Crimean Tatars - Sociopolitical Organization

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was divided administratively into sixteen republics, each with a hierarchy of subdivisions, some of which were designated autonomous republics or districts, as the Crimea once was. Being an oblast within the Ukrainian SSR, the Crimea was the responsibility of the republic's party and state apparatus.

Social Organization. During the period of the Crimean Khanate, social organization hinged largely on the preeminence, at first, of five great clans—the Giray, Sirin, Argin, Barin, and Kipcak—and, later, two others—Mansur Oglans and Sicuvuts—that held virtual hereditary possession of the vast majority of productive lands in the peninsula and economic and political authority over most of the population and the military forces. Below these clans were others that formed the Tatar aristocracy ( mirzas ) , members of which may have been genealogically linked to the larger clans. Most of the Crimean Tatars were free peasants (protected in their rights by Islamic law) or herdsmen. Members of the traditional aristocracy as well as some other enterprising persons who did not emigrate following the Russian conquest were able to retain or acquire noble status through service within the imperial bureaucracy or military. A classless society in theory, the USSR nevertheless developed a class structure, based largely on access to Communist party and government apparatuses. Typically the Crimean Tatars would have experienced this no differently than other Soviet ethnic groups; however, owing to the dissident stance they have collectively taken for the past several decades, they have not shared in the benefits that the system provided. Though not necessarily anti-Soviet, they were generally indifferent to the social organization around them. For them, status increasingly is associated with contribution to the ethnic cause.

Political Organization. The political organization of the former Soviet Union is in flux, with reforms affecting not only the traditional administrative and controlling institutions but generating new ones and new political procedures at all levels. As part of Tatar efforts to force redress of long-standing grievances and as a reflection of their dissidence, the Tatars have forged their own organizations (commonly called "initiative groups") that, because of their purposes, have functioned in quasi-political ways.

Social Control. Soviet ideology, particularly as institutionalized during the Stalinist era, had been the key in promoting intellectual and social uniformity and, it was assumed, ensuring not only the resolution but the elimination of social conflict. Authorities in the late Soviet era more readily admitted, however, that the apparent social harmony was to a large degree a fiction generated by the extraordinary insistence on conformity. For decades, widespread fear of frequently abused official power virtually stilled public opinion. Challenging this fundamental feature of Soviet society since the late 1950s, the Crimean Tatars struggled to generate and influence public opinion regarding their plight.

Conflict. Interethnic tensions between Tatars and other peoples of the former Soviet Union have been muted but may increase as Tatars if allowed in large numbers to resettle their homeland.