07 July 2024

35 Years Ago: On July 7, 1989, the First Issue of the Crimean Tatar Newspaper Qırım Was Published

On July 7, 1989, 35 years ago, the first issue of the Crimean Tatar newspaper Dostluq (Friendship) was published. Today, this publication, which has changed its name to Qırım, is actively persecuted by the Russian occupation authorities.

The newspaper Dostluq was the first post-deportation newspaper published in the Crimean Tatar language in Crimea. Initially, the newspaper was distributed by subscription and sold in retail, but over time, the editorial board refused to sell it in kiosks. Throughout its existence, the newspaper was published one to three times a week. 

Initially, the newspaper was published at the expense of the Crimean regional budget, later the budget of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and since 2004 for state subsidies allocated by the State Committee on Nationalities and Religion (SCNR). Since 2005, the newspaper has been published with a supplement Qırımqaraylar (Crimean Karaites), which covers events in the life of the Karaite community. The circulation of the newspaper was 4 thousand copies twice a week until May 2011, when it ceased to exist for two months due to the liquidation of the SCNR. In July 2011, the newspaper’s publishing was restored.

After the occupation of Crimea by Russia, the publishing newspaper Qırım was in a difficult situation: the editorial office lost funding and was forced to reduce the frequency of publication. The Russian authorities of Crimea offered to join the Hasprynskyi Media Center, but the Crimean Tatar edition refused, not wanting to lose its financial and informational independence. Editor-in-chief Bekir Mamutov noted that the editorial office received a media registration certificate from the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) in the spring of 2015. However, during the occupation, the editorial office received several warnings from Roskomnadzor.

Since the occupation of Crimea by Russia, the newspaper has been raising issues related to the Crimean Tatars, one of the indigenous peoples of Ukraine, often covering human rights violations and reprinting news and international publications related to Crimea.

In 2021, the so-called “court” of the Russian occupation administration fined Bekir Mamutov for publishing a report by the UN Secretary-General that mentioned the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. The Mejlis itself was banned by the Russian occupation authorities in 2016. Then international organizations stood up for the newspaper.

This year, in 2024, the harassment continued: On May 17, the eve of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide, Russian security forces broke into the home of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief and searched the house. Then Bekir Mamutov and another employee of the newspaper, Seiran Ibrahimov, were forcibly taken to the editorial office, where they were also searched and their equipment confiscated. The searches were carried out because of an article published in the newspaper about why Crimean Tatars mustn’t fight on the side of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper Qırım is charged under two administrative articles: “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” and “failure to provide or untimely provision of information on the receipt of funds”.