'While the song is being heard, the people cannot be won': how Crimean Tatars live in New York

May 18, 2021 is the 77th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, as well as the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide. How their community lives in the United States, the newspaper said. "Voice of America".

There are about 5 thousand Crimean Tatars living in the United States. The community lives in and around New York. Dinara Faizov is a member of the community. She and her family belong to the Crimean Tatar creative intelligentsia. Her husband Rustam is a famous musician. Dinara is a soloist, composer, dancer and artistic director of a number of collectives.

“We are creative people. And always, in whatever country, in whatever region, city or even village they are, they have always created creative teams, ”she says.

Her mother, Urie Kermenchikli, is a famous singer. My father was a composer. Urie Kermenchikli recalls that he played almost all musical instruments. Together they recorded Crimean Tatar songs on radio and television in Uzbekistan.

Urie was born in Crimea, however, a few years later in 1944, together with her parents and relatives, she was deported to Uzbekistan. She recalls that they were not allowed to speak Crimean Tatar. They lived in a special settlement for immigrants.

She began to learn the language already in adulthood, when she graduated from the conservatory and began to perform Crimean Tatar songs. Dinara calls herself a child of deportation. It is hard for her to remember those times: “I studied in Tashkent, and when in history lessons they opened textbooks and said that Crimean Tatars were traitors. It was scary".

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During the deportation in Crimea, Dinara visited only twice. She says that the peninsula has always been some kind of fabulous territory for her. Dinara and her husband were among the first to return to Crimea in 1990. First we came to Simferopol, where her aunt lived. She remembers: the first month my husband and I slept in the car, because the house was packed with people, and their little daughter slept with her aunt. Then, in order to have at least some kind of roof over their heads, we got a job on a collective farm to work in the vineyards.

Only five years later, the family will be able to get housing and work in their specialty at the theater in Evpatoria. Dinara will start working with children again, teaching them Crimean Tatar dances, and will create her own team. The talented leader and her children will be noticed and invited to perform abroad. However, in the theater, Dinara's popularity was not very welcomed.

“I was given a condition - if you go with your children to Hungary, we will fire you. When I returned from the festival, literally on the same day, a work book was brought to my house, ”she recalls.

At the same time, Dinara received an invitation to perform at a festival in the United States. From this trip to families, a new American life began. After the festival, Dinara with her husband and the band performed in front of the public in New York, they were offered to stay in order to develop and popularize the Crimean Tatar culture in the USA.

“If I returned, I would have to humiliate myself and ask to be returned to work in the theater, but I am not that kind of person, I cannot pass by such things. So we decided that we would start here, from scratch, ”she says.

As a creative and talented family, the Faizs applied for special visas for extraordinary personalities. There were no problems with the documents, however, at first it was still difficult. Dinara's husband Rustem does not hide the fact that he wanted to return. “I thought, why am I here? All this was alien to me, but fellow countrymen supported and helped to survive this period, ”he recalls.

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She says that it is very important for a family to preserve national traditions, therefore music and singing, as well as cuisine, are an important part of their life. One of the family's favorite dishes is pasties. According to Dinara, this is the only Crimean Tatar dish that has remained in history, although many other peoples are trying to appropriate it.

The Crimean Tatar diaspora in New York has its own cultural center with a mosque and a school. The center was bought back in the middle of the last century. The first Crimean Tatars began to come to New York when Soviet power came to Crimea. Then many moved during the Second World War.

In the community, the Faiz family is loved and respected. Dinara teaches dance in both American and Crimean Tatar schools. Again, from scratch, she created the Legend of Crimea dance group, which performs throughout North America.

“We carry our culture, our traditions, we instill it all in our children. They are very interested when there is a concert program, they prepare with excitement, ”she adds.

In addition to the cultural one, the society leads an active political life. There is a Mejlis in New York, of which Rustem is a member. After the annexation of Crimea, much of the community's efforts go to support the families of the Kremlin's political prisoners.

“The elders told us: 'Don't take up arms.' After all, this is the greatest sin - to kill another person. My weapon is trumpet and song. We participate in a creative process that we have and a political one. Therefore, the Crimean Tatars are already politics. But it is not our fault that we are born as Crimean Tatars. That there is our homeland, the bones of our ancestors, our spirit is there - in the Crimea ”- he says.

He adds that he personally knows many guys who were imprisoned by the occupation authorities. Adds, they are wonderful and talented people, the flower of the people, Russia is trying to destroy them in the first place.

At the same time, he is convinced that Moscow will not be able to intimidate the Crimean Tatars. Because while their song is being heard, the people cannot be won.