11 September 2024

The Fourth Crimea Platform Summit: Rory Finnin, founder and professor of Ukrainian Studies at Cambridge University, researcher of Crimean history, volunteer at UNITED24

“The historical experience of Russian and Soviet rule in Crimea is of constant ethnic cleansing, violence and trauma,” Rory Finnin, founder and professor of Ukrainian Studies at Cambridge University, researcher of Crimean history, volunteer at UNITED24.

Cambridge University Professor Rory Finnin believes that Western scholars have failed Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians by focusing for many years on the myth of Russian greatness while neglecting the voices of resistance, such as those of the Crimean Tatars during the Russian capture of Bakhchysarai in 1787. According to a researcher of Crimean history, this has led to a huge misunderstanding and underestimation of Ukrainian political culture and civil society. 

“Russia’s image of Crimea as a Riviera on the Black Sea hides deeper realities of history, geography, and demography that Russia has long sought to erase. The most important among them is the dynamic society and rich culture of the Crimean Tatars, the indigenous people of Ukraine,” said Rory Finnin, founder of Ukrainian Studies at Cambridge University. “Crimea is an extension of mainland Ukraine. Crimea and the people who live there need Ukraine. This is not a motto, it is a historical and geographical fact”.

The speaker also called on Western leaders to invest in the future study of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages and cultures for the peace and prosperity of future generations. 

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