Six years ago, on April 6, 2010, pro-Kremlin political groups in Crimea called on President Viktor Yanukovych to ban the Crimean Tatars’ autonomous bodies, including the Mejlis (Parliament) and its Kurultai (Congress). Oleg Rodivilov, a member of the Crimean Parliament and leader of the Crimea’s Russian bloc, told RFE/RL that he considered both Crimean Tatar bodies to be organized criminal groups, and called its actions unconstitutional. He also recommended that the bodies should be banned to prevent terrorist attacks.
Similar pro-Russia groups in Crimea, including the Russian Community of Crimea and the Tavria Union, had sent open letters to Mr. Yanukovych that urged him to ban the Mejlis and the Kurultai.
The Crimean Tatars first established their own Mejlis and Kurultai in 1917, but they were banned under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who ordered the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars to Central Asia in May 1944. In 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimean Tatars received official permission to return to Crimea and the Mejlis-Kurultai structure was revived.
Ali Khamzin, a member of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, said the statements by Crimea’s pro-Kremlin organizations were provocations, and he underscored that the Mejlis functioned within the framework of Ukrainian law.
“They are trying to create a situation similar to the South Ossetian scenario in Georgia,” Mr. Khamzin said in April 2010. “The closure of the Mejlis will only lead to destabilization in the region. It will not frighten the Crimean Tatars, just as the Soviet repression did not frighten them. The abolition of the Crimean Tatars’ self-governing system would mean that Ukraine is creating a racist regime similar to the Communist system.”
The Crimean peninsula has been occupied by Russia since its forces invaded in late February 2014. Russia officially annexed Crimea into the Russian Federation on March 18, 2014. Since Russia’s annexation of the peninsula, Kremlin-installed authorities in Crimea have continued to call for the banning of these Crimean Tatar bodies and have seized buildings that once hosted the Mejlis.
Source: “Pro-Russia groups want Crimean Tatar bodies disbanded,” RFE/RL, The Ukrainian Weekly, April 11, 2010.