Editor’s Note: This article is a part of the “Journalism of Tolerance” project by the Kyiv Post and its affiliated non-profit organization, the Media Development Foundation. The project covers challenges faced by sexual, ethnic and other minorities in Ukraine, as well as people with physical disabilities and those living in poverty. This project is made possible by the support of the American people through the U.S. Agency for International Development and Internews. Content is independent of the donors.Parents usher their children into School No. 165 in Kyiv’s downtown on a recent Saturday morning. “Selâm aleyküm,” one woman greets another in the Crimean Tatar language – the phrase a borrowing from Arabic, meaning “Peace be upon you.”

For two years now, Crimean Tatars have been taking their children in the Ukrainian capital twice a week for the classes of Crimean Tatar language, dance and singing.