30 Facts About Crimean Tatars

The formation and ethnogenesis of Crimean Tatars occurred during the 13th–17th centuries, uniting Cumans, who appeared in Crimea in the 10th century, with other peoples who had inhabited Crimea since ancient times and gradually underwent Tatarization, including Greeks, Italians, and Goths.

Crimean Tatars constituted the majority of Crimea's population from the time of ethnogenesis until the mid-19th century, and the largest ethnic population until the end of the 19th century.

The Crimean Tatars lost 18 to 46 percent of their population as a result of the deportations.

Crimean Tatars have been members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization since 1991.

Crimean Tatars'storians suggest that inhabitants of the mountainous parts of Crimea lying to the central and southern parts, and those of the Southern coast of Crimea were the direct descendants of the Pontic Greeks, Armenians, Scythians, Ostrogoths and Kipchaks along with the Cumans while the latest inhabitants of the northern steppe represent the descendants of the Nogai Horde of the Black Sea, nominally subjects of the Crimean Khan.

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The fact that Crimean Tatars' ethnogenesis took place in Crimea and consisted of several stages lasting over 2500 years is proved by genetic research showing that the gene pool of the Crimean Tatars preserved both the initial components for more than 2.

Crimean Tatars were formed as a people in Crimea and are descendants of various peoples who lived in Crimea in different historical eras.

The Crimean Tatars mostly adopted Islam in the 14th century and thereafter Crimea became one of the centers of Islamic civilization in Eastern Europe.

Crimean Tatars emerged as a nation at the time of the Crimean Khanate, an Ottoman vassal state during the 16th to 18th centuries.

Crimean Tatars became the founder of the Giray dynasty, which ruled until the annexation of the Crimean Khanate by Russia in 1783.

Since then, the Crimean Tatars Khanate was among the strongest powers in Eastern Europe until the beginning of the 18th century.

Since then, the Crimean Tatars Khanate had not been able to recover, and its slow decline began.

The territory of the Crimean Tatars khanate was divided into Kinakanta, which consisted of Kadylyk, covering a number of settlements.

Until the beginning of the 18th century, Crimean Tatars Nogays were known for frequent, at some periods almost annual, slave raids into Ukraine and Russia.

In retaliation, the lands of Crimean Tatars were being raided by Zaporozhian Cossacks, armed Ukrainian horsemen, who defended the steppe frontier – Wild Fields – against Tatar slave raids and often attacked and plundered the lands of Ottoman Turks and Crimean Tatars.

The last recorded major Crimean Tatars raid, before those in the Russo-Turkish War took place during the reign of Peter the Great .

Nevertheless, some historians, including Russian historian Valery Vozgrin and Polish historian Oleksa Gayvoronsky have emphasized that the role of the slave trade in the economy of the Crimean Tatars Khanate is greatly exaggerated by modern historians, and the raiding-dependent economy is nothing but a historical myth.

Many Crimean Tatars perished in the process of emigration, including those who drowned while crossing the Black Sea.

Crimean Tatars'storians have long suspected that violent resistance to confinement in exile from Chechens led to further willingness to let them return, while the non-violent Crimean Tatar movement did not lead to any desire for Crimean Tatars to leave Central Asia.

In effect, the government was punishing Crimean Tatars for being Stakhanovites while rewarding the deported nations that contributed less to the building of socialism, creating further resentment.

When only a small percentage of Crimean Tatars were allowed to return to Crimea, those who were not granted residence permits would return to Crimea and try to live under the radar.

Crimean Tatars doused himself with gasoline and committed self-immolation in front of police trying to deport him on 23 June 1978.

Many other famous Crimean Tatars threatened government authorities with self-immolation if they continued to be ignored, including Hero of the Soviet Union Abdraim Reshidov.

In June 1988 he issued an official statement that rejected the request for re-establishment of a Crimean Tatar autonomy in Crimea and supported only allowing an organized return of a few more Crimean Tatars, while agreeing to allow the lower-priority requests of having more publications and school instruction in the Crimean Tatar language at the local level among areas with the deported populations.

On 18 March 2014, the day Crimea was annexed by Russia, and Crimean Tatars Tatar was de jure declared one of the three official languages of Crimea.

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Some Crimean Tatars fled to Mainland Ukraine due to the Crimean crisis – reportedly around 2000 by 23 March.

Decisions as to whether the Crimean Tatars will accept Russian passports or whether the autonomy sought would be within the Russian or Ukrainian state have been deferred pending further discussion.

Songs of the nomadic steppe Crimean Tatars are characterized by diatonic, melodic simplicity and brevity.

Traditional cuisine of the Crimean Tatars has similarities with that of Greeks, Italians, Balkan peoples, Nogays, North Caucasians, and Volga Tatars, although some national dishes and dietary habits vary between different Crimean Tatar regional subgroups; for example, fish and produce are more popular among Yaliboylu Tatar dishes while meat and dairy is more prevalent in Steppe Tatar cuisine.

In Romanian "Uniunea Democratica a Tatarilor Turco-Musulmani din Romania, UDTTMR" in Crimean Tatars Tatar "Romanya Musluman Tatar Turkleri Demokrat Birligi, RMTTDB" is an ethnic minority political party in Romania representing the Tatar community.