Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 15th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview IV. Working Group on Democratic Governance of Multiethnic... Author(s) Rustem Ablyatifov Lviv Regional Institute of Public Administration, NAPA Lviv Ukraine Title The system of National (Ethnic) self-government of Crimean Tatars as social and political phenomenon of modern Ukraine File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract The Crimean Tatar national movement emerged in the ’60-’80-s of XX century as reaction of the Crimean Tatar people to violation of its right to reside on the Motherland. The national movement was facing the issue of necessity of new form of Crimean Tatars’ representation and protection of their rights from beginning of repatriation of Crimean Tatars to their Motherland and proclamation of the Ukrainian independent. The system of national self-government “Kurultay-Majlis” became such a new form. The Kurultay is national congress and its delegates are elected by democratic way by all Crimean Tatars. After that the delegates of this national congress elect members of the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people. Legal status of the Majlis and Kurultay has been a problem since the 2nd Kurultay of the Crimean Tatars convened for the fist time since 1917 in Simferopol in June 1991 and elected 33-member Majlis to act as “the sole legitimate representative body of the Crimean Tatar people” between the sessions of Kurultay. To opinion of the national movement’s activists, the Kurultay and Majlis were established as representative bodies of the native people of Crimea in the relations with the Government of Ukraine, prevented and prevents to reproach the positions in searches of a optimal decisions for all parties in very polyhedral problem of repatriation, settlement and restoration of the rights of the whole people. Until the state will not create such conditions and legal mechanisms of relationship with Crimean Tatars, who will ensure preservation and development of its original culture in Ukraine. While the Crimean Tatars have demanded that the authorities recognize Kurultay and Majlis as representative organs of the Crimean Tatar people but the Crimean authorities have blamed them for their attempts to create “parallel structures of power.” One may labour under a misapprehension that within Crimea’s self-government system some elements of the Crimean Tatar people’s statehood are being deliberately instilled. In reality, there is the Crimean Tatars’ autonomous self-government system with its vertical administrative structure: the Majlis, regional majlises and village majlises. Official proposals that to legalize its status Majlis registers as a public organization or a political party have not been acceptable to the Crimean Tatar leaders. Controversy around the status of Majlis, and especially hostile attitude towards it on the part of Crimean authorities, is not only of a legal, but also primarily of a political nature, given stark political and ideological differences between the Majlis and Crimea’s dominant elites. For 15 years the Majlis of Crimean Tatar people changed itself into powerful player the on political arena of Ukraine. On the one hand, the Majlis has great authority among Crimean Tatars; on the other hand, it takes clear pro-Ukrainian stand that largely hold pro-Russian separatism in Crimea. The leaders the Majlis much better known in Geneva, Brussels and Washington than the leadership of the Crimean autonomy. The situation with Majlis’ official status remained deadlocked for years, but on 18 May 1999, as Crimean Tatars came by impressive pedestrian march to Simferopol to commemorate 55th anniversary of the 1944 deportation, the Ukrainian President signed a decree creating a presidential advisory council composed of all 33 Majlis members. The decree, although short of full recognition of Majlis, has been commonly regarded as a de-facto recognition of Majlis and its capacity as the main interlocutor on behalf of the Crimean Tatars.
