Bakhchesaray, the 13th century capitol of the Crimean Tatar khanate and an enchanting town in lower Crimea, feels like it is worlds away from Kyiv and the rest of Ukraine. The 5 daily calls to prayer ringing out over the old town and noticeable lack of running water (not to mention the 17 hour train ride to get there) add to the feeling.
Organizations I spoke with in Bakhchesaray also have a regionally-specific goal in mind: to restore Crimean 
Tatar traditional crafts and create a source of income for older women. Aisha Osmanova directs the NGO “Maramar” and runs the new store “Usta”, or “Master” in Crimean Tatar with her husband. Maramar is the name of the embroidered head scarves (pictured left) and Aisha teaches women throughout Crimea this traditional art. She told me that there are very few who are Masters in the craft and that she herself only knows 25 percent of the technique.
The Khan’s Palace (a world heritage site), Upensky Monastery built into a cliff-side and 6th-century cave 
city of Chufut-Kale draw a fair amount of regional tourism to Bakhchesaray the store has been doing very in the first few months it has been open. President Yushenko saw Usta’s pottery at one of their displays and requested a visit to the store to see more of their work and meet some of the artists. Zarema Khayzedinova, who like Aisha has returned to Bakhchesaray after growing up in Uzbekistan, is putting together a website to promote Crimean crafts: www.crimeancraft.com.
Returning Home
In 1944 Stalin ordered wholesale deportation of Crimean Tatars along with 7 other nationalities accused of collaborating with the Germans. NKVD official statistics say that around 5 percent died in transit but the Tatars report that 46 percent died either in transit or over the first year after deportation.
Most of the people I met were deported to Uzbekistan and they told me that, while it was extremely hot for too many months of the year, it was not a bad place to live. Without fail though there was no question – regardless of whether they were born outside of Crimea and had never visited or spent the last 50 years in another country – of whether or not they would come back when given the opportunity. “Uzbekistan (or Tajikistan) was not a bad life but this is my home.” In 1989 Gorbachev said the Tatars could return to Crimea and since the Soviet Unioncollapsed around 260,000 Crimean Tatars resettled in Crimea. However, when they returned there were no houses, land, or jobs for them and it has been an incredible struggle to redevelop their lives…not to mention the communities.
Deportation was clearly devastating to the culture but this was not the first attack. In 1920 Lenin targeted the Tatar partisans and intelligentsia and killed an estimated 60,000 in 6 months while another 100,000 died of starvation. Later purges included deportation of 30-40,000 Crimean Tatars. At that time the Tatar Arabic alphabet was Latinized and then Cyrillicized, cutting later generations off from early Tatar literature.
Crimean Tatars’ situation is improved in Crimea but they remain subjected to discrimination in all areas of society. Maramar NGO has been successful in joining with other Crimean Tatars to protest building on an ancient Tatar burial site and will continue to promote both the craft and the community in Bakhchesaray and Crimea.
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