April 10 is the Day of Crimean Tatar Journalism. The date was approved in 2011 at a conference of Crimean Tatar media in Bakhchysarai.

On April 10, 1883, the first edition of Terdzhyman (Translator), the most famous Crimean Tatar newspaper, was published. The newspaper was founded in Bakhchysarai by publicist and politician Ismail Hasprynskyi.

The Terdzhyman periodical became not only a source of current information, but also a platform for educational activities and raising awareness of Crimean Tatars. Hasprynskyi’s notion of accessibility contributed to one of the newspaper’s additional benefits.

Terdzhyman’s reach extended from the Balkans to Japan, Central Asia, and Turkey, with a circulation of approximately 10,000 copies, peaking at 16,000.

Since 1906 Hasprynskyi has also published the weekly newspaper Millet (The Nation), the magazine for women Alem Nisvan (The World of Women), and the magazine for children Alem Subian (The World of Children).

The last edition of Terdzhyman was published on February 23, 1918, when the Bolsheviks occupied Crimea. The newspaper had existed for 35 years, with four years after its founder’s death headed by his son.
It left a legacy of numerous Crimean Tatar publications, some enduring under occupation, such as Avdet and Kirim, striving to uphold independence amidst pressure. Like Terdzhyman, they serve informative and educational roles, advocating for identity, language, culture, traditions, and memory preservation despite ongoing challenges.

Alongside print media, Crimean Tatar media also occupied the journalistic landscape of the peninsula. In 2005, the Crimean radio station Meydan Radiosı (Radio Maidan) was launched, and in 2006, the first Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR began broadcasting, which was aimed specifically at Crimean residents. Later, in 2013, the children’s TV channel Lâle (Tulip) was launched based on the children’s editorial office of ATR.

In the spring of 2015, the radio station stopped broadcasting in Simferopol because, along with other Crimean Tatar media, it was unable to re-register in the occupied Crimea under Russian law. At the same time, Lâle temporarily stopped broadcasting. Later, in June of the same year, after being evacuated to the mainland of Ukraine, Lâle and Meydan Radiosi resumed broadcasting — though only in an online format until mid-summer 2016.

Since the beginning of the occupation, despite all obstacles, civic journalism has intensified. In 2014, immediately after the occupation began, Radio Free Europe (Radio Liberty) launched the Crimean project Krym.Realii, covering events on the peninsula, including numerous crimes by the occupiers (searches, detentions, arrests, etc.). In 2016, The human rights movement Crimean Solidarity was launched, which was (and still is) involved in the protection of the arrested, support for relatives of prisoners, and coverage of searches and trials on the occupied peninsula. Journalists and activists of these organizations have been repeatedly arrested by the Russian authorities on the peninsula.

Throughout the decade of the occupation regime’s presence in Crimea, Russian authorities have consistently violated the rights of journalists, resulting in ongoing pressure on freedom of speech and press.

Since May 2014, the only Ukrainian-language periodical in Crimea, Krymska Svitlytsia, has not been published, however, the publication of a printed weekly edition has been restored in Kyiv since March 2016. The ethnographic magazine Kasevet was practically eradicated. The access to national and Crimean online media operating on the mainland is blocked. Journalists face persecution, pressure, threats, and even the opening of fabricated administrative or criminal cases for posting on social media information that does not coincide with the official position of the occupation administration or for exposing the real situation on the peninsula.

For example, journalists Asan and Aziz Akhtemov, Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov, Rustem Sheikhaliiev, Nariman Dzhelial, Server Mustafaiev, Seiran Saliiev, Amet Suleimanov, who covered the events in Crimea after 2014, were convicted by the occupiers for allegedly “manufacturing and storage of explosive devices”, “sabotage”, “involvement in terrorist activities”, “collecting information in the interests of Ukrainian special services” or other fictitious cases. They are currently detained in Russia and the temporarily occupied Crimea. Each is sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. And these are not isolated cases.

Under the conditions of the Russian occupation of Crimea, the date of April 10 has acquired a special significance for Crimean Tatar journalists. They’re compelled to endure what independent Crimean journalism experienced nearly a century ago: complete censorship and obliteration.

The Russian occupiers try to distort reality with their propaganda in the media, covering the repressions against Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars who work in independent journalism and risk their lives daily by highlighting the enormity of the real situation on the Crimean peninsula.

In the liberated Crimea, the Crimean Tatar media will function again. We intend to continue our work with indigenous peoples’ media, as well as to resume the work of all media that have ceased to operate due to the occupation.