The Crimean Tatar diaspora dates back to the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 1783, after which Crimean Tatars were forced to emigrate in a series of waves spanning the period from 1783 to 1917. The diaspora was largely the result of the destruction of their social and economic life as a consequence of Russian colonization policies. Motto: Процветание в единстве - Prosperity in unity Anthem: Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина - Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland Location of Crimea (red) on the map of Ukraine. ... The Crimean Tatars (sg. ... A memorial statue in Hanko, Finland, commemorating the thousands of emigrants who left the country to start a new life in the United States Emigration is the act of nolan muir the phenomenon of leaving ones native country to settle abroad. ... The term: diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά – a scattering or sowing of seeds) is used (without capitalization) to refer to any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands; being dispersed throughout other parts of the world, and the ensuing developments in their dispersal and culture. ...

The Soviet Union brought about the final dispersal of Crimean Tatars in 1944, in the midst of the World War II, when it deported all Tatars remaining in the Crimea to Central Asia. This population is considered an exiled community rather than a diaspora. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Experiences in exile within the Ottoman Empire

There have been continuously members of Tatar nobility in the Ottoman Empire, due to close relations between the two states. There was a Giray vassal state in the Ottoman province of Bucak (Bessarabia). It was centered on the towns of Bender and Çatal Osman, and considered semi-independent (only controlled by Ottoman Pasha in Rusçuk.) In the 14th and 15th centuries, Ottomans colonized Dobruja with Nogais from Bucak. Between 1593 and 1595, Tatars from Nogai and Bucak were also settled to Dobruja. (Frederick de Jong) Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–22 Mehmed VI... Giray or Guirey was the Genghisid dynasty reigning in the Khanate of Crimea since its formation in 1427 until its downfall in 1783. ... 1927 map of Bessarabia from Charles Upson Clarks book Bessarabia or Bessarabiya (Basarabia in Romanian, Besarabya in Turkish, Бесарабія in Ukrainian) is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the East and the Prut River on the West. ... Tighina or Bender (Russian: ; Moldovan Cyrillic: Тигина) is a city in Transnistria, the breakaway region of Moldova. ... Rousse (also transliterated as Ruse or Russe; Bulgarian: Русе; Romanian: Rusciuc) is the fifth largest city in Bulgaria, with a population of 178,000. ... Map of Romania with Northern Dobruja highlighted in orange and Bulgaria with Southern Dobruja highlighted in yellow. ... The Nogais, also spelled Nogay, Noghai, and often called the Caucasian Mongols (Caucasian refers to their geographic position, in the Caucasus mountains, not to their ethnicity), are a Turkic people, and an important ethnic group in the Daghestan region who speak the Turkic Nogai language. ... 1927 map of Bessarabia from Charles Upson Clarks book Bessarabia or Bessarabiya (Basarabia in Romanian, Besarabya in Turkish, Бесарабія in Ukrainian) is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the East and the Prut River on the West. ...

However, the first massive Tatar emigration took place after the Russian annexation of Crimea. Tatar ruling class (mirzas) and mullahs sought asylum within the North Caucasian people, fearing persecution. Their number were around 8,000. Their relations to Crimea continued from their Caucasian safe havens. Hopes that a Giray from the Caucasus would return to liberate Crimea continued until the very conquest of North Caucasus by the Russians in 1859. The Crimean Tatars and Nogais in the North Caucasus were exiled to Anatolia in 1877-1878 together with Circassians and Chechens by the Russian Empire. The exiled Muslims from the North Caucasus were around one million. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Motto: Процветание в единстве - Prosperity in unity Anthem: Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина - Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland Location of Crimea (red) on the map of Ukraine. ... Circassians is a term derived from the Turkic Cherkess (Çerkes), and is not the self-designation of any people. ... This article covers the Chechen people as an ethnic group, not Chechen meaning citizens of Chechnya. ...

After the annexation, 4,000 Tatars also escaped to westward direction to the Ottoman fortress of Ozu (Ochakov), and from there to the Ottoman province of Bucak(Bessarabia) where a vassal Giray dynasty existed. With the conquest of Bucak by the Russians in 1812, all Tatars here migrated to southwards, to the Dobruja province. Ochakov (Crimean Tatar/Turkish: Özi) is a town in Mykolaiv (Nikolaev) Oblast, in southern Ukraine, located near the site of ancient Greek colony of Olbia. ... 1927 map of Bessarabia from Charles Upson Clarks book Bessarabia or Bessarabiya (Basarabia in Romanian, Besarabya in Turkish, Бесарабія in Ukrainian) is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the East and the Prut River on the West. ... 1927 map of Bessarabia from Charles Upson Clarks book Bessarabia or Bessarabiya (Basarabia in Romanian, Besarabya in Turkish, Бесарабія in Ukrainian) is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the East and the Prut River on the West. ... Map of Romania with Northern Dobruja highlighted in orange and Bulgaria with Southern Dobruja highlighted in yellow. ...

Tatar masses immigrated to the Ottoman Empire, where they were welcomed as fellow Muslims and as the populace of the formerly protected Crimean Khanate. The Ottoman territory was called "aqtopraq" ("white soil" or more probably "soil of justice") by the Crimean Tatar immigrants, as they conceived of their migration as a "hijra" similar to the prophet's temporary retreat to Medina under the pressure from enemies of Islam. The outflow of the Crimean Tatars turned into an exodus after the Crimean War (1854-1856), as the Russian government began to treat the Crimean Tatars as internal threats to its security because of their historical relations with the Ottoman Empire. The Crimean Khanate or the Khanate of Crimea (Crimean Tatar: ; Russian: - Krymskoye khanstvo; Ukrainian: - Krymske khanstvo; Turkish: ) was a Crimean Tatar state from 1441 to 1783. ... For other uses see Hijra. ... This is not an article about the Muslims and their beliefs. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... Combatants Allies: Second French Empire United Kingdom Ottoman Empire Kingdom of Sardinia Russian Empire Bulgarian volunteers Casualties 90,000 French 35,000 Turkish 17,500 British 2,050 Sardinian killed, wounded and died of disease 256,000 killed, wounded and died of disease The Crimean War (1854–1856) was fought...

The majority of the Tatar immigrants were settled in the Dobruja region of the Balkans by the Ottoman authorities, but some were directed to various parts of Anatolia, where siginificant numbers of Tatars and Nogays perished due to changes in environmental and climate conditions. Map of Romania with Northern Dobruja highlighted in orange and Bulgaria with Southern Dobruja highlighted in yellow. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Although there were Tatars who emigrated from the mountainous, coastal, and urban parts of the Crimea among them, the majority of the emigrants were Tatars and Nogays from the steppes of Crimea and its surroundings, who lived largely in closed peasant communities. According to ancient Crimean Tatar traditions, marriage between relatives (e.g. cousins), even very distant ones, has always been strictly prohibited, unlike the local population of Anatolia. The ones who lived in a concentrated manner in adjacent villages, such as the ones around Eskişehir region, were able to maintain their ethnic identity and language intact almost up until the 1970s. The Crimean Tatar diaspora identity emerged over this period in the form of predominantly oral cultural traditions in stories, songs, poems, myths, and legends about the loss of the "homeland" and the miseries of immigration.

An excerpt from Crimean Tatar Exile Literature is as follows:

The angry and wild Black Sea roared,

Rushed to extinguish my burning motherland.

The old Çatırdağ, distressed and worried,

"Where are the Tatars going?" she cried.

Eskender Fazıl, from his poem Stand Up (Çatırdağ is a mountain in Crimea)

The end of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of modern Turkey

With the shrinking of the Ottoman Empire in the last quarter of the 19th century, once again the majority of the Crimean Tatars in Dobrudja migrated to Anatolia, and sometimes re-migrated several times more within Anatolia. This pattern of immigration contributed to the severing of kinship ties, and hence ties to the homeland, amalgamating the previously more segregated sub-ethnicities.

The Crimean Tatars participated in the building of the new Turkish Republic, as well as the formation of the core Turkish identity. People of exclusively Crimean Tatar descent in Turkey number more than 10 million.^{[citation needed]} This number shoots to more than 16 million if we consider partial Crimean Tatar descent.^{[citation needed]}

A small number of Crimean Tatar refugees from the USSR joined the diaspora in Turkey after the World War II, and a small number migrated from Romania and Bulgaria to Turkey after the decline of communism. The Crimean Tatar diaspora in Turkey established several ethnic associations.

Exile within the Soviet Union

On May 18, 1944, the Soviet government deported the Crimean Tatars who were left in Crimea to Central Asia. After 1989, nearly 300,000 Tatars were able to return to Crimea from their places of deportation. Their return was met the strong opposition of the rest population of Crimea. Another roughly 270,000 Crimean Tatars remain in Uzbekistan and other parts of the former Soviet Union. This population is best considered as an exiled community rather than a diaspora, although they might develop into a diaspora if their exile is prolonged. May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Diaspora within the Eastern Bloc and elsewhere

The Crimean Tatar diaspora community in Romania, today numbering nearly 40,000, had been a very vibrant one until the beginning of the communist era in Romania. It has also recently experienced an ethnic revival and renewal of links with the homeland, as well as with other diaspora communities, particularly the one in Turkey. Map of Romania with Northern Dobruja highlighted in orange and Bulgaria with Southern Dobruja highlighted in yellow. ...

The Crimean Tatar diaspora community in Bulgaria number only in the thousands, but they also recently began to link themselves with their co-ethnics abroad, and especially with the repatriated Crimean Tatars. The Crimean Tatars in the US are number the Western hemisphere are composed of refugees from Crimea, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as new immigrants. There are also significant populations of Crimean Tatars in South America, and Australasia. After 1241 , the year of the earliest recorded Tatar invasion of Bulgaria, the Second Bulgarian Empire maintained constant political contacts with the Tatars. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Australasia Australasia is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. ...

Recent challenges

The main challenges to the Crimean Tatar diaspora in the 1990s were the erosion of ethnic identity as a result of swift modernization of communities and the consequent difficulties in mobilization of resources among the apathetic diaspora members (especially in Turkey) in order to support the repatriation of co-ethnics. As in other diasporas, diaspora political activity is mostly conducted by elites and ethnic organizations. Apathy is complete lack of emotion or motivation. ... Alternative meaning: Elite (computer game) In sociology as in general usage, the elite (the elect; sometimes the French form élite is used) refers to a relatively small dominant group within a larger society, which enjoys privileged status and, almost invariantly, exploits individuals of lower social status. ...

As in other diasporas, Crimean Tatars also suffered from problems stemming from the differentiation of their identities over time due to their acculturation into various host-societies. In the last decade, the various diaspora communities, as well as the homeland community, have been ardently negotiating what it means to be a “Crimean Tatar”, seeking an agreement on a common sense of identity.

There are also differences among Crimean Tatars as to what the goals of the diaspora and the national movement should be and how to reach those goals, leading to a lively internal politics, as in other flourishing diasporas of the 1990s. However, the Crimean Tatar diaspora in general seems to be unified in recognizing the legitimacy of Crimean Tatar National Assembly (Mejlis) in Crimea, and recognizes its head, Mustafa Abdülcemil Qırımoğlu as their leader in taking the major decisions concerning the fate of the nation. The diaspora is also in agreement with the leadership of Cemiloğlu with respect to non-violent political struggle for the restitution of the rights of the deported Tatars within the framework of respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine. For the diaspora, the restitution of Crimean Tatar sovereignty seems to be replaced by a contemporary agenda related to how to mobilize political and economic resources for the return of the remaining Crimean Tatars from their places of deportation to homeland and for the recognition of Crimean Tatar political rights by the Ukrainian and Crimean authorities. The pressing concern for the diaspora as well as the Crimean Tatars in homeland is the restoration of historical justice in relation to the crime perpetrated against their ethnic community. Mustafa Abdülcemil QırımoÄŸlu Mustafa Abdülcemil QırımoÄŸlu (born November 13, 1943 Ay-Serez, Crimea), also known as Mustafa Jemilev (Dzhemilev, Cemilev), is Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and a member of the Ukrainian Parliament. ...

This is viewed by Crimean Tatar diaspora as the last link in the chain of historical injustices perpetrated by Russia since the illegitimate annexation of its homeland by the violation of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774), and therefore entitled to return. However, the collective return of the Crimean Tatars from the diaspora does not seem to be likely for the near future, although it always remains as an option, especially within the more romantic circles of diaspora. As of today, however, the most plausible prospect for the diaspora seems be the establishment of certain political rights for the members of diaspora, such as political representation, property-owning, and dual citizenship. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (also spelled Kuchuk Kainarji) was signed on July 21, 1774, between the Russian Empire (represented by Field-Marshal Rumyantsev) and the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774. ...

See also

• Crimean Tatars in Romania
• Crimean Tatars in Bulgaria
• Crimean Tatars
• Crimean Khanate
• List of Crimean Tatars
• List of Crimean khans
• Giray Dynasty
• Nogai

Map of Romania with Northern Dobruja highlighted in orange and Bulgaria with Southern Dobruja highlighted in yellow. ... After 1241 , the year of the earliest recorded Tatar invasion of Bulgaria, the Second Bulgarian Empire maintained constant political contacts with the Tatars. ... The Crimean Tatars (sg. ... The Crimean Khanate or the Khanate of Crimea (Crimean Tatar: ; Russian: - Krymskoye khanstvo; Ukrainian: - Krymske khanstvo; Turkish: ) was a Crimean Tatar state from 1441 to 1783. ... Crimean Tatars in alphabetical order: Cetin Altan Refat Appazov Idris Asanin Sabri Ayvazov Ali Bekmambet Kemal Karpat Ismail H.A.Ziyaeddin Newzat Yusuf Sarigol Sevki Bektore Numan Celebicihan Resat Cemilev Bekir Sidki Cobanzade Refat Chubarov Cengiz Dagci Ismail Bey Gaspirali Sefika Gaspirali Hamdi Giraybay Necip Hablemitoglu Abdulhakim Hilmi Halil Inalcik... The following is the chronological table of reigns of khans of Crimean Khanate: External links Hansaray. ... Royal dynasty. ... The term Nogai can refer to more than one thing: Nogai Khan was a Khan of the Golden Horde. ...

External links

• Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People
• International Committee for Crimea
• Crimean Tatars by H. B. Paksoy
• Tatar.Net
• Vatan KIRIM

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