On October 31, representatives of academic communities from Ukraine, Turkey and Canada agreed to establish the international Qırım Tatar Studies Association at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. They also adopted a memorandum of intent setting out the future organization’s mission, principles and main areas of work.
The decision was made during an off-site session of Yollar, focused on cooperation in Crimean Tatar studies and Indigenous studies. The event was organized by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies in cooperation with the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies and partners from Ukraine, Canada and Turkey.
The initiative is developing within the Yollar Initiative, established to support Crimean Tatar studies in partnership with the Center for Crimean Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. The meeting in Canada also took place as part of the conference “Rethinking the Humanities: Ukraine and the World.”
The association’s main goal is to establish Crimean Tatar studies as an independent, interdisciplinary academic field spanning the humanities, linguistics, social and political sciences, law, art and cultural studies. Its work will also include research on Crimea’s other Indigenous peoples, the Karaites and Krymchaks.
The association plans to bring together researchers from Ukraine, Turkey, other European countries, North America and diaspora communities, supporting joint research and academic cooperation. Researchers of Crimea from around the world will be eligible to participate regardless of ethnic, national or institutional background, provided they share the organization’s core principles and are committed to high-quality decolonial research.
The future association’s principles include “nothing about us without us,” academic freedom, research ethics, a decolonial approach, historical accuracy and academic autonomy. Crimean Tatar voices, experiences and perspectives are to be central to setting the research agenda.
Among the association’s immediate priorities are countering the erasure of Crimean Tatar knowledge and historical memory, preserving cultural heritage, and developing international and diaspora networks. Its long-term vision is tied to a liberated and restored Crimea within Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
