Article 10

1.The Parties undertake to recognize that every person belonging to a national minority has the right to use freely and without interference his or her minority language, in private and in public, orally and in writing.
2.In areas inhabited by persons belonging to national minorities traditionally or in substantial numbers, if those persons so request and where such a request corresponds to a real need, the Parties shall endeavor to ensure, as far as possible, the conditions which would make it possible to use the minority language in relations between those persons and the administrative authorities.
3.The Parties undertake to guarantee the right of every person belonging to a national minority to be informed promptly, in a language which he or she understands, of the reasons for his or her arrest, and of the nature and cause of any accusation against him or her, and to defend himself or herself in this language, if necessary with the free assistance of an interpreter.

Language Issue

166. "For the Crimean Tatars, the importance of language should not be underestimated. It is commonly stated that language is at the core of nationality, and nationality gives meaning to the current difficulties. As one respondent explained:
167. "Without our national language, we are not Tatar. If we are not Tatar, we are nothing. If this is not my homeland and I am not Tatar". If this is not my homeland and I am not Tatar, then why am I putting up with this (these living conditions)?
168. Language and culture of the deported has suffered from the exile and the lack of promotion by Soviet authorities. Most Tatar families say that they speak Russian at home. There is also a death of Tatar literature accessible to children and adults.
169. The language issue has been politicized, pitting local officious against each other along ethnic lines. To support their demands for government support for national education, respondents cited both Article 10 of the Ukrainian Constitution, adopted on June 28, 1996, which states "In Ukraine the free development, and protection of Russian, and other languages of national minorities of Ukraine, is guaranteed;" and the unapproved Crimean constitution which states that the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has three official languages - Russian, Ukrainian, and Tatar. (Social Assessment of the Formerly Deported Population in the ARC.c.3.p.71).
170. In the contexts of the Constitutions of Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of 1921, 1926, 1938 there were two languages: Tatar (Crimean Tatar) and Russian were declared to be the State languages. There was no mentioning about the Ukrainian language because Crimea of that time was not under the jurisdiction of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. So it was the legal claim of Crimean Tatars to re-establish the official status of Crimean Tatar language as a part of the rehabilitation of the formerly deported people.
171. But in the text of Crimean Constitution approved by the parliament and President of Ukraine at the end of 1998 only Ukrainian and Russian languages were written as those which are used in public life, administrative proceedings and official documentation in the Autonomous republic of Crimea. The Ukrainian legally is defined as a State language. The Russian legally is defined as a language acceptable for the majority of population of Crimea. So Crimean Tatar language is excluded from the public life as a language acceptable only for minority.
172. Government usually refers to the provision of the law on languages, which provides the possibility of the using of the language of minorities in the places where they are real majority of population. But there are no places in Crimea with the exception of some small villages where Crimean Tatars are the majority of population. And it was the special policy of Government as it was described above to prevent the very possibility of Crimean Tatars to become the majority in any administrative district or city in Crimea. So only special provision in Crimean Constitution could solve this problem. Unfortunately the Government failed to do it.


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