Crimean Tatar National Anthem

The Crimean Tatar National Anthem is the poem “Ant Etkenmen”, written in 1917 by the poet, politician and short-lived first president of the Crimean People’s Republic, Numan Çelebi Cihan, expressing the Crimean Tatars’ national identity, historical events and struggle for freedom.

The poem is one of the primary national symbols performed at official gatherings and public events within Crimean Tatar society.

Crimean Tatar National Anthem Ant Etkenmen (Crimean Music l Qırım Muzıkası)

Composition, Publication and Adoption

The original text of the poem was first published in 1917 in the newspaper Millet using the Arabic alphabet and republished in 1918 in issue 8 of Kırım Mecmuası. While Çelebi Cihan was still alive, the text was set to music by the people and recited and adopted as the national anthem at the Crimean Tatar National Kurultay held on 9 December 1917. A further edition appeared in 1943 in the newspaper Azat using the Cyrillic alphabet. Over time, minor textual variants were debated; in 1992, the Kurultay adopted a revised version that faithfully adapted the text to Crimean Tatar Turkish while preserving its meaning.

Formal Characteristics

The poem consists of three quatrains, twelve lines and seventy-three words; its basic metrical pattern follows a 4+4+4+3 (15-syllable) structure. The rhyme scheme varies between quatrains; since the poem’s central message is prioritized, rhyme and refrain are secondary. Linguistically, it exhibits features of the “Çöl dialect” of Crimean Tatar Turkish and shows similarities to the “divan” style of the Turkish âşık tradition.

Numan Çelebi Cihan and the Anthem’s Fate

Numan Çelebi Cihan was among the leaders of the new political structure established in Crimea in 1917 and also served as Mufti. He was arrested in December 1917 and murdered on 23 February 1918 in the Akyar (Sevastopol) prison; his body was thrown into the Black Sea. His poem has influenced subsequent generations of poets and intellectuals as a common consensus text and a call to the homeland of the Crimean Tatar national struggle.

^【1】 

Text of the Anthem

The current text of the anthem in Crimean Tatar Turkish is as follows:

Ant etkenmen, milletimniñ yarasını sarmağa,

Nasıl olsun bu zavallı qardaşlarım çürüsin?

Onlar içün ökünmesem, qayğırmasam, yaşasam,

Yüregimde qara qanlar qaynamasın, qurusın! 

Ant etkenmen, şu qaranğı yurtqa şavle sepmege,

Nasıl olsun eki qardaş bir-birini körmesin?

Bunı körip buvsanmasam, muğaymasam, yanmasam,

Közlerimden aqqan yaşlar derya-deñiz qan olsun! 

Ant etkenmen, söz bergenmen millet içün ölmege,

Bilip, körip milletimniñ köz yaşını silmege.

Bilmey, körmey biñ yaşasam, Qurultaylı han olsam,

Kene bir kün mezarcılar kelir meni kömmege.^【2】