On June 25, 1918, a provisional government, the first Crimean Regional Government, began its work in Crimea. Local politicians, under the leadership of Suleiman Sulkiewicz, relied on foreign power in an attempt to achieve independence for the second time.

A few months earlier, the peninsula was controlled by the Bolsheviks, who destroyed the Crimean Democratic Republic and killed its head of government, Noman Çelebicihan. The Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cafer Seydamet Qırımer, managed to escape to Kyiv, where he appealed to the Ukrainian authorities for help.

In April 1918, Crimea was liberated from the Bolsheviks by Ukrainian troops under Petro Bolbochan and German troops under Robert von Kosch, with the support of the Crimean Tatar rebels. To maintain their alliance with Germany, the Ukrainians withdrew, and the Germans decided to organize an interim local government on the peninsula, at least until the end of the war.

In May, two major public centers of influence emerged on the peninsula: the Crimean Tatar Kurultai and the Provincial Zemstvo Assembly. Initially, the Kurultai had the upper hand, as it received the support of Robert von Kosch and had plans to restore the Crimean Democratic Republic. On May 18, 1918, the Kurultai declared itself a provisional Crimean parliament and appointed Cafer Seydamet Qırımer as Prime Minister of Crimea.

However, the policy of Crimea’s independence, proclaimed by the Kurultai, was rejected by representatives of the Zemstvo Assembly, the main role among which was played by the сonstitutionalist democrats (сadets), a center of supporters of the revival of a united Russia. Negotiations between the two sides failed in early June, Seydamet failed to form a coalition government, and on June 5, the Kurultai went on vacation. 

On the same day, the command of the German troops on the peninsula offered to take responsibility for the governance of Crimea to Lieutenant GeneralMatvii (Suleiman) Sulkevych, a Lithuanian-Tatar of Belarusian origin, who had arrived in Crimea only in May 1918.

From June 5 to June 15, 1918, Suleiman Sulkevych formed his cabinet, and it took another 10 days to agree with the German command on the text of the Declaration “To the Population of Crimea.” On June 25, the Declaration was proclaimed and the new government, which consisted of representatives of various political forces and nationalities, formally began its work. Sulkevych became Prime Minister, Prince Gorchakov became his assistant and acting Minister of Internal Affairs, and Cafer Seydamet Qırımer became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Germany supported the new government but did not officially recognize it.

The Crimean Regional Government set a policy of building an independent state in Crimea, the city of Simferopol became the capital, and Russian was declared the official language, with the possibility of using Crimean Tatar and German at the official level. Its state symbols were established: the coat of arms of the former Tavriya province became the coat of arms, and the flag was a blue flag with the coat of arms in the upper left corner. 

The government relied on landowners and entrepreneurs in its policy and had support from Crimean Tatars. However, it did not have support among socialists and a significant number of liberals, who considered the dissolution of local governments and the introduction of censorship to be wrong. The government also lacked support among the peasants, who did not welcome the return of land to the landlords. The rest of the peninsula’s life was governed mainly by the old laws of the Russian Empire, although a law on Crimean citizenship was passed on September 11. The final fate of the peninsula was to be decided by the parliament, whose elections had not been scheduled.

Two groups in the government saw the future of Crimea differently. The first group was represented by Sulkevych, Seydamet, and their supporters from the so-called “German group” who saw Crimea as an independent Crimean Tatar state in the future. The second group included Tatishchev, Gorchakov, Nalbandov, and others who viewed the independence of Crimea as a temporary phenomenon and hoped to recreate a united Russia after the Bolsheviks were expelled. Throughout the existence of the Crimean Regional Government, there were significant disputes among ministers, but on September 11, a government crisis erupted, resulting in the resignation of all cadet ministers.

Sulkevych’s government also had a conflict with the Ukrainian state ruled by Pavlo Skoropadskyi, the hetman and his government were committed to the integration of Crimea into Ukraine, but Sulkevych’s government wanted to create an independent state. As a result, in June, a trade war broke out between Crimea and Ukraine, which hit the economies of both countries, but Crimea suffered the most. The parties began negotiations in September, with Ukraine offering Crimea broad autonomy, while the Crimean Regional Government proposed a federation of equal states. 

Negotiations between the parties did not end due to the defeat and retreat of German troops. Sulkevych’s government lasted for another month after the German troops left, but inside Crimea, it had support only from the Crimean Tatar Directorate. It was opposed by socialists, cadets, and Russian officers. In October, the Simferopol City Council decided to seek the government’s resignation, and after a while, similar demands were made by the councils of other cities on the peninsula. 

On November 14, 1918, Sulkevych resigned, and the next day the new Crimean Regional government was headed by pro-Russian politician Solomon Krym. The troops of the Triple Entente and the Russian Volunteer Army under the command of General Denikin, who dreamed of restoring a united Russia, landed on the peninsula.