Title: “Ukrainian Crisis and the Atrocities in Crimea: The Never-Ending Persecution of Crimean Tatars”
Speakers: Dr. Rory Finnin (University of Cambridge), Ms. Eleanor Knott (London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)), Ms. Melek Maksudoğlu (King’s College London (KCL))
Titles of the Talks:
Dr. Rory Finnin: “The Crimean Tatars: One Year after the Russian Annexation”
Ms. Eleanor Knott: “Why is there Antagonism between Russian Nationalists and Crimean Tatars?”
Ms. Melek Maksudoğlu: “Never Ending Struggles of the Crimean Tatars: Return and Stay in Homeland”
Chair: Professor Orlando Figes, Professor of History, Birkbeck College, University of London
Date: Friday, 6 March 2015
Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
Venue: S-1.06, Lecture Theatre, Strand Campus, King’s College London, WC2R 2LS
We are pleased to announce Centre for Policy and Research on Turkey (Research Turkey)’s public conference entitled “Ukrainian Crisis and the Atrocities in Crimea: The Never-Ending Persecution of Crimean Tatars” in which Dr. Rory Finnin, Ms. Eleanor Knott and Ms. Melek Maksudoğlu will give talks. This event will take place on Friday, 6 March 2015 between 6:30p.m. and 8:30p.m. at S-1.06, Lecture Theatre, Strand Campus, King’s College London, WC2R 2LS. Professor Orlando Figes, Professor of History, Birkbeck College, University of London will kindly chair the event.
Important Note: The conference will follow documentary screening of “Son of Crimea (Kırımoğlu): Struggle of a People”. The screening will include a one-hour section of the documentary and will take place between 5:00p.m. and 6:00p.m. in the same venue. You may click here for more information about the documentary screening.
P.S. Centre for Policy and Research Turkey (Research Turkey) hereby expresses its special thanks to the director, Neşe Sarısoy Karatay and the producer, Zafer Karatay of the documentary “Son of Crimea (Kırımoğlu): Struggle of a People” for providing the copy and permission for screening of it publicly.
You may find the short biographies of the speakers and the chair as well as their talks’ abstracts below.
Both events are free and open to public but it require pre-registration. A ticket does not guarantee a seat. Please click here for free registration and tickets.
Short Biographies of Panelists, the Chair and Abstracts of the Talks
Panelist: Dr. Rory Finnin, Senior Lecturer, Head of Department of Slavonic Studies, and Director of Ukrainian Studies Programme, University of Cambridge
Title: “The Crimean Tatars: One Year after the Russian Annexation”
Dr. Rory Finnin is Senior Lecturer in Ukrainian Studies, and Head of Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Finnin also directs the Cambridge Ukrainian Studies Programme at Cambridge and chairs the Cambridge Committee for Russian and East European Studies. He received his PhD (with distinction) in Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. His primary research interest is the interplay of literature and national identity in Ukraine. He also studies Soviet Russian dissident literature and Turkish nationalist literature. His broader interests include nationalism theory, human rights discourse, and problems of cultural memory. His current project is a comparative study of the role of lyric poetry in the emergence of modern European nationalisms. Dr. Finnin has published extensively in his research areas. His recent publication is “Captive Turks: Crimean Tatars in Pan-Turkist Literature” Middle Eastern Studies 50.2 (Spring 2014).
Panelist: Ms. Eleanor Knott, PhD Candidate, Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Title: “Why is there Antagonism between Russian Nationalists and Crimean Tatars?”
Abstract: While Crimean Tatars, who have been returning to the Crimean peninsula since the late Soviet period, faced discrimination in post-Soviet Ukraine, this is incomparable to the crackdown imposed on Crimean Tatars since Crimea’s annexation in February 2014. In her talk, Ms. Knott will first examine both historical and contemporary discrimination, to examine how Crimean Tatars are being punished for supposed “political extremism” by the new post-annexation authorities. Second, she will try to analyse why Crimean Tatars have been targeted. In particular, she will examine the sentiments of local Russian nationalist groups who were instrumental in Crimea’s annexation in 2014. Ms. Knott will argue that given the groups and individuals now in power, and their pre-existing antipathy to the Crimean Tatars, we should remain concerned about the future of Crimean Tatars in the peninsula.
Eleanor Knott is a PhD candidate in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics. Her thesis analyses Romanian kin-state policies in Moldova and Russian kin-state policies in Crimea and is based on fieldwork she conducted in Crimea and Moldova in 2012 and 2013. Ms. Knott publishes in her research areas such as Ukrainian politics and Crimean Tatars. Her recent publication (co-authored with Liana Fix) is “In Crimea, Time for Pressure, not Acceptance: Why We cannot Lose Sight of the Crimean Tatars,” a report published by German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in December, 2014.
Panelist: Ms. Melek Maksudoğlu, PhD Candidate, King’s College London (KCL)
Title: “Never Ending Struggles of the Crimean Tatars: Return and Stay in Homeland”
Abstract: The struggle started when the Crimean Tatars were deported in May, 1944 to Siberia and to Central Asia. They organised themselves as National Movement (Milli Mücadele, in Turkish) under the leadership of Mustafa Djemilev, and used peaceful strategies to return to the homeland. İn this talk, Ms. Maksudoğlu will first give a historical background of the Crimean Tatars, their struggle under the Soviet regime, and how they overcame, and managed to return to the homeland. Second, she will examine what strategies this minority group in their homeland are using, and what they are expecting from Turkey, as the largest Crimean Tatar descents live in Turkey. Third, she will analyse the significance of the President Putin’s visit to Turkey to the Crimean Tatars, and what would happen in the near future.
Melek Maksudoğlu graduated from the International Islamic University, Malaysia in 1999. She completed her MA dissertation on the Crimean Tartars’ struggle to return through SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) in 2004. Currently she is completing her PhD at King’s College, London. Her current research focuses on Crimean Tartar national identity, with a particular interest in how that identity has been maintained and transformed, during the period of deportation and resettlement (1944 through to 1967). Ms. Maksudoğlu presented her early research findings at the 2nd International Conference of Turkology in Simferopol, Crimea in 2008. Following this she worked, in a voluntary capacity, translating Ottoman archival documents for Orlando Figes’ “Crimea, The Last Crusade” (2010, Penguin: London). In the same year, she presented a paper at the 2nd International Scientific Reunion entitled “The Historical Heritage of Tatars.” Constanta, Rumania and in 2011 her article “Keeping the National Identity; The Crimean Tatars” was published in the Historical Journal of Turkey, Tarih Bilinci, İstanbul in 2011. In the same year her interview of Cengiz Dağcı was published in Turkey’s Language and Literature Journal (2011: Dil ve Edebiyat, İstanbul). In 2012 Ms. Maksudoğlu worked with a visual artist at the Yunus Emre Cultural Centre, London, on an exhibition entitled ‘Deported Faces’. This exhibition commemorated the beginning of the deportations which started on May 18th in 1944. Since 2012 events in Crimea have developed rapidly: Ms Maksudoğlu’s interest and expertise in this region has resulted in her being called upon to give her expert opinion by Aljazeera, as well as national broadcasters in England and Turkey.
Chair: Professor Orlando Figes, Professor of History, Birkbeck College, University of London
Orlando Figes is a prominent British historian and writer best known for his works on Russian history. He is Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London. Professor Figes is known for his works on Russian history, in particular A People’s Tragedy (1996), Natasha’s Dance (2002), The Whisperers (2007), Crimea (2010) and Just Send Me Word (2012). A People’s Tragedy is a study of the Russian Revolution, and combines social and political history with biographical details in a historical narrative. In 2008, the Times Literary Supplement named A People’s Tragedy as one of the ‘hundred most influential books since the war’. It was awarded the Wolfson History Prize, the WH Smith Literary Award, the NCR Book Award, the Longman-History Today Book Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Natasha’s Dance and The Whisperers were both short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize, making Figes the only writer to have been short-listed twice for this prize. The Whisperers was also short-listed for the Ondaatje Prize, the Prix Médicis, and the Premio Roma. Professr Figes also serves on the editorial board of the journal Russian History, writes for the international press, broadcasts on television and radio, reviews for the New York Review of Books, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
