After 1989, nearly 300,000 Tatars were able to return to Crimea from their places of deportation. Their return was met the strong opposition of the rest population of Crimea. Another roughly 270,000 Crimean Tatars remain in Uzbekistan and other parts of the former Soviet Union. This population is best considered as an exiled community rather than a diaspora, although they might develop into a diaspora if their exile is prolonged. Diaspora within the Eastern Bloc and elsewhere[edit] The Crimean Tatar diaspora community in Romania, today numbering 24,000 (2002 Romanian Census) had been a very vibrant one until the beginning of the communist era in Romania. It has also recently experienced an ethnic revival and renewal of links with the homeland, as well as with other diaspora communities, particularly the one in Turkey. The Crimean Tatar diaspora community in Bulgaria number only in the thousands, but they also recently began to link themselves with their co-ethnics abroad, and especially with the repatriated Crimean Tatars. The Crimean Tatars in the USA are the highest number of the diaspora in the Western hemisphere, they are composed of refugees from Crimea, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.[citation needed] Recent challenges[edit] The main challenges to the Crimean Tatar diaspora in the 1990s were the erosion of ethnic identity as a result of swift modernization of communities and the consequent difficulties in mobilization of resources among the apathetic diaspora members (especially in Turkey) in order to support the repatriation of co-ethnics. As in other diasporas, diaspora political activity is mostly conducted by elites and ethnic organizations. As in other diasporas, Crimean Tatars also suffered from problems stemming from the differentiation of their identities over time due to their acculturation into various host-societies. In the last decade, the various diaspora communities, as well as the homeland community, have been ardently negotiating what it means to be a Crimean Tatar, seeking an agreement on a common sense of identity. There are also differences among Crimean Tatars as to what the goals of the diaspora and the national movement should be and how to reach those goals, leading to a lively internal politics, as in other flourishing diasporas of the 1990s. However, the Crimean Tatar diaspora in general seems to be unified in recognizing the legitimacy of Crimean Tatar National Assembly (Mejlis) in Crimea, and recognizes its head, Mustafa Abdülcemil Qırımoğlu as their leader in taking the major decisions concerning the fate of the nation. The diaspora is also in agreement with the leadership of Cemiloğlu with respect to non-violent political struggle for the restitution of the rights of the deported Tatars within the framework of respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 15:11:07 +0000