MUHAMMAD ALI,
PRESIDENT
ISLAMIC DEVELOPMENT BANK
Dear Br.
Muhammad Ali!
The Muslim
Crimean Tatars, who are the native people of the Cri-
mea, had been deported en masse from their homeland to
the deserts of
Central Asia and Siberia on May 18th, 1944. During
this genocidal act
which had taken place upon the orders of the tyrant
Stalin some half
of the total population of this people perished. The
great majority of
the hundreds of thousands of victims who lost their
lives within the
crammed cattle vans, whose doors were kept sealed
for several weeks,
were women, children and alderly. Meanwhile, all
material heritage of
the thousand year old Islamic civilization in the
Crimea was totally
destroyed without leaving a trace. Almost all
mosques were razed to
the ground, and those few left were converted into
party buildings,
clubs, and even pigpens or museums of atheism. Not a
single Muslim ce-
metery was left. Virtually every book written in the
Crimean Tatar,
Turkish and Arabic languages were burned.
In spite
of these calamitous events the Crimean Tatars could not
be annihilated for good, as they have never lost their
faith in Allah.
After a stubborn struggle against the Soviet regime
for more than thi-
rty years, some 200,000 Crimean Muslims managed to
return to their ho-
meland. However, those who had already returned
are facing extreme
economic difficulties and constant pressure from the part
of the cur-
rent Crimean Russian administration. Still, hundreds
of thousands of
Crimean Tatars are awaiting to return to the Crimea
from their exile
places, since they do not have the means to do so.
In these
dark days of our nation, the decision of
your bank to
aid to the Crimean Muslims was received by us with
deep gratitude and
appreciation. I would like to thank you in person and
to your bank
wholeheartedly, in the name of the Crimean Tatar people.
I am also
thankful to Dr. Kayet Abdulhaq, Dr. Omar Sejini, and
Korkut zal, who
have come to the Crimea to witness the dire
situation of our people
personally and who have been helpful in informing
your organization
about these facts.
We firmly
believe that the deep-rooted Islamic life
and culture
of the Crimea will be restored soon, by the grace
of Allah and with
the help of our brothers in Islam like you.
May Allah
be with you.
Mustafa
Abdlcemil Kirimolu
Chairman
of the Crimean Tatar
National Assembly