The third panel discussion within the forum “26-2-14: The War Started in Crimea” was held on the topic “Why is Crimea’s past a matter of its future? A conversation about the true face of Crimea”
The third panel discussion within the forum “26-2-14: The War Started in Crimea” was held on the topic “Why is Crimea’s past a matter of its future? A conversation about the true face of Crimea”.
The speakers were: Rory Finnin, Associate Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge; Oleksandr Halenko, historian, orientalist, one of the leading Ukrainian Turkologists, lecturer at the Kyiv School of Economics, former head of the Center for the Study of Black Sea Civilizations at the Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Martin-Olexander Kyslyi, historian, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy professor, participant of the project “Initiative for Crimean Tatars”; Mavile Khalil, journalist, psychologist; Metropolitan Klyment of Simferopol and Crimea of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
The panel discussion was moderated by Maria Tomak, Head of the Crimean Platform’s Support Service.
Rory Finnin thanked for the invitation to join the forum. Mr. Finnin spoke about two reasons for the problem of perception of Crimea in the West.
The first reason is that Russian history is very poorly studied in the West. According to Rory Finnin, the study is still influenced by Churchill’s aphorism “Russia is a mystery wrapped in a riddle within another riddle”.
“If Russia is a mystery, we shouldn’t try to understand it correctly, instead, stereotypes about the Kremlin will work. On the other hand, there is a group of scholars and teachers who want to fight these stereotypes, and they turn to the cultural Russian canon, idealize it, and even see themselves in this space. And this focus on the means of Russian soft power causes intellectual laziness,” said Mr. Finnin.
The second reason is the incomplete study of the phenomenon of empire. This is especially important in the UK, where the Crimean War of the mid-19th century, the imperial clash of the titans, is remembered. When the Ottoman, British, and European allies confronted Russia for control of the Black Sea region. The war strengthened the connection between Crimea and Russia, especially between the names, and this happened on Western mental maps, and unfortunately, this effect is very long-lasting and persists to this day.
Oleksandr Halenko recalled the historian Omelian Pritsak, who called for a change in our view of the history of Ukraine. To shift the focus from looking at the history of the Ukrainian people to studying the history of the state, because the history of the Ukrainian people is different from the history of the territory of Ukraine.
“A historian who studies the history of the Cossack era should study not only the history of the Cossack state but also the Crimean Khanate without prejudice,” the historian emphasized.
Oleksandr Halenko noted that until the end of the 18th century, while the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Khanate were present in the south, these lands were outside the Russian Empire. That is why Crimea should be included in the general history of Ukraine.
Metropolitan Klyment of Simferopol and Crimea of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine began his speech by thanking the Ukrainian soldiers who are bringing the liberation of Crimea closer. He emphasized that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is the only religious organization in Crimea that has not registered under Russian law.
“Because it is one thing to say that we do not recognize the laws of the Russian Federation in Crimea, and another thing is not to recognize and act. Ukrainians in Crimea did not become collaborators,” said Metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimea.
The religious leader emphasized the importance of forming a national identity for the future reintegration of Crimea, as well as the need for an effective religious, information, educational and cultural policy.
Journalist and psychologist Mavile Khalil noted that if we compare the number of victims of the 20th century, the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944 will look like an ordinary tragedy of the 20th century, because we know how many millions of Ukrainians died from the Holodomor, how many Jews were tortured during the Holocaust.
“But the deportation of the Crimean Tatars is different because it was an attempt to destroy the entire nation, to leave no trace. Not only the people were destroyed physically, the bigger problem was that the culture of the people, the history of the people, their Crimean traces were completely destroyed. And now we see that these processes continue,” emphasized Ms. Mavile.
Mavile Khalil emphasized that the tragedy of 1944 makes Crimean Tatars victims, not owners of their native land.
“Until we realize that Crimea is not just a resort, it is a native land, including Ukrainians, until we change this attitude and until we agree on this, we will not be able to offer the West other narratives about Crimea that will counteract the Russian narratives,” said Ms. Khalil.
Martin-Olexander Kyslyi, a historian, lecturer at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, and participant of the Crimean Tatar Initiative project, also joined the discussion. He is convinced that Ukrainian society has been held captive for many years by imperial narratives about Crimea inherited from Russia. These perceptions and patterns of behavior unconsciously shape our attitudes and behavior towards the entire history of the peninsula.
“What do you associate Crimea with? Perhaps it’s a Swallow’s Nest, the blue or a cypress tree. What if I said that Potemkin brought the cypress to Crimea? We are really in the unconscious captivity of the knowledge we inherited, the knowledge about this peninsula, about its indigenous people,” the historian emphasized in his speech.
According to Martin-Olexander, in 2014 Ukrainians rediscovered Crimea. Since then, we have been slowly moving towards a better understanding of the true history of the peninsula. To do this, it is necessary to talk about it in the public space not only as a good place to relax and a center of delicious cuisine.