A memorial plaque in honor of Crimean Tatar politician installed in Odesa's Chelebidzhikhan Park

The International Day of Indigenous Peoples was celebrated in Odesa with the unveiling of a memorial plaque in honor of Noman Chelebidzhikhan, a Crimean Tatar politician and statesman of the early 20th century.

The plaque was installed in the park named after the politician.

Until July 29, 2024, the park was named after the Russian writer Paustovsky and was renamed by order of the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Oleh Kiper. On July 1, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law on Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine. The law defines the Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks as the indigenous peoples of Ukraine, which were formed on the territory of the Crimean peninsula.

Noman Celebicihan is a Crimean Tatar politician and statesman. He was one of the organizers of the first Kurultay, the first head of government of the Crimean Democratic Republic proclaimed in 1917, and the first mufti of Muslims in Crimea, Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus. The words of his poem "Ant etkenmen!" ("I have sworn!") became the national anthem of the Crimean Tatars.

Noman Celebidzhikhan condemned the October coup in Petrograd on October 25, 1917, and advocated the formation of a revolutionary government with the participation of all socialist parties, but without the cadets. In November 1917 (old style), the First Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people was held in Crimea, prepared by Noman Celebidzhikhan and his associates. Celebidzhikhan joined the commission to draft the Constitution of the Crimean Democratic Republic.

The Kurultai approved the draft Constitution presented by the commission and proclaimed the creation of the CDR, and Noman Chelebidzhikhan was elected head of the Directorate (national government) and at the same time Minister of Justice.

However, the rise to power of the Bolsheviks, who did not recognize the Crimean Tatar government, threatened the existence of the Crimean Democratic Republic. On January 4, 1918, Noman Çelebicihan resigned from his leadership position on his own initiative. On his proposal, on January 10, 1918, the Kurultai formed a commission that negotiated with the Bolsheviks to end the armed struggle in Crimea.

Taking advantage of this, the Bolsheviks seized power in Simferopol on January 14 of the same year, arrested Chelebidzhikhan, and transported him to Sevastopol by plane. On February 23, Bolshevik sailors shot him dead in the city prison, and his body was thrown into the Black Sea.

Кирило Бойко