“Taste of Ukraine”: An Evening of Remembrance and Solidarity with the Crimean Tatar People

The deportation of 1944 was more than an episode of forced relocation—it was an act of cultural and physical erasure, a genocide. During the event, participants heard reflections on this historical trauma and its intergenerational impact offered by Gulnara Abdulayeva, a Crimean Tatar historian and author. She talked about her people not just as an academic subject but as a living memory carried by families, passed through silence, stories, and survival:

“There wasn’t a single Crimean Tatar family that wasn’t affected by the deportation. Even in my own family—just women—survived however they could. This wasn't just history. It’s a living wound passed from generation to generation.” 

Entire families were uprooted from their homeland in Crimea, given minutes to gather their belongings, and transported in cattle cars to unfamiliar lands in Central Asia. Nearly half of those deported perished due to hunger, disease, and the brutal conditions of exile. This was not only a tragedy for a people, but a wound to Ukrainian history itself—one that still bleeds today under Russia’s ongoing occupation of Crimea, and the repression of Crimean Tatars who remain on the peninsula.

“The Soviet deportation of the Crimean Tatars was carried out under the false pretext that an entire people had betrayed the Soviet Union. As a result, all Crimean Tatars—including women, children, and the elderly—were collectively punished, exiled from their homeland, and forced to live for decades under a stigma of treason. They endured systemic discrimination and social exclusion simply for being who they were ethnically and culturally. What’s especially striking today is that even many of the most liberal Russians remain unwilling to confront the legacy of these crimes. They refuse to acknowledge the injustice of Soviet-era atrocities or to accept any sense of collective responsibility for the wars of aggression launched by Russian leadership in the past and present,” says Nataliia Popovych, chairperson of Ukraine House in Denmark.

An important moment of the evening was paying tribute to the Crimean Tatar dissidents, including Mustafa Dzhemilev, a symbol of non-violent resistance, moral courage, and the Crimean Tatar national movement. From his youth, Dzhemilev resisted Soviet lies and fought for the right of his people to return to their homeland—facing imprisonment, surveillance, and exile in the process.

His example is not only part of Crimean Tatar history, but of the broader Ukrainian narrative—a testament to the power of principle in the face of empire. His story served as a reminder that the fight for dignity can persist across borders, generations, and political systems.

In 1991, the Crimean Tatars re-established their national assembly, the Kurultai, and elected the Mejlis, their representative body. That same year, they made a choice that remains fundamental: “The Crimean Tatars decided to be part of an independent Ukraine. Because the Crimean Tatars know their history very well and they remembered very well our common history with Ukraine, which lasted for more than three hundred years, and we lived next to each other and had a lot in common. Crimea is a part of Ukraine.” (Gulnara Abdulayeva)

Though food was served, it was not the focus but tools that preserve Crimean Tatar identity. Dishes such as shurpa, veal pilaf, dolma, chibereki, mercimek and fultu were edible stories—reminders of lost kitchens, recovered traditions, and the strength to preserve a culture in exile.

Two chefs from the celebrated Musafir restaurant in Kyiv, Zemfira and Tetyana, who traveled to Copenhagen for the event, brought more than just food and their talent, but the memory of home, the language of heritage, and the sensory expression of continuity of Crimean Tatar culture of hospitality, where every guest is a dear guest. We thank them for sharing their national cuisine and its unique flavors with us.

During the evening, Gulnara Abdulayeva also touched on the current challenges faced by Crimean Tatars (and also Ukrainians) under Russian occupation: 

“Today, there are many political prisoners in Crimea—Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars alike. But disproportionately, it is the Crimean Tatars who suffer. We are still fighting. We remain in our homeland, asserting our right to exist. And despite 11 years of occupation, Crimea is still waiting for Ukraine.” 

Repression, disappearances, imprisonment, and the criminalization of cultural and religious identity remain daily realities for those under occupation.

This edition of “Taste of Ukraine” proved once again that cultural events are not peripheral—they are central to national memory, identity, and diplomacy. The evening served as a reminder that history lives on in the voices of those who remember and the actions of those who resist. As Ukraine continues its struggle for liberation and justice, events like these help ensure that the stories of indigenous peoples like the Crimean Tatars are heard and never forgotten.