date: 2022/06/04

src: https://twitter.com/narik_aliev/status/1532767807716335616

https://twitter.com/narik_aliev/status/1532767807716335616?s=20&t=H5QWCeMrO0jUDzvPkPovGg

“Get ready children, here’s a bedtime story for you.

THE POLITICAL HYPHEN OR WHY @meduzaproject IS AN IMPERIAL PIECE OF 💩

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THIS MESSAGE (MATERIAL) IS CREATED AND (OR) SPREAD BY A CITIZEN OF UKRAINE, WHO HAS SELF-RESPECT AND EXECUTES THE FUNCTION OF CONSTRUING WHY rUSSIA AND (OR) rUSSIAN COMPANIES FUNCTIONING AS FOREIGN AGENTS ARE IMPERIALISTIC ATAVISM.

Yesterday a piece of material was published in the so-called liberal media, Meduza, about “Homeward” directed by me. I was sent links to the material from different social networks, but wasn’t even going to read it. Honestly, I couldn’t care less.

But then I noticed a difference in headlines on different social media covers. One cover had the correct spelling of «крымскотатарское [road movie]», the other one had the incorrect «крымско-татарское», (Crimean Tatar), hyphenated.

5FA029CB-2F90-4A38-9003-310D3E2EB262.jpeg

(screenshot in russian showcasing non-hyphenated spelling of “krymskotatarskoye” (Crimean Tatar))

I have finally read the material and saw that the hyphen is present in the entire text itself. The text looks edited. The difference in spelling here is a matter of principle, it has historical significance.

81EB4E81-5CF7-4B88-9FD7-2D5844CAD20C.jpeg

(screenshot in russian showcasing hyphenated spelling of “krymsko-tatarskoye” (Crimean Tatar))

This hyphen is political. It means the struggle my people had for many years for the Crimea to be recognised as our only Homeland, and Crimean Tatars are the indigenous people. The use of the hyphen means that Crimea is separate and Tatars are separate.

However, using the non-hyphenated spelling (as in Ukrainian spelling) means that the word originates from the set expression of “Crimean Tatars”.

Some will oppose with this being the russian spelling. But the rules of this spelling are caused by the “tradition of many years”.

And these traditions are soaked with imperial narratives. Ukrainians, as well as russians, know perfectly well that russians use the «на» (on) preposition regarding Ukraine. This is how this was explained in 2019 by the russian spelling system “Orthogrammka”:

A61FC8FB-65A4-4B5F-9D1A-B612991A9440.png