Word: khalilov
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...Tatars a fair share. Some have resorted to seizing land on which to build new homes. These often ramshackle settlements are scattered on barren land throughout Simferopol, immediately recognizable by their tiny stone houses on what look like permanent building sites. "We're not asking for favors," says Rustem Khalilov, who lives in Yani Qirim, a settlement built in Simferopol on land seized in 2006 and which now houses 80 families. "We just want somewhere to live. If we had been given land, we wouldn't need to seize it." The settlers of Yani Qirim say they had actually reached...
...occurred in the past. Tensions over Yani Qirim threatened to boil over in January, when inhabitants say they got word of a police decision to storm the settlement, and 3,000 Tatars set up camp for several days to offer protection. "We will defend our homes and families," says Khalilov. And not only from the police. In 2007, Ukranian media reported that representatives of the developer had clashed with Tatars at the site...
...land is far from their only problem. While local Russians often speak of respect for the Tatars' entrepreneurial skills and work ethic, Khalilov says he has been turned away from job interviews when they see he is a Tatar. "I'm not racist, but I wouldn't take them on," says Volodymyr, a retired Russian sailor and local business owner who declined to give his last name...
...local media's focus on Tatar land grabs often ignores the fact that land is regularly seized illegally by non-Tatars. "Our argument is not with ordinary people, but with the powers that be," says Khalilov, his voice filled with a mixture of anger and frustration. "The city is in a terrible state, so they think up other problems to distract people. They use the Tatars as an enemy." Indeed, the old myth of the Tatars' "betrayal" during World War II is still widely believed...
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