Reactions in Crimean capital as Tatars vote for autonomy

Reactions from locals in Crimea after Saturday's motion where representatives of the Tatars voted for autonomy following Russia's seizure of the peninsula. Duration: 00:51

Published

11 months ago

Topics

Politics & Government

People

Joseph Stalin, Sergei Aksyonov

Places

United States of America, Ukraine, Russia, Moscow, Black Sea

Transcript

SHOTLIST Simferopol, Crimea. 1 April 2014 Source: AFPTV Voxpop 1 (Russian, Male, 8 sec): "Just as in any country there are people who are dissatisfied, they want their own way. But I think everything will be fine." Voxpop 2 (Russian, Female, 5 sec): "We work together, we live together. How could we be divided and create an autonomous state? No way." Voxpop 3 (Russian, Female, 10 sec) on the Tatars: "They are normal people, everything will be fine, people will come to understand that their lives will go back to normal in Crimea. We won't have any problem with them." Voxpop 4 (Russian, Female, 12 sec): "We're together with Russia, it's a unity of nations. To me Crimea is what the USSR was, all nations were united: lots of different nationalities but all living together peacefully." VAR - passers by in the middle of town /// --------------------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY Tatar minority seeks autonomy in Crimea / Bakhchysaray (Undefined) - 29 March 2014 22:20 - AFP (Maria ANTONOVA) - 2NDLEAD ADDS details on authorities Ukraine Russia politics crisis Crimea Tatars 29 March 2014 Crimea's Tatars on Saturday voted to push for self-rule in their historic homeland following its annexation by Russia, but remained torn on how to engage with the new authorities. Ethnic Tatars from all over Crimea convened in the town of Bakhchysaray for an emergency Qurultai, or congress, to decide on the fate of the Muslim community of about 300,000 people on the Black Sea peninsula. "There comes a moment in the life of every people when a choice must be made that will determine its future," said Tatar leader Refat Chubarov. The Tatars, which make up about 12 percent of Crimea's population, strongly opposed and largely boycotted the hastily-organised March 16 referendum that saw the peninsula split from Ukraine. Chubarov said that if Russians in Crimea were given the chance to determine their future, all those involved "have to proceed from the premise that the Crimean Tatars also have this right". Suspicion of Moscow is high among the community, who were deported en masse by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to central Asia during World War II and only started returning home in the late 1980s. After hours of debate the delegates voted to "launch political and legal procedures (for the) ethnic and territorial autonomy of the Crimean Tatar people on their historical territory, Crimea". However it was not immediately clear how they planned to go about this or whether they sought to become an autonomous entity in Ukraine, or Russia. "This land is the Crimea, the motherland of the Crimean Tatars," said Grand Mufti Ravil Gainutdin to huge applause from more than 200 people attending the congress. Russian delegates were also present, sparking anger and indecision over how to deal with the new authorities. "We didn't reject Russia, Russia was the one that rejected us," said veteran Tatar dissident Ayshe Seitmuratova, who spent several years in Soviet penal camps and then in exile. - Torn between two countries - Djalil Ibragimov, 30, wearing a jacket with the insignia of Ukraine's Olympic team, stormed out of the room in protest when the Russian delegates spoke. "I want an autonomy that is part of Ukraine, not Russia," the young man said. "We don't want to go back to the USSR," he added. Others called for a more pragmatic approach to the new authorities in order to resolve day-to-day issues and not become outcasts in their own land. "A whole nation cannot be dissident," said Lenur Islyamov, a businessman who owns the Tatar television channel ATR. "There is Russia on one side, there is Ukraine on the other side, the EU, the USA, and the others. We are only interested in getting strong guarantees for our safety and the development of the Crimean Tatar people," said Ali Khamzin, who heads the department of foreign relations in the Mejlis, the authoritative body of the Crimean Tatars. There was no immediate reaction from the Crimean authorities. On Saturday, the local authorities led by prime minister Sergei Aksyonov hosted the leader of Russia's majority-Muslim region of Tatarstan, in a sign the fate of the peninsula's Tatars was high on the agenda.