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Frequently Asked Questions about Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine
09.08.2024
  1. How does the category of “Indigenous peoples” differ from just “peoples” or “nations”?
    Indigenous peoples are a specific category of minorities that are both “peoples” and “minorities.” Usually, Indigenous peoples have broader rights than other categories of minorities.
  2. What are the Indigenous peoples in Ukraine?
    The Indigenous peoples of Ukraine, which were formed on the territory of the Crimean Peninsula, are the Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks.
  3. Why are the Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks considered different peoples if they have a common origin, similar languages, and were all formed in Crimea?
    Despite their common origin, Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks
    have different, though similar, languages and different religions. Crimean Tatars are Muslims, Krymchaks are Jews, and Karaites profess Karaism.
  4. Can other peoples, such as Hungarians or Russians, be granted the status of Indigenous people of Ukraine?
    No. One of the signs of Indigenous people is the absence of their statehood outside the country of their residence/citizenship.
  5. What is the difference between national minorities and Indigenous peoples?
    The concepts of “autochthonous communities/minorities” and “Indigenous peoples” are not identical. National minorities have ethnically related states outside their countries of residence.
  6. Can the Greeks of Pryazovia, Urums, and Rumeians, whose ethnic groups were formed on Ukrainian territory, become Indigenous peoples of Ukraine?
    It is possible if the community recognizes itself as a separate people, not as part of an existing people (in this case, the Greek people), and applies to the Ukrainian state for such status. However, these communities are currently part of the Greek diaspora in Ukraine.
  7. Why are the Crimean Tatars an Indigenous people if they appeared in Crimea only in the thirteenth century, just like the Tatar-Mongols and other ethnic groups (Greeks, Italians) who lived there much earlier?
    This opinion is a sad result of Russian-Soviet historiography’s efforts, which are not supported by historical facts. The formation of the Crimean Tatar people as an integral and distinctive ethnic group occurred over thousands of years on the Crimean Peninsula at the expense of autochthonous ethnic groups and tribes and numerous waves of migrants who assimilated with the local population. The ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars includes Tauri, Cimmerians, Scythians, Goths, Huns, Greeks, Khazars, Pechenegs, Cumans, Italians, and other peoples.
  8. But the Crimean Tatars have their Tatarstan state.
    The Crimean Tatars and the Kazan Tatars are different peoples who formed on other territories and belong to different clusters of Turkic languages.
  9. Are Ukrainians an Indigenous people of Ukraine?
    Legally, Ukrainians have a different status—a state-forming nation. According to the Law on Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine, an Indigenous people must be an ethnic minority within the population of Ukraine. This is in line with international practice, as in most cases, Indigenous peoples make up a minority of the population of their country.
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