We would like to point out several important and overlooked facts in the project:
In 1944, the entire population of indigenous Crimean Tatars, over 200,000 men, women, and children, were forcefully deported to Central Asia by the Soviet authorities. Tens of thousands of them died en route. Those who survived were only allowed to return to Crimea with their children and grandchildren decades later as the Soviet Union crumbled. There is one mention of the deportation in Another Crimea in a quote by a woman named Alima, but there was no background explaining the scale of this enormous atrocity.
The so-called referendum in Crimea on joining Russia took place under Russian military occupation, was organized within several weeks and was deemed illegal by most of the world. Only 11 countries, including the governments of North Korea, Russia, Sudan, Syria and Zimbabwe have recognized Russia’s annexation of Crimea. While many people in Crimea indeed held pro-Russian views in March 2014, the organizing of a secessionist referendum during a military occupation after months of intensive anti-Ukrainian propaganda during the Euromaidan revolution did not make for a fair vote.
It is especially saddening not to see any information about continued human rights violations, political prisoners and the disappearances and repressions of pro-Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar activists in Crimea. Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker, and activist from Crimea, was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison in what can only be described as a Stalinist era show trial. Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar activists Oleksandr Kolchenko, Hennadiy Afanasyev, Oleksandr Kostenko, Akhtem Chiygoz, Mustafa Degermendzhy, Ali Asanov and Tair Smedliyaev are all illegally detained in Russian and Crimean prisons in similar circumstances.
In the project statement, it is claimed, “Both sides are accused of half-truths, distortions, and direct lies when covering the events in this part of the world.” This is false equivalent. While we are not always pleased with some of the reporting about Ukraine in both the western and Ukrainian media, we find it extremely difficult to compare their errors or omissions to be on par with the often vitriolic propaganda coming from the Kremlin and Russian State controlled media.
We also believe it is highly inaccurate to completely separate Russian actions in Crimea with its actions in the Donbas. This is the most severe omission of the Another Crimea project. Russia invaded Ukraine from the south and from the east in 2014 and still actively supports local separatists. The occupation and war continue today along with all the horrific consequences, 9,187 people dead and 21,000 wounded including civilians, soldiers, and Russian-backed armed groups according to the United Nations latest report on March 3, 2016. The number of IDPs from Crimea and Donbas reached 650,000 people according to the UN Refugee Agency in a January 2015 report.
We respect the contributions Olivia Arthur, Pep Bonet, Yuri Kozyrev, Gueorgui Pinkhassov, Christopher Morris and Francesco Zizola have made to helping people better understand the world we live in over their careers. It is understood that you, as a group of photographers, are trying to show the other side of the story in Crimea, but the omission of crucial facts will, unfortunately, leave those who view the Another Crimea project with a distorted view of history and recent events.
Joseph Sywenkyj is an American Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography in 2014.
Alexey Furman is a Ukrainian photojournalist and Fulbright Grant Recipient. His work is recognized by Bayeux-Calvados Prize for War Correspondents, POYi, NPPA, PDN Photo Annual.
Anastasia Vlasova is a Ukrainian photojournalist at the Kyiv Post, Magnum Foundation Human Rights and Photography Fellow at New York University 2015. Her work is recognized by POYi, CPOY, Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award, Leica Oscar Barnack Award.
