What do the Crimean Tatars face in Crimea?
Publisher: ECMI Volume: 21 pages, pdf Description: There are several reasons to pay primary attention to the Crimean Tatars while analyzing ethno-politics in the Crimean peninsula. Formally, they are the second largest minority within the region’s 2.5 million-strong population being outnumbered by Ukrainians (if we regard Russians as the majority). At the same time, the Crimean Tatars are a people, who had been deported from their homeland during Soviet rule and returned back only 20-25 years ago, before and after the breakdown of the Soviet Union. This group is politically active and well organized and the organizations speaking on the Crimean Tatars’ behalf pursue far-reaching goals based on the claim of their exclusive status as the only indigenous people in the peninsula.