Elina Novokhatska was born in 1998 in a Crimea that existed as part of an independent Ukraine. A Crimean Tatar, she is part of the peninsula’s indigenous population that for centuries has been whitewashed from history by repeated Moscow-inspired conquest.
“I want the world to move away from seeing Crimea as an object that can be “taken.”
The tragedy of Crimea’s history
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In 1783, Catherine II annexed the Crimean Khanate, then an independent Crimean state only a few years after occupying the Ukrainian lands of the Zaporizhzhian Sich. Following the seizures she began to populate southern regions of Ukraine as well as Crimea with her own subjects, an episode in history which would later give Russia false claims to these lands.
On May 18, 1944, it was Joseph Stalin’s turn to impose an imperial vision on Crimea as the Soviet Union began the forced deportations of Crimean Tatars from their homeland. More than 230,000, mostly women, children and the elderly, were deported over the course of three days.
They were loaded into cold and decrepit train wagons and sent to Uzbekistan as well as rural regions in Russia, a journey took weeks and in some cases months. In every case the journey was done without food and those who perished along the way were simply removed at stops in the journey before continuing east. Up to one third of Crimean Tatars died due to illness and hunger during the deportations and the first year of exile.
I want as many people as possible to learn about us from our own words and perspectives… this will help people understand what Crimea really is and why it matters so much to the world.”
Elina’s grandparents on her mother’s side were both deported as children. Her grandfather was nine, her grandmother four. Her grandfather was sent to the Urals while her grandmother, like the majority of those deported, ended up in Uzbekistan. After several years in exile, her grandfather travelled to Uzbekistan to find his mother after his parents had divorced. This is where he met Elina’s grandmother.
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, March 2, 2025
“Memorial to the Genocide of the Crimean Tatars” in Kyiv. Photo: Bradley Stafford
The decision to return
Her grandparents later married and had three daughters, including Lina’s mother, all born in Uzbekistan like so many other Crimean Tatars. Elina’s grandfather worked as an engineer, and they slowly but surely carved out a good life for themselves in Uzbekistan despite the hardship and trauma that followed their arrival. But the bond between Crimean Tatars and their homeland is strong. So much so that when news was announced of a resettling programme announced for Crimea in the 1970s, Elina’s family devised a plan.
Crimean Tatars were not allowed to return under the resettlement program but, by bribing an official to change their family documents to non-Tatar surnames they secured passage. Everything they owned in Uzbekistan was sold - their home, belongings, everything - to facilitate their return home.
“Memorial to the Genocide of the Crimean Tatars” in Kyiv. Photo: Bradley Stafford
The reality of the family’s return
On their return to Crimea life was far from easy as they had to start again from scratch. They were forced to live in the Pervomaiske Raion - a rough and rural area on the steppe far from where they lived before the deportations. Here they worked on a collective farm, all the while hiding their true identities as Crimean Tatars for fear of reprisals and persecution.
“Condemning a crime aimed at destroying a people’s thousand-year bond with their homeland is a simple choice to stand on the side of good. There is no gray area here - only black and white.”
Crimea had changed and not for the better. The peninsula was now inhabited by mostly Russians, brought here in the aftermath of the deportations. Tatars were unable to return to their homes that had either been destroyed or appropriated by Russian settlers.
Having exchanged their relatively comfortable life in Uzbekistan, for hardship in Crimea was a source of some regret for Elina’s family. But for Crimean Tatars, the inability to live in their homeland was the biggest regret of all. The bond between them and their homeland is unbreakable and I see this very same connection in Lina.
The tragedy seen first hand
Elina last visited Crimea in 2021. She was living in Kyiv and at the time was active in raising awareness for the cause of Crimea and Crimean Tatars and therefore had an online presence. Other Crimean Tatars with a similar background in activist work had been arrested, so the journey home came with some worry given that she would have to get past Russian border guards.
Given the plight of previous activists, Elina prepared a letter for her then boyfriend, to be given to him by one of her friends, in the event of her not returning after two weeks as planned. A drastic measure to be taken but a harsh reality of the situation.
“Memorial to the Genocide of the Crimean Tatars” in Kyiv. Photo: Bradley Stafford
Although the border crossing was a “traumatic experience”, thankfully Elina’s friend did not need to pass on the letter. The experience along with the situation in Crimea at the time greatly tarnished the return home to visit her family. She was unable to fulfil all her plans, see all her family or visit the sea. Life in Crimea under Russian occupation was too much to deal with for Elina and she left Crimea earlier than planned and returned to Kyiv. It was at this moment that she realised she needed to do something big to help Crimea.
“I want the world to move away from seeing Crimea as an object that can be “taken.” First and foremost, it is home to three indigenous peoples and millions of residents - not a military base or a resort. I want as many people as possible to learn about us from our own words and perspectives, not from the imperialists. I truly believe this will help people understand what Crimea really is and why it matters so much to the world.”
Elina Novokhatska at a protest at the US Embassy in Kyiv, 2024. Photo: Elina Novokhatska.
As long as Crimea remains under Russian occupation, every person on the peninsula is a hostage of a terrorist state that respects neither human rights nor international law.
In 2023, Lina left a “comfortable” IT job and all the benefits a career in corporate can bring to fully focus her attention on contributing to the cause of Crimea and Crimean Tatars. She joined the team at ‘Crimean Fig’, a literature project that promotes the Crimean Tatar language - classed an endangered language by the UN.
Crimean Fig calls for written submissions in both Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian languages which they then publish. It serves as a connection to those Crimean Tatars who remain in Crimea - who submit under fake names for their own safety – and helps to both promote the language and acts as a resistance tool for Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians living under Russian occupation in Crimea.
Elina also campaigns for the project ‘Letters to a Free Crimea’, whose aim is to encourage people to write letters to political prisoners in Crimea and Russia. After meeting Nariman Dzhelial, a journalist and the First Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, who was arrested and imprisoned on false charges, she learned of the true importance of these letters and the hope they give to the prisoners.
Letters must be written in Russian and cannot include any sort of information on current events, otherwise they are unlikely to make it to the prisoners. Lina sometimes puts Sudoku puzzles on the back of her letters. Over 200 people from Crimea are currently being held captive on political charges and the project hopes to get letters to as many as possible.
Elina also runs a YouTube account where she aims to right the wrongs of Russian manipulation and propaganda by explaining the history of Crimea and Crimean Tatars.
Currently, Elina is working together with an Australian lawyer to present the case of recognising the forced deportations of Crimean Tatars in 1944 as genocide to the Australian government. Only 7 countries currently recognise the 1944 deportations as genocide (Ukraine, Poland, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania & Latvia) and Elina doesn’t plan on stopping with Australia, with plans to present the case to the governments of other countries too.
“This recognition is, above all, an act of humanity. Condemning a crime aimed at destroying a people’s thousand-year bond with their homeland is a simple choice to stand on the side of good. There is no gray area here - only black and white. Such recognition would be a powerful statement that people remember and empathize with those who survived the forced deportations (like my grandmother), those who died in this genocide (at least a third of my people!) and those who still suffer its consequences today (every Crimean Tatar, even children).
People’s memories are short, collective memory is even shorter - something we, unfortunately, see very clearly today. Establishing a recognition of genocide at the state level is a preventive measure for the future of these nations. It sends a message to future generations about the value of justice and reaffirms that this particular nation condemns this crime and will not allow it to happen again.”
Over 200 people from Crimea are currently being held captive on political charges.
Despite the ongoing occupation of her homeland, Elina remains hopeful for the future of Crimea.
“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine only strengthened my belief in Crimea’s de-occupation. When Russia attacked wider Ukrainian territories three years ago, it made a colossal mistake. I realised then that they stood no chance of victory and would lose far more than they would gain from this war. That’s why my vision of Crimea’s future remains hopeful, even though I understand that the path to that future will be difficult.
I want to see Crimea as a politically autonomous entity within Ukraine, fully implementing the rights of its people following the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and fundamental principles of law. This might not seem like an overly ambitious goal, but right now, de-occupation is the most crucial step.
The Crimean Tatars are a phoenix nation - we will rebuild everything. We just need help right now. As long as Crimea remains under Russian occupation, every person on the peninsula is a hostage of a terrorist state that respects neither human rights nor international law. Once we rid ourselves of this oppression, everything else will fall into place.”
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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