We continue to introduce our readers to Crimean Tatar politics and politicians. The first part of this series is here, and the subsequent parts are here and here.

The average age of Mejlis members this year has surpassed 60, although 13 years ago, when its current composition was elected by the Sixth Qurultay, not a single member was 60 years old. 

The oldest members of the Mejlis — Bekir Mamutov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Qırım,” and Kadir Osmanov, representative of the Islam-Terek District — were both 59. Four members — Abduraman Egiz, Dilyaver Akiev, Ayder Accimambetov, and Teyfik Gafar — were not even thirty years old. Before the occupation of Crimea, the Mejlis-Qurultay upheld the tradition of the national movement, which had always included many young people. Mustafa Dzhemilev was 47 when he was first elected chairman of the Mejlis in 1991. His first deputy, Refat Chubarov, was 33, and the face and voice of the Mejlis, the young poet Lilia Budzhurova, had just celebrated her 30th birthday.

At present, the only issue on which all members of the current Mejlis agree is that new elections must not be held. This composition (according to both 69-year-old Chubarov and 52-year-old Bariyev) must, in any case, pass the baton to the next one only after the liberation of the peninsula, and the 7th Qurultay can take place exclusively with the participation of Crimean Tatars from Crimea.

However, recent history shows that 74 years passed between the dissolution of the first Qurultay and the election of the second. And none of the delegates from the first Qurultay — which convened at the Bakhchysaray Khan’s Palace in November 1917 — lived to see the opening of the second Qurultay at the Simferopol Palace of Trade Unions in June 1991. 

‍Thirteen years have already passed since the 6th Qurultay, and there is no prospect of new elections under conditions that would satisfy the current leadership of the Mejlis. 

In one of our interviews, we discussed the topic of the next elections with Refat Chubarov. Back then, in 2015, he was certain: by 2018, Putin would be gone, Crimea would be free, and the seventh Qurultay would take place. The current optimistic scenario is this: by 2039, Putin will be gone, Crimea will be free, and the seventh Qurultay will take place.

By that time, the current head of the Mejlis, Chubarov, will be 82. The leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, will be 96. The founder of one of the first national youth movements, Eskender Bariyev, will be 65. The generation of “pioneers” (Zhumadilov, Tasheva, etc.) will be approaching 55, and the current “October Children” from various Q-hub-like organizations will, even by WHO standards, have passed the threshold of youth, which is 45 years of age.

Under this optimistic scenario, the current composition of the Mejlis will have time to pass the baton and even has a chance to maintain its legitimacy; however, no one is ready to discuss other scenarios: the realistic and the pessimistic ones.