Poems from the War in the occupied Crimea

The poetry collection, which exploded the contemporary Ukrainian literature, came out in Crimean Tatar language published by Yaroslaviv Val Publishing House. The publication happened with the help of many charitable people. Elvira Bulat, founder and director of the Smart Business Academy, was the initiator of the publication. Poems by Humeniuk began her acquaintance with poetry in Ukrainian. Having moved to Kyiv after being forced to leave the occupied Crimea, she had a chance to read the entire collection. “When I read the ‘Testament’ I decided that we should definitely translate these verses to Crimean Tatar language, so that our people in Crimea heard them, and that both Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians got to know our history better. The main idea is to convey the pain that book contains to the Crimean Tatars, because we have a common destiny with Ukrainians and the common enemy. It is necessary that the two peoples love each other more and understand that we are indeed brothers,” said Bulat.

It was she who found an interpreter. A person under the pen name Maye Safet is forced to hide her real one, because in the occupied Crimea, where she lives, the translation of this book may bring about political persecution. “This is an anti-Russian book, for it was written by a soldier who stood on the side of his comrades-in-arms, his country. The image of a Ukrainian soldier is sacred for me. I believe that this is the right thing to do for any representative of culture – to hold a soldier of their own army sacred. Therefore, undertaking a translation of such a book while living behind the enemy lines requires a lot of courage,” said Borys Humeniuk.

The author intends to send 400 copies of his poetry book to Crimea. “To those cells of resistance,” says Humeniuk, “who continue their struggle and await the day when the Russian occupation troops and the Russian authorities get out of Crimea and Crimea comes back to Ukraine.” His dream is to have Cenk Siirleri presented at Simferopol National University. The warrior poet is confident that his dream will certainly come true.