This film was shown at the Bridges of the World International Film Festival in Maryland in February 2014. The following was taken from their pamphlet handed out at the theater and provides essential historical context in order to understand this movie which is based on true events.
Haytarma tells the tragic, true story of the Sürgünlik, the 1944 forcible deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Stalin to other parts of the USSR. 18 May 2014 commemorates the 70th anniversary of one of the world's most frighteningly rapid and thorough ethic cleansing. Over three days, the entire Crimean Tatar population of about 195,000 was relocated to Siberia, the Urals, and Central Asia. It has been estimated that 110,000 individuals died of hunger, exposure, and disease during transportation and the first year of resettlement. This "special operation" remains a controversial topic (as evidenced by the public outcry following Russian Consul Vladimir Andreyev's recent comments that Haytarma distorted historical truth). Many Russians insist all Tatars betrayed the USSR by collaborating with the Nazis and thus were an enemy nation; the Tatars insist that such a sweeping (and false) accusation served as an excuse for culturally, religiously, geographically, and economically motivated genocide.
Haytarma follows the real life experiences of Major Amet-Khan Sultan (played by Akhtem Seitablaev who is also the director), a fighter pilot in the Red Army and twice-decorated Hero of the Soviet Union. Given a three-day leave of duty, he and two friends travel to Sultan's home town of Alupka which lies just a little south of Yalta along the coast. They arrive on 16 May and after a celebratory homecoming are swept into the chaos and terror of the Sürgünlik.
Haytarma is not only important as the first Crimean Tatar language feature film (financed by ATR TV, the Crimean Tatar independent television channel) but as an example of the politics of memory. The interplay between government policies, popular culture, social norms, ethnic/racial differences, and individual and collective experiences influence how events are remembered and the way history is written. If something is forgotten or discarded, it fails to enter historical record. Haytarma, like Shoah (1985), A Cry From the Grave (1999), Ararat (2002), and Katyn (2007), resurrects an event that has been politically and historically swept under the carpet. The film is "dedicated to our ancestors without whom our memory and culture would not exist." In short, the film hopes to help reconstruct the identity of the Crimean Tatars who since 1989 have been officially allowed to return to their ancestral homeland. "Haytarma" translates as "return" and is also the name of a Crimean Tatar folk dance symbolizing the eternal course of life.
