To Defeat Russia, Ukraine Creates Muslim Military Unit Made Up Of Crimean Tatars
Source: International Business Times
By Cristina Silva @cristymsilva c.silva@ibtimes.com on August 03 2015 2:11 PM EDT
Ukraine will create a unit of Muslim soldiers to protect the Crimean border and monitor imports and exports amid an increasingly violent battle with pro-Russian rebels, a Ukraine leader said Monday. The Muslim battalion will be formed of Crimean Tatars, Kazan Tatars, Uzbeks, Chechens, Azeris, Meskhetian Turks and other Muslim groups, said Mustafa Abdülcemil Kırımoğlu, leader of Crimean Tatars, according to local media reports.
The Muslim battalion is part of growing relations between Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians and will report to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said Kırımoğlu. Crimean Tatars are an ethnically Turkic and religiously Sunni Islam minority group that has faced decades of religious and political persecution under Russian rule.
"Unfortunately, throughout history, the right of the Crimean Tatar people to live in dignity in their own homeland was undermined with collective deportations and repression. Today we are witnessing the illegal annexation of the Crimea and other regrettable events," Turkish President Recep Erdogan said after meeting over the weekend with Crimean leaders. During the gathering, Crimean Tatars also called for "all necessary measures" to be taken to return Crimea to Ukraine following Russia's takeover of the peninsula last year.
Crimean Tatars have previously engaged in the battle against Moscow during attacks and shootouts along the Russian-Ukrainian border. An estimated 10,000 Crimean Tatars have left Crimea since the Russian annexation in March 2014. There are roughly 300,000 Crimean Tatars still living in Crimea.
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/defeat-russia-ukraine-creates-muslim-military-unit-made-crimean-tatars-2036618
blackspade
(10,056 posts)daleo
(21,317 posts)I mean, seriously, they are going to play this game?
newthinking
(3,982 posts)Extremists are their best fighters. And more importantly, they will keep tension going where non extremists will be more restrained when there are peace efforts being attempted.
They let thousands of violent criminals out of prison in exchange for joining the military.
sofa king
(10,857 posts)After the Napoleonic wars Europe and the United States fell in love with the tactics and the looks--especially the looks--of the so-called "savage" horsemen from Russia, the Cossacks and the Tatars.
Many nations attempted to emulate the Tatar style of dress, in the time honored tradition of emulating the appearance of a good soldier in a (usually futile) attempt to duplicate that soldier's skill.
The Tatars and Cossacks themselves are well aware of their cultural role as the cavalry "buffer" between Russia and its various invaders, are probably proud of it, and may well still have some of the traditions of military recreation and hierarchial discipline that can make a military unit better than its peers.
But yes, the idea of training up a unit of crazy-ass Muslims is sure to result in more and larger violence, not confined to their own area. That has everything to do with the universally unfair nature of warfare and almost nothing to do with these peoples' culture or religion.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)happyslug
(14,779 posts)A battalion is no larger then about 1000 men (Generally less).
Crimean Tatars, Kazan Tatars, Uzbeks, Chechens, Azeris, Meskhetian Turks and other Muslim groups
Meskhetian Turks prior to 1944 lived in the former Soviet State of Georgia, they were deported to what is now called the Former Soviet Central Asian States (FSCAS), of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan. They have a collective hope of returning to their homeland, but like American born Cubans, most also want to stay where they are living today. Thus a small minority, tied in with Saudi Arabia and both al Queda and ISIS, via Salafist (also called Wahhabism).
Chechens are another Republic within the Russian Federation. They broke free under Yeltsin, and then the whole Republic went into chaos, thus when the Russians Return under Putin, they accepted Russian rule, for it brought order and peace.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya
You still have some opposition to Russian Rule in Chechnya, but it is tied in with Saudi Arabia and both al Queda and ISIS via Salafist (also called Wahhabism).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus_Emirate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi_movement
Now the Kazan Tatars are also called the Volga Tatars, they live in the Republic of Tartarstan, which is a Republic within the Russian Federation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volga_Tatars
The Kazan Tartars are the majority within Tartarstan, but the Russians are the second largest minority within that Republic. Most Kazan Tartars have no objections to this, but you do have a minority, tied in with Checkens, Saudi Arabia and both al Queda and ISIS via Salafist (also called Wahhabism).
Now the Azeris are the weird one in this list, for most Azeris are Shiite Moslems and tied in with Iran NOT Saudi Arabia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijanis
On the other hand under the Soviet Union religion was downplayed. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union many Azeris returned to Islam, more for its long cultural influence on that people then any other single reason, this opened the door for Salafists from Saudi Arabia to gain influence among these "Lost" Moslems and make them into Salafist Sunni Moslems as oppose to Shiite pro-Iran Moslems.
Thus these groups are all tied in with Saudi Arabia, Salafistism and thus al Queda and ISIS. NOT a good sign for peace.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)So it's more likely to further divide and impoverish Ukraine than to get Crimea back.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Would've never happened had Russia just stayed inside its damned bases.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)I thought it was relatively quiet there. Am I wrong?
happyslug
(14,779 posts)I believe the Russian Speaking rebels have orders NOT to respond to Ukrainian fire, for it appears the Ukraine wants to provoke the rebels and thus claim any attack was do to the rebels return fire (i.e. Ukraine claims it did NOT fire, but only attack rebel position after the rebels fired on them).
If the Rebels have decent discipline, the rebels will follow those orders, on the grounds that they do NOT want to give an excuse to the Ukrainians. If the Rebels have lousy control and discipline, they will return fire and give the Ukrainians the excuse the Ukrainians are looking for.
Please note, the Ukrainian forces appear to be poorly discipline and the central government of the Ukraine has poor control over theses forces. Thus many of these Ukrainian fighters may be trying to provoke an attack by the rebels, an attack the central government of the Ukraine does not want (Nor could defeat).
Putin is in a bind. Putin does NOT want to invade the Ukraine. Russian army forces could be in Kiev within two weeks and then Putin could impose a settlement on the Ukraine government and withdraw. In many ways, it may be Putin's best choice, for it will lead to increase sanctions and increase opposition from the US and the rest of Europe, but the Eastern Ukraine would stop festering as it has been the last few years.
On the other hand, Putin does NOT want Russian forces in the Western Ukraine, that is where the main opposition to Russia in the Ukraine exists and where any guerrilla war against occupying Russian forces will occur. If Putin take Kiev, but the present Government refuses to cut a deal, Putin would be stuck inside the Ukraine fighting a guerrilla war he does NOT want to fight. This is Putin's biggest fear and why he has refused to invade the Ukraine.
On the other hand Putin can NOT leave his fellow Russian Speakers of the Eastern Ukraine without support, thus Putin support, both verbally and in the forms of food, medicine and arms, for the Rebels. Thus this problem festers.
The best solution is Putin's proposal of a Federation of about five states within the Ukraine, Kharkov (Kharkiv), Odessa (Odesa), Donbass, the Eastern Ukraine, and small "Federal State" around Kiev.
Odessa has a Majority Ukrainian population, but also a majority whose first language is Russian. Kharkov has a similar pattern. This is the result of a lot of Ukrainians adopting the Russian language when they moved to both areas in Soviet Times. Thus in most of Rural Ukraine, Ukrainian is spoken, but in the larger cities in those areas, it is Russian. The big exception to this is the Rural Coal Mining Area of the Donbass. The Donbass has rural coal mine with Russian speaking coal miners. Coal miners speaking ONE language is a HUGE safety concern for miners. Thus even through the mines have been in the Ukraine since 1991, the miners know most miners speak Russian, so even non Russians speak Russian in the mines (Same rule in most similar situation in the US, even in areas with huge Spanish speaking populations, in dangerous industry, even the Spanish speakers Speak English Only and as people start to see speaking one language is a safety factor, you see them even doing it at home. My Grandfather stopped speaking Polish at home in the 1930s for this same reason. In the US in the days before Unions, it was common for miners from different nationalities be put in the same coal mine, so they could not speak to each other. This was to defeat unionization efforts, but the miners quickly found out speaking one language was a HUGE safety issue, thus they all started to learn English AND spoke it at home so that they would NOT revert to their native tongue in times of crisis in the mines).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donbass
Back to the Mortar and Artillery fire. Accusation of violation of the cease fire, but when investigated by neutral observers it is almost always from Ukrainian side of the cease fire line (and thus NOT reported in the western press). The reports are frequent, as are the position of the rebels NOT to return fire. It is August, so the best campaigning time is coming to a close in the Ukraine thus I see no real breaks of the cease fire till the ground freezes in December (Deep Winter is the best time to launch a campaign in Russia, the rivers and lakes freeze over so it is one flat pancake, not a grassland divided by rivers one can not ford, but must cross by boat).