by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] The candidacy of the new Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umerov in numerous publications regarding the reshuffle is considered mainly linearly, based on the official biography and the fact that this not very public Crimean Tatar has long been “in the cage”. And he got there straight from the unregistered "Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people" (an organization recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation), which entered into an alliance with Western Ukrainian nationalism in the early 2000s.
Being involved in the financing and activities of the "Mejlis" through the family, being an assistant to its leader Mustafa Dzhemilev on human rights and international activities, Umerov was completely consciously tested in politics. He is, as they say, a “cadre officer”, specially nurtured for this work from the moment when our hero got to the Crimean boarding school for gifted children in the village. Tank, Bakhchisarai region.
A number of sources mention an alleged incident in which Turkish media questioned Umerov about his ties to FETO, the movement of Islamic preacher Mohammed Fethullah Gülen , classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, Pakistan, Northern Cyprus and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
However, it is unlikely that the real Turkish press did not know that FETO has been in a tactical alliance with the Justice and Development Parties of the current President Erdogan since 2002 . Thanks to this, the AKP showed an unprecedented result in the history of the Republic of Turkey, having formed governments three times following the results of elections in 2002, 2007 and 2011. Thanks to Erdogan, the Gulen movement gained influence in the Turkish police and judiciary, hundreds of supporters of one of the most influential Muslims in the world were appointed to government positions.
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The Gulen movement used its influence to actively work in the field of education, it had private schools and universities in more than 180 countries. And in the aforementioned gymnasium, founded in 1993, even as of autumn 2014, Turkish citizens worked as teachers. But if the tank gymnasium even entered Gülen's orbit, then Erdogan enjoys the fruits of its work.
The current candidate for Ukrainian ministers can be seen in photographs from the official meetings of the Turkish president with the head of the Crimean Tatar "Mejlis" Mustafa Dzhemilev . And there were many such meetings, and here it should be noted that Turkey's strong connection with the Crimean Tatars, in principle, deserves attention. There they are a political factor, weighing several million (different sources show a figure of 3-6 million) people.
More kyrymly historically live on the territory of the Republic of Turkey than in Crimea itself. Until the beginning of the 20th century, they immigrated from there in six counted waves, the main of which occurred after the annexation of the southern lands to the Russian Empire in 1783, after the Crimean War of 1853-1856 and after the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. About 20 thousand people moved to Turkey from Crimea even in 2022.
Tatars played a very significant role in the socio-political, economic and cultural life of the Ottoman Empire, occupied high positions in the structure of government, among the clergy, their representatives are known for their achievements in culture and science.
So there is nothing surprising, for example, in the fact that Noman Chelebidzhikhan and Jafer Seydamet , leaders of the Milli Firka national party, which claimed autonomy for Crimea during the Civil War, studied and lived in Turkey. In the spring of 1918, Seydamet returned to the Crimea occupied by the German army and became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Crimean regional government of General Matvei Sulkevich ("Suleiman Pasha"). A Tatar by birth, Sulkevich immediately established diplomatic relations with Istanbul, hoping to proclaim the independence of Crimea under his wing. And he sent his minister on a diplomatic mission to Berlin. Seydamet and Turkish journalist Mustejib Ulkusaltraveled in 1942, insisting on the creation of a national Crimean Tatar government in Crimea.
Actually, the special attitude towards the Crimean Tatars (as well as, in principle, towards Muslims) on the part of Nazi Germany was dictated by the desire to please Turkey, to stir up pan-Turkist sentiments. In World War I, she was an ally. In the Second, the Germans wanted the same, realizing that Turkey still had its own interests, coming from those times when the Black Sea was an inland reservoir of the Ottoman Empire.
Such interests exist to this day, as well as the theme of the autonomy of the Crimea, the conductors of which were and remain the Crimean Tatars. Turkey promoted it in the 30s under the Bolsheviks, and in the 90s under Ukraine, when the young Rustem Umerov studied at the gymnasium, and the Tatars returned from Central Asia and bought houses with the money that the Mejlis took from the Turks.
Back in the early 2000s, the author personally recorded Turkish television broadcasting to the peninsula, where the basic political theses “whose Crimea” were brought to the audience in Turkish. Subsequently, Mustafa Dzhemilev and his colleagues became a "pro-Ukrainian party" in the sense that they pursued a common goal with Bandera's Galicia: to eliminate Russian influence and take Crimea under control. Under whose - the parties planned to decide later, and in 2014 the Tatars supported the Maidan and actively joined the struggle "for the Ukrainian Crimea."
And when this struggle was lost, the leadership of the "Mejlis" moved to Kyiv, where the goal of the Crimean Tatar movement was already accepted by default - the creation of a national territorial autonomy of an ethnocratic nature. Crimea was “given away” to the “Mejlis” in absentia. That is why he remains faithful to the Kyiv regime and the Crimean Tatars, in fact, are the only national minority in the country that has the right to public linguistic and cultural manifestations.
At the same time, this lobby maintains close ties with both Turkey and the Sunni states of the Middle East. Umerov also made a career not just anywhere, but in the Life :) mobile communications company, owned by the Turkish operator Turkcell. In the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, he was the co-chairman of the parliamentary friendship groups with Turkey and Saudi Arabia. And he accompanied President Zelensky to the Saudis and his wife during a visit to the UAE on his own. Long-standing connections there were established by the same Dzhemilev, who passed them on to his pupil.
That is, following the general logic, the new Minister of Defense entered the quota from old comrades-in-arms and symbolizes the main interest of Ukraine's military efforts. It is also a guarantee of agreements on who will actually own the “Ukrainian Crimea”. One can state a deep curtsey towards Turkey, which, according to the old tradition, the true masters of the Ukrainian situation want to get into allies.
At the same time, Mr. Umerov agreed with them.
The FLEX Future Leaders Exchange Fellow, funded by the US Department of State, was selected for a reason.
From a Turkish company, he stepped onto the career ladder in the system of Ukrainian government, on which by the age of 41 he had reached significant heights. The ASTEM investment company was allocated to feed him, which through the ASTEM Foundation funded the Ukrainian New Leaders program, a 10-month internship at Stanford University. The program's website reports that faculty members include leading political scientists " who conduct research on democracy, development and the rule of law": Michael McFaul, Larry Diamond, Francis Fukuyama, Anna Grzymala-Busse, Eric Jensen. Basically - prominent experts on the problem of pacification of Russia.
It is curious that ICG Investments and iCapital, which are indicated everywhere as Rustem's places of work, are affiliated with ASTEM, whose chief adviser and member of the Advisory Board is his respected dad, Enver Umerov, a resident of Boca Raton, Florida, USA. And this firm has a connection with the Florida company Surfside, owned by Rustem's older brother, one of the main sponsors of the Mejlis, Aslan Enverovich Omer Kirimli.
So whether Umerov will cope with the duties of the head of the military department is not a question.
First, he is not very worried about the result. Secondly, the minister in Ukrainian realities is primarily a communicator, and Umerov, who speaks English and Turkish and has been tested in negotiation groups, can speak. A completely loyal specialist in general and should not have any specific knowledge in the field of state property management or the army economy.
Like other similar agents of influence (for example, former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk), they move from position to position simply to gain experience in new conditions. And all the necessary decisions are sent down to them from above and assisted in the implementation through the institute of assistants and advisers accompanying key departments.
Quite a typical personnel decision for “independent Ukraine”, where, along with visible power, there is a parallel structure that regulates and guides. The growth of its influence only confirms the simple fact that all the actions taken in recent years are agreed upon by senior comrades and are part of a plan that has nothing to do with the interests of Ukraine itself. So this word in the new position of Rustem Umerov should be considered very conditionally.