Release of the 90th edition of the Culturological journal “Yi”: The history of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine and Europe

On September 23, 2018, the 90^th edition of the Culturological independent  journal “Yi” was presented at the Lviv Book Forum. The edition presents the history of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine and Europe, as well as historiographical materials and an analysis of their current situation. The edition was initiated by the public organization “East European Cooperation” (EEC).

“The history of Crimean Tatars” introduces the Muslim nation which lived and coexisted with Christians for hundreds of years. The Soviet Union’s historiography stresses the conflict between  the region’s nations and religions and tries to depict Crimean Tatars as the enemy. However, Lithuanian and Polish history both highlight thw way Tatars lived harmoniously in foreign countries. The 90^th edition of the journal talks about one more significant part of the European history”, says the head of the public organization EEC, Beatrice Beliavciv.

In this edition, the journal also brings articles written by the professor and poet Adas Jakubauskas, leader of the Lithuanian Tatar community, about the Lithuanian Tatars history, which started around 621 years ago.

“The Tatar nation plays an important role in the history of Lithuania, as they took part in all wars and rebellions alongside the Lithuanians. The best-known figures of this diaspora led the fights against Russian occupation in 1917. If we talk about modern history, I would like to remind you that the Lithuanian Tatars were the first to come to the 14-thousand-people meeting for the protection of Tatars’ rights and have signed the petition, which I took to Moscow” - says Prof. Adas Jakubauskas.

The compiler of the journal, historian Gulnara Bekirova, stresses the importance of this edition, since the history and culture of the Crimean Tatars are not sufficiently highlighted nowadays.

While composing the journal, she cooperated with professional authors, well-known in this scientific field. Additionally, the materials are presented to the readers in a popular and easy to read form.

“The main goal of this journal is to show the reader a democratic and tolerant Islamic world. It is worth mentioning that the development of self-governance institution by the Tatars who did not leave Crimea has stopped because of the Russian occupation. It is then essential to develop one in Ukraine. That is why, in this context, it is important to present the history of Crimean Tatars in an appropriate way” - says the editor-in-chief of the independent culturological journal “Yi”, Taras Vozniak.

The goal of the 90^th edition of the journal “Yi” is to highlight the history and analyze today’s key problems of Crimean Tatars.

Organizers: public organization EEC, Intendant journal “Yi”, public organization “Krymskij dim” (Crimean House).

The edition is published in a scope of the project “Successful social integration of forced displaced people: stimulation of the employment and increase of intercultural competence”, which provides support to forced displaced people in Ukraine with  a special focus on increasing the intercultural competence of the host community, creating a positive image of Crimean Tatars in Media. 

The project was financed by the Program of Cooperation and Democracy Support at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.