The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.The problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them.
A Crimean Tartar named Ahmet (age 77) who watches over the community mosque, in a temporary residence in a field of stone houses on land occupied by returning Tartars, outside of Simferapol, Ukraine, on October 6, 2008.
Remains of a stone temporary house. Tartars were exiled from Crimea by Joseph Stalin by 1944 having been accused of collaboration with German invaders in World War II. They have been returned since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's.
In 2003 Crimean Tartars community got together and formed a land movement to claim back land after the government refused to recognize their demands of land re-instutiution: the problem the Tartars face is that they do not have any legal documentation to prove that the property belong to them after being exiled.
Ahmet at home preparing water for a meal in a tent. Up to 25 thousand tartars live in makeshift homes with no electricity or anything around.
Crimea is an autonomous region that is governed by Ukraine. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, land privatization became a huge issue across most of Eastern Europe.
A local small hotel owner named, Enver Kakura, in Simferapol, Ukraine.
Crimean Tartars watch Ukraine Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on television. At the present time, the autonomous Republic of Crimea is governed by its own constitution in accordance with the laws of Ukraine. However Kiev's politics have been largely pro-western since the Orange revolution in 2004, Crimea has remained and dominated with pro-Russian outlook.
A young Crimean Tartar woman named Emine Yagyaeva: her grandfather Seyit Yagyaeva was one of the exiles who returned to Ukraine.
Crimean Tartars at a train station in Simferapol, Ukraine, on October 6, 2008.
The Tartars say that their culture is disappearing because they are excluded from the national education curriculum.
Young Muslim Crimean Tartars pray in a temporary shelter on land occupied by returning Tartars.
Crimean Tartar Muslim mosque in Simferapol, Ukraine, on October 6, 2008.
Turkic speaking Tartars who are almost all Muslim in faith, have a history that dates takes back to the 8th and 9th centuries in Crimea.
Two Muslim women pray in a Crimean Tartar mosque in Simferapol, Ukraine.
In 2004 hope arose for the Tartar community with the growing population they wanted central mosque to be built, and the government agreed, but shortly after they cancelled the permission. Tartars are worried that history may be about to repeat itself.
Crimean Tartars are looking at a collection of historical photos.