Return of the Tartars

A woman named Husniye (age 76), who is a Crimean Tartar, in a temporary house in Simferapol, Ukraine, on Oct. 6, 2008. Turkic-speaking Tartars, who are almost all Muslim in faith, have a history that dates back to the 8th and 9th centuries in the Crimea. They were exiled by Joseph Stalin by 1944, having been accused of collaboration with German Nazis in World War II. But they have been returning to Crimea since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

A Crimean Tartar at home preparing water for a meal in a tent in Simferapol, Ukraine, on Oct. 6, 2008. Crimea is an autonomous region that is governed by Ukraine. The Tartars say that their culture is disappearing because they are excluded from the national education curriculum. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, land privatization became a huge issue across most of Eastern Europe. The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belongs to them, because they were exiled in 1944.

A Crimean Tartar named Ahmet (age 77), who watches over the community mosque, sits at home in a field of temporary housing on land occupied by returning Crimean Tartars, outside of Simferapol, Ukraine, Oct. 6, 2008. Up to 25,000 formerly exiled Tartars live in makeshift homes with no electricity. At the present time, the autonomous Republic of Crimea is governed by its own constitution in accordance with the laws of Ukraine. However, Kiev's politics have been largely pro-western since the Orange Revolution in 2004. Crimea has remained and is dominated by a pro-Russian outlook which the Tartar community says belongs to an emerging "New Russia" --they are worried that history may be about to repeat itself.

A group of Muslim Crimean Tartars praying in a mosque in Simferapol, Ukraine, on Oct. 6, 2008. In 2004 hope arose when the government agreed that the formerly exiled Tartar community could build a new mosque for its growing population, but shortly afterwards the government canceled the permission. At the present time, the autonomous Republic of Crimea is governed by its own constitution in accordance with the laws of Ukraine. However, Kiev's politics have been largely pro-western since the Orange Revolution in 2004. Crimea has remained and been dominated by a pro-Russian outlook which the Tartar community says belongs to an emerging "New Russia"-- and they are worried that history may be about to repeat itself.