22 May 2025

“I Have Promised” : An Exhibition Commemorating the 140th Anniversary of Noman Çelebicihan’s Birth

The Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Kyiv has created an online exhibition dedicated to the 140th anniversary of the birth of Noman Çelebicihan. The exhibition was prepared based on documents from the collections of the Central State Historical Archives and is available on its official website. Noman Çelebicihan was a Crimean Tatar political and public figure. He was one of the organizers of the First Qurultai, the first Head of Government of the Crimean Democratic Republic proclaimed in 1917, and the first mufti of Muslims of Crimea, Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus.

The online exhibition was curated by Yuliia Orel, Head of the Document Information Use Department. Its aim is to reconstruct the historical context of Noman Çelebicihan’s political activity and highlight the complex trajectory of the Crimean Tatar people’s struggle for self-determination, identity, and the right to their statehood.

The figure of Noman Çelebicihan is returning to the Ukrainian cultural space today not as a romanticized image of the past, but as a symbol of state-building will and political dignity of Ukraine’s Indigenous people. His life story is a mosaic of places and contexts — from his native village of Biiuk-Sunak near Dzhankoi, through the Zincirli Madrasa in Bakhchysarai, to Istanbul University, and eventually to revolutionary Bakhchysarai.

The exhibition presents unique archival documents from the collections of the Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine that shed light on Çelebicihan’s political activity during the pivotal years of 1917–1918. These include an excerpt from the minutes of the Tavria Provincial Public Committee meeting dated July 14, 1917; encrypted telegrams; prosecutor’s reports on Çelebicihan’s arrest and the initiation of a case related to the creation of a Muslim battalion; and documents concerning the organization of the First Qurultai of the Crimean Tatar People. These sources make it possible to reconstruct key stages in the formation of Crimean Tatar self-governance and reveal how the imperial and Bolshevik authorities responded to the attempts to realize the right to national autonomy.

A special place in the exhibition is devoted to documents related to Bakhchysarai — the city that became the political center of the Crimean Tatar movement. It was here, in November 1917, that the Qurultai convened, proclaiming the establishment of the Crimean People’s Republic and electing Noman Çelebicihan as its head. Alongside his political leadership, he remained a poet and educator. It is believed that during these very days, he wrote the lyrics to the anthem Ant Etkenmen (“I Have Promised”), which became a symbol of national devotion to the land and the people.

Çelebicihan’s political struggle ended in tragedy: following the Bolshevik coup in Sevastopol, he was arrested on January 14, 1918, and murdered on February 23 of the same year — just three months after the solemn proclamation of the Crimean People’s Republic.

This exhibition serves as a reminder that Ukrainian Crimea has its own history of resistance — of the fight for freedom of thought, and for the linguistic, cultural, and spiritual dignity of Ukraine’s Indigenous people.

The online exhibition can be viewed at the following link: До 140-річчя від дня народження Номана Челебіджихана.