Soviet settler colonialism: J. Otto Pohl, The Deportation of the Crimean Tatars in the Context of Settler Colonialism’, Uluslararasi Suçlar ve Tarih, 16, 2015, pp. 45-69 | settler colonial studies blog

Soviet settler colonialism: J. Otto Pohl, The Deportation of the Crimean Tatars in the Context of Settler Colonialism’, Uluslararasi Suçlar ve Tarih, 16, 2015, pp. 45-69

20May16

Abstract: The Soviet ethnic cleansing of the Crimean Tatars, the subsequent settlement of their lands with Russians and Ukrainians, and the de-Tatarization of the peninsula s place names has a number of similarities with various cases of settler colonialism in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and Palestine. The treatment of the exiled Crimean Tatars in Uzbekistan, the Urals, and other regions also had a number of similarities with how settler colonies treated their indigenous populations. These similarities, however, have not been thoroughly explored by historians and other scholars. Instead the USSR has been considered as being completely outside of the framework of colonial and ethno-racial relations that developed between Europeans and indigenous peoples in other parts of the world. This article seeks to make a first attempt at suggesting ways in which Soviet policies towards various indigenous peoples in the USSR can be compared to the better studied cases of settler colonialism in places like South Africa and Palestine. In particular it uses the Soviet deportation of the Crimean Tatars and their prolonged exile in Uzbekistan under various legal restrictions as a case study comparable in a number of important ways to settler colonialism. It is hoped that this article will inspire further inquiries and research in a comparative manner regarding this topic.

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