Returning appropriated Crimean land

It was high time to hold a con­fe­rence on the strategic deve­lop­ment of the Crimea, making the one which recently took place in Simferopol under the guidance of the president quite timely, per­haps even too late. Few regions of Uk­rai­ne can boast of similar eco­nomic potential. At the same time, there is hardly any other region pos­sessing such a big set of unsolved and neglected problems. One of them (to his honor, Viktor Yanu­kovych was bold enough to raise it) regards the question of land. The issue of land, especially on the Southern coast, is strategic for the Crimea. But it is the most prob­le­matic at the same time, for it involves sums of money that end with many zeros. Crimean journa­lists know: meddling in the land issues is dangerous for one’s health, and rumors that there are names of very famous people behind the raider seizures have long been accepted as an implicit fact, both in Ukraine and abroad.

Maybe that’s the reason, or maybe it’s because no one dealt with the Crimean land issues on the presidential level for a long time, but the statement of Viktor Yanu­kovych caused a sensation. “Where the law was infringed while allotting land, new fake owners should return this land to the state. That’s it. We even won’t make the names of these people public,” the head of the state said. On the same day the head of the Majlis of the Crimean-Tatar people Mustafa Dzhemiliov said in the broadcast of the Channel 5 that the seized Crimean land can be returned to the state. “We discussed these questions already with President Viktor Yushchen­ko. There must have been over ten commissions for the last six or seven years. They detected a big number of violations, far from Crimean Tartars, but everything remained as it was,” he said explaining that in the course of the inspection “very interesting names from the highest levels of the government of both the Crimea and Kyiv were identified.”

Whatever skeptics say, The Day already has an example of a successful winning the state land in the southern coast of the Crimea back from raiders. Last year we wrote about the struggle of the collective of the state enterprise “Boarding House Izumrud,” located in the Laspi Bay, for 1.5 hectares of the land that were illegally appropriated (“A ten-year battle near Sevastopol,” The Day, issue 174, September 30, 2009). The desperate attempts lasting for over ten years to keep the miners’ boarding house were resolved only last month: the Higher Administrative Court returned the territory of the boarding house to the state. What it cost for the collective of the enterprise is another story: there was everything, from threats to a kidnapping of the boarding house’s director. However, abiding the law, one can gain the truth, “Izumrud” employees say.

COMMENTARY

Anatolii ZHEZHERUN, director of the state enterprise “Boarding House Izumrud,” the Laspi Bay, the Crimea:

“Land appropriation in the Crimea is not an isolated problem. This is one of the symptoms of a sick system. Certainly, one should fight lawlessness by means of the law. One should seek for the truth in court (as we did). But there is no guarantee that the court will support the plaintiff. Before putting land in order one should examine the judicial system of Ukraine. One should overcome corruption in law enforcing bodies — only then returning appropriated lands will become possible. Of course, one will have to apply force. I personally heard Yanu­kovych saying: ‘If they don’t give the land back voluntarily, we will pass the case to the prosecutor’s office.’ I want to wish the president to be as resolute in the future. By the way, it was precisely the interference of a representative of the Party of Regions — at that time people’s deputy, currently the governor of the Cher­kasy region Serhii Tulub — that helped us win back the boarding house for miners. Ninety-five percent of the Crimean land was given away either illegally or was seized in an unauthorized way. What arguments can be used aside governmental pressure?”