Mustafa Dzhemilev, leader of the Crimean Tatars

The Crimean Peninsula is the historic homeland of the Crimean Tatars, a Turkic-language-speaking people practicing a liberal form of Islam. Under its princely leaders, the khans, the picturesque peninsula -- which stretches into the Black Sea -- was rich in both commerce and culture. In 1783, the peninsula was forcibly annexed by Russia.

In 1944, Soviet leader Josef Stalin ordered the deportation to Central Asia of all Crimean Tatars, on the pretext they had collaborated with World War II enemy Germany. From that time, the peninsula was mainly inhabited by Russian settlers and military officials.

In 1954, Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and remained a part of Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

From that point on, and especially since the 1990s, tens of thousands of Crimean Tatar exiles began to return to what is now an autonomous republic within Ukraine.

Some 260,000 Crimean Tatars now live in their historic homeland, and many more are expected to follow, but many returnees are encountering resistance and hardships.

The largest Crimean Tatar organization, the Mejlis, is headed by Mustafa Dzhemilev, who is also a member of the Ukrainian parliament.