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Noman Chelebidzhikhan

Noman Chelebidzhikhan (1885 – 23 February 1918, Sevastopol) — an outstanding Crimean Tatar political and public figure, mufti of the Muslims of Crimea, one of the organizers of the I Kurultai, head of the government of the Crimean People's Republic (1917), and author of the national anthem "Ant etkenmen".

Overview

Noman Chelebidzhikhan is one of the most prominent figures of the Crimean Tatar national revival of the early 20th century. He received higher legal and theological education in Istanbul and Saint Petersburg. From March 1917 he headed the Muslim Executive Committee of Crimea and was elected the first mufti of the Muslims of Crimea.

In November 1917 he was one of the main initiators of the convening of the I Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people and the creation of the Crimean People's Republic, heading its national government. Amid the revolutionary chaos, he sought to establish a democratic order and the equal coexistence of all peoples of the peninsula. In early 1918, during the Bolshevik seizure of Crimea, he was arrested by left-radical sailors and in the night of 23 February 1918 was brutally murdered in the Sevastopol prison during the Red Terror in Sevastopol, and his body was thrown by the sailors into the Black Sea.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • National leadership and the muftiate: In 1917 he was elected mufti of the Muslims of Crimea and chairman of the Temporary Crimean-Muslim Executive Committee.
  • Author of the national anthem: He wrote the poem "Ant etkenmen" ("I Have Sworn"), which became the official anthem of the Crimean Tatar people.
  • State-building (1917): He headed the government of the Crimean People's Republic, proclaimed by the I Kurultai in Bakhchysarai.
  • Tragic death (February 1918): Arrested by the Bolsheviks, he became one of the most well-known victims of the unprecedented terror in Sevastopol on 23 February 1918.