The Crimean News No. 65
(Mass Media Review for July 3 – 8, 2000 )
Adalet Party Plans to Register
Initial Meeting of the Working Group
Whether Crimea Will Become “Cradle of Orthodoxy”
They Again Oppose to Fair Land Distribution
We Can't Do without Land Redistribution in Crimea
Adalet Party Plans to Register
The Crimean Tatar national
party Adalet (Justice) plans to register as a political party of Ukraine. This decision,
which “is the result of inadequate efforts of Ukrainian political parties that
defend political rights of Crimean
Tatar people and national groups,” was
adopted at the Fourth Party Congress on June
1, 2000.
However, according to the
present legislation procedures, to become an all-Ukrainian organization, Adalet
has to have regional branches in at least 14 oblasts of the country. Today
party regional branches are operational in 7 oblasts of Ukraine.
In connection with the planned
registration with Ukrainian authorities, amendments and changes were introduced
in the Party Bylaws. The main goal of Adalet is to ensure “the fastest return
of the Crimean Tatar nation to its historical homeland and integration into
Ukrainian society.” The party intends to seek
compensation for material and moral losses of the Crimean Tatar people
caused by the deportation, and
implementation of Crimean Tatar language as an official language along with
Russian and Ukrainian in all spheres of life in Crimea.
The Constituent Assembly of
the Adalet Party was held on August 19, 1995. In September 1999, Fevzi
Kubedinov was elected Chairman of Adalet, who noted that the party underwent
reorganization, and Central Council was reinstated.
Bedriye Camci, Avdet (The Return) newspaper, N
13 (247),July 4, 2000, p. 2.
* * *
The same day delegates
approved the Party attributes. On the logo there are the she-wolf, symbol of
preserving life; the crescent, symbol of renewal; the Crimean Tatar Tamga,
sign of equality, and the name Adalet.
Aleksey Nejivoy, The Krymskoye Vremya (The Crimean Time) newspaper,
N 118 (985), July 4, 2000, p. 3.
After 50 days
of tense negotiations, members of the Simferopol Regional Mejlis and Simferopol
State District Administration have reached a compromise. A protocol has been
signed between parties, which includes
several clauses for resolving problems*. One of these clauses concerns the
decision to establish a working group of the members of the Regional Mejlis and
District Administration. Several other decisions were reached as well.
Talyat Asanov, The Golos Kryma (The Voice of Crimea) newspaper,
N 28 (347), July 7, 2000 , p. 1.
*Redistribution of land, representation of Crimean
Tatars in local government bodies, etc.
An initial meeting of the
working group was held to resolve issues raised by Crimean Tatars during the
recent mass protest. There is no legislative resolution for Crimean Tatars’
demands for their representation on the Crimean Parliament and local government
bodies and allocation of land plot for those who are not members of the
collective agricultural enterprises. These questions were discussed several
times at various levels. However, without amendments to the current legislation
they cannot be resolved.
At the first sitting, members
of the working group discussed organizational issues of cooperation for working
out possible solutions. Decisions of the working group will be submitted to the
Presidential Administration, and through deputies of the Ukrainian Parliament –
to the highest legislative body of Ukraine to adopt amendments to the
legislation.
Mariya Lashkina, The “Krymskiye Izvestiya” (The
Crimean News), N 120 (2124), July 5, 2000, p. 3.
Whether Crimea Will Become
“Cradle of Orthodoxy”
Mustafa Jemilev, the Chairman
of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, met with Patriarch Filaret, Head of
the Ukrainian Orthodox Christian Church.
During the meeting, problems
between Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox Churches were discussed.* The Mejlis
Chairman expressed his discontent with the attempts of Lazar, Head of Crimean Eparchy, to turn Crimea into
a “cradle of Orthodoxy.”
Filaret condemned the
activities of the local church which mounts crosses and promotional panels
throughout Crimea. The Patriarch described these activities of the Crimean
Eparchy as creating tensions. .
According to him, to present attributes or mount panels outside of religious
buildings and specially in designated areas is provocative and disrespectful of
other religious communities.
The Avdet (The Return) newspaper, N 13
(247), July 4, 2000, p. 1.
*After the USSR collapsed and independent states were
formed, the Orthodox Church was divided into Ukrainian and Russian factions.
The Crimean Eparchy of the Orthodox Church regards itself as part of the
Russian Eparchy and does not recognize the Ukrainian Church.
They Again Oppose to Fair Land
Distribution
A meeting to discuss the present situation with regard to the agrarian reform in Crimea was held on July 1. The necessity to complete the reorganization of Collective Agriculture Enterprises (CAE) and the violations that occurred during the reorganization were discussed.
V. Kiselyov, who presided over
the meeting, emphasized that the demand for redistribution of land in Crimea is
made up, illegal, and is a political problem that has no real basis because
some 10% of the Crimean Tatars living in the rural areas have a right to obtain
land certificates. And the rest of the Crimean Tatar rural population was
proposed to receive land with preliminary exchange of lands of reserve and
collective agriculture enterprises.
S. Kaybullayev, member of the
Mejlis, who is responsible for handling land problems commented on the
situation: "V. Kiselyov's statements and proposals result from ignoring
reality and his unwillingness to recognize the necessity of solving the most
urgent problem of providing Crimean Tatars in rural areas with land. He also
ignores the proposals of the Mejlis of
the Crimean Tatar people for a fair
solution.
Mejlis
press-service, "Kirim"(Crimea) newspaper, , N30 (579), July 8,
2000, p.1.
We Can't Do without Land
Redistribution in Crimea
The most crucial issue in Crimea is the problem of providing land plots for rural population.
Urojaynoye village of Simferopol district is a typical Crimean village. But it's perhaps unusual because its inhabitants, people of different nationalities, have united and are striving to gain their rights. There are many problems, the same as anywhere else in Crimea. The pain most endured by everyone is the unfair land division, as a result of which hundreds of village residents have been left without land plots.
There was a rally demanding to solve these problems in Urojaynoye back in 1997. Today the protests are held with the same demand. Village inhabitants have repeatedly tried to draw the attention of local, district and republic authorities to their problems.
The adult population of the
village is around 2,500, but only 545 of them have the right to obtain land
plots. For example, people who had worked for kolkhoz and then changed their
places of work in order to earn a better pension have been left without land
today. Teachers and medical workers have no opportunity to get land. Crimean
Tatars, who are returning from the places of exile and resettle under extremely
difficult conditions have been deprived of the right to take part in land
distribution. Only 60 Crimean Tatars out of 692 who have already obtained
Ukrainian citizenship, have land certificates. More than 500 Crimean Tatars
submitted their applications in order to get a medium-size land plot. But they
are being turned down because of the absence of legislation to give land to
those who did not work in kolkhoz in 1996 when the lists were prepared.
This agrarian reform has not
been carefully thought out and does not take into account of the interests of most people. There is no other
way out but land redistribution. A. Danilenko,
the Chairman of State Committee on land resources, visited Crimea in order to
study the situation with the land distribution. He agreed with the opinion of
local activists that the use of the reserve land, which is proposed to be given
to Crimean Tatars won't solve the problem. These lands are of the worst
quality, while people need good agricultural land. Where can we find enough land to provide the deprived people and
spare some of those who have not returned yet? A proposition to the leadership
of Crimea was made to suspend issuing
documents for land ownership and to develop a complex of measures aimed at
providing all rural population with
plots of average size in that region.
The "Avdet"("Returning"),
N13 (247), July 4, 2000, p.3.
Crimean Tatar cultural and
ethnographical center "Kokkoz," previously called
"Kokkozy," was created as an initiative of the Union for rural tourism in Crimea, Republican Crimean Tatar Arts Museum, and other organizations
in the village.
There are sight-seeing
opportunities for the tourists. For example, cultural and architectural
monuments such as Yusupovskiy Palace,
Ali-bey Bulgakov's mosque, and the fountains are of great interest.
The center plans to open workshops for leather crafts, arts, stone
carving, metal works, carpet making, jewelry, and pottery. Several families agreed to accept tourists
in their houses.
The village is situated in a
picturesque spot. There are Big Canyon and China Waterfall close to the
village. These and other places will be of interests to visiting by local and
foreign tourists.
The specialists of the Crimean
Tatar museum helped renovate interiors of the local craft museums. Crimean
Tatar theatre performed the play, "Bakhchisaray Fountain" (based on A.S.Pushkin's work of the
same name) for
guests and dwellers of the village.
The "Krymskiye Izvestiya"(Crimean
News) newspaper, N120 (2124), July
5, 2000, p.7.