THE crisis in the Crimea region of the Ukraine is revealing the origins of some of Belfast's street names - one ironically famous for its mural of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands.
Although many of the streets are now gone, Alma, Balaklava and Inkerman streets off the Falls Road, recalled victorious British battles in the Crimean War, while Sevastopol Street marked the year-long Siege of Sevastopol. Raglan Street was named after Lord Raglan, commander of the British forces in the Crimean campaign against Russia in 1853. Many of the Belfast streets built in the 19th century, bore names that are now in the world news after the movement of troops by Russian president Vladimir Putin into the Crimea region.
The disastrous war that Alfred Lord Tennyson paid homage to in The Charge Of The Light Brigade saw British, French and Ottoman Empire forces pitted against the Russians in the three-year offensive.
But past military glories are wasted on 87-year-old Isaac Pelan, a former baker who was born and raised on Sevastopol Street.
He said he only remembered "poverty". "I knew at some stage it was the name of a Russian city, but I don't remember anything said about a battle. "I just remember how poor everyone was, the cobbled streets and how the cold wind blew down from Black Mountain. "We didn't know much about any British empire thing, there was too much hardship and then when the Troubles started, it was the British army on Sevastopol Street," he said.
Sevastopol Street resident Robert Wilson (80) said he was dismayed at events in the region. "You look at the TV and see Sevastopol and you're sitting in Sevastopol Street in Belfast and it's very depressing." "But it makes no difference what the street's called and I would not want it changed. If it was good enough for my parents, it's good enough for me."