I spent a short time in Crimea in 2006. I didn't meet any Tartars, but I was aware of their history and plight. I was tempted to take that long trolleybus from Yalta to Simferopol. But time was important.

There's no doubt that the Crimean Tartars preferred the Ukrainian occupation than the Russian occupation. I believe it was the Ukrainian government that invited them to return shortly after 1991.