TO THE BIOGRAPHY OF AMET OZENBASHLY

Abstract

The article is devoted to the public and political activity of Amet Ozenbashly who was one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar national movement in the first half of the XX century. His public activity during the period of the national liberation movement (1917-1920) is characterized in the article. Amet Ozenbashly’s participation in convening and conducting the Constituent Assembly of the Crimean Tatar nation (the first Kurultai), his activity within the Directory and the Central Committee of the Crimean Tatar national party “Milliy Fyrqa” is also emphasized in the work. A. Ozenbashly didn’t immigrate after the defeat of the national revolution. At the beginning of the 1920s he participated in the establishment of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and was the member of its Central Executive Committee. He also held the position of the headmaster in the Crimean pedagogical college, the Deputy People’s Commissar of Finance; he practiced as a neurologist in Simferopil and was engaged in the literature activity. He was repressed in 1928. He was sentenced to death but his verdict was changed to 10 years of imprisonment. He was released from prison prematurely in 1934. A. Ozenbashly’s activity during the period of the German occupation is characterized in the study. He wrote the memorandum about the collaboration with the German although the document was not manifested. He made covert public statements against the collaboration with the German. He urged the Crimean Tatars to choose the third way (neither Hitlerism nor Stalinism) and value their own national interests above all. Because of risk of being arrested he had to hide. According to H. Porokhovsky’s (the former colonel of the UNR army, the leader of the Ukrainian military emigration in Romania, the employee of the Romanian special information service) archive-investigation file A. Ozenbashly moved to Odesa and then to Romania with his assistance. Being in this Balkan country he established linkages with the leaders of the Crimean Tatar emigration in Turkey, helped the refugees from the Crimea to settle in Romania and got ready to move to Istanbul. However he was arrested and repressed by the Soviet intelligence agency for the second time in spring 1945. Key words: Amet Ozenbashly, the Crimea, the Crimean Tatars, Milliy Fyrqa, Romania, Hnat Porokhovsky.