ee 2 en Alaa Lt wl _ WORLD Tartars echo of historical dilemma MOSCOW — Crimean Tartars have recently been demonstrating near the Ros- Stya hotel and other places in downtown Moscow. They are demanding the crea- tion of an autonomous republic for their nationality as the first step toward redress- ing what they call “violated historical jus- tice.” The Soviet government has esta- blished a commission, headed by President Andrei Gromyko, to consider their claims and propose a solution. . The dilemma presented by the Crimean Tartars is an excruciating one that has parallels in many other countries, includ- ing Canada. It is one of of those seemingly insoluble, damned-if-you-do-and-damned- if-you-don’t problems that most govern- ments just prefer to ignore and hope will 80 away. The “historical injustice” of which the Tartars speak was committed in 1944, when the entire nation, along with five Other Moslem minorities, was deported from their home near the Black Sea to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in Soviet Central Asia. The Crimean Tartars, num- bering some quarter of a million people, have been inhabitants of the Crimean Peninsula for centuries. Before World War Two, they had their own autonom- Ous republic within which they comprised some 20 per cent of the population. When they were deported, the republic was dis- banded. The Germans occupied the area in 1942, and nazi propaganda made special efforts to cultivate Crimean Moslems and play them against the Ukrainian and Russian majority. A great many Tartars collaborated with the Germans, joined pro-nazi organizations, took part in combat brigades and punitive battalions, worked in ‘concentration camps, and so From Moscow on. All of this is well documented. These grim realities generated a harsh and bitter backlash. On May 11, 1944, after the Red Army had liberated the Crimean region, the Soviet State Com- mittee for Defence decreed that the Mos- lem minorities be uprooted from the Crimea and the North Caucasus, and re- settled in Central Asia. The order is re- puted to have come directly from Joseph Stalin. : Most of the deported nationalities were permitted to return to their homes following the death of Stalin in 1953. However, the ban against the Crimean Tartars was not lifted. In 1956, Krushchev spoke about the deportations in his speech to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: ‘‘Not only a Marxist-Len- inist,’’ he said, ‘“‘but also no person of . common sense can grasp how it is pos- sible to make whole nations responsible for inimical activity, including women and children, old people, Communists and Komsomols, to use mass repression against them and to expose them to mis- ery and suffering in punishment for the hostile acts of individual persons and groups of persons.” In 1967, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR ordered that the de- portation of the Crimean Tartars be an- nulled,..and.. their..constitutional..rights... fully restored. Fred Weir It has long been acknowledged within the USSR, by government and the major- ity of people alike, that the forced expul- sion of an entire nation for the crimes of some was an unjustifiable, shameful chapter in Soviet history. Though no one disputes that a very large proportion of the Crimean Tartars did collaborate with the nazis, it is also a fact that thousands of them served in the Red Army during the war, and many were decorated for heroism. Since 1967, around 10,000 of the Cri- mean Tartars have returned to their homeland. But now.there are only 20,000 of them ina total population of 2.5 million on the Crimean peninsula. Most of them have settled comfortably by now in their new homes, and evince no desire to return. I ran across a large family of them recently on the Sth Anni- versary state farm near Tashkent in Uzbekistan. They have prospered there, raised children and grandchildren who think of the Crimea only as a pleasant vacation spot. They made it quite clear that the idea of uprooting themselves once again was quite unthinkable. Herein lies the dilemma of the present situation. History has created a new real- ity, which most people are comfortable with. Yet the Crimean Tartars continue to feel.very acutely the wrong that was done to them and, most particularly, the loss of their republic, the defined terri- tory that gave the nation its identity. The Soviet Union is a huge multi-na- tional entity, which bases itself upon a very carefully calibrated constitutional arrangement that ensures the survival, identity and right to self determination of each of its constituent nations and na- tionalities. The cohesion of the whole state depends upon this. Hence the So- viet government is taking the appeal of the Crimean Tartars very seriously. Yet what can be done? A new republic can scarcely be created in the Crimea based upon less than two per cent of the population. The current inhabitants can- not be removed any more than the Tar- tars can be deported back to the penin- sula. Most of the Crimean Tartars, and the organizations which represent them, have accepted that it is a complicated and difficult problem, and have agreed to wait until the commission under Presi- dent Gromyko comes out with its recommendations. A small group of militants refuse to wait, and have taken to staging demon- strations outside of tourist hotels, where they are certain to attract the attention and sympathy of outsiders. Understand- ably enough, this tactic does not go down well with most Soviets. How the issue will be resolved is hard to imagine. It is, as they say, a tough one. ,, We Canadians might at least take note of the significance which the Soviets attach to the issue, for our government has yet to take seriously the case of thousands of Japanese-Canadians who had their homes and property confiscated, and were intemed during the war without any _ evidence of disloyalty whatsoever. INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris — _ American Torture is not an Olympic sport This is the title of a breath- taking full-color poster by prize-winning Korean- American artist James Wang, dedicated to Park Chong Chul, a 21 year-old Linguistics Major at Seoul National University who was tortured to death by police on January 14, 1987, It’s 24 x 36 inches and is being sold widely in the U.S. by the broadly-based North Coalition for Human Rights in Korea, headquartered in Washington. The coalition is currently targetting the summer of 1988 When, as we know, the Olym- Pics will be held in Seoul. It has launched a campaign ““To Make Korea Fit for the Olym- Pics’’ and this magnificent Poster at $15 a copy is a fund-raiser for their effort. The Coalition, which is also backed by such Canadian groups as the Anglican and United churches, produces a Wide range of materials urging 4 change of attitude in the West, especially by _ the Reagan administration, which Tegards the regime in South Orea as a staunch U.S. ally. There are 40,000 American troops in South Korea. The Olympics issue, despite the insensitivity of IOC presi- dent Juan Samaranch who ‘said the Games will take place in Seoul no matter what, ‘won’t disappear. The obscen- ity of the world celebrating the Games in a country which bans, jails, murders and tor- tures its youth has captured the attention of everyone (ex- cept Samaranch). Readers of this space may want to purchase this poster. .Write to: North American Co- alition for Human Rights in Korea, 110 Maryland Ave., N.E., Washington, DC, 20002. It’s a fine way to help out. Korea ‘miracle’ not so secret Reagan peered from a bunker at the North-South Korea border a couple of years ago and waxed poetic about South Korea’s economic and democratic miracle. Some Canadian politicians have bubbled, too, about the economic ‘‘miracle’’ there. Koreans, however, know better. Besides being a military PACIFIC TRIBUNE, AUGUST 12, 1987 « 9 dictatorship where you’ re jail- ed for talking union, talking democracy or advocating elec- tions, South Korea is a cheap labor bonanza for cor- porations. This is. best seen in stark figures provided by none other than the U.S. Bureau of La- bour Statistics on the average hourly factory pay in 25 west- ern industrialized nations. The U.S. leads with $12.82. Canada is 8th with $10.70. Britain is 17th with $6.97. Taiwan is 24th with $1.54. You guessed it — South Korea is 25th with a miserable $1.41 per hour. Let’s hear it for freedom, democracy and Hundai! Free Enterprise Israeli-style An Israeli court has refused the sale of a bankrupt wire fac- tory to a Palestinian Arab for “security reasons” and sold it instead to a group of Swiss and Israeli buyers. Barbed wire, it appears, is a treasured Isreali monopoly. In this country the relation- ship between Palestinians and barbed wire is certainly not to manufacture it.