On Friday, February 19, the Head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, head of the department of legal and foreign affairs of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev took part in a press conference organized by the Secretariat of the Commisioner for the Protection of the State Language on the topic: “The state of the Ukrainian and the Crimean Tatar languages in the occupied territories of Ukraine. The expert spoke about the problems of the functioning of schools in the Crimean Tatar language, informed about the situation with ethnic media on the peninsula, and also voiced recommendations aimed at preserving and developing the Crimean Tatar language.
.830_545.jpg)
The event was attended by:
Taras Kremin – Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language;
Eskender Bariiev – Head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Head of the Department for Legal Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People,
Tamila Tasheva – Deputy Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea;
Andrii Shchekun – coordinator of the Regional Council of Ukrainians of Crimea:
Serhii Stukanov – head of the analytical department of the Center for Content Analysis, co-coordinator of the Freedom Space movement.
Bariiev noted in his speech that with the beginning of the occupation of Crimea by Russia, the situation on the peninsula in the spheres of UNESCO activity (education, science, culture, information, freedom of the media, etc.) is in a critical state. The Crimean Tatar Resource Center constantly records violations in these areas.
Despite the fact that the occupation power officially recognized the Crimean Tatar language as one of the state languages, the scope of its use is narrowed, there are no Crimean Tatar versions of the official pages of the websites of the occupation authorities, i.e., they are presented exclusively in Russian, office work is conducted only in Russian, people are even denied the right to use their native language in the so-called courts, there have been cases of threats to fire workers for speaking their native language, which is a violation of Articles 2, 8, 15 and 17 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”,- he explained.
According to the expert, 15 schools and 384 classes with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction operated in Crimea before the occupation. According to the occupation authorities, there are still 7 schools with the Crimean Tatar language of instruction, 3 – with Russian and Crimean Tatar languages of instruction, and 6 schools have received the status of general education schools. Education in the Crimean Tatar language is allowed only up to grade 9 and at the request of the parents. Administrations of educational institutions, under various pretexts, create obstacles in the filing of such statements: “in Crimea, the only native language is Russian”, “lack of classrooms”, “lack of teaching staff”, “lack of textbooks”, cases of gross refusal were also recorded: they force parents to refuse to study in the Crimean Tatar language, or reduce the number of hours for studying the Crimean Tatar language and literature.
“The school administration makes comments to children because of communication in their native language, raids are carried out to search for the so-called extremist and forbidden literature. FSB officers come to schools for so-called preventive conversations with Crimean Tatar children. families and their tendency to denunciations”,- he added.
In addition, the occupation authorities are actively involved in rewriting and falsifying the historiography of Crimea and the Crimean Tatar people, which is also reflected in school history textbooks. The history textbook for the 10th grade, which was supposed to study in the schools of the occupied Crimea, contained statements inciting ethnic hatred, in particular, hatred of the Crimean Tatar people. The publication contained untrue and biased statements about the history of the Crimean Tatar people with manifestations of xenophobia.
The CTRC head also outlined another important problem – the situation with ethnic media.
After the occupation, the ATR TV channel stopped broadcasting due to a refusal to obtain a license. Together with it, the children's television channel Liala, the radio stations Meydan-FM and Leader, which are part of the information holding ATR, stopped working. Searches were carried out in the building of the ATR TV channel. As a result, the ATR TV channel was forced to move to Kyiv.
“As an alternative to the ATR TV channel and the Crimean Tatar editorial office on the Crimean Tatar TV and Radio Company, on April 22, 2015, an autonomous non-profit organization Public Crimean Tatar TV and Radio Company was created, called Millet, and radio Vetan Sedasy. On August 28, Roskomnadzor issued universal licenses for broadcasting of the Millet TV channel and the Vetan Sedasy radio station, Bariiev said.
However, in Crimea, officers of the Russian police and the Accounts Chamber conducted searches of the pro-government Crimean Tatar TV channel Millet. In addition, work is currently underway to reorganize this channel, where speech will be carried out in Russian. It is also planned to introduce a ban on the use of the names of author's programs in the Crimean Tatar language.
“This situation confirms the discrimination of the Crimean Tatar people in the use of the Crimean Tatar language, even on the pro-government TV channels. Such actions of the occupation authorities lead to the Russification of the indigenous population”,- the Mejlis member summed up.
For the preservation and development of the Crimean Tatar language, Bariiev voiced the following recommendations:
– to develop and adopt the Strategy for the development and popularization of the Crimean Tatar language for the period up to 2032;
– to promote the creation of a research institute of the Crimean Tatar language;
– to promote distance learning of the Crimean Tatar language, as well as the creation and development of independent Sunday schools in Crimea;
– to adopt the Law On Indigenous Peoples;
– to provide state financial support to the only Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR;
– The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine should create an institution of the Commissioner for the Protection of the Languages of the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine.