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Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars
Qırımtatarlar
Regions with significant populations
 Crimea 246,073
 Uzbekistan 10,046
 Turkey 150,000 – 6,000,000
 Romania 24,137
 Russia (excluding Republic of Crimea) 2,449
 Bulgaria 1,803
 Kazakhstan 1,532
 United States 7,000
 Ukraine (Excluding Autonomous Republic of Crimea) 30,000–60,000
Languages
Crimean Tatar, Russian, Ukrainian
Religion
Sunni Islam, Nondenominational Muslims
Related ethnic groups
Dobrujan Tatars, Nogais

Crimean Tatars (Crimean Tatar: Qırımtatarlar or Qırımlar, Turkish: Kırım Tatarları or Kırımlılar, Russian: Крымские Татары, Ukrainian: Кримськi Татари or Кримцi) are a Turkic ethnic group that formed in the Crimean Peninsula in the 13th–17th centuries, primarily from the Turkic tribes that moved to the land that is now known as Crimea in Eastern Europe from the Asian steppes beginning in the 10th century, with contributions from the pre-Cuman population of Crimea. Crimean Tatars constituted the majority of Crimea's population from the time of its ethnogenesis until mid-19th century, and the relative largest ethnic population until the end of 19th century. Almost immediately after the liberation of Crimea, in May 1944, the USSR State Defense Committee ordered the removal of all of the Tatar population from Crimea, including the families of Crimean Tatars serving in the Soviet Army – in trains and boxcars to Central Asia, primarily to Uzbekistan. Starting in 1967, some were allowed to return to Crimea, and in 1989 the USSR Parliament condemned the removal of Crimean Tatars from their motherland as inhumane and lawless. Today, Crimean Tatars constitute approximately 12% of the population of Crimea. There remains a large diaspora of Crimean Tatars in Turkey and Uzbekistan.

In the latest Ukrainian census, 248,200 Ukrainian citizens identified themselves as Crimean Tatars with 98% (or about 243,400) of them living in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. An additional 1,800 citizens (or about 0.7% of those that identified themselves as Crimean Tatars) live in the city of Sevastopol, also on the Crimean peninsula, but outside the border of the autonomous republic.


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