Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars (Crimean Tatar: Qırımtatarlar), are an East European Turkic people who are indigenous to Crimea, and mainly live there.[1][2][3][4] Their native language is Crimean Tatar. Crimean Tatars follow Islam, and thus they celebrate most of the Muslim holidays. The Circumcision of boys called Sünnet is hold in a big ceremony[5] .[6]
 Crimean Tatars in national dress | |
| Languages | |
|---|---|
| Crimean Tatar | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam |
They have survived three occupations. First in 1783 when the Crimean Khanate, who was ruled by the Giray Dynasty, was annexed by the Russian Empire. This resulted in many Crimean Tatars fleeing to the territory of the Ottoman Empire during the late 18th to early 19th century. There descendants still live in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania.[7]
The second deportation of Crimean Tatars took place in 1944, organised by the Soviet government. Then, on 18 May and during several following days, over 191 thousand people were deported to Central Asia and some north-eastern regions of Russia. According to different estimations, the deportation took lives of from one-third to half of the Crimean Tatar population of that time.[8]
Having returned home after the deportation as Ukraine had become independent, Crimean Tatars were forced to leave their land again due to the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014.
