Refat Chubarov is a Crimean Tatar public figure and politician, deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, President of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, and since October 27, 2013, Chairman of the Mejlis.

Biography

Born in Samarkand (Uzbek SSR) on September 22, 1957, where his family was deported from Crimea during the deportation of the Crimean Tatars. In 1968, Refat Chubarov’s parents returned to Crimea.

After school, from 1974 to 1975, he studied at the Simferopol Vocational School No. 1.

After graduating from vocational school, Refat Chubarov works in Tiraspol as a mason in military unit No. 73613.

From 1975 to 1977 he served in the Soviet army.

After the army he entered the Moscow State Institute of History and Archives, from which he graduated in 1983.

Since 1983 he begins working at the Central State Archives October revolution and socialist construction in Riga. He worked first as an archivist, then as a senior archivist, and from 1984 to 1991 he was director and senior researcher at the institution.

Policy

In 1989, Refat Chubarov from the Popular Front of Lithuania faction became a deputy of the Riga City Council.

From 1990 to 1991, under the Council of Ministers of the USSR, he worked as part of the State Commission on the Problems of the Crimean Tatar People, actively defending the interests of the deported Crimean Tatars.

Since 1994, he has become a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Since 1995, he was a member and subsequently chairman of the standing commission of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on the problems of deported citizens and national policy.

From 1995 to 1998, Refat Chubarov served as Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council.

In 1998, he became a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the People's Movement. In parliament he headed the subcommittee on issues of victims of political repression, national minorities and deported peoples.

From 2000 to 2002, he was first deputy chairman of the subcommittee on issues of victims of political repression, national minorities and deported peoples.

In 2002, from the Our Ukraine party bloc, he became a people's deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

In the period from 2006 to 2007, from the Our Ukraine bloc, he again became a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the fifth convocation.

In May 2009, Refat Chubarov was elected president of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars.

In November 2010, he was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea of ​​the sixth convocation, going there from the People's Movement.

In November 2013, Chubarov was elected chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.

During the annexation of Crimea Russian Federation in 2014, Refat Chubarov took an active part in these events. After the entry of Russian troops into the peninsula, he made a statement that these actions constituted occupation. He initiated the national congress of the Crimean Tatars (kurultai) on March 29, 2014, at which it was decided to create a national-territorial autonomy of the Crimean Tatar people in Crimea.

Compromising evidence

In 2011, the Muslim community “Sabur” contacted the Prosecutor General’s Office with a demand to initiate a criminal case against Refat Chubarov (at that time the first deputy chairman of the Mejlis and a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada). The Muslim community accused Chubarov of not reacting in any way to the appeal of the head of the Muslim community council regarding assistance in resolving the issue of allocation for the construction of a mosque land plot in the city of Simferopol. Based on this statement, the prosecutor's office conducted an investigation; no criminal case was initiated against Refat Chubarov.

Some of Chubarov’s “detractors” claim that the impetuous career Crimean politician is associated with his active interaction with the KGB, but there is no reliable data that confirms this fact.

In the last few years there have been several publications in the press about family life Refat Chubarova. They say that he, as a devout Muslim, does not entirely adhere to the Muslim rules of family life. So Chubarov is accused of adultery.

Awards and regalia

In 2002, Chubarov was awarded the Order of Merit, II degree. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of Merit, I degree. In 2007, Refat Chubarov was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, V degree.

Family

He is married to Latvian Ingrida Valtson and has three daughters: Niyara (born 1996), Dinara (born 1987) and Rita (born 1983).

On September 22, Refat Chubarov, the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and a people's deputy of Ukraine, was born. On this day we talk about how his family returned to Crimea in the late 1960s, how the return of the Crimean Tatar people to their homeland became possible and how to fight the Russian annexation of Crimea.

Born on September 22, 1957 in the city of Samarkand, Uzbek SSR, where his family was expelled from Crimea during the deportation of the Crimean Tatars. In 1968, Chubarov’s parents returned to Crimea. After graduating from school, from 1974 to 1975, he studied at Simferopol Vocational School No. 1, and after graduating from vocational school he worked in Tiraspol as a mason in military unit 73613.

- Refat-aha, I look and somehow I don’t see you as a mason. Why did you go to study at a vocational school?

– It’s simple: my parents broke into Crimea, they had four young boys in their arms. Then 200-300 families of Crimean Tatars were allowed to return, rather as a formality - and the road to the peninsula was closed again. I grew up in Crimea, graduated from school in the village of Ilyinka, Krasnoperekopsk district, and went to submit documents to Moscow State University. On the second exam – in the Russian language – I received a well-deserved “D”. I studied very well, as I imagined, but not at the level required at Moscow State University. I didn’t want to waste a year, and my friend, fellow villager Vitya Zakharov, now a police general living in Kyiv, and I decided to enroll together in training courses Simferopol University in order to enter the history department next year. However, we chose the school on Budenova - there were good conditions, dormitory. I left there a year later with a third-class mason-installer certificate.

– What about Tiraspol?

– Tiraspol is also very easy to explain. I was 17, I was not registered in a hostel in Simferopol - because I am a Crimean Tatar. I wanted to register, go into the army - after that you could return to where you were drafted from, and I would have stayed in Simferopol and gone to study at the university. Vitya Zakharov was registered, but I was not. And so we wrote a letter to the first secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee, Tyazhennikov, about how unfair the policies of the USSR and the division of people based on nationality were.

One fine day we were invited to a famous building on Franko Street, where then there was the KGB, then the SBU, and now the Russian FSB. They explained to us that the Soviet government does not divide anyone and loves all young guys like us, but we discredit it. They took my passport and gave me my Simferopol registration the next day. For a month and a half I was very happy with her, and then Vitya Zakharov and I were discharged and thrown into Tiraspol. Here it must be said that our school was supervised by the Odessa Military District. Graduates of blue-collar professions were recruited by the military construction units of this district. And we were sent as workers to a military construction unit in Tiraspol, a few months later we were drafted there, and I served in the army for two years.

– When I was studying, in the 1980s, it wasn’t that there was active propaganda against the Crimean Tatars, but it was mentioned that they were against the Soviet regime. What attitude did you feel from those around you?

– Those families that were able to move to Crimea through the so-called “organized recruitment” were scattered - 4-5 families per village council. There were only 4 families in our village. The authorities did not work as openly as the Russian government does today, but propaganda was carried out. We arrived in the summer of 1968, in 1969 I went to fifth grade, I was 12 years old.

A neighbor teacher came to them and told them not to let the children out on May 18 - the Crimean Tatars would gather and slaughter them

They didn’t ask us anything, but they knew that we were Crimean Tatars. And so we go to school with a friend - and then in the middle of the dam, on the river, he stops, looks at me very seriously and says: why are you going to cut us? Apparently he kept this question to himself for a long time. Somehow I got it out of him that a neighbor-teacher came to them and told them not to let the children out on May 18, because the Crimean Tatars would gather and slaughter them. I told my father about this. And it was like this. Earlier, he and the heads of three other Crimean Tatar families went to the party committee and notified that on May 18, on the banks of the Sivash - which is actually the Chatyrlyk River - the Crimean Tatars would gather for a prayer service and remember the victims of deportation. Someone found out and decided to play it safe. Of course, the father and other men made a fuss, and then they apologized. But this happened in almost every locality, so it was some kind of campaign.

– Was there a chance that the Soviet government itself, without the pressure of the Crimean Tatars, would return them to Crimea?

- No. At the end of the 1980s, due to the maximum weakening of the USSR and the processes that led to its collapse, many peoples had chances. However, not everyone began to make efforts to take advantage of them. In some territories, national liberation movements were very powerful - the Baltic countries, the same Ukraine, although here they were less pronounced. At that time, there were three peoples left in the places of deportation: Crimean Tatars, Meskhetian Turks and Volga Germans.

The commission rendered a verdict: return is impossible. This did not stop the Crimean Tatars, and they began to return to Crimea

The Crimean Tatars felt the moment subtly and quickly - due to the fact that before that they had been in a state of constant mobilization for decades. In 1987, mass rallies were held in Moscow on Red Square, and a state commission was created headed by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Alexander Gromyko. A year later, the commission issued a verdict: the return and restoration of autonomy is impossible, there is no land in Crimea. This did not stop the Crimean Tatars, and they began to return to Crimea.

– At the same time, there is a myth that it was Mikhail Gorbachev who returned the Crimean Tatars to Crimea.

– Gorbachev tried to save the USSR as much as possible, but he failed. The Union has lost many functions, including prohibitive ones. The Crimean Tatars felt this. Before that, in the 1970s and 1980s, they made their way to Crimea, but to no avail. And then the floodgates fell - not on their own, of course. This required processes in Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Kyiv, Kharkov, Lvov, and movements of other peoples for their freedom. And it was important that almost every Crimean Tatar had an intention to return. Those who were afraid to join the national movement still wanted the same thing - to return to Crimea. And, when the process began, apolitical Crimean Tatars began to join the national movement - after all, there was one goal.

– Are there many Crimean Tatars left in Uzbekistan and why?

Apolitical Crimean Tatars also began to join the national movement - after all, there was one goal

– According to our estimates, from 80 to 130 thousand, several hundred each in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Most of them were simply physically, due to circumstances, unable to return, despite their desire to do so.

– Should they return now?

– Given the policy pursued by the Russian occupation regime in Crimea, return is almost impossible. Russian migration legislation does not allow for the identification of deportees and the application of separate mechanisms of settlement, adaptation, and legal integration to them. In Crimea today there are at least 4-5 thousand Crimean Tatars who did not have time to change their legal status even under the conditions of Ukrainian sovereignty. Now they are in a very difficult situation. So, we advise those who simply cannot stay in Uzbekistan to consider the territories adjacent to Crimea as transit, from where they can then return to the peninsula.

– 3 years and 6 months of suspended imprisonment with a probationary period of three years was requested by the prosecution for one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar national movement, Ilmi Umerov. At the next meeting in the Kremlin-controlled Simferopol District Court, the prosecutor's office demanded that Umerov be banned from engaging in public and teaching activities for 3 years. What do you think the final verdict will be?

The task of occupation courts is to isolate as much as possible people who have their own opinions and authority in society, and to intimidate others

– We have no illusions. The position of the prosecutor's office in the cases of Akhtem Chiygoz and Nikolai Semena showed that judges are simply carrying out what is prescribed by the occupation authorities. The ban on engaging in public activities is simply a Jesuitical approach. Any step or conversation at someone’s wedding can be regarded as a public activity. The task of occupation courts is to isolate as much as possible people who have their own opinions and authority in society, and to intimidate others.

– The Ukrainian Embassy in Turkey appealed to citizens of the country not to attend the “international” conferences planned in Crimea in November. What conferences are we talking about?

– The Russian occupation system works in all directions. They don’t know how to organize people’s lives, build good roads, open jobs, but spend a lot of money on fooling their own population and creating a beautiful picture for the outside world. And with the help of Crimean Tatar collaborators and representatives of other countries, they create information occasions, sign certain agreements, declarations with little-known organizations, firms, and entrepreneurs. All this will not be realized, but you can create a stir. In this case, one side launders money, the other receives some dividends. As for the “international conferences” in November, the story is this. An international youth festival is scheduled to take place in Sochi in the foreseeable future. The Russian organizing committee is trying to organize many cultural programs in the annexed Crimea. So diplomats decided to warn Turkish citizens not to enter Crimea under these programs.

– This week a rather scandalous interview with former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder appeared. He expressed the opinion that in the future no Russian president would withdraw Crimea from Russia, since the peninsula has been part of the country since the 18th century. And he stated that in relations with Russia, Germany should not be guided by the interests of the United States, because they are supposedly not interested in a strong Russia. What do you think of it?

– Schroeder’s mind was clouded by Russian money. He was bought by Gazprom, holds leading positions there and is a kind of messenger of the “Russian world”, a representative of Putin. On the eve of the elections in Germany, we intensified our contacts in connection with statements by other odious German politicians. The current Chancellor Angela Merkel is confidently in the lead, but she will have to create a coalition. Among the direct contenders for creating a coalition is the leader of the Free Democrats, Christian Lindler, who proposed easing sanctions so that Putin could sit down with European leaders at the negotiating table. There are such sentiments in Germany, they have a certain influence, but the collective will of the European Union is that without restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the conflict will flare up further.

– For three and a half years, Ukraine has not been able to force Russia to even recognize the fact of occupation. Why is the topic of Crimea not raised at international negotiations?

For Putin, Russia’s withdrawal from Crimea is political, and maybe even physical death.

– Crimea, so to speak, is trying to be discussed. But for Putin, Russia’s withdrawal from Crimea means political and, perhaps, physical death. He has gotten himself into an adventure from which there is no way out for him personally. In addition, the united West is well aware of Russia's further steps and the possible consequences of freezing the situation. However, there is not enough political will to apply such pressure so that Russia returns to the framework of international law. Sanctions have stopped Russia - but they are not severe enough to make it turn back.

– Does Ukraine have a chance to include Crimea, for example, on the agenda of the Minsk agreements?

We cannot say that the Minsk agreements need to be scrapped. Putin should be the first to say this

– At the recent Yalta European meeting, they talked about the prospects for the return of Donbass and Crimea. I openly shout that the Minsk agreements have fulfilled their role, further expectations from them are self-deception, and everyone, in general, understands this. Without citing names, I will voice the increasingly dominant point of view among our Western partners: we understand everything, but we cannot be the first to declare that the Minsk agreements need to be scrapped. Because there is nothing in return. Putin should be the first to say this, and we will do something.

– Where is the fate of the Crimean Tatar autonomy being decided now?

– There are five main articles of the Constitution of Ukraine, from 134 to 139, concerning Autonomous Republic Crimea. Now we are discussing the 137th in the working group. As soon as the last one is completed, we will submit the work to a vote in the working group, and then to the Constitutional Commission. We are doing everything so that by the end of September we will see the final text. There are complex discussions going on, but I am glad that it is not about whether or not to have autonomy. And I can say the main thing: the more carefully we prescribe the rights of the Crimean Tatar people as the indigenous people of Crimea, the more carefully we prescribe the rights of citizens of Ukraine and other countries living on the peninsula. Because in Crimea you can’t talk about some without talking about others.

(Galina Tanay worked on the text version of the material)

In connection with the recent blockade of Crimea, the topic of Crimean Tatars surfaced in the press. People deported by Stalin and only returning to their native land in the 90s. All this is true, this people experienced a difficult, tragic fate. The history of repressions against the Crimean Tatars is in many ways similar to the history of repressions against Ukrainians. However, there are people who make good money from this tragedy. And in this sense, the story of one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar people, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, People's Deputy of Ukraine Refat Abdurakhmanovich Chubarov is very indicative.

First, a small remark: There are enough materials in the Crimean archives to explain the reason for this very “deportation”. Which for some reason are strongly “not seen” by historians. Or rather, “they were not seen” throughout the entire period of “Independence”. And there an important idea can be seen quite clearly - the Crimean Tatars collaborated so closely with the fascists that Soviet soldiers returning from the front would have started a simple massacre on ethnic grounds, regardless of their faces (as was the case with the Germans in Sevastopol). So the version that “Stalin saved the Crimean Tatars” has a right to exist.

Communist past

In Ukraine, the Crimean Tatars are treated as a people who suffered and fought against the empire during the insidious USSR. Yes, among them there were dissidents, human rights activists, simply unique individuals, the same Mustafa Dzhemilev. But Refat Chubarov is not one of them. Moreover, during times Soviet Union He made a strong career in near-party structures. The cornerstone of this career was a successful marriage with a certain Ingrida Valtsone, the daughter of the then high-ranking head of the State Security Committee of the Latvian SSR. Apparently, thanks to his patronage, the representative of the people who were repressed and not rehabilitated either under Khrushchev or Brezhnev took the responsible post of director and senior researcher of the archive of the October Revolution and socialist construction of Latvia. Of course, such a position presupposed membership in the CPSU, the very one that was behind the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people. According to rumors, then he “tapped” the KGB, but there are no documents about this cooperation. However, it would not be difficult for the director of the archive, and having a high-ranking “committee” relative, to destroy such documents.

Land grabs in Crimea

Refat Abdurakhmanovich appeared in Crimea in 1994 and immediately became a deputy of the Supreme Council of the peninsula. In addition, he joined a rather strange organization called the “Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.” This is not a public organization, but it is not government agency. This is some kind of incomprehensible non-state executive committee of the Crimean Tatars, which has no status, but enjoys great authority among a certain radical stratum of this people. And it was through this body that the main business of the Tatars – the self-seizure of lands – took place. It happened like this: a developed master plan for the territories was sent from Kyiv, which included water supply, roads and other utilities. The Tatars, directed by the Mejlis, opposed this to the point of demonstrating and blocking roads. And after that they simply seized the same lands, surrounded them with a fence and built their own houses. Often these “houses” looked like an incomprehensible architectural structure two by two meters. Every 5 meters.

Then part of this land was legalized and sold at a commercial price, but they kept something for themselves. For example, the mansion of Mustafa Dzhemilev still stands on what appears to be no-man’s land for which there are no documents. This was based on an ideological basis: “our houses were taken away from us, now we have the right to take away our land.” But, in addition, this obvious violation of the law was covered up at various levels of government, where the Crimean Tatars brought “their” deputies. Up to the highest – the Verkhovna Rada, where these seizures were covered by Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov. Any political force would have no problem including them on its list in exchange for the support of all Crimean Tatars. The fact is that at one time the people, deported and having suffered greatly, try to stick together, monolithically. It is these feelings of their compatriots that their leaders play on. The Tatars vote for whoever their leaders indicate to them and act as their leaders indicate to them. Each of the newly emerging authorities of Ukraine tried to deal with the problem of land squatting, but sooner or later they simply gave up on it. This made the Tatar leaders even more impudent and seized more and more tasty pieces of land, not only for residential buildings, but also for business - shops, cafes and restaurants.

It is worth noting that the Crimean bandits-merchants used the “services” of the Crimean Tatars for squatters. Got burned by this and former prime minister Crimea Anatoly Mogilev, and the current “head” of Crimea Sergei Aksenov, and his eternal opponent Alexander Melnik. But this is a separate topic for publication.

The mouthpiece of the Crimean Tatars

Refat Chubarov is co-founder of the Atlant-SV Television Company LLC, which owns the ATR TV channel - Crimean Tatar television. Its second co-founder is Lenur Islyamov, a Russian citizen of Tatar origin. Moreover, despite the annexation of Crimea and tough relations with the Russian “occupiers,” he did not renounce his citizenship. They urge ordinary Crimean Tatars not to receive Russian passports, participates in the commodity blockade of Crimea, etc. And the company of Chubarov’s partner, Queengroup, although it has changed its name, continues to supply cars to Russia. Moreover, his Just Bank, despite international sanctions against Crimea, operates quite calmly in Simferopol and other cities of the peninsula. But let's return to the TV channel. Last year, the Crimean authorities closed it and took away the license issued by Ukraine. But not only ATR’s license was taken away - other channels and radio stations also lost their licenses, for example the same “Chernomorka”. However, only the Crimean Tatars, playing on their feelings for the “second time repressed” people, received a broadcast license for their channel, and completely free of charge. So now they will broadcast whatever they want to the whole country at the expense of Ukrainian taxpayers, and the money for advertising on the TV channel will go to a Russian businessman.

Bigamy problem

At the beginning of the article, we mentioned the wife of Refat Abdurakhmnanovich, thanks to whom he made a career. But like most eastern men, he is obviously a hot guy and one wife is apparently not enough for him. He is not divorcing his wife, and she lives in Kyiv. And in Crimea, Chubarov took a “second wife,” a certain Gulnara Bekirova. She is also a social activist, studies the history of the Crimean Tatar people and works in the Mejlis. Refat and Gulnara come to work together, leave it together, go on business trips together and live in the same apartment. Her business, Tezis Publishing House LLC, is registered at the same address as the reception office of People’s Deputy Refat Chubarov. Another touch from personal life– until the end of the 90s, Refat Abdurakhmanovich drank heavily. He even had the nickname “Glass”. For a Russian this is somewhat normal, but for a devout Muslim, at least, it is not very pious. However, having completed the Hajj to Mecca, he gave up alcohol, which is very pious, but he did not give up his second wife. An interesting detail concerns Chubarov’s children. Among the Tatars it is not very encouraged to marry Slavs. It is clear why, the people are under threat of assimilation and complete extinction. And, in addition, there are also religious contradictions between Islam and Christianity. Despite this, at least two of Refat Agha’s three daughters were married to Russians and were married in church.

Prospects

Today, the Crimean Tatars, under the leadership of their leaders, have taken up the blockade of Crimea. From the very beginning it was clear that this action would not bring any special results. Well, the trucks will go to Crimea either bypassing, through the eastern borders, or they won’t go at all, they will sell everything on the local market. In Crimea, too, no one has yet canceled the market economy, which means that the place of Kherson products will be taken by the same ones, but from Krasnodar. This will not significantly affect prices and Crimea will not die of hunger. This means that the purpose of the action is completely different. And to be precise, not a goal, but goals. The first of them is to again draw attention to the affected people. Elections are approaching, and the leaders of the Crimean Tatars have nothing to offer those who can take them into their parties and blocs. Most of people, despite the cries of the Mejlis, remained in Crimea and is slowly getting used to Russian realities, receiving passports and even creating something like an alternative Mejlis. But what to do, you have to live somehow... So Chubarov no longer has a unanimously voting nuclear electorate. And this is fraught with departure from big politics, where he ended up in the last elections on a wave of pity for the Crimeans. Now, politically, he has nothing to offer except such actions with the participation of the small number of Crimean Tatars remaining in Ukraine. But this is unlikely to help him - there were even too many specialists in street and other spontaneous actions in Ukraine after the Maidan.

And the second goal is to establish control over the roads leading to Crimea. Now they don't let anyone in there. And later, perhaps, there will be exceptions to the rules. And then exceptions to exceptions. It is clear that those who want to get into these “exceptions” will have to pay a little... But here, apparently, they are also out of luck. Again, due to the fact that there are many “real violent” people in Ukraine. The “Right Sector” and Semyon Semenchenko with Parasyuk and “Donbass” have already arrived on the roads leading to Crimea; they have already seen guys in “Azov” T-shirts. So, unless Refat Abdurakhmanovich comes up with something new, his prospects in Ukrainian politics are quite illusory.

Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info

Refat Chubarov. Professional Tatar updated: November 22, 2016 by: creator

Refat Chubarov, whose biography will be described below, is a Ukrainian politician of Crimean Tatar origin, a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada. He built his career on his national origin, heading the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people that he created. After joining, he began to wage an irreconcilable fight against the occupation, which is why Refat Chubarov’s photo is listed among the criminals put on the wanted list by Russian investigative authorities.

The future chairman of the Mejlis was born in Samarkand in 1957. His family was one of the many Crimean Tatar families deported to Central Asia in 1944. In 1968, he returned to his homeland with his parents, where he studied at a local vocational school. Having mastered the noble profession of a mason, Refat worked for some time in construction in Transnistria, then served in the army.

In 1977, Refat Abdurakhmanovich Chubarov entered the Moscow State Historical and Archival Institute, which he left in 1983. By assignment, a native of Samarkand ended up in Riga, where he worked as an archivist at the Central State Archives

Not the least important place in Refat Abdurakhmanovich’s subsequent dizzying career was occupied by a successful marriage. The chosen one of the ardent Crimean Tatar was the cold-blooded Baltic maiden Ingrida Valtsone, whose father held a high position in the republican department of the all-powerful KGB. Be that as it may, soon a sharp turn was outlined in the biography of Refat Chubarov, he became the director of the republican archive, and during perestroika he successfully entered politics, joining the Supreme Council of Latvia.

Eternal fighter

At the turn of the nineties, a pragmatic archivist realized that Crimean Tatar origin could become considerable political capital in the new realities. He works in the State Commission on the Problems of the Crimean Tatar People, and after the collapse of the country he returns to Crimea.

Since 1994, Refat Abdurakhmanovich Chubarov became a member of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and for some time in the mid-nineties he even worked as deputy chairman of the Crimean parliament. However, the main activity of the politician continues to be related to the problems of deportation and return of the Crimean Tatars.

He heads the permanent commission on issues of national policy and problems of deported peoples.

Shadow power of the peninsula

Being one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar diaspora, Refat Chubarov did not stand aside from organizing land squatting on the territory of the peninsula. Radical-minded young people blocked roads and arbitrarily demarcated lands, placing illegal buildings on them.

A well-organized and united movement did not obey the representatives of Kyiv, unless the regular army could cope with Chubarov’s charges. However, things did not come to direct military clashes; the central authorities curried favor with Chubarov for the sake of the votes of the Crimean Tatars and continued to seize land, not only for the construction of houses, which would have been at least somehow morally justified, but for conducting commercial activities.

Majlis and referendum

In 2002, Refat Chubarov, whose photo is known to every native of Crimea, reached a new level, having successfully been elected to the Supreme Council from the Our Ukraine party. Here he continues to do what he loves and is a member of the commissions on the problems of national minorities and deported peoples.

In 2009, Refat Chubarov headed the World Congress of the Crimean Tatar People, thus reaching the international level. Returning to Crimea, he again runs for the local parliament, where he worked as a deputy until the well-known events of 2014.

In 2014, Chubarov headed the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, while supporting the actions of the revolutionaries on the Maidan. Accordingly, Refat Abdurakhmanovich rather coolly greeted the unexpected initiative of the Crimean parliamentarians for a referendum on the peninsula becoming part of Russia. Demonstrators led by Chubarov almost stormed the parliament building, only the intervention of the military cooled the ardor of members of the diaspora.

The politician did not recognize the results of the referendum on Crimea’s entry into the Russian Federation, returned to Ukraine and continued his eternal struggle as a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada.

A well-known Ukrainian politician of Crimean Tatar origin. Since 2015, he has been a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (eighth convocation).

BIOGRAPHY

He was born into a family that, according to rumors, did not inspire confidence in the Soviet authorities. Therefore, the Crimean Tatar family was deported from their small homeland in 1944. They had to leave their native village of Ai-Serez. Refat Chubarov prefers not to talk about the reasons why government officials decided that it would be better for this family not to live in Crimea during the war years.

He was born 13 years after the family was forced to move to a new place. This happened in the city of Samarkand (Uzbek SSR) on September 22, 1957.
His family was already allowed to return to Crimea in 1968, which became for everyone great joy. The boy really liked Crimea. He realized that he immediately fell in love with the places that were native to his family members.

He received his secondary education in Simferopol, enrolling in vocational school No. 1. Before the army, he worked in the city of Tiraspol as a blue-collar worker - he was a mason. In 1975 - 1977 served in the armed forces.

After demobilization, I realized that I had become more mature and began to think seriously about the future. So I decided to get higher education in Moscow. He graduated from MGIAI in 1983 and received a specialty as an archivist. He liked the profession. Therefore, until 1991, he worked in his specialty in the archives. He was director and senior researcher in the capital of the Latvian SSR - Riga.

Since 1989, he began to actively engage in social activities. And since 1991, he began to devote all his free time only to public issues. He realized that such work benefits people.
Political activity

Refat Chubarov began his political career in 1989 as a deputy of the Riga City Council.

Returning home to Crimea, he began to engage in political activities there too.

He was elected to the Armed Forces of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 1994. His main task during this period was to resolve issues related to the peoples of Crimea, who at one time experienced deportation. In 1995 he became deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of Crimea. He devoted three years to this work.

Refat Chubarov ran and was elected as a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (third convocation). He won the elections, running as part of the People's Movement party. He dealt with the usual issues of national minorities who survived deportation and repression. In the second half of his parliamentary term, he served as first deputy head of the relevant committee.

He entered the Rada in the fourth convocation, this time running from the Our Ukraine bloc of parties. He worked in the Human Rights Committee, where he dealt with issues related to representatives of national minorities.

He was a people's deputy of the fifth convocation in the Rada (Our Ukraine bloc). He was involved in protecting people's rights.

Since 2009 he returned to political life small Motherland - became the head of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, entered the Armed Forces of the ARC of the sixth convocation on the lists of the “People's Movement”. In 2013, he replaced Mustafa Dzhemilev, who headed the Mejlis.

In 2014, he again ran for the Rada, but was not elected as a deputy. However, he became a people’s deputy in 2015 due to the departure of one of the bloc’s deputies from the Rada.

KOMPROMAT

After the Republic of Crimea became part of the Russian Federation, he was prohibited from entering its territory for extremist statements.

He was an active opponent of holding a referendum in Crimea. Calls the free choice of the Crimean people occupation.

He constantly tells various fables about the injustices allegedly happening in Crimea.

FAMILY

Married. His wife is Latvian Ingrida Valston, whom Refat met while working in Latvia. His wife gave birth to three daughters: Rita, Dinara and Niyara.