Veli Ibraimov

Veli İbraimov (; 1888 – 9 May 1928), also written as Veli Ibrahimov , was a Crimean Tatar revolutionary and Soviet politician. He served as the second Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, serving from 1924 to 1928.

Originally a member of Milliy Firqa, and a delegate to the first Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People, İbraimov joined the Russian Communist Party in 1918, and became a national communist authority within Crimea. An opponent of Jewish autonomy in Crimea, he met his downfall for his acts, which were accused of being exclusively in the interests of the Crimean Tatars, and he was removed from his post and executed in 1928. In 1990, he was rehabilitated by Soviet authorities due to lack of evidence.

Early life and career Veli İbraimov was born in the city of Bakhchysarai, Crimea, in 1888. His father, Ibraim, was a merchant, while his paternal grandfather (named Memet) was a peasant from the village of (now known as Tymoshenko). At the age of 12, Veli left school to work in a printing house, where he was a loader, cashier, and typesetter. At the age of 14, he began working with his brother in the Terciman newspaper. They were personally tutored by Crimean Tatar political leader Ismail Gasprinsky, who taught them Crimean history, as well as French, Russian, Arabic, and Turkish.

After partaking in the 1905 Russian Revolution, and established a coffeeshop in Simferopol.

Until 1914, İbraimov was a member of Aqmescit, a Crimean Tatar cultural organisation. In 1916, he was president of a Crimean Tatar labour union. In March 1917, he was involved in the first and second All-Crimean Muslim Assemblies, as well as the All-Crimean Muslim Committee. Eight months later, he was a delegate to the first Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar People. During the Russian Civil War, he fought on the North Caucasian Front as a member of the Cheka.

At this time, İbraimov also found his most significant political ally, Amet Hayserov. Hayserov, who had previously fought in the forces of the Crimean People's Republic and the White Army in Crimea before leading anti-Soviet guerrillas in the Crimean Mountains, was granted amnesty in 1921 and became head of a local anti-White commission. Among other members of Hayserov's commission were other former guerrillas who he had fought alongside. Hayserov soon acquired attention from İbraimov, and was appointed his bodyguard and personal secretary shortly thereafter. He quickly established himself as a figure in opposition to the central government of the Soviet Union, publicly standing against efforts to resettle Jews from Ukraine and Belarus as part of a planned Jewish autonomy in Crimea. Alongside (president of the Council of People's Commissars of the Crimean ASSR), he publicly expressed his opposition to the Jewish autonomy plans, proposing at first to repatriate Crimean Tatars from Romania and Bulgaria. After the refusal of the Entente, İbraimov then proposed to settle the northern Crimean steppe with Crimean Tatars from the overcrowded Southern Coast. At the same time, İbraimov's supporters went to Jewish resettlement centres and agitated against the proposed autonomy plan, claiming it would disrupt inter-ethnic harmony and have negative effects in an area which had only recently begun to recover from the 1921 famine.

On 28 February 1925, the Central Executive Committee and Council of People's Commissars of the Crimean ASSR issued orders prohibiting Jewish resettlement in Crimea. However, the stated orders failed to prevent Soviet resettlement efforts. İbraimov then proceeded to move to resettle internally displaced Crimean Tatars in the north, with around 50% of the resettled Crimean Tatars being from the Crimean Submediterranean forest complex and the Crimean Mountains. The city of Yalta became a key station in these resettlement efforts, were charged with terrorism, involvement in organised crime, and embezzlement of public funds.

As a result of the trial, 11 defendants were found guilty and given various sentences. Additionally, one defendant was given a suspended sentence and the remaining three were acquitted. Another theory, proposed by Nariman Ibadullayev, claims that the execution was done out of concern that İbraimov would reveal compromising information about the killings of Grigory Kotovsky and Mishka Yaponchik, both participants in the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery who had died under unclear circumstances.

Rehabilitation Amidst the backdrop of glasnost, İbraimov's case came under review by the Soviet authorities. On 3 May 1990, he was rehabilitated by the Prosecutor's office of the Crimean Oblast. On 20 June of the same year, the Supreme Court of the Russian SFSR cancelled İbraimov's sentence, citing a lack of evidence. He was further found innocent by the prosecutor's office of the Odesa Military District in 1993.

Legacy İbraimov's execution was a watershed moment in the development of Crimean Tatar autonomy within the Soviet Union. After his death, the Soviet line was increasingly followed, with future leaders opposing the more autonomous path followed by İbraimov. His execution was also marked by increased crackdowns on the Crimean Tatar intelligentsia. More broadly, his execution marked the beginning of the end of Korenizatsiia. Though the process continued for some years after his death, few pursued a policy of autonomy to the same extent that he had. It was also a milestone in Soviet history, with İbraimov being the first government official to have been executed by the Soviet government.

After his death, İbraimov became a symbolic figure for Crimean Tatar nationalists. Amidst the German occupation of Crimea during World War II, Crimean Tatar collaborationist newspaper praised him as a significant figure in what it viewed as a struggle between Jews and Crimean Tatars. In a 24 April 1924 issue, it was written, "The first Chairman of the Executive Committee was Veli Ibrahimov. Making every effort not to allow the fate of his motherland and his people to slip into the hands of the Jews, and fighting against all tricks, threats, and deceptions from Moscow, this son of his nation consequently fell victim to Bolshevism and the Jews."