The long lasted separate existence of Muscovite and Crimean states of coarse left its mark on the population of both states developed in different cultures. In the result of never-ending expansion of Russian Empire, where the state Orthodox religion imposed its rules on civil life as well, the peoples got Russianized and forgot their own national culture. The majority simply became Russians.
     Despite of the lack of the law on state religion in Crimea its population preferred converting to Islam, because of pragmatic considerations. You know, any prisoner brought to Crimea became free and enjoyed full rights after he converted to Islam. There were plenty of them. In fact, from the ancient times Crimea was the gathering of extremely mixed population. Consequently, after the foundation of the united state in which the authority practiced Islam every practical person understood the benefit of conversion to the religion of the ruling dynasty. Those who wanted to stay and live in Crimea from the very beginning took in two things: Crimean Tatar language and Girays' religion. After it one didn't want to leave Crimea. It became one's homeland and from personal experience one understood ancient Greeks' wise saying: "The person's homeland is there where he feels good". Any person converted to Islam became Tatar in Crimea. That is why Crimean Tatars still do not have a single anthropologic type. One could never tell Crimean Tatar from his appearance. This is the peculiarity of Crimean Tatar nation that has the same age as Russian (six hundred years). Even in one family the same parents usually may have one child flaxen-haired Slav, but another one - typical Circassians or curly black-eyed Greek. Not to mention the blue-eyed giants - the descendants of Goths. However, all they referred to as Crimean Tatars.
     That is why by the moment of occupation of Crimea by Russia 98 % of its population were referred to as Tatars considering the surprisingly many-colored anthropological composition of Crimean population. While the number of Urums, in other words Christians, in Crimea was only 31 thousand people. Krymchaks who practiced Judaism and Karays (Karaims) practicing Karaizm constituted approximately the same number (Markov E. 1902).
     The first thing that did Ekaterina II - she registered all Christians, then regardless of their will gathered them together and exiled from Crimea to Azov region. It was the tragedy for the part of Crimean population - the Christian one speaking Crimean Tatar language and practicing Christianity (though, various doctrines). Nobody of them wanted leaving their homeland. That is why some of them urgently converted to Islam having no idea of what Ekaterina was preparing for them.
     The aim of Russian government was to clear Crimea of all Crimean Tatars, in other words from Muslims, and to populate the peninsular with Christian emigrants from continent Greece, Christian Bulgaria, Russia and the emigrants from Western Europe. The final goal was total Christianization of Crimea with elimination of the very hint on Tatar speech - that is why the Tatar speaking Crimean Christians were exiled and it was relatively human treatment. Though, Tatars were drove to such condition that after the establishment of Russian authority over Crimea the whole indigenous people of Crimea in panic started Exodus from Crimea. People ran to Turkey leaving the whole settlements lifeless.
     However, there was one single alternative left - move to Russia converting to Orthodoxy. Ekaterina had her goal to Christianize whole Russia annihilating Islam first in Volga region. However, she failed to realize this grand plan. As far as Crimean Tatars concerned, she decided ousting them from Crimea, because they preferred rather die or leave their homeland then start crossing themselves. That is why the documents of that period contain no cases of conversion of Tatars to Christianity. This alternative appeared much later because of the despair. Initially people just ran in panic to Turkey.
     Such Ekaterina II's hard measures leaded to complete decline of economy of the rich region and the paradise corner turned to lifeless desert very soon. The immigrants unfamiliar with the ecological peculiarities of Crimean nature faced with the problems they had no idea of. That is why the Government of Russia had to slow down the emigration of indigenous population. At that very moment the governors understood what ecology was, though they did not know the name of this phenomenon. So, empress' insane plan broke down. However, the desire to see Crimea Christian never left Russian governors. That is why the repressions recommenced again and again, consequently recommenced the emigration of the indigenous population. Since the end of the 18th century and during the whole 19th century there were several waves of such catastrophic emigration. Only since the second half of the 19th century Crimean Tatars started running from Crimea not only to Turkey, but to Russia as well. That is why there are up to 5 millions of Crimean Tatars living in Turkey. By the beginning of the 20th century only a little more than one hundred thousand Crimean Tatars remained in Crimea. This all was very good described in the big work of historian V.E. Vozgrin "Historic Destinies of Crimean Tatars".
     Citing Karataev's work we mentioned above how many Tatars started calling themselves Russians. And they were former Tatars of Golden Horde who converted from Islam to Christianity together with re-orientation of the empire. However, in Russia of many thousands of surnames of Tatar origin there are only few tens of Crimean Tatar surnames. The explanation to this fact is very simple: just every people stayed at their homeland. Crimean Tatars lived in Crimea after they separated from the empire. The rest Tatars kept living in old empire that changed its religion. Migration of Crimean Tatars to Russia occurred either in the periods of favorable relations between Moscow and Crimea, or after Russian annexation of Crimea. At this, the more early emigrants from Crimea, entering Russian service, like the others converted to Christianity, thus stopping refer themselves as Crimean Tatars. They found out about their origin only from the family books. In this connection it is interesting to note that neither Lithuanians, nor Poles never set before emigrants such conditions. Both in Poland and Lithuania there are Tatars who forgot their language and traditions long ago, but preserved their religion and that is why still call themselves Tatars. To my mind there is only one explanation to this - intolerance of Orthodoxy towards all that is not complying with its canons. Evidently it is afraid of competition and that is why it can't stand any vicinity. This is the evidence of weakness. Though, it's a digression.
     Well, except such Crimean Tatar surnames that turned to Russians as Naryshkins, Yusupovs (maybe there are also other, because the descendants of Nur-Devlet and Kuchuk-oglan got lost) there are also some more (in order not to make a big list, let's take only surnames of Dukes). These are Bigildeevs, Devlet-Kil'deevs, Kochubeys, Mamaevs, Mansurovs, Suleshevs, Sultan-Girays, Shakhmatovs, Yashlavovs or Yashlavskys. That's all. These families left to Russia back in the 16th century (except for Sultan-Girays) when Crimea and Moscow were in the best relations (Merlins, Tutchevs, Khudobrievs - also noblemen that didn't' become dukes in Russia left to Russia at the same time). The other thousands of Russian surnames of Turk origin had local roots, in other words originated from the places located within the boundaries of Russian Empire.
     At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century the policy of the tsarist government towards Crimean Tatars softened again. They were allowed obtaining civil education. They were enrolled to military service without converting to Orthodoxy. Consequently there appeared young talented people among Crimean Tatars who devoted themselves to the process of revival of people and the renaissance of the stifled culture. Among these people it worth to mention the leader of this passionate movement, Ismail Gasprinsky who first obtained his high education in Russia, then in Sorbonne (Paris), where at the same time he was the secretary of the writer Turgenev I.S., and finally in Turkey. His enlightening activity literally revived people doomed to extinction. At the same time he reformed Islam in the sphere of secondary education, thus earning the universal recognition in the Islamic world. Being the initiator of the Cultural Revolution he gave birth to a galaxy of his followers who in their public activity also went out to the international scene. It was they who became the leaders of the national-liberation movement later in the period of bourgeois revolution in Russia. At that they were highly educated people who left after them the cultural heritage (literature, publicism, scientific, musical works, etc.) They are Noman Chelebidzhekhan, Jafer Seydamet, Edige Kyrymal, Memet Niyazy, Asan Ayvazov, Useyin Tokhtargazy, Ablyakim Il'my, Kuddus Effendy (in Elagin's spelling), Jemil Kermenchikli, Amet Ozenbashly and many others. Each of them was unique individuality, but all of them made great efforts literally burning in this altruistic world of renascence of people's property and revival of the national state.
     Indeed, they achieved it all. However, the state existed only for few months. The Bolshevik counter-revolution nipped all progressive changes of the bourgeois republic in the bud again reviving the empire, changing the ideology again. The Orthodoxy was given a short shrift. Instead of Orthodoxy appeared the new religion called communism where the illiterate and ignorant people were preached an idea of the paradise on earth instead of the heaven one which could be achieved in the life span of the current generation. This fairy tale believed all the fools of Russia who appeared to constitute an uncountable number. (Russia was always famous by its fools). They crushed the old world with an unseen enthusiasm building the promised paradise. At the same time those who didn't believed in the new religion were murdered not by hundreds and even thousands, but millions. The medieval inquisition was nothing in comparison with the communists' acts. The people of the revived empire rejoiced after just another trial resulted in the new executions. The people of the empire demanded the victims finding in the mass executions the panacea from the unredeemed promises of the paradise on earth.
     When the so called class of exploiters was exterminated and there left only two classes in the country - the poorest peasants and proletariat the turn came to the whole peoples. It turned out that it is necessary to exterminate more few peoples that prevent Russian people from building the constantly postponing communist paradise on earth. Then everything's going to be all right. And just another bacchanalia began.
     Among the people that had to be exterminated were Crimean Tatars (along with Russian Germans, Kalmyks, Chechens, Ingushs, Karachais, Balkarians, Turk Meskhetins, and even Koreans, Bulgarians, Greeks, Finns and a whole range of ethnic minorities; the main thing was to find the next victim in order to set against it the people that became brutal of hunger and unsettled state, then: divide and rule). At that, Crimean Tatars deserved the special attitude, because, you see, they took the "health resort" of the empire - the place where the communist bosses and their servants had to live out their days. Crimean Tatars couldn't play the role of these servants because they never knew serfdom. That is why they not just had to be exiled from Crimea, but exterminated in order not to let anybody return. One shouldn't even waste patrons. They would die themselves in case they would be created the due conditions in the new settlements. Everything would happen without unnecessary noise, naturally.
     Such situation was created after May 18, 1944 with the complete deportation of all Crimean Tatars during just one night. Initially everything went as it was planed by the scoundrels from Kremlin. The people left in Taiga and Hunger steppe died of hunger and diseases by thousands and tens of southlands without receiving any real support. First elderly people and children died. Remained only young women employed on hard labor. The men were fighting against fascism at that time. However, after the war was finished Crimean Tatar men were also driven to concentration camps. Many of them were deprived of their medals and military ranks. However, allowing the men return to their women the fanatics showed themselves as dull people. The people started reviving (again!) It didn't dissolve in other peoples the communist misanthropes counted for. On the contrary it got united, filled with hatred towards usurpers.
     And the fight began. First, there was an underground enlightening fighting for the restoration of human rights and freedoms, then for return to the homeland. The watchful KGB took to prison those who were "too clever and educated". However, the whole people were involved in this fighting. Many repressed people were returned to their former places of residence after Stalin's death and Beriya's execution. However, this didn't concern Crimean Tatars. They were just allowed leaving the exile and settle all over the empire, excluding Crimea. It was also one of the measures designed for extermination of the people: dispersed settlement with its following inevitable assimilation. Though, Crimean Tatars didn't disperse. On the contrary they united over their political leaders who choused the wise and far-sighted policy making people achieve it patiently and persistently resisting any tiny charity and being not afraid of new repressions. And people supported them, thus setting an example of organic merging of national leaders and organized mass.
     Finally, under the pressure of international community the illegal regime of the dieing empire had to make concessions, because Crimean Tatar literally flood Moscow in 1987 protesting on the Red and Old Squares. Such protests started in Moscow back in 1967 by the representatives of Crimean Tatar national movement. In 1987 more than thousand of these representatives arrived (the money for them were gathered by the whole people). These political actions carried out up to 1991 gave their positive results and Crimean Tatars were allowed returning to Crimea by limited portions since 1989 (before this any attempt of return to Crimea was prevented by law enforcement agencies by any means up to imprisonment). The dam burst and people flooded to Crimea by irrepressible stream.
     However, at the beginning of 1992 the empire fell into 14 independent states. Crimean Tatar people appeared to be dispersed never returning to its historical homeland. The laws of the empire lost their force.