Imagine the French living in nostalgia for Napoleon's empire or the Italians thinking for decades whose museum is more important to create from the ages.

Crimean Tatars do not have a reflected story about any of the events of the past. There is no museum of Khan history, Chelebijihan Republic or Deportation. A museum in which you can place your fears and nostalgia for the greatness of the past, remembering them on holidays or on specially designated days for mourning to move on. Therefore, we annoy each other with constant tragedies or a lost ideal.

The national idea of the titular people of the peninsula was an exclusive and ineffective strategy of encapsulation - preservation in oneself. Preservation as an end in itself and Former member of the Mejlis Nadir Bekirov formulated the tasks of the Crimean Tatars in the near future in an interview with Crimean Tatars.

We live in times of serious challenges facing great nations and alliances. Their seriousness is realized by peoples who have passed the path of creation and development of national states. But Crimean Tatars are at best prepared to preserve themselves as fig jam in a three-liter jar. That is why the bravada, replicated over the last 30 years, about the 8-million-strong diaspora in Turkey refers to the case when size does not matter. The 800-thousand-year-old Armenian diaspora in France is incomparably more powerful and influential.

However, Europe, which has been foretold by the end of the last half millennia, is responding to the migration crisis with a policy of multiculturalism, the gas crisis with alternative energy sources, and the military threat with the combined armed forces. More often than other peoples, modern Europeans are the creators of new ideas in socio-political reforms. The Scandinavians were not afraid to give rent and veto power to a small number of Samais when using the resources of the northern territories by a large business, the Spanish ended the ETA terror, accepting into the unitary Basque kingdom as a nation with autonomous rights. Under the great temptation to unite “against” something, their elites form a demand for — what nations must fight for in order to remain successful. So, modernization for them is not just a forced step, but a constant process.

Crimean Tatars decided to be content with the status of an indigenous people and pose several times a year at the ONOV conferences surrounded by exotic attire of the peoples of Africa and Asia, who defend the right to trade samples of archaic cultures of the era of magical thinking. With all due respect to the head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, such a level of ambition would upset even Shagin Gerai, who ended his days of suffocation in Rhodes. Because nothing is needed for such a strategy: fry chebureks, dance Haytarma and tourists from Kiev and Moscow will love you just for this.

Preserving history and touching the scraps is a good addition, but it can't be a key point in a national strategy.

Crimean Tatars know what they are against, but who has ever heard of the vision 2122, 2044 or at least 2030? Perhaps by answering these questions honestly, we will be able to realize the scale of the disaster, conduct an audit of goals and opportunities. Awareness of the challenges will define our destiny for decades and push to the forefront those most effective to realize it. Although you can expect a coincidence as it was once with the appearance of Ismail Gasprinsky.

In the new phase of the war unleashed against us by Russia, the strategy of creation can become win-win and even the only possible one. Is it possible to create something new in the occupation if the occupier's task is to destroy us as a nation? Every government document, written or oral directive of the Russian Federation at the regional or federal level is aimed at stripping Crimea of all Crimean Tatar. We are talking - about the restoration of the collective rights of the Crimean Tatar people, they say - about a new Crimean identity on the Russian basis. We are talking about the penetration of the Crimean Tatar language into all spheres of life. They say - an elective in schools, if there are willing. We are talking about creating a national media. They create Millet TV, steeped in lies and low-quality propaganda. There is no room for compromise, and therefore, you should not lie to yourself.

But on the peninsula there is hope for national business, media, educational and cultural projects that, although under the radar of Russians, unite the people and help the Crimean Tatars move on after 2014.

Without direct access and outside the borders of Crimea, there is an alternative movement of Crimean Tatars. He is involved in the Ukrainian and world process. It has formal recognition. The flagship of the movement is the Mejlis and Kurultay with a direct mandate from the people obtained in the 2013 national elections. However, any mandate without permanent confirmation has an expiration date. The lack of direct access to the people, which endows leaders with trust and power, has been playing a cruel joke with both the people and the leaders for 8 years. At the same time, successes in external relations and public diplomacy gave Crimean Tatars general recognition. According to journalist Valentina Samar, after the occupation of Crimea, the Mejlis became an informal, but real Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Crimean Tatar civil society exists - and this is a sign of national health. But we can lose it if we do not create an inclusive community to make quick and even radical decisions.

It is time for the representative body and its executive structures to reaffirm the trust of the people in new forms without having direct access to it. Hard-to-reach does not justify inaction. After all, the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, which should not replace Kurultai and Mejlis, could become an effective rapid response mechanism as early as 2015. Did not become.

A platform for discussion in order to make decisions in domestic policy can be created already among existing public organizations, whose activities and effectiveness can be touched by hand.

1. Created in 2022 by a group of influential public and political figures, the June 26 initiative brought together professionals under the age of 40. The stated aim is to develop a vision of the role and place of the Crimean Tatars in the de-occupied Crimea, to define the subjectivity of the people and to sign a social contract that ensures sustainable development in all spheres based on the right of Crimean Tatars to self-determination.
2. The Crimean media platform since 2017 aims to promote mass content in the Crimean Tatar language and information struggle for the minds living in the occupation. KMP adheres to the principles and standards of European public broadcasting.
3. The Crimean project and educational platform Q-hub, created in 2016 by a group of young Crimean Tatars, maintains horizontal ties with the 17-25 generation in the occupied Crimea through educational and media projects.
4. Crimean Institute of Strategic Studies and Alem organization, which work with UNESCO and preserve everything that has not yet been achieved by Russia: from the remains of the Bakhchisarai Palace to the national intangible heritage.
5. Special unit “Crimea”, Battalion “Noman Chelebidzhihan”, Asker and a large number of military in the theroboron and marine infantry.
6. Business initiatives of deputy Rustem Umerov and his older brother Aslan Omer Kirymla, who create closed Crimean Tatar clubs of entrepreneurs. Here it is worth making a reservation and remembering the sad experience of banks Imdat and Crimea. The lack of control mechanisms and the monopolization of financial flows leads to corruption and degradation in all good intentions.

These broad strokes without detailed suggestions can give an idea of the state of affairs. Perhaps criticism of individual actions will provoke a backlash, but let's not be afraid to oppose and even criticize each other, otherwise we create the image of a united people to look at from the outside, and our inner life resembles a meme dialogue from 90s TV shows:

- Siz pek aytasız Lentun Romanoviç (as you say, Lentun Romanovich)

- Siz de pek aytasız Fetiye Seiyibramovna (you are absolutely right, Fetiye Seitibramovna)

*Cemaat does not edit the texts of blogs and is not responsible for their content. The opinions of the authors of publications may not coincide with the position of the editorial staff.

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