The search for the rehabilitation of the image of Crimean Tatars in post-WWII period and their struggle for self-determination

Abstract

Crimean Tatars suffered greatly from the policies of the Soviet government before, during and after their total deportation of 1944, as well as during their return in the late 1980s, and they are being discriminated against following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. Τhis study is a tool to look at the past of the Soviet Union and its subsequent states, regarding the position of Crimean Tatars, in attempt to deconstruct the dominant representations of public discourse, that selectively silence their past struggles and defend oblivion herein, while ascribing negative meaning even to the ethnonym “Crimean Tatar”. The institutions and the policies of the Soviet Union and subsequently Ukraine and Russia, are taken into account for the analysis of Crimean Tatars. Thus, this study follows two different axes in the same time: one chronological axis of representations and one explanatory axis, that attempts to highlight the background in which those representations are made. The chronological axis is vertically penetrating all three parts of the study, thus interconnecting them and draws on expertise of researchers mainly focusing on discourse analysis. The explanatory axis is horizontally present in each separate part and consists of theoretical and historical sections, beyond those related to representations, thus trying to focus on the general framework in which those representations are taking place. This study relies mainly on bibliographic research in available secondary sources in English and Russian languages. Main sources that were used in the study are annotated collections of archival materials, works of researchers that have conducted extensive fieldwork among Crimean Tatars, works on history of Soviet Union, its successor states and resistance to them.