6
UKRAINE'S ETHNIC MINORITIES: BETWEEN POLITICS AND REALITY The designation of Ukraine as "a country with a multiethnic population" in my opinion, is altogether an objective one. It realistically reflects the ethnic structure of Ukrainian society, which is composed of the Ukrainian nation and ethnic minorities representing more than 120 ethnic groups (ethnos). Inasmuch as the nation is one of the forms in which an ethnic group 1 exists, it follows that all the structural elements of ethnic hierarchy (ethnic groupethnic minoritynationethnos) are one- dimensional in the sense of how they function as human communities existing in concrete social-historical conditions. In order to determine the real condition of Ukraine's ethnic minorities and the principles of state policy, it is important to bear in mind the basic parameters and characteristics of the concept ''ethnic minority": 1. An ethnic minority is a sui generis variant of a human community which is based on common descent, and whose members share common linguistic and cultural features, psychological orientations and an awareness of belonging to that community; 2. The primary condition of the functioning of an ethnic minority as a coherent structure is its interaction with other ethnic groups living in the same country, and it is in the process of this interaction that the formula "wethey" acquires concrete expression; 3. The functions of an ethnic minority as a coherent structural unit in a polyethnic society (in particular, the reconstruction of a specific ethno-cultural milieu and the creation of conditions for a comfortable coexistence and interaction with the dominant ethnic group) are performed by groups, organizations, and associations, educational and cultural institutions, mass media, etc.; 4. The vitality of an ethnic group and its prospects for development depend on two groups of factorsinternal (the size of the group, the existence of a certain social structure, an adequate level of institutional completeness) and external (the state's policy toward ethnic minorities, the limits of possible ties with the 1 S. A. Arutiunov, Narody i kultury. Razvitie i vzaimodeistvie kul'tur (Moskva, 1989), 21-24. (S. A. Arutiunov, Peoples and cultures. The development and the interaction of the cultures (Moscow, 1989), 21-24).

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Page 1: Ukraines ethnic minorities between politics and reality

UKRAINE'S ETHNIC MINORITIES: BETWEEN POLITICS AND

REALITY

The designation of Ukraine as "a country with a multiethnic population" in my

opinion, is altogether an objective one. It realistically reflects the ethnic structure of

Ukrainian society, which is composed of the Ukrainian nation and ethnic minorities

representing more than 120 ethnic groups (ethnos). Inasmuch as the nation is one of

the forms in which an ethnic group1 exists, it follows that all the structural elements

of ethnic hierarchy (ethnic group–ethnic minority–nation–ethnos) are one-

dimensional in the sense of how they function as human communities existing in

concrete social-historical conditions. In order to determine the real condition of

Ukraine's ethnic minorities and the principles of state policy, it is important to bear in

mind the basic parameters and characteristics of the concept ''ethnic minority":

1. An ethnic minority is a sui generis variant of a human community which is

based on common descent, and whose members share common linguistic and

cultural features, psychological orientations and an awareness of belonging to

that community;

2. The primary condition of the functioning of an ethnic minority as a coherent

structure is its interaction with other ethnic groups living in the same country,

and it is in the process of this interaction that the formula "we–they" acquires

concrete expression;

3. The functions of an ethnic minority as a coherent structural unit in a polyethnic

society (in particular, the reconstruction of a specific ethno-cultural milieu and

the creation of conditions for a comfortable coexistence and interaction with

the dominant ethnic group) are performed by groups, organizations, and

associations, educational and cultural institutions, mass media, etc.;

4. The vitality of an ethnic group and its prospects for development depend on

two groups of factors–internal (the size of the group, the existence of a certain

social structure, an adequate level of institutional completeness) and external

(the state's policy toward ethnic minorities, the limits of possible ties with the

1 S. A. Arutiunov, Narody i kultury. Razvitie i vzaimodeistvie kul'tur (Moskva, 1989), 21-24. (S. A. Arutiunov, Peoples

and cultures. The development and the interaction of the cultures (Moscow, 1989), 21-24).

Page 2: Ukraines ethnic minorities between politics and reality

corps of the respective ethnos, the state of interethnic relations in the country

of residence).

Certain intimations of the formulation of the model of the Ukrainian policy on

minorities may be discovered in the socio-political life of our country in recent years.

First, one should mention Ukraine's National Minorities Law, which creates the legal

basis for meeting the concerns of minorities and which also establishes the principles

of the state's relations with ethnic minorities. In this context Articles 1 and 6 are

particularly important:

Article 1. Ukraine guarantees to the citizens of the Republic, irrespective of their

ethnic origin, equal political, social, economic and cultural rights and freedoms, and it

supports the development of national self-awareness and self-expression. All citizens

of Ukraine enjoy the protection of the state on an equal basis.

Article 6. The state guarantees to all national minorities the right to national and

cultural autonomy: the use of and education in their native language or the study of

the ethnic language in state educational institutions or through national cultural

societies; the development of national cultural traditions, the use of national symbols,

the celebration of national holidays, the practice of religion, the pursuit of cultural

endeavors (literature, art, the mass media), the establishment of national cultural and

educational institutions, and any other activity which does not contradict existing

legislation...."2

Among the other legal documents forming the basis of the Ukrainian state's policy

on ethnic minorities, it is worth mentioning the Ukrainian laws "On Languages in the

Ukrainian SSR" and "Principles of Ukraine's Legislation on Culture."

These laws demonstrate that a legislative basis for official ethnopolitics is being

developed in Ukraine, which undoubtedly is stimulating the vitalization of the ethno-

cultural life of ethnic minorities. This is specifically expressed by: (a) the activity of

national cultural societies (in early 1995 there were 237 such groups, including 16

operating throughout Ukraine); (b) the organization of cultural festivals by various

minorities (there have already been festivals of Jewish, Georgian, Crimean Tatar and

other cultures); (c) the operation of schools in which a minority language is the lan-

2 "On National Minorities in Ukraine," Holos Ukrayiny, July 16, 1992.

Page 3: Ukraines ethnic minorities between politics and reality

guage of instruction. In 1994 the numbers were as follows: 2973 Russian schools

(2,945,924 students); 11 Moldovan (7087students); 97 Romanian (26,096 students);

60 Hungarian (19,629 students); 3 Polish (871 students); 1 Crimean Tatar (946

students); (d) the existence of television and radio programs (in Bulgarian, German,

Greek, Hungarian, Romanian, Jewish, Polish, Crimean Tatar, Armenian, and

Gagauz)3.

No laws and no state ethnic policy, however ideal, will solve the problems of

ethnic minorities if they do not mobilize their inherent resources. In this context it

should be mentioned that an ethnic minority will function as a coherent structural

element of a polyethnic society, especially in a project of self-renewal, only if the

size of that group is adequate and there also exists an adequate structure of

settlement, demographic situation, and desire to preserve ethnic distinctiveness, i.e.,

those features that are not always determined by official policy, which in foreign

ethnosociology have been termed "institutional completeness of the structure of an

ethnic minority."4

From this point of view practically all of Ukraine's ethnic minorities are now at the

stage where they are establishing their structures and deciding their content. This is a

result of objective circumstances: (a) the policies of the centralized Soviet state

whose main focus was the formation of a new community, a "single Soviet people";

(b) an ethnopolitical renaissance in Ukraine, characteristic of both the Ukrainian

ethnos and the ethnic minorities. (For the latter the renaissance itself served as the

stimulus for structuralization.) At present, different ethnic minorities find themselves

at different stages of their structuralization, a fact which, in my opinion, may help to

explain the force of a minority's ethnic field in its relations with other minorities.

Upon analysis of the indices of structuralization, it becomes apparent that the force of

the ethnic field is not always connected to a minority's size. When one takes into

account such an indicator as ethnic organization, the following picture emerges: the

ethnic Jewish minority has 38 organizations (according to the 1989 census there were

486,000 Jews in Ukraine), the Germans–33 organizations (population: 38,000),

3 The Ministry of Ukraine for Nationality Affairs, Migration and Religion, Information Bulletin, no. 1 (1995), 31-32.

4 R. Breton, "Institutional Completeness of Ethnic Communities and the Personal Relations of Immigrants," American

Journal of Sociology, vol. 70, no. 2 (1964).

Page 4: Ukraines ethnic minorities between politics and reality

Russians–24 (11.3 million), Greek–22 (98,000), Polish–22 (219,000), Armenian–13

(54,000), Bulgarian-8 (234,000), Azerbaijan–7 (37,000), other minorities (22) have

from one to six organizations. Admittedly, there are minorities that have an

insignificant number of organizations but which may be considered to be fairly

structured–in particular the Hungarian minority, which has six organizations

(population 163,000) and the Crimean Tatars, who have three (population of 240,000

in 1995).5 The fact is that these minorities live in dense settlements–in

Transcarpathia and Crimea–and a large number of community members are included

in the activities of a small number of ethnic organizations.

Thus, we see that only a small number of ethnic minorities in Ukraine avail

themselves of the opportunities for ethnocultural development being provided by the

ethnic policies of the Ukrainian state. It is worth mentioning that until now the

official policy has not considered all aspects of Ukraine's ethnonational development.

In my opinion, it ought to consider the fact that the ethnic renaissance typical of

members of Ukraine's various ethnic groups is characterized by two features: the

emergence of independent states in which the main part of the respective ethnos

resides. As it seeks to satisfy the needs which have arisen owing to this renaissance,

the Ukrainian state must coordinate its efforts in this sphere with the ethnic policies

of those states for which Ukraine's ethnic minorities constitute a diaspora. Above all,

there is a need to create conditions for a free exchange of persons and information

between ethnic groups and their ethnic homelands.

Through the optimal coordination of the efforts of the Ukrainian state in both the

internal and external aspects of minority politics, that is, by stimulating ethnocultural

development in Ukraine and opening new channels of contact with ethnic homelands,

it may be possible to overcome the fear of what Peter Zager, former vice president of

the Council of Europe, has called the "coercion for integration."6 In such conditions

integration into a Ukrainian context can take place without conflict and a policy

directed toward the creation of such conditions will attest to the high level of

democratic values in the state and its society.

5 The Ministry of Ukraine for Nationality Affairs, Migration and Religion, Information Bulletin, no. 1 (1995), 39-40.

6 Peter Zager, „Natsionalizm—novaia opasnost’. O prichinakh usileniia separatistskikh tendentsii v stranakh Evropy‖. –

Druzhba narodov, no. 7 (1992), 212. (Peter Zager, „Nationalizm – the new danger. About the reasons of the separatistic

tendencies’ strengthening in the countries of Europe‖. – Druzhba narodov, no. 7 (1992), 212).

Page 5: Ukraines ethnic minorities between politics and reality

Admittedly, at present one still cannot see the results of this integration. In my

opinion, this state of affairs can be explained by several causes: (a) during the course

of ethnic revival a certain isolation takes place, inasmuch as primary attention is

focused on internal problems; (b) a lack of clear state guidelines (i.e., ethnopolitical

measures) for the integration of an ethnic group into the main current (the

Ukrainians) which determines the nature of the state-building processes; (c) the

separatist tendencies among a certain segment of ethnic minorities. (By separatism I

have in mind not so much isolation as a broader sense–the differentiation from a mul-

tiethnic conglomerate with subsequent claims to exclusiveness.)

In this context it is worth remembering the fact that an ethnic renaissance can give

rise to or strengthen "ethnic nationalism," whose leaders quite often raise the issue of

creating autonomous territorial units and sometimes even advocate separation. Such

ideas are held by certain political powers in Crimea, Transcarpathia and in some

southern regions of Ukraine. For example, in Crimea such ideas were very sharply

voiced in the spring of 1995 when the central power in Kyiv was forced to resort to a

firm conceptual regulation of relations between Ukraine and Crimea. Presidential

decrees and resolutions by the Supreme Rada of Ukraine brought the course of events

in Crimea back into the legal framework of Ukraine.7 Ukraine took these steps in

accordance with international legal norms on the grounds of preserving the integrity

of Ukrainian state territory. The clear statement made by official Kyiv concerning

their position on the separatist sentiments of the leaders of the present-day Rusyn

movement in Transcarpathia (sentiments that were made particularly clear in the

summer of 1995 during the events marking the fiftieth anniversary of the transfer of

Transcarpathian Ukraine to Soviet Ukraine) will also certainly contribute to the con-

solidation of integrationist processes in Ukrainian society. If the Ukrainian state

maintains a balanced ethnic policy, this may deter groundless claims to

exclusiveness, because in Ukraine there are no relatively large communities living in

a compact settlement within a single region. Incidentally, specialists who study ethnic

communities and ways to satisfy their problems have recently drawn attention to the

7 In particular, "Zakon pro Avtonomnu Respubliku Krym," and "Zakon pro skasuvannia Konstytutsiyi i deiakykh

zakoniv Avtonomnoyi Respubliky Krym," etc. (In particular, ―The Law on the Autonomous Republic of Crimea‖ and

―The Law on cancelling the Constitution and some laws of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea‖, etc.)

Page 6: Ukraines ethnic minorities between politics and reality

principle of national-personal autonomy as the most productive means of satisfying

the needs of citizens of non-Ukrainian origin, especially those needs that are

determined by their origin. The search for opportunities for an effective ethnocultural

development beyond the territorial principle (which at one time was considered

virtually the only means) is, for example, characteristic of such a distinguished

authority as Georg Brunner.8

From this point of view, the idea of a federal structure for Ukraine is unlikely to be

very productive. It is precisely here that one must not allow the desire to win

conditions for a comprehensive ethnocultural development to be identified with the

launching of a political campaign aimed at separatism. The actions of Austria, which

very closely monitors the implementation of the rights of ethnic minorities, show that

the state organs of that country do everything possible to prevent the transformation

of ethnocultural demands into territorial claims. At the same time, much is being

done in Austria to satisfy the needs of ethnic groups, thereby precluding the need to

raise the question of territorial autonomy.9 The multiethnic character of all regions of

Ukraine provides grounds for choosing between the two ways possible of satisfying

the needs of ethnic groups–according to territorial or personal principles: for Ukraine,

national-personal (or better, ethno-personal) autonomy and not territorial autonomy is

preferable.

Center for Ethnosociological and Ethnopolitical Studies,

Kyiv

Translated by Mary Ann Szporluk

8 Georg Brunner, Nationalitätenprobleme und Minderheitenkonflikte in Osteuropa (Gütersloh, 1993), 75-108.

9 See Grundlagenbericht der Bundesregierung über die Lage der Volksgruppen in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1991).