The first issue of the Crimean Tatar newspaper Qırım was published 37 years ago
Exactly 37 years ago, on 7 July 1989, the first issue of the Crimean Tatar newspaper Dostluqі , later renamed Qırım, was published. It was the first publication in the Crimean Tatar language since the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatar people. The newspaper became one of the symbols of the revival of the Crimean Tatar language, culture and national identity.
ZMINA looks back at the newspaper’s history.
The Qırım newspaper. Photo credit: Oleksandra YefymenkoFollowing Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, the newspaper came under sustained pressure from the occupation authorities. Over the past several years, the editorial team and its leadership have repeatedly faced persecution over publications covering the rights of Crimean Tatars, mobilisation and international legal documents.
According to available estimates, between 2021 and 2024 alone, the occupation authorities imposed at least 658,000 Russian roublesі in fines on the newspaper, its Editor-in-Chief and its founder.
In particular:
2021 – Bekir Mamutov, Editor-in-Chief, was fined over the publication of a UN report that mentioned the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, which is banned in Russia. The amount of the fine was not specified.
May 2024 – Following searches of the newspaper’s newsroom and Bekir Mamutov’s home, the occupation authorities fined the publisher of Qırım 300,000 Russian roubles. The penalty stemmed from an article about Crimean Tatars refusing to take part in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
June 2024 – Bekir Mamutov was fined a further 100,000 Russian roubles (approximately UAH 54,000) for publishing an interview with a Crimean Tatar about mobilisation on the temporarily occupied peninsula.
August 2024 – Seiran Ibrahimov, the newspaper’s founder, was fined 250,000 Russian roubles for allegedly “abusing media freedom”.
December 2024 – Bekir Mamutov and Seiran Ibrahimov were each fined an additional 4,000 Russian roubles – 8,000 Russian roubles in total – over the publication of an article in the Crimean Tatar language about Soviet human rights defender Liudmyla Aleksieieva.
In addition to imposing fines, occupation security forces ca-rried out searches of the newspaper’s newsroom and the homes of its editors, seizing computer equipment and data storage devices.
Despite years of pressure, Qırım continues to be published and remains one of the few Crimean Tatar media outlets covering the lives of Crimea’s Indigenous people under Russian occupation.
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ZMINA has closely followed the persecution of the newspaper. On 9 October 2024, it was reported that an appellate court in temporarily occupied Crimea upheld the fines imposed on the independent Crimean Tatar newspaper Qırım.
In September 2024, the Russian-installed, illegitimate “Simferopol District Court” in Crimea scheduled a hearing in an administrative-offence case against the independent Crimean Tatar newspaper Qırım.
A month earlier, an illegitimate “court” in the occupied peninsula found Ibrahimov, the newspaper’s founder, guilty of “abusing media freedom”.
In April 2021, Russian occupation authorities began persecuting Bekir Mamutov, Editor-in-Chief of Qırım, over the publication of an article mentioning the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People.
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