Friends, often under our publications we see comments from people who do not quite understand the difference between indigenous peoples and national minorities.
Well, let’s figure out what characteristics an ethnic group must have in order to be recognized as an indigenous people. Four main criteria are generally accepted:
– the ethnic group does not have its own statehood;
— the ethnic group self-identifies as an indigenous people and seeks to preserve its identity;
— an autochthonous ethnic group has strong historical and cultural ties with the territory of residence;
— an autochthonous ethnic group constitutes an ethnic minority within its population.
Based on this, we can conclude that, for example, Poles, Romanians, and Greeks cannot be considered indigenous to Ukraine, since they have their own state.
Now let’s turn to the law of Ukraine On the Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine, which clearly states who the indigenous peoples of our state are – the Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks. It is these peoples who were formed on the territory of the Crimean peninsula and have no other homeland other than Crimea.
Interesting, by the way, was the hysterical reaction to this law of Russian officials, and in particular of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who publicly stated: “… to talk about Russians as a non-indigenous people of Ukraine is “not just incorrect, but funny and stupid” but also contradicts history.”
If Russians call themselves the indigenous people of Ukraine, then the existence of Russia as their state must be questioned.