Throughout the course and even the CAP stream so far, we have been extensively exploring the notion of identity and belonging and how it plays out in different instances of conflict. In fact, the crisis currently taking place in Crimea amply demonstrates this concept, where over the past week, news reports worldwide have triggered widespread pandemonium about the potential of a major military conflict. Crimea, an autonomous region in southeastern Ukraine, has recently been the epicenter of escalating tensions between various parties, which is in part due to the issue of ethnic and national identity in the region. The latest news coverage from CBC has reported that the Crimean parliament plans to launch a referendum on March 16th regarding the possible accession of Crimea to Russia.
The current situation in Crimea is a highly complex product of both the region’s history and recent events. When the Soviet Union was established in 1921, Crimea was initially an autonomous state in the Russian Republic, but became part of the Ukrainian Republic in 1954. As of currently, Crimea’s population consists predominantly of ethnic Russians. Given this reason, Ukraine’s previous president, Viktor Yanukovich, had tremendous support of the Crimean people because he strengthened Ukraine’s political relationship with Russia through establishing an economic deal with Russia for $15 billion in economic support and for lower gas import prices. However, Yanukovich’s ousting from parliament last month over the use of lethal force against protestors has led to a more ethnically nationalist political party to resume power. Weeks earlier, the Ukrainian parliament under Oleksandr Turchnyov’s presidency proposed a bill to make Ukrainian the sole official language. This consequently angered the primarily Russian-speaking population of Crimea, because most citizens of Crimea viewed this as a backlash against their ethnicity. Additionally, the rationale behind Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision to deploy Russia’s military into Crimea was to protect the ethnic Russian population in the region against Ukrainian government authorities, whom he deems as being “fascist”. In short, the issue of ethnic and national identity in is an important dimension that explains the current conflict in Crimea.
In reality, it is difficult to determine who is really at fault in this crisis. On one hand, the policies of the current Ukrainian government have been insensitive towards ethnic Russians in the nation, in particular Crimea. However, Russia’s decision to carry out a military intervention in this case is also an excessive move in that the mere nature of Ukraine’s current government policies does not provide sufficient grounds for such action. Furthermore, a referendum on whether Crimea should separate from Ukraine join into Russia will definitely carry serious repercussions for Ukrainian government. Given that Crimea’s largest demographic group is ethnic Russian, favor among the Crimean population for joining Russia would very likely be high. If Crimea were to separate from Ukraine, changes to Ukraine’s constitution will result, which would be very disastrous for the Ukraine’s government, just as if Quebec were to gain independence from Canada. (Recall from last semester that Quebec’s independence was right on the edge of the Canadian government’s teeth following the referendum in 1989)
Here’s a link to the CBC news article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/tensions-ease-after-crimean-military-post-standoff-says-local-pm-1.2563430