A researcher described how Turkey saved Crimea from famine

Elvira Kemal, a researcher of Crimean Tatar history, wrote an article about how Turkey provided humanitarian aid to famine-stricken Crimea in 1922. She described Asan Aivazov’s mission to Ankara, the convoys of flour sent to the peninsula, and the diplomat’s tragic death.

The article was published in Yenidevir.

The researcher explained that by early 1922, it had become impossible to conceal the catastrophe on the peninsula, as thousands of lives had already been lost to starvation by that time. In the spring of 1922, the Crimean Tatar government, as part of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR), sent the experienced statesman Asan Sabri Aivazov to Ankara. A former associate of Noman Chelebidzhihan, who had once served as a diplomat during the Ottoman Empire, he was fluent in both Turkish and the language of the Bolsheviks. In the new reality, he had to compromise with the Bolshevik regime. 

Even before Aivazov’s official speech, the local Turkish-Crimean Tatar community and the Turkish Red Crescent had launched a fundraising campaign. In April, Aivazov’s address to the Turkish government and press at the Ankara Theater made a tremendous impact. A Central Committee for Aid to the Starving on the Peninsula was established on the spot. Donations poured in from all corners of the country. As historian Hakan Kirimli notes, Turkish society, despite its own poverty, shared what little it had to help its brothers in faith and blood.

At the same time, a secret drama was unfolding. Jafar Seydamet —a longtime comrade-in-arms of Aivazov who, after the defeat of the liberation struggle, had continued the fight from exile—arrived in Ankara. After settling into the same hotel, Seydamet pleaded with his friend not to trust the Bolsheviks and to flee to Europe, but Aivazov refused.

While Mustafa Kemal regularly consulted with Aivazov, Seydamet was denied an audience. The comrades went their separate ways: Seydamet set out to seek support in Rome, while Aivazov returned home after completing his diplomatic mission. Due to the secretive regime and the Black Sea being patrolled by Entente forces, Soviet agents smuggled him to Crimea in a submarine. The curator of this network, intelligence chief Aralov, soon accused Aivazov himself of counterrevolution.

Back home, the politician came under constant surveillance by the secret services and was later forced to cooperate. Aivazov was unable to secure his release even after sending a desperate coded letter to Seydamet, hidden under a mirror. In 1938, the Soviet regime executed him.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian mission yielded results. In May 1922, the first shipment of Turkish flour arrived in Crimea. Turkish representatives personally escorted the shipments from Sevastopol to Simferopol, assessing the needs of the local population. At the request of the people, not only additional food but also books in Turkish were sent in the fall.

Other international forces also stepped in to help. The American Relief Administration (ARA) provided extensive support. The Vatican made the second-largest contribution. The Joint Distribution Committee, the Nansen Mission, the Quakers, and the Mennonites also joined the effort.

This support saved hundreds of thousands of lives, as the Soviet government was able to provide for only one-third of those in need. However, due to the cover-up of the catastrophe and the blockade, the peninsula lost 15% of its population.

Earlier, Yevheniia Genova’sbook *Crimean Tatar Families* (Kharkiv, “Folio,” 2024) was presented at the iconic Odesa Bookstore-Café. The book recounts the stories of 14 Crimean Tatar families who endured all the hardships of the Russian Empire’s criminal colonial policy. 

Юлія Калабайда