“I like Russian culture, and I try to learn Russian. The only thing I’m against is Putin’s Russia. If Russia becomes a democratic country, I totally support that, and I want to believe that Russia becomes a democratic, rule-based, and human rights-respecting country. But unfortunately, we know that Putin’s Russia is not such a country”. The author of these words is Prof. Dr. S. Özçelik, one of the columnists of the Crimea News Agency, which tries to make the voice of Crimea and the Crimean Tatars under Russian occupation heard to the world. Özçelik, who believes that the conflict will culminate in the liberation of Crimea from Russian occupation and its subsequent reunification with its homeland, Ukraine, responded to my questions regarding Putin’s unwavering war objectives and the situation of Crimean Tatars in the occupied Crimea. Excerpts.
ÖZELGÜN: According to Putin’s recent statement, “Russia’s war objectives are unchanged” (BBC, 14.12.2023). How should we perceive that the aspirations of “denazification, demilitarisation and Ukraine’s neutral status”, which Putin has emphasized since the beginning of the Russian occupation, remain the same today?
ÖZÇELİK: Defensive realists like John Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt believe that Russian President V. Putin was forced to invade Ukraine because of the NATO expansion. But there is no historical truth behind that. The Russian invasion of Ukraine started with the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. And at the time, we knew that Putin had made no claim about denazification, demilitarisation, or Ukraine’s neutral status. If you look at the Ukrainian-Russian relationship, we know that there is no threat from the Ukrainian side against Russia. The terms of the Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet, under the Kharkiv Pact, was extended by Ukraine and Russia till 2043. Thus, the Sevastopol Port was leased until 2043.
ÖZELGÜN: The so-called goal of “denazification”…?
ÖZÇELİK: I read that 50 million people died in the Second World War, and 30 million of them were Soviet people, including Ukrainians and Russians, and for many Ukrainians and Russians, Nazi images are very real. Putin uses this denazification image to legitimise the invasion of Ukraine. Because he knows that it’s created a psychological push in Russian public opinion to get behind him as a leader. He just used the old historical pain to mobilise the Russian public behind him. If we also look at the polls in the Russian media, many Russians believe that they are fighting against the Nazis, like in World War II. I think Putin is really a good propagandist and has learned a lot from Nazi propaganda minister J. Goebbels. I think Putin has used these claims first of all to change the agenda of Russian domestic politics because we know that in Russia there is A. Navalny, the opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, and we have seen that there was a big demonstration against Putin. There is also a psychological reason. According to Putin, Crimea was lost first with the transfer of the government of Crimea from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR), a friendship gift by Communist Party first secretary N. Khrushchev to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR). And yet again, Putin and the Russian state, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, lost Crimea forever to Ukraine, and they never accepted that psychological loss. In essence, in my opinion, although Putin wants to portray Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky as a puppet of the West, Ukrainians, just as the Turks fought for independence in the past, are fighting for independence. But unfortunately, Russian propaganda is very real in Turkey. Anyone who wants can follow the war on Sputnik. Moreover, if you look at the Turkish TV channels, if you look at Twitter, or if you talk to people face-to-face my experience is that many Turkish people believe that Putin is right. But we should support the independence of war of Ukrainians.
ÖZELGÜN: In an interview with the Crimean News Agency, you say that Russia Israel relations have deteriorated since Hamas attack on October 7th (Satılmaz, 2023). How do you think this worsening may affect Ukraine Israel relations and what concrete reflections might it have on the Ukraine Russia war?
ÖZÇELİK: I think that Hamas’ October 7th attack, a birthday gift from Hamas to Putin, is the September 11 of the Middle East. Since September 11, all the world has changed. I believe that the effects of the attack on October 7th are the same as those of the September 11th attack. We can evaluate the butterfly effects of the attack through the Ukraine-Russia war and Ukraine-Israel relations. Before the attack, Israel tried to follow a balanced policy in the Ukraine-Russia war. Israel never sent any military aid or sold any military weapons to Ukraine because it wanted not to make Russia against itself because of Syrian politics. Israel needed Putin’s approval when it wanted to intervene in Syria. But after the attack, I think that Ukraine has a new ally, Israel. From the first day of the attack, Kiev supported Israel. But right now, the attack jeopardises the Ukrainian situation not only in terms of public opinion in Western countries but also in terms of military hardware. Most of the military hardware right now is going to Israel, not Ukraine. In the near future, we may see that Zelensky will be forced to sit at the table with Putin. Because they don’t want two wars. Christmas is coming.
ÖZELGÜN: What is the situation of minority rights in Crimea occupied by Russia? For example, can you talk about the situation of Crimean Tatars in Crimea?
ÖZÇELİK: First of all, Putin banned the Mejlis (assembly) of the Crimean Tatar People, and according to the Russian judiciary, the assembly is a terrorist organization. I should mention that the Crimea Tatars, in Crimea, never resorted to terrorism. If you look at the national struggle, they always used non-violence. The ex-leader of the Crimean Tatars, M. A. Kırımoğlu, stayed in prison during Soviet Union time. But he never advocated violence, and he never used terrorist tactics. So the Crimean Tatars in Crimea are still trying to use non-violent techniques. Many Crimean Tatar opinion leaders and parliamentarians, including R. Çubarov, were deported. They live outside of Crimea, and the Russian court decided they would never enter Crimea again. Some of the rest of the Crimean Tatars who still live in Crimea were killed by the Russian occupiers, and we have no information about some of them. Furthermore, many Crimean Tatar language schools were banned. Even the winner of Eurovision, Jamala, whose song 1944 was also about the exile of Crimean Tatars, was expelled from Crimea. So many Crimean Tatars became refugees. The war also created a dilemma for the Crimean Tatars in Crimea because there are men who are forced to fight for the Russian army against Ukraine. Some of the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine are fighting with the Ukrainian Army. This is the war of brothers. But of course we, the Crimean Tatars in Turkey and Ukraine, are with Ukraine, and we support Ukraine. We want Ukraine to become victorious. The war started with Crimea, and it will end with Crimea. It means that Russia occupied Crimea. But this war would end when Crimea becomes again a Ukrainian territory. I still have hope that Crimea will become a Ukrainian territory.
References
Satılmaz, Ş. B. (2023). https://www.qha.com.tr/ozel-haber-roportaj/prof-dr-sezai-ozcelik-rusya-nin-amaci-dikkatleri-ukrayna-uzerinden-baska-bolgelere-cekmek-480044
Wright, G. (2023). https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67711802
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