Ablyatifov, Rustem --- "Citizenship Reform and Challenges for the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine" [2011] ELECD 173; in Blitz, K. Brad; Lynch, Maureen (eds), "Statelessness and Citizenship" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Statelessness and Citizenship

Editor(s): Blitz, K. Brad; Lynch, Maureen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849800679

Section: Chapter 6

Section Title: Citizenship Reform and Challenges for the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine

Author(s): Ablyatifov, Rustem

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

6. Citizenship reform and challenges
for the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine
Rustem Ablyatifov




Source: © UNHCR/Greg Constantine 2010.


Figure 6.1 While many Crimean Tatars have returned to the Crimea, they
face challenges obtaining documentation as well as owning
land. Crimean Tatars have created unauthorized settlements on
self-captured land like this area outside the city of Simferopol.

The Crimea is a unique region of Ukraine with respect to geogra-
phy, climate, geology and history. It is inhabited by people of various
ethnic origins with distinctive languages, cultures, traditions and history.
However, the region's history has left many knotty questions and prob-
lems unresolved. One such matter, inherited from the recent past, was
the issue of forced deportations that affected among others the Crimean

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Tatar people. This situation was not created by the Ukrainian people or
the Ukrainian government but rather was a legacy from Stalinist times and
the repressive policies of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
Today more than 250 000 Crimean Tatars and other formerly deported
persons (FDP) have returned to the Crimea. However, the measures
adopted by the Ukrainian government to accommodate the repatriates
are insufficient, and many citizenship issues have not been resolved. This
chapter evaluates efforts by the Ukrainian government to reintegrate
repatriated Crimean Tatars and, in particular, the citizenship campaigns
instituted for their benefit. The aim of this chapter is to assess whether
or how the governmental reforms improved the situation of formerly
stateless Crimean Tatars.


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