TATARS WANT THEIR OWN ARMED FORCES

President of the Crimean Medjlis Mustafa Djemilev is planning to create Tatar armed forces in the Crimea. He raised this question at a meeting with Ukrainian minister of Defence Anatoly Gritsenko. Mr. Djemilev’s proposal shocked the Slavic population of the Crimea. People still remember Crimean Tatar Nazi units and their atrocities.
From 1941 to 1944 the Crimea had been under Nazi occupation. Germans recruited Crimean Tatars to form eight battalions by November 1942 and more later. All Tatar units became part of the Wehrmacht Crimean Legion. Those units were used to guard military and civil installations. Together with other Wehrmacht forces they took part in operations to ferret out Nazi resistance fighters, their bases and food storages. Tatars helped German and Romanian occupation forces to destroy partisan camps in the mountains. They burnt out populated areas near forest tracts to create a “dead zone” around the bases of bush-fighters. Tatar units guarded concentration camps. Their fighters served in firing squads and participated in mass executions of civilians.
Mr. Djemilev’s request for creation of Crimean Tatar military units has not yet been granted. The Ukrainian Defence Minister did not seem to be sympathetic to such an idea. It is clear Mr. Djemilev was just sounding Mr. Lutsenko on his plans. On the other hand, his remarks also targeted the Slavic majority of the Crimea. They scared the population at large and at the same time, reminded them of the WWII atrocities. Djemilev did it less than two weeks before V-Day celebrations.