Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation

The Discrimination of Crimean Tatars during the Referendum

As a citizen of Ukraine, I have an advantage of an inside view point on the Annexation of Crimea, which took place in Spring of 2014, following right after the Revolution of Dignity. In the particular blog I will share my position regarding this event and shine the light on the struggles of minorities populating Crimea. In my opinion the annexation of Crimea is unfair and hurtful to the large ethical group of Crimean Tatars that has been populating peninsula over 7 centuries.

Russian speaking population, which holds the majority supported the idea to join the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, there was over 38 percent of population who wanted to stay under the Ukrainian Government. Most of the people, who were in favor of Ukraine, are known as Crimean Tatars, the natives of the peninsula.

Who are the Crimean Tatars and what is their history?

In the period from 1920's to late 1950's the Crimean Tatars were brutally discriminated, sent to Siberia and even killed by the Soviets such behavior sets the negative attitude and mistrust to the Russian Government.The active discrimination caused the population decrease from 31% (1958) to 12% (2014). For this and many other reasons they unanimously supported Ukrainian position. The continuous hatred and discrimination would reflect on the results of the referendum, but the Crimean Tatars didn’t even have a chance to vote. On the day of referendum, groups of unknown man stood outside the voting posts and prevented representatives of minority from entering the building by threatening them or beating them up.

Was the Annexation legal and why EU will never accepted the geopolitical change?

According to the statements released by the CabMin of Ukraine, the Crimean Tatars were threatened or were not able to attend the referendum at all. Also, the CabMin questioned the final results of the referendum the percentage of the voters, the Government of Crimea reported an attendance of 98 percent of population which is unrealistically high for any sort of voting. 

Furthermore, the final results were hard to believe as well, the 82% voted for the separation to the Russia. This fact is impossible to believe in because according to the previous public questioning the major part of Ukrainian population in Crimea is not interested in the step backwards from the European integration. 

Do Russian citizens really benefit from the recent addition of Crimea to the borders of the Russia?

Crimea is well known tourists' destination for people of post-Soviet countries for over a century. The main source of income for the population is coming from the tourists' industry. The Russian media is attempting to portray the boom of the income for the business owners in peninsula after the takeover, but the interviews of the visitors as well as owners are standing on different. Most of the Crimean's state that ever since the annexation the business went down and the beaches are half empty. After the change of government, the access to the peninsula became harder so people start considering the alternative such as Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Egypt, which happened to be cheaper and more comfortable for the tourists. 

#Crimea