History is not an accident: Crimea and the Crimean Tatars – Memory, Resistance, and the Future

Organized by RUTA Association & Crimean Studies Center of Kyiv-Mohyla academy.

March 21, 2025, 17:00 – 18:30 EET (GMT+2) Kyiv time, ZOOM

For 11 years, Russia has been occupying Crimea posing a grave threat not only to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty but also to its indigenous people—the Crimean Tatars. The Russian presence on the peninsula is deeply embedded in the history of imperial rule in Crimea. Today, colonial structures and attitudes toward the Crimean Tatars remain firmly in place, shaping the realities of occupation.

In a time when the liberation of Crimea seems distant and uncertain, the very presence of the Crimean Tatars on their ancestral land stands as an enduring act of resistance. Does memory still serve as a catalyst for political mobilization? How will the next generation, born and raised under occupation, define its reality? What is the most desirable future for Crimea, and what concrete steps can be taken to achieve it? Together with experts from the RUTA region, we will explore these pressing questions.

Speakers:  Emine Ziyatdin, Maria Shynkarenko, Suleiman Mamutov

Moderator: Martin-Oleksandr Kisly 

Emine Ziyatdin is a documentary photographer of Crimean Tatar origin and an independent consultant currently working in the field of non-profit organizations and media development. She holds a master’s degree in sociology from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and a master’s degree in photojournalism from the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University. After working in Ukraine in the field of documentary photography and journalism from 2012 to 2017, she moved to the United Kingdom, where she has been working in the non-profit sector, most recently as a media consultant at the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Her work has been supported by a Fulbright scholarship and a Magnum Emergency Fund Fellowship, and her photography projects have been presented in Ukraine and abroad.

Maria Shynkarenko is a Research Director in Ukraine in European Dialogue program at the Institute for Human Science (IWM) in Vienna. She is a political scientist, who specializes on questions of resistance, nationalism, and identity. Specifically, her research focuses on identity and resistance of Crimean Tatars both historically and contemporary. Mariia received her PhD from the New School in 2023. She is currently working on a book “Identity as Weapon: Indigenous Crimean Tatars and their Quest for Self-determination”. 

Suleiman Mamutov has dedicated the past decade to international humanitarian, development, and human rights work with Ukrainian and international organizations. His contributions extend to Ukrainian policy-making, where he co-authored legislation on IDPs, mine action, and Indigenous Peoples’ rights. In 2022, he was elected an expert member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and in 2024, he was elected a Rapporteur of the Forum. Currently, Suleiman is engaged with Amnesty International Ukraine and OSCE to advance the rights of Indigenous Peoples and to promote international justice. 

Martin-Oleksandr Kisly is a head of Crimean Studies Center of National university of Kyiv-Mohyla academy and RUTA Board Member. He is a historian of Crimea and Crimean Tatars with a focus on Soviet and post-Soviet periods. His research interests include (but not limited to): oral history, memory, trauma, identity, migration and colonialism.

The event is being organized by RUTA Association for Central, South-Eastern, and Eastern European, Baltic, Caucasus, Central and Northern Asian Studies in Global Conversation & Crimean Studies Center of Kyiv-Mohyla academy.

UPDATE. Unfortunately, due to objective circumstances, Suleiman Mamutov will not be able to join our discussion today. However, we have the honor of welcoming Elzara Halimova as one of our speakers.

Elzara Halimova is a Crimean Tatar artist, cultural advocate, organizer, and trainer of youth projects and workshops. She is the author of the Qırım Hayallarım – My Crimean Dreams project, calendars and postcards with her watercolor artworks of architecture and landscapes of Crimea before the forceful deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944. A graduate of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (B.A. & M.A. in Ukrainian Language Theory and Comparative Studies, 2016) and the School of Journalism of the Ukrainian Catholic University (M.A., 2020). Since 2010, Elzara has been involved in non-formal education projects on non-discrimination and human rights. She has been engaged in various projects for youth of the Tolerspace NGO. From 2020 to 2022 together with her friends they created and were running the volunteer online English language mentorship program for teenagers from Donetsk, Luhansk regions and Crimea “English to the East”. She has worked as a mentor, communications specialist, and program manager in Ukrainian organizations and institutions, including the Ukrainian Leadership Academy and the Ukrainian Institute. From 2022 to 2024, she was part of the communications and partnerships teams at the Voices of Children Charitable foundation. She is dedicated to preserving and promoting Crimean Tatar history and culture through visual storytelling, art workshops, educational meetings for youth and adults.