Rougly three hundred years after the Andalusian city of Granada fell, another Muslim land also fell victim to an invasion. In 1784, Crimea was invaded by Russian forces on the command of Catherine II.

This was the first loss of Ottoman territory in Europe that had always been Muslim land. Indeed, the Ottomans had been defeated in Europe before, but those defeats occured in lands that the Ottomans had militarily conquered and continued to host a strong non-Muslim population afterwards.

However, Crimea was in a much different category. Alongside its geo-strategic importance, it was and still is equally geo-culturally important as well. Similarly to Andalus, which was an Islamic frontier in the West, Crimea was also an Islamic frontier in the East. Likewise, both were great centers of Islamic manifestation in their respected regions.

It might prove difficult to compare Crimea with Andalus, which was known for its art, science and awe inspiring innovations, but due to Crimea’s location centered between north and south, as well as central and eastern Europe, gave Crimea great importance.

Additionally, the fact that the Crimean Tatars are the descendents of the Golden Horde and the Oghuz clan, who were also the founding fathers of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean Tatars fit in nicely into the Turkish Muslim political and cultural narrative. The Crimean Tatars are, to this day, the representatives of the Turkish Muslims in north-eastern Europe and still carry this geo-cultural importance.

The Giray dynasty of Crimea, whose influence and control spread across the eastern Black Sea and inner-Europe, was a vital ally for the Ottomans. Their cultural influence was spread and shared across various parts of central Asia, Siberia, Poland and Finland.

The same way the fall of the Iberian peninsula and Granada shaped the future of Muslims in western Europe, the fall of the Crimean peninsula determined the future of Muslims inm north-western Asia and eastern Europe. For this reason, Crimea can be thought of as a ‘second Andalus.’

The developments in Crimea after it fell to the Russians can be compared to similar developments in Andalus following its collapse. Just like in Andalus, Crimea witnessed a mass exodus and exiles. For instance, between 1978 and 1800, around 500,000 people were forced to leave their homeland.

Furthermore, in the first half of the 19th century, 200,000 more people left, followed by 230,000 Muslims who were forced out in the latter part of that century. This application continued both during the time of the Tsar and during the Soviet Union. After World War II, all of the Crimean Tatars were expelled over night.

THE POET WHO SAVED BAKHCHYSARAI

The most frightening things of the Russian colonial period was the erasing of all cultural aspects of Crimea and the renaming of towns, cities, rivers and mountains in a bid to remove all traces of the Crimean Tatars.

Bakhchysarai, however, is an exception to this. This city was once a thriving center for Islamic civilization, and host many historic landmarks in its valley. The Khan’s Palace is one of these beautiful remains, bearing similarities with the famos Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

Inside the palace there is a historic fountain, decorated with poems engraved in marble. One of these poems belonged to Aleksander Pushkin, who, during the years of deportations, wrote a resistent poem against the tsar. As the poem refers to the city as Bakhchysarai, the Russians could not attempt to change the name of the city. Unlike Akyar, which was renamed Sevastopol, and Akmescit which was renamed Simferopol, Bakhchysarai retained its original name.

Ýlgili YazýlarEnglish