After Ukraine’s independence in 1991, Crimean Tatars returned to their ethnic homeland. But they were soon drowned out by the false claim that “Crimea was always Russian.” Ayla Bakkalli, the Crimean Tatar Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, says that the Russian government keeps trying to drag Crimeans to the past. “Instead, Russia should seek to redefine itself in the 21st century.”