Crimea and inviolability of frontiers

[FRISON Philippe]

Notwithstanding Russians' nostalgy of the past, the fact Crimea belongs
now to independant 
Ukraine is linked with the legal principles of territorial integrity
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_integrity)
and of inviolability of frontiers, reaffirmed in the 1975 Helsinki Final
Act.

These principles go contrary to the people's right to
self-determination, but there has not 
been much efforts from Crimeans to independance so far.

The countries which gained independance out of Yugoslavia learned dearly
(and are still experiencing) 
the cost of challenging frontiers inherited from the past.

True, Crimea became only recently part of Ukraine upon a Krushchev's
decision.
The problems of Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia show the whole complexity
of such questions.

But questioning these principles would just open another Pandora's box
of territorial claims 
and human horrors.

I doubt Russians would get more out of them than through difficult but
patient moves for 
cooperation between Russia and its neighbour states...

As an Alsatian at least I am much conscious of that...

But of course Pushkin's "Bakhchisarayski fontan" is Russian
(notwithstanding the title, which is half Turkic).

Philippe Frison
(Strasbourg, France)

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Olga Meerson
Sent: Wednesday 15 September 2010 02:28
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: [SEELANGS]

Re:
The Evpatoria that's in Crimea? If so, we should note: Crimea is part of
Ukraine, the presence of the Russian fleet notwithstanding.


Yea, sure, and it has, "of course" been always inalienably
Ukrainian--the native Tatars, Greeks, the Qaraim, etc. notwithstanding!
Come on, Martha! It does matter then HOW Crimea became part of Ukraine.
The way has a lot to do with Russian, and then Soviet imperial policies!
It may be more factually correct now to claim that Crimea is listed as
part of Ukraine, but is that something for Ukrainians to be proud of, as
a testimony of their independence from Russia? There was a person who
not only learned about the history of the region, and of its Tatars'
persecution. He was Ukrainian; his name was General Petro Grigorenko. He
NEVER considered it honorable that the territory could be claimed by
Ukrainians--no more than that it should be claimed by Russians. As for
the Russian Black Sea fleet, it does have a history of presence in the
Crimea, far preceding the Soviet Union, or the so-called new, Soviet
russian domination in the area. Catherine was no angel but the fleet was
hers!
 , !
not that of Ukrainians. The way she dealt with the Zaporozhye cossacks
was pretty authoritarian and nothing to be proud of, but this has
nothing to do with any rights for Ukraine to dominate over the Crimean
peninsula itself. The territory and its history and multinational
culture is no more Ukrainian than it is Russian. Perhaps no less. But
why pretend that Ukrainians have more of a right here? Just because they
inherited this right from the Russian Empire--either pre- or
post-Soviet? This may be correct, but in that case, there should be no
moral ground to object to the presence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet
there. Like General Grigorenko, I in no way support any Russian imperial
ambitions but neither would I support anyone's attempts to replace these
ambitions with their own.

In any case, I am not an historian, but there is some info on the matter
here:
http://www.blacksea-crimea.com/history1.html   

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