Recently
the library marked the anniversary of the tragic death of the famous Crimean
Tatar politician, writer and poet, Noman Chelebidjikan. He was the first
president of the Crimean People’s Republic which existed in Crimea from
December 1917 to January 1918 and was executed by the Bolsheviks on February
23, 1918.
Noman Chelebidjikan
(also spelled Çelebicihan) was unknown to me, as he most likely is to most
people outside the Crimean Tatar world. But after reading about his life, I wanted
to write a short blog post about this individual in Crimean Tatar history who
sacrificed so much for the Crimean Tatar people.
Chelebidjikan
was born in a village in the Congar region of Crimea in 1885. He studied at the
local school and then, with the help of relatives, went on to study at one of
the well -known madrassas of that time. In 1908 he went to Istanbul to continue
his studies, eventually graduating from law school. While attending the
university, he founded the Young Tatar Writers’ Association and published his
first literary works. He was also one of the original founders of the Crimean
Tatar Student Association and also the organization “Vatan” (Homeland) which
became the seed for the political organization Milliy Firqa of the independence
movement in Crimea.
After
graduating from law school, Chelebidjikan returned to Crimea and continued his involvement
in the independence movement. He was elected as a representative to the first
Crimean Tatar Congress, known as the Qurultay, and on November 26, 1917, was elected
president of the newly established Crimean People’s Republic. The Crimean
People’s Republic was the first attempt in the Muslim world to establish a nation
that was both democratic and secular.
However,
the Republic was short lived. A month
after its founding in November of 1917, the Bolshevik forces invaded Crimea,
capturing Sevastopol, and a month later, disbanded the newly formed Crimean
government. Most of the leaders of the government fled to Turkey or hid in the
mountains, but Chelebidjikan elected to remain in Simferopol to try and
negotiate with the Bolsheviks in the hopes of their developing an understanding
of the interests of the Tatars. But
realizing the necessity to erase all traces of Tatar national leadership, the
Bolsheviks ordered Chelebidjikan arrested and put into prison in Sevastopol. A few days later, on February 23, 1918, at the
age of 33, Chelebidjikan was executed without trial, his body cut into pieces
and thrown into the sea.
But
Chelebidjikan and the sacrifice he made has never been forgotten by the Crimean
Tatar people. His presence lives on in the poems and writings he left behind,
and one of his more famous poems, Ant
Etkemen (I Pledged), has become the national anthem of the Crimean Tatar
people. Every year, events and
publications mark the anniversary of his death and keep alive his memory.
The story
of Chelebidjikan’s life along with translations of some of his poems can be
found in this excellent article by Mubeyyin Batu Altan on the International
Committee for Crimea website-- http://www.iccrimea.org/literature/celebicihan.html
Information
for this post was also taken from Alan Fischer’s book, The Crimean Tatars
(Hoover Institution Press, 1978)
