problems of integration and
development of deported nations. They held a "round-table" in order
to solve socio-economic, ethnic and national problems under this program.
Leaders of state structures, representatives of public organizations,
representatives of the President and the Supreme Court representatives took
part in the work of the "round-table."
Nadir Bekirov, a member of Mejlis, noted in his
speech that the Parliament of Ukraine prevents discussion of the Crimean Tatar
nation's problems. N. Bekirov also told about reports and speeches made at International
conferences and about the Human Rights conference results, which were held in Kiev,
Geneva and Strasbourg.
Boris
Balayan, the chairman of the national community association in the Crimea, announced
that on behalf of the other Crimean nations he had informed the Parliament of
Ukraine that he would protest against discussing Crimean Tatar problems in the
Parliament.
Program "Haberler," ("News"), the Crimean Tatar
editorial office, state TV-Company "Krym."
Georgian consul arrives in Crimea.
Georgian consul Nikolay Gohitidze arrived in
Simferopol to receive documents for the giving up of citizenship of the
deported that are refugees from Georgia and now live in the Crimea. As the
passport, registration and migration services inform, there are 3250 refugees
from Georgia in Crimea. Moreover, 50 of them are ethnic Georgians and the rest
are representatives of the deported nations and their ancestors. The Crimean
Tatars make up the majority. Most of them came to Crimea for permanent residence.
The Georgian consul will accept the necessary documents for the giving up of
Georgian citizenship until December 19.
Interfax-Ukraine, "Krymskiye Izvestiya," #242(1993), 16
December 1999, p.4.
Social
sphere.
Majority of unemployed are women.
Some
200 thousand people applied to the employment services of Crimea during 11
months of the current year. 70 thousand of them received official status as
unemployed. Women make up the majority in this category (54 per cent). There
are 17 persons applying for every one position in Crimea, and there are 8615
unemployed in Crimea who are younger than 28. About 3 thousand young men were sent
to learn some skills. Crimean enterprises and organizations created 2.5
thousand seasonal positions during 9 months.
KIA, "Krymskaya Gazeta," #230(15844), 14 December 1999, p.1.
Culture.
Support in learning the native language.
Under an International program of integration
of Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Greeks, and other deported nations into Ukrainian
society, a republic seminar was held in Simferopol. The "school and the children’s
library are helping to transform the educational process in the Crimean Tatar
language." A seminar organized by the Crimean Tatar "Ismail Gasprinsky"
library is aimed at extending work with Crimean Tatar children. Library workers
from different regions of Crimea took part in it.
L.Lebedeva, "Krymskiye Izvestiya," #243-244(19994-1995), 17-18
December 1999, p.3.
* * *
The problems of education in the Crimean Tatar
language, restoring the native language, basic steps in the history of Crimean
Tatar literature, the status of school and children’s libraries in the system
of libraries - these and some other problems were the subject of discussion at
the seminar. The seminar participants were introduced to the works of Crimean
Tatar writers. They also met modern writers, visited the Ismail Gasprinskiy
republic library and the Republic children’s library.
Gulnara Useinova, "Golos Kryma,"
#51(318), 17 December 1999, p.1