DOI: 10.20535/2307-5244.48.2019.176397
National University «Odessa Law Academy»
According to the UN, there are approximately 300–500 million indigenous
peoples in the world, occupying 20% of the globe. Despite the breadth of differences
between indigenous peoples around the world, they have one thing in common
– they share past injustices against them. The Crimean Tatars, the indigenous
people of Ukraine, have not missed this fate. The purpose of the article is
to reveal the main historical stages of the development of the Crimean Tatar national movement during the 20th — 21st cent. The research methodology is based
on the principles of historicism, systemicity, scientific objectivity, as well as the
application of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, generalization),
as well as special historical (problem historical, historical systemic,
problem chronological, historical and typological) methods. The scientific novelty
of the article is that for the first time, on the basis of analysis of historical events
and documents for the period of the 20th — 21st cent., it has been established that
the activation of the activities of the national representative bodies of the Crimean
Tatar people – the Kurultay and Mejlis – is historically connected with the
revolutionary sentiments among the peoples of the Russian Empire (1917), the
Soviet Union (1990) and Ukraine (2014), aimed at preserving national identity
and the practical realization by Crimean Tatars of their fundamental right to
self-determination. Summing up, the analysis shows that the centennial history
of the national movement of the Crimean Tatars was constantly accompanied
by the struggle for the right to preserve and strengthen their political and legal
national institutions.
Keywords: indigenous people, Crimea, Crimean Tatar people, Kurultai, Mejlis,
national movement, occupation.
