Vedjije Kashka

Date of Birth: 01.07.1935

Vedjije Kashka - activist, veteran of the Crimean Tatar movement in Crimea. Vedjije-Hanım is one of the symbols of the Crimean Tatar national movement for the return home.

Place of Birth. Born on July 1, 1935 in Uskut, Alushta, Autonomous Republic of Crimea. As a ten-year-old girl, she survived the deportation of the Crimean Tatars during World War II.

Return to Crimea. In 1967, a Soviet decree was issued that rehabilitated the Crimean Tatars. The Crimean Tatars began to return to Crimea, but the Soviet government hesitated to register them. One such family was the Kashka family. The family, which already had four children, was among the first to leave Uzbekistan. First, they moved to Kuban and then to Crimea. However, the family had to endure two deportations for violating the passport regime. In 1969, the Kashka family moved to the village of Dzhemrek in the Karasubazar district of Crimea. But they were also expelled, without compensation their property and housing were taken away. In December 1973, the family secretly bought a house in the village of Uchkos in the same district.

Participation in the Crimean Tatar movement. Together with her husband Bekir, Vedjije-Hanım joined the national movement in the 1950s. The family lived at that time in the Srednechirchitsky district of Uzbekistan.

During her years in the national movement, Vedjije Kashka not only collaborated with Mustafa Dzhemilev and other Crimean Tatar activists but also exchanged views with Petro Grigorenko, Andrei Sakharov, and many other Soviet dissidents.

She fought for the right of other Crimean Tatars to return home. Her home was a meeting place for secret gatherings of Crimean Tatar activists. Vedjije Kashka was also involved in numerous protest actions.

Vedjije Kashka led an active life - she supported the families of political prisoners, attended court hearings. And literally ten days before her death, she organized a large Dua (prayer) at her home in support of Crimean citizens who were experiencing political persecution.

Family. Married. She has five sons and one daughter. Vedjije Kashka's husband Bekir-Aga passed away in 2012.

Death. On November 23, 2017, Vedjije-Hanım felt unwell during her arrest by Russian security forces in Simferopol, and she died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. The authorities in the annexed Crimea cite hypertensive heart disease as the cause of death. The Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has initiated a criminal case regarding the death of Vedjije Kashka and considers the actions of the Russian authorities that led to the woman's death as deliberate murder.

12.05.2017