COLLECTIVE MEMORY, JUSTICE, AND LAND DISPUTES AFTER THE REPATRIATION OF THE CRIMEAN TATARS

Abstract

This article is devoted to the meaning of identity and belonging in the processes of defending land rights. The twentieth century was marked by an unprecedented scale of rejections of land ownership claims and forced redistributions of property in the countries of the Warsaw Pact member states. Forced confiscation of property and collectivisation consequently changed the landscape of land ownership in these countries. In some border territories of the historical Soviet Union, which includes the present-day Crimean peninsula, ethnic deportations of the autochthonous population had a decisive influence on the redistribution of land ownership. Separated from their ethnic lands, the Crimean Tatars formed an identity that maintained a clear connection to the lost territory and homeland. This connection was one which expressed a political resistance that continued during the entire Soviet period until a mass and spontaneous repatriation took place. This repatriation was organised under the rallying cry of restoring justice through a return of Crimean Tatars to their ethnic homeland. After the successful return of a large part of the Crimean Tatars, the fight to restore land rights began. This fight generated a great political resonance in Crimea and led to a significant reorganisation of the cultural landscape of the peninsula.