When Edem Mamutov left Crimea in January to join his wife Riana Fetiiva in Olds, he had no idea what was in store for his homeland.The couple had come to Canada for the experience of travelling abroad and exploring and working in another country.But they had always planned to return to Crimea a few years down the road to build a house and settle down.“And now everything changed. Right now, we cannot go there. We cannot even go there for visiting. Even if we can enter Crimea, we don't want to,” Fetiiva said, adding the couple's desire to visit family and friends back home is overshadowed by “a fear that something bad might happen there.”Mamutov arrived in town on Jan. 12, seven weeks before pro-Russian troops began occupying buildings in Crimea— an autonomous republic located within Ukraine— and just a little more than two months before a referendum where 97 per cent of Crimean voters supported a proposal to join Russia.Fetiiva, who came to Canada in August 2012 and is working at Tim Hortons, said she and her husband are shocked at what's happened in Crimea in the past two months.“We had no idea it would end up taking our Crimea by (Russian president Vladimir) Putin,” she said, translating for Mamutov as he does not speak English. “Everyone just was waiting for the revolution to finish.”The revolution Fetiiva speaks of began with protests in Ukraine in November over the Ukrainian government's decision to seek closer ties with Russia and turn away from an agreement to pursue more trade with the European Union.Protests involving hundreds of thousands of people turned deadly in January and in February, Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia.Fetiiva said after Yanukovych left, people throughout Ukraine were “relieved” and looking forward to change.But when Russia took control of Crimea by force in early March, she added, everyone she and Mamutov knew back home were just hoping the upheaval wouldn't lead to bloodshed.“Everyone was afraid of the war to start, that they will start shooting, it doesn't matter who, that the normal people would be hurt.”Fetiiva said she and Mamutov, who are both 28, have kept in contact with their family and friends in Crimea using the Internet.While they speak Russian, they are ethnically Crimean Tartars and Fetiiva said while people in Crimea with Russian heritage are thrilled with what has happened, many others of different ethnic backgrounds are concerned.“We are the minority, but we are very unhappy about it,” she said, adding many non-Russians did not take part in the March 16 referendum where Crimea voted to join Russia.“Crimean Tartars, to show the protest, they just didn't show up at all.”Following the referendum, Fetiiva said friends and family in Crimea began asking her and Mamutov about how they could leave the region.Some men were asking about how they could get their wives and children out, she said.“Because they are scared of the repressions.”People have also asked them about the possibility of coming to Canada, Fetiiva added, but they cannot help since they are only here on temporary visas.When asked if she and Mamutov are worried for the safety of their families, Fetiiva said “Of course.”“When we talk to them, they try to be optimistic, like, ‘We'll just wait, just let it be no war. It doesn't matter if it's Russia or Ukraine.'”Mamutov, who is not working right now, said he and Fetiiva know the history of Ukraine under the Soviet Union, however, and he is concerned Russia will control Crimea in an undemocratic and corrupt way.As they continue to watch events unfold in their homeland through the media, the couple's biggest concern is the prevention of war.Beyond that, they want Crimea to remain part of Ukraine.“Because Ukraine has a European direction. We would prefer that,” Fetiiva said. “It has nothing to do with people and traditions. We were born in the Soviet Union and our language is Russian. We speak Russian between each other. We are not against Russia. But as they are such aggressors right now, we don't like them anymore.”[email protected]
