Occupied land

Since 2014, our lands have been under occupation, but we unshakably, step by step, stand for returning all territories. How do we free the lands, the people, and the life from the chains of occupation? We publish the full text of the speech on the topic “Occupied Land” by Tamila Tasheva, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and 2021 USPS alumna.

“All those who wanted to leave, have left!”
“All people there are collaborators!”
“Everyone hates Ukraine there!”
“They had been waiting for russia, let them have it now!”

You know, I have been hearing these statements every day since 2014. I get annoyed every time, but I unceasingly try to explain that they are not true.

Not all people who wanted to leave left! After all, do we need all our people, all those who love and wait for Ukraine, to leave Crimea, for example? I can name dozens of reasons why people did not leave: because they had a home, they did not want to leave, because they had nowhere to go, or they left and came back after a year because they could not earn money to support themselves and their family, because they had sick parents who might not survive the trip, or after all, because THIS IS OUR LAND, and we are not the ones who need to go.

I am a representative of at least the fourth generation of people in my family who were forced to live outside my small Motherland — Crimea. The sense of the importance of this land has been instilled in us since childhood. I was a little five-year-old girl who heard the stories of my great-grandmother Sabie about picturesque Crimea. About the mountains, the sun, and the sea. I remember coming down the ramp of the plane flying from Samarkand to Simferopol in May 1991. I was wiping the tears running down my great-grandmother’s cheeks with my little hands. Tears of happiness to see her native Crimea, from where all Crimean Tatars were once deported. We saw the same tears of happiness on the faces of people during the liberation of Kharkiv Oblast, Kyiv Oblast, and people who survived the terrible occupation. Tears of people who were going home to Kherson by the first trains.

Now, we often talk about the Ukrainian colonial experience, but one of the signs of colonisation was also a mass settlement of our lands, primarily by the russians. In Crimea, russian colonisation with mass settlement and replacement of indigenous peoples — Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks — started in the 18th century. From 95% of Crimeans in the 18th century – to zero in mid-May 1944. Now, we can see how russia is carrying out new colonisation of Crimea – over 800,000 “newcomers” from russia and our Mariupol – where they bring russians and encourage them to go to the city of our pain.

If all our people leave, who will stay there? Sooner or later, we will free all our territories, but who will welcome our military servicepersons there? Who will offer them pancakes?

“All people there are collaborators!”

No, not everyone.

Is Nariman Dzhelyal, First Deputy Chair of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, a collaborator?

Nariman did not leave in 2014 but stayed with his people in Crimea. He was constantly interrogated by the FSB, his house was repeatedly searched, and in 2021, after his participation in the first Crimean Platform summit, my friend Nariman was detained. He was accused of sabotage and has now been sentenced to 17 years in prison. For one month and a half, he had been convoyed from Crimea to russia. Now, he is in Siberia, five thousand kilometres away from his home.

Certainly, there are people, many people, who wanted Russia. Of course, there are people who hate Ukraine. But they are not the majority.

I want to tell one more story.

Bohdan Ziza, a young painter, 29 years old. At the time of the occupation, he was 20, an orphan raised by his grandmother. Bohdan did not leave Crimea, even though he had relatives in the continental part of Ukraine, because his grandmother was sick. In May 2022, at night, he poured yellow and blue paint on the occupation administration in Yevpatoria and threw an ignition mixture into it. Surely, he was arrested. First, he was accused of “discrediting the armed forces of RF” and then, as is typical for Crimea, of terrorism.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He is completely isolated from the outside world but sometimes manages to send short letters to his relatives.

Let me quote:

“Hi, Mom.

I am falling on my knees and ask you to forgive me for keeping silent and not writing to You during these long years of separation. Forgive me, for I was not there during the most difficult period of Your life. You and I have not spoken for so long; I won’t hide that it started to seem to me that it was forever.

Mom, I am so ashamed of my silence. I see how much pain and misery I caused You by this. But I am trying to be better, Mom! You must know that I will never leave You again, no matter what others say.

– But Bohdan, we thought you were an orphan, your mother is dead.

My Mother is as alive as ever. My Mother is immortal. My Mother is Ukraine!

I am writing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of Crimeans: Dear Mom, take us back; we want Your native embrace!

24 August 2022

Bohdan Ziza”

This is the way hundreds of Crimeans try to make amends – they raise Ukrainian flags over Sevastopol and write “Glory to Ukraine! Armed Forces of Ukraine are coming!” on the walls. They sing “Chervona Kalyna” at weddings, play the “Bayraktar” song in the classrooms, get tattoos with Ukrainian symbols, refuse to serve Russian soldiers at service stations or restaurants, write “Suitcase, railway station, Tambov” on the neighbour’s fence. These are just the manifestations (more than 600 already) that we recorded in the occupation courts under the article “Discrediting the Armed Forces of RF.”

I am sure there are more of such people.

I talk a lot with people from Crimea. One of the activists who left Crimea after the beginning of the full-scale war (and who is, by the way, now serving in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine), when answering the question of why all these people started demonstrating their activity now, and why he did it, said, “.. Then, in 2014, nobody fought for us, and we did not expect that it would bring any good.” Although, in reality, there was resistance in Crimea even in 2014.

The key difference between the events in 2014 and 2022 is the fact that back then, there was no strong army, stable government, or strong volunteering. Unlike in 2022, when we are fighting and go on fighting for every little part of our land. Unfortunately, this struggle costs us dear.

Certainly, we will need to look for common ground to find each other again. I am sure that the day will come when I am able to see my mother and visit our house in Fontany village. I will be able to hug her and my father, and the situation when you don’t see your parents for more than three years or cannot wish them happy birthdays will never repeat! Mom, you still have not picked up the phone when I am calling, but I would like to greet you here. I know you will like it. Hayırlı yaşlar olsun, annem!

I want to conclude with the words of Nariman Dzhelyal from one of his prison letters: “I pray to God that your hands keep weapons firmly, and your hearts are filled with courage and determination! I am grateful to every defender and volunteer who is doing their job in this difficult time!”

Thank you, and Glory to Ukraine!