Attached Paper Online June Annual Meeting 2025

A Muslim Community Torn by the War: The Crimean Tatars in the Aftermath of the Russian Annexation in 2014

Description for Program Unit Review (maximum 1000 words)

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Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

The Crimean Tatars, approximately 250,000 people, constitute a Muslim community in Ukraine. They lived in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea before the Russian annexation of the region in 2014. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made the situation more difficult for this community as they started to face a higher level of oppression under Russian rule. This paper will elaborate on the changing status of Crimea in the modern era and how it affected the Crimean Tatar community through policies of mass deportation, oppression, and Russification. It will especially focus on the period after the end of the Cold War and the post-2014 developments, as Russian authorities imprison many Crimean politicians and activists, while highlighting the activities of the Crimean Tatar community and their organizations locally and globally.