The Counteroffensive: Crimean Tatars are observing this Ramadan in exile

Dilaver Saidakhmetov's grandfather wasn’t a practicing Muslim, but that didn’t stop him building a mosque.

After decades of Soviet authorities burning Islamic literature and shutting down Islamic schools, Crimean Tatars were deported in the hundreds of thousands to Central Asia and Siberia in 1944. So almost none of the Crimean Tatars who returned to Crimea in the 1970s were very devout Muslims.

But that didn’t stop them building mosques, and slowly trying to regain their heritage. “When Crimean Tatars returned, they built mosques wherever they could,” said Dilaver.

The story of Crimean Tatars and how they used Islam to protect their heritage and culture is one chapter in a wider story of how people in Ukraine are protecting and preserving their identity and heritage against Russian aggression.

https://kyivindependent.com/the-counteroffensive-crimean-tatars-are-observing-this-ramadan-in-exile/

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