On the
territory of
Ukraine Muslims lived, first of all, in southern areas of the modern territory of the country, especially in
Crimea.
In the XV-th century there was found a state, nowadays known as the Crimean Khanate. It was occupied by the Crimean Tatars, the Turks and other Turkic people.
In the XV – XVIII-th centuries the influence of
Russia in the field of the Crimean Khanate, originally was insignificant, but every year it increased, and in the end of the XVIII-th century, after a number of Russian-Turkish wars, the Khanate territory was grasped by the Russian empire.
At that time the capital of the Crimean Khanate was the city of
Bakhchisarai. In the XVIII-th century, after the conquest of the Khanate by
Russia, there were about 18 mosques in the capital and several medrese (Muslim schools). The Russian Empire started to pursue the Muslim population, and almost 160 000 of the Tatars were compelled to leave
Crimea.
Ukrainian Muslims in the XX-th century
During the Revolution of 1917, Muslims made about third of the population of
Crimea. Almost all central cities in
Crimea had, generally, the Muslim population.
In 1944 the Crimean Muslims were subjected to mass dispatch, after Stalin accused them of cooperation with the Third Reich. Almost 200 000 of the Crimean Tatars were sent to the Central Asia, mainly to Uzbekistan, and also to
Kazakhstan and some areas of the RSFSR. The main dispatch took place on May, 18th, 1944. By estimations, approximately 45 % of all Muslims of Crimea died in 1944–1945 of hunger and illnesses.
The property and the territory left by the Crimean Tatars were used mainly by the ethnic Russians who occupied
Crimea in the Soviet period. It led to demographic changes in
Ukraine and to huge influence in the future. Though, in 1967, with the edition of the decree, which dismissed charges against the Crimean Tatars, the Soviet government did not make anything to facilitate their resettlement back on the
territory of
Crimea and to pay reparations for the lost lives and confiscated property.
Repatriation of the Crimean Tatars to their homeland began only in 1989.
In the beginning of the XX-th century industrialization of
Donetsk started, what required considerable labor force. Basically, the human resource was delivered from the Russian Volga region, the majority of which made Tatars of the
Penza province. During the same time the Tatar settlements arise in big cities, particularly in
Kiev.
The Ukrainian Muslims today
Since the Ukrainian independence, the quantity of the population practicing Islam essentially increased. The set of the Crimean Tatars came back to
Crimea, than in the period of the Soviet power. In 1991 is found the Mejlis of the Crimean-Tatar people.
Nowadays starts the stage of penetration of Islam to the environment of the East-Slavic people – ethnic Ukrainians and Russian. For them Islam is not the factor supporting national consciousness. It became the factor ща self-determination of the person.
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