Analytics cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website. The U.S. government condemned the continued intimidation of Christian and Muslim religious groups by Russian occupation authorities in Crimea and called international attention to religious rights abuses committed by Russian forces through public statements by the Secretary of State and other senior officials. In a September 5 press statement, the State Department spokesperson stated, The United States strongly condemns the September 4 detention of the Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis Nariman Dzhelyal and at least 45 other Crimean Tatars by Russian occupation authorities in Crimea. There are approximately 650,000 Crimea Tatars. It is estimated that more than 100,000 deportees died of starvation or disease due to the deportation. With the annexation by Russia in 1779, Crimea was again Christianised, this time under the Russian Orthodox Church. Crimean Tatars reported police continued to be slow to investigate attacks on Islamic religious properties or refused to investigate them at all. Religions. On September 10, the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published its Follow-up of the Situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, stating that the Russian occupation of Crimea has changed the perception of Ukraines historical and cultural heritage, both by the state and society. According to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, following Russias occupation of Crimea, many religious communities were essentially driven out of the peninsula through registration requirements under newly imposed Russian laws. Only the UOC-MP continued to be exempt from these registration requirements. According to the Religion Information Service of Ukraine (RISU), the number of denominations decreased from 43 in 2014 to 20 in 2021. Various sources reported that Russian authorities in occupied Crimea continued to persecute and intimidate minority religious congregations, including Muslim Crimean Tatars, Jehovahs Witnesses, and OCU members and clergy. At years end, two Jehovahs Witnesses were serving prison sentences for their faith. According to the NGO Crimea SOS, as of July, 74 (compared with 69 through October 2020) Crimean residents remained in prison in connection with their alleged involvement with the Muslim religious political organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is banned in Russia but legal in Ukraine. Russian occupation authorities continued to subject Muslim Crimean Tatars to imprisonment and detention in retaliation for their opposition to Russias occupation by prosecuting them for purported involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir. According to the international religious freedom NGO Forum 18, Russia continued to prosecute individuals for some types of worship, including imams leading prayers in their own mosques, as illegal missionary activity. UGCC leaders said they continued to have difficulty staffing their parishes because of the policies of occupation authorities and that they must register their congregations in Crimea as parishes of the Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite, removing all reference to Ukraine in their name. Crimean Tatars reported police continued to be slow to investigate attacks on Islamic religious properties or refused to investigate them at all. The OCU reported continued seizures of its churches. According to the OCU, Russian occupation authorities continued to pressure the OCU Crimean diocese to force it to leave Crimea. These include Volga Tatars, Azeris, North Caucasian ethnic groups and Jewish groups estimate between 10,000 and 15,000 Jewish residents lived in Crimea before the 2014 Russian occupation; no updates have been available since the According to occupation authorities, fines for individuals conducting illegal missionary activity range from 5,000 to 50,000 rubles ($67-$670); the fine for legal entities is 100,000 to one million rubles ($1,300-$13,300). There are 266,000 Crimean Tatars in Crimea, over 13% of the local population. [7][8], The 2012 Freedom Report estimated a Muslim population of 500,000 in Ukraine, including 300,000 Crimean Tatars. Tatars are Turkic-speaking Muslims who have lived in Crimea since the 13th century. According to the last official Ukrainian census of 2001, 60 per cent of the population of Crimea consisted of ethnic Russians, while 24 per cent were Ukrainians and 10 per cent Crimean Tatars, the three most n umerous groups. Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Faith-friendly policies improve workplaces, companies tell No10, 'Watershed moment' as sacked safeguarding board members tell synod what went wrong, Archbishops Council blocked safeguarding governance review, Timeline: how the CofE has tried to stop sex abusers, Factsheet: Establishment and the Church of England, Explainer: R20 - Global religion at the G20. A nation is protected by an imperial power in return for trade privileges. Muslims make up only approximately 6% of the Ukrainian population, but as much as 12% in Crimea. Global AIDS Coordinator and Global Health Diplomacy, Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, Special Representative for Syria Engagement, U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Office of the U.S. [6], Estimates of the Ukrainian Muslim population vary. Williams, BG. According to State Statistics Service of Ukraine 2014 estimates This cookie is provided by Paypal. According to Forum 18, Russian authorities continued to prosecute and fine individuals in Crimea for conducting missionary activity. Of the nine known prosecutions brought so far during the year, three were against imams and four against members of Sevastopols House of the Potter Protestant Church. The NGO stated that by law, Russians conducting missionary activity could incur a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 rubles ($67-$670), with the fine for organizations (legal entities) being from 100,000 to one million rubles ($1,300-$13,300). Foreigners conducting missionary activity could incur a fine of 30,000 to 50,000 rubles ($400-$670), with the possibility of expulsion from Russia. The Republic of Crimea, officially part of Ukraine, lies on a peninsula stretching out from the south of Ukraine between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. It invaded and annexed non-Russian lands, helping to create the Soviet Union. Pursuant to international recognition of the continued inclusion of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within Ukraines international borders, Crimea continues to be officially subject to the constitution and laws of Ukraine. In the aftermath of Russias occupation, however, Russian occupation authorities continue their implementation of the laws of the Russian Federation in the territory. The Muslim religious-political group Hizb ut-Tahrir is considered a terrorist organization under Russian Federation law but not under Ukrainian law. According to Jehovahs Witnesses, Russian occupation authorities continue to ban Jehovahs Witnesses in Crimea under a 2017 ruling by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The state released him in December 2020 and ordered him to spend one year under administrative supervision. This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. In March, according to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, authorities carried out 11 armed searches and detained four Jehovahs Witnesses. Authorities charged Taras Kuzio, who was previously charged in 2019, with financing an extremist organization and ordered him to remain under house arrest. They also ordered him to have no contact with others involved in the case and prohibited him from using the internet and sending or receiving mail. According to the CHRG, on July 29, authorities detained Jehovahs Witness Petro Zhiltsov, whom they previously interrogated as a witness against Kuzio, and charged him with organization of the activities of an extremist organization and financing of extremist activities. The charges carry a sentence of up to 10 years. On July 30, authorities placed him under house arrest until his trial. On July 29, authorities opened a case against Daria Kuzio, the wife of Taras Kuzio, for organizing of the activities of an extremist organization and issued a travel restriction. On July 30, authorities combined the criminal cases against the Kuzios and Zhiltsov into one case. On August 10, authorities detained Sergei Lyulin, connected to Taras Kuzio, and transported him to Simferopol, a 16-hour journey, taping him to the seat of the luggage compartment of a minibus with his arms handcuffed to the ceiling. The court in Simferopol ordered his detention until September 4. A nation forms an alliance with an imperial power, and both reap benefits. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The ethnic Muslim minority of Turkic descent are indigenous to Crimea and today accounting for 13% of its population. Numbers there jump to 12 percent. WebAccording to the ( 2001 census ), the ethnic makeup of Crimea's population consisted of the following self-reported groups: Russians :1.492 million (67.9%), Ukrainians: 344,515 (15.7%), Crimean Tatars: 245,000 (12.6%), Belarusians: 35,000 (1.4%), other Tatars: 13,500 (0.5%), Armenians: 10,000 (0.4%), and Jews: 5,500 (0.2%). This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. In 1944, almost all of Crimean Tatars were forcibly deported from Crimea to other regions of the Union, for their real or alleged involvement in Nazi war crimes. Embassy officials continued to meet with Crimean Muslim, Orthodox, and Protestant leaders to discuss their concerns about actions taken against their congregations by the occupation authorities and to demonstrate continued U.S. support for their right to practice freely their religious beliefs. An official website of the United States Government, Office of the Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, Office of the U.S. Heritage Who are the Crimean Tatars? Population in Crimea: 2.2 million (2014) - Crimean Tatars between 240 000 and 300 000 (between 12%-13% of the peninsulas population) Ethnic Groups: Russian (58.3%), Ukrainian (24.3%), Crimean Tatar (12,1%) Belarussian (1.4%), Armenian, Bulgari, German, Greek, Karaim Crimean Tatars, who made up the largest number of IDPs, said they left because pressure on their community, including an increasing number of arbitrary searches of their homes, surveillance, and discrimination. Religious and human rights groups continued to report Russian media efforts to create suspicion and fear of certain religious groups, especially targeting Crimean Tatar Muslims, whom media repeatedly accused of having links to Islamist groups that were designated by Russia as terrorist, such as Hizb ut-Tahrir. Russian media also portrayed Jehovahs Witnesses as extremists. Specifically noting the systematic persecution of the OCU, she reported that persecution on national and religious grounds was carried out systematically. According to the report, there continued to be a pattern of criminalization of affiliation with or sympathy toward Muslim groups banned in the Russian Federation that continued to disproportionately affect Crimean Tatars. WebAbakan (Russian: ; Khakas: , Aban, or , Abaxan) is the capital city of Khakassia, Russia, located in the central part of the Minusinsk Depression, at the confluence of the Yenisei and Abakan Rivers.As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 165,214 a slight increase over 165,197 recorded during the 2002 Census and a further increase from Estimates vary, but several suggest there are 500,000 Muslims in Ukraine, with the majority (300,000) being Crimean Tatar, who are Sunni Muslim. Crimean Tatars make up 13 per cent of the Crimea population. The majority of the Crimean population adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church. What are the Crimean Tatars origins? [3], In 2013 Orthodox Christians made up 58% of the Crimean population, followed by Muslims (15%) and Believers in God without religion (10%). The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. According to the CHRG, on December 1, Russias Southern Area Military Court (YuOVS) in Rostov-on-Don extended to March 2022 the detention of Crimean Tatars Tofik Abdulgaziyev, Vladlen Abdulkadyrov, Izzet Abdullayev, Medzhit Abdurakhmanov, Imam Bilial Adilov, Servet Gaziyev, Dzhemil Gafarov, Alim Karimov, Seyran Murtaz, Erfan Osmanov, Erver Ametov, Osman Arifmemetov, Yashar Muedinov, Ruslan Suleymanov, and Rustem Sheikhaliyev. There remains a Crimean Tatar diaspora in Turkey and Uzbekistan. Its practitioners make up the second largest religious group globally. Comprising about 12 percent of Crimea's population, these ethnic Sunni Muslims have a long, troubled history with Moscow. According to the website jw-russia.org, the items seized at Lyudmyla Shevchenkos home included a book, The Sacred Nativity Scene, that did not belong to her and was not published by Jehovahs Witnesses. She said security officials had planted and then found the book. During the search, Andriy Rogutskiys wife became ill and required an ambulance. Reportedly, authorities did not detain or charge the women. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. In 988, Prince Vladimir I of Kiev also captured Chersonesos where he later converted to Christianity. [4] The Turkic Muslim minority loyal to Ukraine The small Muslim ethnic group was ethnically cleansed by Stalin but many returned [3] But the entire nation was deported in May 1944, and not allowed to return until 1989. President Vladimir Putin has used the term denazification to justify the war against Ukraine now. WebAs of the 2021 Russian census, the Republic of Crimea had a population of 1,934,630. Is Russia attempting to erase Crimean Muslim culture? Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom, Section III. There were 470 Muslim communities registered in Crimea in 1921. As of 2002, there were approximately 6.8 million Tartars worldwide of which 5 million live in Russia. They were abducted by the security services and they are most likely dead. WebThe Crimean Khanate, self defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of the Turkic khanates that succeeded the empire of the Golden Horde.Established by Hac I Giray in 1441, it was regarded as the Dr Hseyin Oylupinar, co-ordinator of the Turkish-Ukrainian-Crimean Tatar Studies Initiative, at Harvard University in Massachusetts and an adviser in east and central European affairs at the Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara, Turkey, said Crimean Tatars left in the Crimean Peninsula after the Russian invasion are the most vulnerable religious group. Middle Turkic: kuv aa); according to them, inside a hollow tree, their original human ancestress gave birth to her son. After 18 months in exile, nearly half of the deportees had died from disease and starvation. "Public Opinion Survey Residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea", "Islam v Krymu: Ot tragicheskogo proshlogo k problemam sovremennosti (, "UN report details grave human rights violations in Russian-occupied Crimea", Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), Reinventing Islamic Tradition in Crimea: Ethnicity, Religion, Politics, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Religion_in_Crimea&oldid=1160955551, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 19 June 2023, at 18:56. The two major sects of Islam are Shia and Sunni. Estimates vary, but several suggest there are 500,000 Muslims in Ukraine, with the majority (300,000) being Crimean Tatar, who are Sunni Muslim. Their future now largely depends on the ongoing diplomatic efforts by world leaders MuftiSaid Ismagilov, head of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate of Ukraine,has takena similar position, defending Ukraine, where he says there is religious freedom. Ostrogoths, who remained on present-day Ukrainian lands after the invasion of the Huns, established a metropolinate under the Bishop of Constantinople at Dorus in northern Crimea around the year 400. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. WebThe demographic data presented in the following two tables have been compiled from a variety of sources. [2] The religion has a long history in Ukraine dating back to Berke Khan of the Ulug Ulus (Golden Horde) in the 13th century and the establishment of the Crimean Khanate in the 15th century. Sochi stretches across 145 kilometers (90 mi), and is the longest city in Europe, the fifth-largest city in the Southern Federal District, the second-largest city in Krasnodar Krai, and the sixth-largest city on the Black Sea.. The second mass deportation, which ethnically cleansed Crimean Tatars in Ukraine, took place on Joseph Stalins orders in 1944, when 191,000 Crimean Tatars were exiled to Uzbekistan in Central Asia and some northeastern regions of Russia. Muslim Tatars, and Germans. The first table, Tatar Population in Crimea (1793-1994), shows the fluctuations in Crimean Tatar population over the last two hundred years. According to the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, on October 22, a court in Sevastopol sentenced Jehovahs Witness Ihor Schmidt to six years in prison for organizing extremist activities. Three other men, Yevhen Zhukov, Volodymyr Maladyka, and Volodymyr Sakada, arrested with Schmidt in 2020 and also charged with organizing extremist activities, remained imprisoned at years end. It allows the website owner to implement or change the website's content in real-time. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information. WebThere are no recent independent surveys with data on the religious affiliation of the population, but media outlets estimate the number of Crimean Tatars, who are overwhelmingly Muslim, at 300,000, or 13 percent of the population. WebToday, Crimean Tatars constitute approximately 15% of the population of Crimea. Crimean Tatars had lived as Ukrainian citizens during the eras of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, before being caught under direct rule by Moscow seven years ago when Crimea became part of the Russia. The first table, Tatar Population in Crimea (1793-1994), shows the fluctuations in Crimean Tatar population over the last two hundred years. note: Ukraine's population is overwhelmingly Christian; the vast majority - up to two thirds Muslims in Ukraine have 445 communities, 433 ministers, and 160 mosques, with many more mosques currently being built. Ancient Column with Persian inscription, at the Livadiya Palace in Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine. [12]), Fountain of Tears, built by one of the last Crimean Khans, Qrm Giray Khan for his young Polish wife in his harem. Attacks on Muslim minority have increased, bringing memories of Stalin-era deportation in which half died According to Crimean Solidarity, during mass searches of Crimean Tatar homes on August 17, the FSB detained Rustem Murasov, Rustem Tairov, Dzhebbar Bekirov, Zavur Abdullayev, and Raif Fevziyev for their suspected membership in Hizb ut-Tahrir. Fevziyev was the imam of a mosque in Strohonivka village near Simferopol. According to the Parliamentary Human Rights Ombudsperson, occupation authorities kept the imam in a damp and overcrowded prison cell containing six beds for eight inmates. One of Fevziyevs cellmates reportedly suffered from a mental health disorder and posed a threat to the lives of other prisoners. According to the Radio Free Europe-associated news website Krym.Realii, in November, occupation authorities subjected the imam to forced psychiatric examination, keeping him in a hospital ward with four convicted murderers. The Donbas is about 6% Muslim according to the official censuses of 1926 and 2001. A bishop's seat had also existed since 868 across the Strait of Kerch, in the city of Tmutarakan. Both the date of the conversion, and the extent of its influence beyond the elite, are disputed; the conversion must have taken place at some point between AD 740 and 920. This cookie is provided by PayPal when a website is in association with PayPal payment function. Russia has been persecuting all activists who are against the occupation and organised purges. With a population of over 1.6 billion people, Muslims represent over 23% of the world population. Crimean Tatars fear the Kremlin, after annexation, is chipping away at identity of the 250,000-strong Muslim Crimea profile. There are no recent independent surveys with data on the religious affiliation of the population, but media outlets estimate the number of Crimean Tatars, who are overwhelmingly Muslim, is 300,000, or 13 percent of the population. In May, RISU reported Metropolitan Klyment of Simferopol and Crimea of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said that at the beginning of the occupation, 49 Ukrainian Orthodox religious organizations were operating in Crimea, but only six remained. In August, RISU reported that Iryna Verihina, a representative of the Commissioner for the Observance of the Rights of Residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, said that because of Russian repression, only five of 49 OCU religious organizations remained in Crimea, and only four of 22 clergymen. In October, the court extended the detention of Rustem Tairov until January 11, 2022. The news outlet said that for two weeks Tairov suffered tooth pain, but the administration of his pretrial detention center ignored his request for medical assistance. Jewish groups estimate between 10,000 and 15,000 Jewish residents lived in Crimea before the 2014 Russian occupation; no updates have been available since the occupation began. According to a 9th-century tradition, Pope Clement I (ruled 8898) was exiled to Chersonesos (near what is now Sevastopol) in 102, as was Pope Martin I in 655. According to information provided by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture in 2014 (the most recent year available), the UOC-MP remains the largest Christian denomination. Smaller Christian denominations include the OCU, RCC, UGCC, and Jehovahs Witnesses, along with Protestant groups, including Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, and Lutherans. Adherents of the UOC-MP, Protestants, and Muslims are the largest religious groups in Sevastopol. A nation is politically independent, but an imperial power controls its trade. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Is Russia attempting to erase Crimean Muslim culture? According to the All-Ukrainian Population Census of 2001, only 112 of the Donetsk Oblast's 77,516 Greeks listed languages other than Greek, Ukrainian and Russian as their mother tongue. According to Freedom House, the Russian FSB continued to encourage residents to inform on individuals who expressed opposition to the purported annexation, including expressing support for Crimean Tatars, condemning the designation of Jehovahs Witnesses and Hizb ut-Tahrir as extremist groups, or opposing the oppression of the OCU. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile. In Crimea, 80% of the media outlets are in Russian. [12], Due to the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and the War in Donbass, which is fought near Donetsk and Luhansk, 750,000 Muslims (including half-million Crimean Tatars) are living in territory no longer controlled by Ukraine. According to CHRG, as of December, 79 Crimean residents remained in prison for alleged involvement in Muslim religious organizations that are declared terrorist or extremist in Russia, although they are legal in Ukraine. In most cases, these were individuals accused of belonging to the illegal organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, but detainees also included individuals accused of belonging to Tablighi Jamaat and Takfir wal-Hijra. Observers believed these individuals were largely prosecuted in retaliation for their opposition to Russias occupation of Crimea. Occupation authorities placed three additional Crimean residents under supervision and banned them from leaving the occupied territory, and two more remained under house arrest. As of November, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group reported Russian occupation authorities had detained 80 Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainian Muslims for supposed involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir, which the human right group described as a peaceful transnational Muslim party. WebAmericas Europe Oceania Islam portal v t e Islam in Europe by percentage of country population [1] The Religious Administration of Ukrainian Muslims (RAUM) Islam in Ukraine is a minority religious affiliation with Muslims representing around 5% of Being a part of the Caucasian Riviera, it is one of the very few places in Russia Estimates vary, but several suggest there are 500,000 Muslims in Ukraine, with the majority (300,000) being Crimean Tatar, who are Sunni Muslim. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, Section II. Islam in Crimea begins with the presence of Islamized Turco-Mongol populations following the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1230s. This cookie is used to make safe payment through PayPal. Renat Suleimanov, a member of Muslim group Tablighi Jamaat, remained under administrative supervision and on Russias Federal Financial Monitoring Service List of Terrorists and Extremists at years end. Russia continued to ban the Tablighi Jamaat Muslim missionary movement in Crimea under a 2009 ruling by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, although the movement remained legal in Ukraine. In January 2019, a Simferopol court sentenced Suleimanov to four years in prison on extremism-related charges for meeting openly in mosques with three friends to discuss their faith. According to Jehovahs Witnesses, a radio survey in Crimea found 67 percent of those surveyed did not approve of Russias ban on Jehovahs Witnesses. The Jehovahs Witnesses reported that respondents, seeing ordinary citizens treated like criminals and accused of terrorism for their faith, had increased sympathy for the organization.

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