CRIMEAN CULTURAL HERITAGE OF UNESCO: POST-ANNEXATION SYNDROME (BASED ON ELECTRONIC EDITIONS)

Abstract

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been cooperating  with Ukraine for a long time. The position of international organizations, including UNESCO, is unchanging: Crimea is Ukrainian, and consequently, the Chersonesos, which entered to the list of world cultural heritage, is also Ukrainian — de jure. However, de facto, many legal conflicts and objective, primarily military-political and economic factors affect the real situation and make Ukrainian foreign department respond to attempts of enemies to remove the fact of appropriation of the Ukrainian cultural property by neighboring state  and legitimize it in the international arena. According to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, Russia temporarily occupied territories with 99 Ukrainian museums, which have about two million exhibits, including cultural heritage of UNESCO. First of all, we can say it about Chersonesos. On September 20, 2013 “the Chersonesos”has officially received a certificate of UNESCO World Heritage. This status was granted on June 23, 2013 during the 37th Session of the Committee of UNESCO in Cambodia. The Chersonesos had been founded by Dorians and located on the territory of Sevastopol in Crimea, retained traces of the Greek colonization era, Roman and Byzantine Empires. The Chersonesos became one  of 1000 objects selected due to their extreme values and seventh object of Ukraine. It was expected that introducing the city to the World Heritage List had to step up cultural tourism and increase the commitment  of Ukrainian authorities for the protection of monuments. Although UNESCO listed the object as Ukrainian one, but its stay in the occupied territories prevents access  to Ukrainian experts, and valuable exhibits of the museum collection, formed over a hundred years, are assigned to the occupants. Currently in reserve funds, there are more than 200,000 cultural and religious objects, found during excavations near Sevastopol. UNESCO has consistently reaffirmed its commitment to the territorial integrity of our country, and refused  to recognize the museum reserve “Chersonesos” as Russian one, even it was decided to send a monitoring mission to Crimea. Implementation of these plans largely depend on the political will of the leaders of the organization, their desire to remain faithful tothe principles of democracy and support Kyiv in its efforts  to restore justice.