of the interviewees is from the beginning of the twentieth century , while the example on cultural extremism is from April 2021 . Famous composer Alexander Spendiaryan , who spent most of his life in Crimea , created two masterpieces which have a significant place in the cultural life of Crimean Tatars . He wrote the music for the most famous Tatar dance Khaytarma . Moreover , “ in order to write down the music for the Tatar lullaby , he needed to go to Tatar families to hear the women sing . However , Tatar women do not sing next to other men . He had a friend , they went to their house , persuade the wife so that she sings the lullaby in another room so that Spendiaryan can hear it and write it down ”. Although this story is from the beginning of the twentieth century , it still spread a light on the coexistence of Crimean Tatars and Armenians of Crimea . However , more than a century later , things have changed . According to one of the interviewees there is cultural extremism present in the peninsula . According to him “ in one of the cities of Crimea , on genocide remembrance day , posters , which contained information about Armenian Genocide , were torn down . In Theodosia , which can be considered an Armenian city , the representatives of the city administration instead of speaking about the Armenian Genocide , were speaking about the deportation of Crimean Tatars , Bulgarians , Greeks and Armenians ”.
Connections with Armenia
Another dominant theme derived from the interviews is the connection of Crimea Armenians to Armenia . Before 2014 , there were stronger ties with Armenia , taking into account the sanctions that Crimea is under . The president of Armenia and the Catholicos of all Armenians visited Crimea in 2008 . After the 2014 events , the ties with Armenia weakened . There were cases when government members of Armenia were invited to Crimea for some events or initiatives but they declined the invitation . The lack of official visits , the difficulties with regards to traveling and Armenia ’ s ambiguous stance on Crimea have led to the fact that the Crimean Armenians have started to feel less connected to Armenia . On the other hand , it did not ruin their unity during the 44-Day War . Most of the interviewees mentioned that by the efforts of the community about thirty million Russian Rubles ( around 400,000 USD ) were collected to help Artsakh . Moreover , there were volunteers who went to Armenia to protect their homeland . Unity and connection of Crimea Armenians have always been present and an interesting historical pattern can be observed . According to Patkanian and Abrahamian , a group of Crimean Armenians consisting of 400 volunteers went to fight with Davit Bek for Syunik in 1722 ( Patkanian 1897 ; Abrahamian 1964 ).
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