…After a century and a half of Russian oppression, our political history reopens today. The Crimean Meclis (Parliament) convened in this great hall today to rejuvenate the Tatar national rule which was destroyed by the Russian tyranny.
Today, the Tatar Nation is born again. The deep wounds inflicted upon the Tatar social life by the Russian absolute rule, oppression and tyranny until the twentieth century, continues to bleed… From Celebicihan’ss opening speech to historic First Kurultay on November 26, 1917
Numan Celebicihan, the young and legendary Crimean Tatar leader who had fought so hard to form the first independent Crimean Tatar government, had remained in Crimea and fought courageously against all odds to see the rebirth of his Crimean Tatar nation. He desperately worked to "rejuvenate the (Crimean) Tatar national rule which was destroyed by the Russian tyranny."
Unfortunately "...the deep wounds inflicted upon the (Crimean) Tatar social life by the Russian absolute rule, oppression and tyranny..." continued to bleed during the Soviet rule and continues to bleed under the successors of the Soviet government, the Ukrainian rule today. The Tatar nation Numan Celebicihan sacrifice his young life to establish, after almost a century of his death, continues to struggle to survive as a nation, and his people are still fighting to survive as a people in their ancestral homeland Crimea.
Today the Crimean Tatars throughout the world commemorate the 94th anniversary of the President Numan Celebicihan's barbaric massacre (He was executed by firing squad, and then his body was cut to pieces and thrown into the Black Sea near Aqyar-Sevastopol) by the Russian Militia. We bow our heads in honor of Numan Celebicihan and pledge that we will continue the national struggle to he initiated, until the independent Crimean Tatar nation becomes a reality.
May Allah's Blessings be upon him! Rest in peace legendary leader!You will never be forgotten!
Mubeyyin Batu Altan
CTRIC
New York