It has been more than a year since former Deputy Minister of Defense Vitaly Deyneha legalized the nickname “cheburek” in reference to former Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov. Time has passed, Umerov's leadership of the Ministry of Defense has passed, but “cheburek” as a derogatory generalization in relation to the Crimean Tatars lives on. Because Deyneha did not invent anything. This nickname was actively used in the 1990s and early 2000s by Russian fascists in relation to Crimeans. It was not used in Ukraine, and one can only guess which of the “good Crimeans” exported “chebureks” into the Ukrainian political vocabulary of acceptable lexicon.

Nariman Suleimanov was recently appointed prosecutor for Crimea and Sevastopol. And social network X (formerly Twitter) is rife with revived abuse.

This post has about forty thousand likes and almost a thousand reposts. And this is just one example of an appointment. It is worth adding that the first posts came from Russian pages. However, the message “Crimean Tatar = cheburek” began on November 1, 2024, when Vitaly Deyneha received almost no public backlash.

Subsequently, characters also appeared in the Ukrainian space who are not shy about using the nickname “cheburek” in relation to a person of Crimean Tatar origin.

According to my information, the cheburek slur was discussed in closed Crimean Tatar groups. However, at that time, many decided to remain silent. Some decided that the topic was not worth paying attention to, while others were concerned about their public image and wondered whether it would damage their own reputation due to the then unpopularity of the defense minister.

The silence of Crimean Tatar opinion leaders and well-known figures capable of influencing the Ukrainian audience was on the verge of shame and fear. Only Arsen Zhumadilov, head of the Autonomous Organization of Crimean Tatars, spoke out publicly with condemnation. However, his words alone were not enough, especially since they could be perceived as corporate solidarity among officials from the same department.

Of course, there are not many Crimean Tatars, and those who are recognizable can be counted on the fingers of one hand. However, those who remained silent did not realize that from now on there are no taboos. You can choose between “cheburek” and a more intelligent version from Maria Berlinskaya.

Therefore, if a well-known Ukrainian publication is subsequently named “Cheburek Truth” and the concerts of a famous artist are named “Cheburek Vision,” it should not be too surprising. After all, there are situations when solidarity and unity must be demonstrated regardless of whether you like a particular Crimean Tatar.