Seit Tairov

Seit Memetovich Tairov (; 25 April 1928 4 October 1989) was the highest-ranking Crimean Tatar politician in Soviet Union after the Sürgün, having risen to prominence as a leader in Akkurgan and then first secretary of the Jizzakh regional committee of the Communist Party. A controversial figure among Crimean Tatars today, he is remembered for his staunch opposition to full right of return to Crimea. As a public supporter of "taking root" in Uzbekistan, he was one of the top signatories of the notorious "Letter of Seventeen" in March 1968 that downplayed Crimean Tatar struggles and discrimination in exile and urged Crimean Tatars to avoid "succumbing" to desires to return to Crimea.

Early life Tairov was born on 25 April 1928 in Urkusta to a Crimean Tatar family. His father died young, leaving his mother Zera a widow. In 1937 he left his hometown to attend a boarding school in Simferopol. Like the rest of Crimean Tatar families in Crimea, he and his family were deported from Crimea in May 1944 on orders of the government after Crimean Tatars were universally brandished as traitors. Upon arrival as a special settler in Yangiyul he was assigned to working on a state grape farm. Several years later after being promoted to an accountant he met his future wife Leniyar, a fellow deported Crimean Tatar, at an apple farm. Her father Nuri Osmanov, a communist party secretary in Sudak, was shot by the Nazis during the war. Later they married and named their son Nuri in his honor.

Later years and downfall After being relieved of his post as first secretary of Jizzakh for financial corruption in 1978 he was briefly appointed as Minister of Forestry for the Uzbek SSR, but was forced to leave upon being expelled from the party not long afterward. He struggled to find a job, but was eventually made head of a small fruit nursery in Ordzhonikidze district. After the government came up with the idea for the Mubarek zone, accounts differ as to how supportive he was of the project but it is known that he categorically refused to move to the desolate area, despite being summoned by Rashidov, who offered him the opportunity to rehabilitate himself if he went along and moved to Mubarek. He died of a heart attack at the fruit nursery on 4 October 1989 and was buried in the Yangiyul cemetery.

Awards Hero of Socialist Labour (14 December 1972) Two Order of Lenin (8 April 1971 and 14 December 1972) Order of the October Revolution (14 February 1975) Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1 March 1965)