In the face of all of this, Dzharty claims that there has been no discrimination towards the Tatars, stating that because of some Tatars making a living out of selling seized land, it is time for them to get off the seized land. This, coupled with enormous land sales--into the thousands of hectares--by companies to rich investors and developers. Both sides are hoping to come to some sort of a consensus on the issue by the end of the month, when an official investigative report will be finished.
The following is a video form Al Jazeera explaining the situation:
I, however, do not see these problems going away soon. There is too much money to be had in selling the land for a profit, and for the businessmen and politicians selling the land, it is a lose-lose situation to provide land for the displaced Tatars. The only real solution is for a mandate to come from Kyiv with an effort to enforce any land reforms. Kyiv, however, is reluctant to do this also because of the Autonomous status of Crimea and the Russian majority on the peninsula. Enforcing land grants would be a mess, and would probably precipitate conflict, which could easily involve either Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which is already there, and UN/NATO peacekeeping forces, or both. I do not think that any side wishes this issue to devolve into violence.
In an interview marking the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the USSR, Dzhemilev, who this week was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless work on behalf of the Crimean Tatars, again decried the Crimean and Ukrainian governments for failing to assist the Tatar population. He stated that "nothing good" has happened on behalf of his people on the peninsula, noting the failed representation reform. The interview is linked below.
Following on the heels of Dzhemilev's trip to Turkey where he arranged an agreement for using Turkish money to build schools and houses in Crimea, many in international newsmedia are suggesting that the recent revolutions and protests in the greater Muslim world will bode well for Turkey, which could mean trouble for Crimea. Some economists predict that Turkey and Saudi Arabia will emerge this year as twin poles of the Muslim world, and that Turkey especially will profit from disrupted tourist dollars to the Mediterranean. Greater political influence and economic weight will change the power balance between Turkey and France--and thereby the EU. France, who has a vested but not disrupted presence in North Africa, was a vocal opponent of Turkey's rapprochement into the EU, but with a larger hand to play, Turkey may have a chance to reopen negotiations for getting into the Union. Should that happen--a long shot at this point, to be sure--Ukraine's chances of joining the EU take a real jump up, because in the geopolitical scene, Turkey and Ukraine have more similarities than differences in reference to their relation to the EU.
Articles referenced in this post:
Turkey and Ukraine -- different but similar
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnistDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=233883
Mustafa Dzhemilev nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/96180/
Tatars carry on decades-long struggle to reclaim Crimean land taken away
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/96308/
Crimean Tatar leader: “We don’t want that kind of republic.”
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20110203/162440136.htmlБезлад в Африці: Туреччина виграє, Україна програє?
http://www.epravda.com.ua/publications/2011/02/1/269184/Crimean Tatars fear for the future
http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/08/201087102453222638.html
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