Reading time: educational 16 minutes (or 21 minutes with footnotes)
Welcome to the peace initiative for Ukraine in which you can contibute by raising your awareness as well as your consciousness[+] and spirit to the modes[+] of neutrality[*], decency, respectfulness, wisdom[*], objectivity, mastery of the intellect, surrender (ego and mind to God’s will), and finally peace (inner then outer). To properly grasp everything, we recommend reading the articles of this peace initiative in the order that we[*] designed it, which is listed in the CONTENTS. So if you haven’t read the previous articles, we urge you to do it, please. With this article we continue the “Meeting the Demands for Ending the War” segment, carrying on providing answers to Why should Ukraine recognize Crimea as part of Russia?
History matters[+][+]. Including when it comes to the issue of whom belongs Crimea. In all of history, Ukraine has never ever done anything to deserve Crimea. It never fought for it, not even in 2014. It has never acquired it by any diplomacy, politics, or treaty. Russia granted Crimea to be transferred to the SSR Ukraine in 1954 but only to administer it, not to govern it, as Moscow continued to govern it until 1991 when the Soviet Union dismembered and to no merit of its own, Ukraine gained its independence becoming an internationally-recognized state for the first time in history — never before 1991 has Crimea belonged to the Ukrainian state or government. Crimea remained as part of Ukraine for just 23 years until 2014, only based on certain conditions, which Ukraine grossly violated since 2014, thus losing its right to the peninsula and its people (mostly ethnic Russians) who despised the new anti-Russian, hostile Kyiv regime. Ukraine has not deserved Crimea also because it kept it poor, whereas now it thrives under Moscow governance, as we show in the next article[*] (despite the war since 2014 and Ukrainian blockade of supply of water and electricity, in just a few short years, Crimea’s GDP and people's salaries doubled1).
In all of history, Crimea was part of Ukrainian state for just 23 years and only because Russia granted it as long as Ukraine honored its Declaration of Independence and treaties with Russia! 23 years is hardly enough time to claim it forever anyway! Especially because the Crimean people do not want to be part of Ukraine!
Crimean people do not want to be part of Ukraine!
Crimean people do not want to be part of Ukraine!
In the previous article[*] we listed the reasons why Crimeans wanted to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia, so make sure to read them.
Crimea was part of Russia and governed by Moscow for couple of centuries (1783-1991) and governed by Kyiv for only 23 years (1991-2014). The only reason why Crimea became part of Ukraine (republic, not state) in 1954 is because Russia granted Kyiv to administer the peninsula as long as Moscow governed it as part of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine is a state only since 1991 and before that, Crimea was transferred to the Soviet Republic Ukraine on the condition of it being part of the Soviet Union and governed by Moscow. After Ukraine separated from the Soviet Union, it lost the right to keep Crimea but Russia granted it under certain conditions stated in Ukrainian Declaration of Independence as well as in treaties with Russia, which can be summed up to Ukraine remaining neutral (not joining NATO), nuke-free, and honoring the rights of Russian ethnic minority. Ukraine started to violate these conditions in 2008 (starting the negotiations to join NATO), and escalated in 2014 (tyrannizing Russian ethnic minority), which is why Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia.
Russians claim Crimea as their historical territory based on the undeniable fact that in the last couple centuries it belonged to Russia or was governed by Moscow and on the fact that majority of Crimea native people are ethnic Russians. The former rulers such as Greeks, Italians, Tatars, and Turks make no such claims for the simple reason that they sold Crimea. Russians never sold or gave away Crimea to any other sovereign state nor has any other state ever captured Crimea away. In the Soviet era, Russians only gave Kyiv the permission to administer it as part of SSR Ukraine, as Crimean peninsula was attached to the Soviet Ukrainian territory and was supplied with water and electricity from there.
Depending on historical sources, Crimea was the Tatars' native land for several centuries, from the 1200s until 1783 when it became a part of the Russian Empire Many maps[ꚛ][ꚛ][ꚛ][ꚛ] and sources[+] show that Crimea was part of Russia also in 1640, and even before in 1635[ꚛ], as well as later in 1661[ꚛ] and 1680[ꚛ] – Russians waged wars[+] with Crimean Tatars since 1507 and its rulers, the Ottoman Empire since 1568, whereby Russians expanded to the Black Sea region invading the Crimean Khanate several times and finally annexed it for good in 1783.
map of Russia by Henricus Hondius published in London in 1635[+]
Map of Russian Empire[+] - Publication Place / Date: Frankfurt / 1640, made by Mathaus Merian (1593-1650)
After the fall of Russian Empire, Crimea became then part of the Russian SFSR from 1917 up until 1954 when the Soviet President Khrushchev (former President of SSR Ukraine) assigned[ꚛ] it from Russia to Soviet Republic of Ukraine, as both were part of the Soviet Union, under the presumption that Ukraine would always remain part of the USSR together with Russia and under Moscow's governance. Crimea was assigned to Ukraine in 1954 under the presumed condition that Moscow governs it and Kyiv only administers it.
We have included a Brief History of Crimea in the footnotes2, so feel free to educate yourself about it to get a better understanding of the Russian claim to Crimea. Here, we just give a simplified version:
The first settlers of Crimea were perhaps the Cimmerians about 1000 BCE, who were of Iranian origin. Later the Greeks and then the Romans established colonies along the Crimean coasts. During the Mongol invasions in the 13th century (1239–1242), Crimea was conquered by the Tatars of the Golden Horde (part of the Mongol empire of Genghis Khan), who submitted to the Ottoman Empire in 1475 but Turks didn't colonize Crimea, so the Crimean Tatars remained the majority and formed a state, The Crimean Khanate, which existed for 342 years (1441–1783) (some maps[ꚛ] and sources[+] show that Crimea was part of Russia also in 1640).
In 1783, the Russian Empire annexed the Crimea Khanate because the Crimean Tatar nobility preferred the protectorate of the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire, which will turn out to be the worst mistake possible because Russians will not only treat the Crimean Tatars horribly but exterminate them. Under both the Russian Empire and also later, under the Soviet Union and Stalin’s regime, Tatars were forced to flee, deported, killed, and persecuted, whereby Russians became a majority in Crimea.
In 1954, under the Soviet President Khrushchev (former President of SSR Ukraine), the Presidium of the Soviet Union issued a decree transferring Crimea to Ukraine[+][ꚛ] because of its geographic location (Crimea is peninsular which connects to Ukraine, and the nearest and most easily accessible administrative center was Kyiv) and as a matter of practicality and logistics – due to the building of a hydro-electric dam on the Ukrainian Dnieper River (supplying Crimea with water) that required for all the administration to be under one body (it was easier to manage Crimea as Ukrainian territory, although nearly all decision-making was done in Moscow).
After the dissolution of the USSR, at the 1991 referendum, the mainly Russian population of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea[+] was not consulted on whether it desired to remain in Ukraine or rejoin the Russian Federation.
In June 1992, Crimea was given the status of an "Autonomous Republic" in Ukraine and granted special economic status but over the following years, it was robbed of its right of self-governance and economically ruined as the central government of Kyiv overtook more and more power.
The strategic value of the southern coast of Crimea is such that many European empires in the past (Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, Russian, British and French, Nazi German, and Soviet) went to great lengths to get hold of it at some point. The Black Sea ports of Crimea provide quick access to the Eastern Mediterranean, Balkans, and the Middle East and are part of the historical trade route. Stationed there since 1783 is the Russian Black Sea Fleet with naval warfare, which has played an instrumental role in many conflicts securing Russian victories as well as an instrumental political role on many occasions throughout history. It is of absolute importance to Russia, such that everyone can be sure that Russians will never ever give it up. There is no point in negotiating over Crimea as Russia will never give it back to a pro-NATO country that has flaunted clear anti-Russian sentiments.
The strategic value of the Black Sea ports of Crimea has been a major reason why other world superpowers, such as NATO, want Crimea to be under Ukrainian (and eventually the EU) rather than Russian rule, as for their own agenda, they want to weaken Russian power and gain its power in the Black Sea regions. Therefore, NATO countries didn't want to accept the Crimean referendum and subsequent Crimea's annexation into Russia. NATO prefers that the EU annexes Crimea (when Ukraine joins the EU).
Russia’s defense strategy uses the Mediterranean’s geography to protect Russia’s southern borders while seeking to challenge the naval supremacy of NATO and the United States in the eastern Mediterranean. Russia's security depends on maintaining and gradually expanding its naval presence in the Mediterranean while also securing allies and partners in the region, contesting NATO’s dominance in the central Mediterranean. Strategic deterrence remains the most important mission for the Russian Navy in Crimea and elsewhere.
After Ukraine applied to join NATO in 2008, Russia was faced with the horror prospect of NATO forces in Crimea, where the Russian Black Sea Fleet has been stationed for centuries (since 1783). The prospect of having NATO’s offensive strike missiles in Crimea was worse than the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO. Logically, it was a paramount concern as it was impossible to have two rival superpowers stationed in the same naval base and have joint control of territorial waters. This was then a major threat to Russia because, after the illegitimate overthrow of the Ukrainian government in 2014, all indices were that the new pro-EU, anti-Russian Ukrainian government would not extend the bilateral Treaty allowing Russian Navy troops to be stationed there any longer and would then give the naval base to the US and NATO. Logically, just like any other self-respecting superpower, Russia could not just sit back and allow its navy to be kicked out to be replaced by the rival NATO Navy. What would you do? When push came to shove, Russia had to do something to avert this predicament; it had to hustle and take preventive measures. To expect anything else would be as ridiculous as expecting NATO Navy to willingly abandon Crete Naval Base for the Russian Navy to be stationed there instead. As expected, forced into a cul-de-sac position, Russia had no other diplomatic choice but to eliminate this threat by helping the cooperative Crimeans to rejoin the Russian Federation. This was a good move because it was a nonviolent one.
As you can surely understand now, there is no way that proud and mighty Russia would ever allow its Navy to be ousted by the NATO Navy from its historically rightful place in Crimea, so there is no point in negotiating over Crimea. This should not be an issue anymore and ought to be settled with Ukraine's and NATO's recognition of Crimea as part of Russia.
Russia lost Alaska over Crimea in 1867 (after 125-year rule of it), due to the costs of the war in Crimea (1854–1856), which only shows how important Crimea was to Russia and still is. As Russian authorities claimed[+][+][+][+], they would be willing to defend Crimea with nuclear weapons, so there is no point in trying to reclaim it.
Also, upon the disintegration of the USSR, in 1991, in its “Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine”[+], Ukrainian authorities were “Proceeding from the right of a nation to self-determination in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other international legal documents”. So, if they had the legal right to do so – to declare independence based on the right of a nation to self-determination in accordance with the UN Charter, then for the same reason, Crimea had the same right to do so! There can be no double standards in international law and the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine should serve as a precedent for also other nations or folk to do so, including Russians who are natives of Crimea.
Timetable of the events leading to Crimea annexation and follow-up:
🔵 18-23 February 2014 (6 days) – Ukrainian Maidan Revolution[+] (violent removal of democratically elected government, including ethnic Russian President and Prime Minister of Ukraine, who preferred closer ties to Russia and the EEU[+] rather than with the EU), which had paralyzed the central government, destabilized the country and propped up anarchy, Ukrainians discarded the Constitution of Ukraine (violated its provisions and wanted to reinstate the older 2004 Constitution, which would significantly limit the powers of the president), dismissed the Constitutional Court, and unconstitutionally overthrew the Ukrainian government, as the protesters stormed the Presidential Administration building and the Cabinet building as well as illegally occupying the Kyiv City Hall for two-and-a-half months and the parliament building, the president's administration quarters, the Cabinet building, and the Interior Ministry and as far-right anti-Russian leaders of the opposition incited armed confrontation (with almost 2.000 casualties) – so, in the absence of a legitimate central government and the dismissal of the Constitution, regional legislatures became the only legal authorities, thus Crimean Parliament had the legal authority to propose and hold a referendum. At the time, a few days after the Ukrainian central government was undemocratically overthrown (on 27 February 2014, The Crimean Supreme Council voted to hold a referendum on the status of Crimea), the Crimean parliament decided to ask Crimeans (the majority were Russian ethnicity) what they wanted in a situation of the perceived illegal coup and anarchy in Ukraine (with hostile anti-Russian activities and threats to lives of Crimean civilians), thus under the requested protection of Russian forces, a referendum[+] was held on 16 March and Crimeans voted to rejoin Russia (97% voted for it with 83% voter turnout).
🔵 23 February 2014 – Ukrainian parliament made a proposal to repeal the language law[+][+][+]that granted regional status to the Russian language with the aim to prohibit the use of Russian language in courts, schools, and other government institutions (that was criticized by EU institutions[+], which is why it took several years, until 2018, for this to be passed). The very attempt to overturn that law just as they overturned the pro-Russian government by force two days earlier outraged ethnic Russians in Crimea and Donbas (mostly native Russian speakers) and served as a trigger event for them to seek independence and Russia’s protection against the illegitimacy of the new regime that was imposing the anti-Russian policies.
🔵 26 February 2014 – the supporters of new Kyiv unelected regime and pro-Russian residents demanding secession from Ukraine gathered in the main square of the Crimea’s capital Simferopol. The ensuing clashes left two dead and more than 30 others injured.
🔵 27 February 2014 – the legislators sacked the old government and appointed Sergey Aksyonov as Crimea’s new prime minister.
🔵 1 March 2014 – Crimea’s prime minister Aksyonov asked[+][+][+] Russian President Putin for assistance in maintaining peace and calm in the peninsula.
Also, the same day, the legitimate President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych sent an official letter[+] to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting him to use Russia's military to restore law and order in Ukraine. Yanukovych could legally authorize an armed intervention from Russia during his trip to Russia.
On the same day the upper house of Russia’s parliament – the Federation Council – empowered the Russian president to use troops in Ukrainian territory until the social and political situation in that country returned to normal.
🔵 6 March 2014 – the Crimean parliament asked the Russian president to admit the republic as a constituent territory of the Russian Federation after the referendum set for 16 March
🔵 8 March 2014 – a leaked telephone conversation[+][+][+] between former Ukrainian Prime Minister and 2014 presidential candidate[+] Yulia Tymoshenko (she was in Berlin hospital at the time), where Tymoshenko said: “It's about time we grab our guns and go kill those damned Russians together with their leader... I would’ve found a way to kill all those assholes”. And to the question “What should we do now with 8 million Russians living in Ukraine? They are outcasts!”, Tymoshenko answered: “They must be killed with nuclear weapons.”[+][+][+]
🔵 11 March 2014 – by decree of the Supreme Council of Crimea, the Declaration of Independence[+] of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol was adopted. It proclaimed a sovereign state – the Republic of Crimea. The Declaration contains international and legal justification, with references to the UN Charter (the right of peoples for self-determination) and other international documents, as well as the decision of the UN's International Court of Justice of 22 July 2010 on Kosovo (which serves as legal precedent whereby the International Court of Justice also confirmed the fact that unilateral announcement of independence by a part of a state does not violate any provision of international law). The same day, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged[+] the legitimacy of Crimea’s the Declaration of Independence
🔵 16 March 2014 – Crimean status referendum (results: 97% voted for it with 83.1% turnout)
🔵 17 March 2014 – the Crimean parliament officially declared its independence from Ukraine and requested full accession to the Russian Federation. The same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Executive Order On Recognizing the Republic of Crimea[+]stating that the Russian Federation recognizes the Republic of Crimea as a sovereign and independent state
🔵 18 March 2014 – pursuant to Article 6(2) of the Federal Constitutional Law, Russian President Putin presented the Admission Treaty to the State Duma for ratification[+]. Crimea marks this day as the Day of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.
🔵 20 March 2014 – Russia’s Duma formally accepted Crimea into the Russian Federation based on mutual consent of Russia and independent Republic Crimea – Treaty Between The Russian Federation And The Republic Crimea On The Admission Of The Republic Crimea To The Russian Federation And The Formation Of New Subjects Within The Russian Federation (Admission Treaty)
🔵 21 March 2014 – Kyiv signed the Association Agreement[+] with the EU that banned trade with Russia (violation of the Article 6 of a Treaty[+] with Russia). Meanwhile, Putin signed into law an act of ratification of the treaty and the constitutional law on the accession of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia as members of the federation.
🔵 26 March 2014 – Russian annexation of Crimea. Overnight, Crimea’s residents went from being a repressed and oppressed minority in Ukraine to a liberated part of majority in the Russian Federation.
🔵 27 March 2014 – United Nations General Assembly issued a resolution “Calling upon States Not To Recognize The Changes In The Status Of The Crimea Region”[+][+][+] (with the approval of 51.81% of total UN members – 100 out of 193 countries voted for it) rejecting both the validity of the Crimean referendum and its results (Crimea’s declaration of independence), illicitly disregarding the will and voluntary choice of the locals as well as their right to self-determination.
🔵 11 April 2014 – the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea was adopted. It established Crimea’s 3 official languages – Russian, Ukrainian, and Crimean Tatar.
Thank you for reading this article and participating in this peace initiative by raising your awareness and, hopefully, your consciousness and spirit. To properly grasp everything, we[*]recommend reading the articles of this peace initiative for Ukraine in the proper order, which is listed in the Contents. So if you haven’t read the previous articles, we recommend that you do. When you are ready, please proceed to the next article in this “Meeting the Demands for Ending the War” segment: From a legal standpoint, Crimea is Russia
Russian ethnic minority in Crimea (1,5 million people) was not given the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social, and cultural development, although by international law, they had the right to both internal self-determination.
Under Kyiv's rule, the Crimeans were deprived of those rights, such as the right to freely pursue economic development, which resulted in Crimea becoming extremely poor. The evidence that Crimea was economically repressed under Ukrainian rule is in the before and after statistics and pictures[»].
Before secession and annexation in 2014, Crimea had a GDP of $4,3 billion ($1.790 per capita). The average salary was pitiful $290 per month. The budget deficit was enormous at $1,5 billion. Just two years after its secession and reunification with Russia in 2016, Crimea had a GDP of $7 billion ($3.000 per capita) and the salaries doubled.
It would be even much better if Ukrainians haven't sabotaged Crimea's development by cutting the access to water, which extremely damaged agriculture (the main branch of the Crimean economy) and tourism, to name just a few Ukrainian-caused disadvantages. Anyone is free to draw their own conclusions if this act of Ukrainian retaliation on the Crimean population is decent and whether it shows how much Ukraine cares about what happens to Crimeans.This punches a big hole in the Kyiv propaganda narrative that they want to “liberate” Crimeans.
Of all the current Crimean inhabitants, the Crimean Tatars[+]are the most native in Crimea but they became an ethnic minority after Russian oppressions, especially after the Crimean War (1853–56) and under the Stalin regime (1922–1952) that committed ethnic cleansing against them. Nowadays, Tatars constitute circa 12% of the population of Crimea and support a continued association with Ukraine.
· The first settlers of Crimea were perhaps the Cimmerians[+]about 1000 BCE, who were of Iranian origin.
· In the 7th century BCE another Iranian nomadic tribe, the Scythians, conquered the steppe area.
· From the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, the Greeks established colonies along the Crimean coasts.
· In 15. BCE, these colonies came under Roman control.
· In the 10th century AD, Crimean coastal cities fell to the Kipchaks
· During the Mongol invasions in the 13th century (1239–1242), Crimea was conquered by the Tatars of the Golden Horde (part of the Mongol empire of Genghis Khan), who converted to Islam in the early 14th century and submitted to the Ottoman Empire in 1475.
· In 1441, the Crimean Tatars separated from the Horde and formed a state, The Crimean Khanate[+] (apart from Crimea, also a huge part of contemporary Ukraine belonged to it).
· In 1475 Crimea became the vassal of Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was the dominant force in the region for circa 300 years but Turks haven't colonized Crimea, so the Crimean Tatars remained the majority.
· In 1666. there were 1.800.000[+] free Crimean Tatars in the Crimean Khanate. According to a source mentioned in Wikipedia[+], in 1767, some 4 million people were living in the whole of the Crimean Khanate, many of them Russian and Ukrainian slaves, as the Tatars were constantly conducting slave raids and the slave trade. According to the Ukrainian Encyclopedia[+], in 1775 the Crimean population had been estimated at 200.000 Tatars, whereas by yet another source at “a little less than half a million”. The Crimean Khanate existed for 342 years (1441–1783).
· Many maps[ꚛ][ꚛ][ꚛ][ꚛ] and sources[+] show that Crimea was part of Russia also in 1640, and even before such as this map of Russia[ꚛ] by Henricus Hondius published in London in 1635, or this unclear Map of Russia[ꚛ], 1596 - 1614, author - Russian Tsar Fyodor Borisovich Godunov, publisher Hessel Gerits. Crimea was certainly on this Map of Russia in 1661[ꚛ] and 1680[ꚛ]. Russian Empire has waged wars[+] with Crimean Tatars since 1507, and with its rulers, the Ottoman Empire since 1568, in which Tatars and Turks were the aggressors attacking Russian lands. In 1571, Crimean Tatars and Turks even burnt Moscow completely. In 1572, Crimean Tatars were defeated by the Russian army and later, Russians expanded to the Black Sea region invading the Crimean Khanate several times and finally conquered it during the Russo-Turkish Wars (between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries).
· In 1774, Crimea became a Russian vassal[+] as the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Catherine the Great with the Treaty making the Tatars of the Crimea politically independent.
· In 1783, following Russian victories in several wars against the Ottoman Empire, violating the 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (which had guaranteed non-interference of both Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the affairs of the Crimean Khanate), in order to “block the way for the Turks”, the Russian Empire (reigned by Prussian Russian Empress Catherine the Great) annexed the Crimea Khanate[+]. Tatars did not resist the annexation. Crimean Tatar nobility preferred the protectorate of the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire so khan stepped down from his throne. After years of turmoil, the Muslim indigenous people, the Tatars, lacked the resources and the will to continue fighting. But turning their back on Ottoman Empire and submitting to Russian Empire will turn out to be a huge mistake because Russians will treat the Crimean Tatars horribly. Many fled the peninsula at the time because they were prosecuted on religious grounds. The size of the pre-annexation Crimean population is estimated at roughly 300.000, and a survey in 1784 produced an estimate of 150,000 Tatar inhabitants, followed in 1805-1806 by a second survey counting slightly more than 129,000. Still, Tatars constituted over 95% of the population. Over the course of a century and a half, under the Russian Empire, close to a million of the Crimean Tatars were forced to flee their homeland Crimea. In 1861, after the Rules for settling private lands in Crimea by foreign immigrants were adopted with the right to hire foreign workers for all who wished to settle in Crimea and take Russian citizenship, the colonization of the peninsula began with over 550.000[+] Russians settling there over next seven decades, along with Ukrainians, Jews, Germans, Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, and others, while further discrimination of Tatars that led to their exodus, impoverishment, and extinction, the indigenous Crimean Tatars turned into an ethnic minority in their own homeland.
About 193.000 Crimean Tatars were forcibly dispersed to other parts of Russia after the Crimean War (1853–56). In 1889. another circa 200.000 Crimean Tatars were forced to leave Crimea and another circa 30.000 until the end of the century. (CrimeanTatarResourceCentre.pdf)
· 1853-1856, The Crimean War[+]between the Russian Empire and an ultimately victorious French-led alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom, and Sardinia-Piedmont. Russia did not lose Crimea then because the war was not about Crimea but over Russia's conquests to protect the rights of Orthodox Christian minorities in Palestine, which was part of the Ottoman Empire. The French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics there, and Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Russia lost that war, which is why the Muslim Crimean Tatars had to flee from their homeland en masse.
· When the 1917 Revolution led to the collapse of the Russian Empire, the remaining Crimean Tatars (300.000 Crimean Tatars) declared Crimea to be an independent democratic republic.
· During the Russian Civil War (1917–1922), Crimea changed hands numerous times[+]
· In 1921, the peninsula was reorganized as the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars perished during Joseph Stalin’s suppression of ethnic minorities.
· In May 1944, as the Russian Red Army reconquered Crimea, the remaining Crimean Tatars—some 240.000 people—based on the idea of collective responsibility (a.k.a. collective guilt, which is one of the key ingredients in genocidal thinking) were forcibly deported to Siberia and Central Asia under Stalin’s regime for allegedly having collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. More than 110.000 of them died soon afterward as a result of deportation. Many Russians and Ukrainians settled in place of Tatars.
· In 1954, the Presidium of the Soviet Union issued a decree[+]transferring Crimea to Ukraine on the 300th anniversary of a Treaty, as a noble and symbolic act because of its geographic location (Crimea is peninsular which connects to Ukraine, and the nearest and most easily accessible administrative center was Kyiv) and as a matter of practicality and logistics – due to the building of a hydro-electric dam on the Ukrainian Dnieper River (supplying Crimea with water) that required for all the administration to be under one body (it was easier to manage Crimea as Ukrainian territory, although nearly all decision-making was done in Moscow).
· In 1967. circa 2.000 Tatars wanted to return to Crimea but they were not allowed to register.
· Between 1989-1990. thanks to a new declaration about the rehabilitation of Tatars, more than 83.000 Crimean Tatars managed to return to Crimea
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