Problems of Crimea and Crimean Tatars are now in sight of the continental Ukraine and the whole world. Memorial events on the occasion of 70th Anniversary of deportation were held in different countries.
In Us and Canada diplomats, public figures and descendants of those who survived the deportations held speeches in front of the gatherings of people. Vivid stories and a movie on deportation depicted this people’s tragedy.
A documentary screening “exile and return of Crimean Tatars” and a discussion on how the Russian occupational regime violates their rights at present took place at the Watzlaw Gawel Library in Prague. The film was written by a famous Czech publicist and human Rights officer Mr. Petra Shutrova. She wrote it in 2005 arter her trip to Crimea, where she learned more about the Crimean Tatars’ everyday life and culture.
A meeting of solidarity was held in Prague as well, where the participants streamed Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar flags, and called upon Russia to release the peninsula.
Turrkey expressed solidarity with the Crimean Tatars as well, having published an official Appeal on the occasion of 70th Anniversary of deportation on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website. It says that the Turks hope the Crimean Tatars will overcome the hardships in unity, and find a democratic solution for the situation they’ve been involved in lately. The Ministry stressed they would do everything necessary to help, the TRT reports..
Solidarity meetings were held at the Russian Embassy and Consulate in Warsaw and Gdansk, where Ukrainian, Polish, Belarus, Tatar and Crimean Tatar people declared that they won’t leave their Crimean brothers and sisters. They also lit “the memory candles”, the “Radio Freedom” reports. Activists distributed the Polish-language newspaper “Powrót” (Returning) in Lublin and Krakow, dedicated to the tragical history of Crimean tatars.
A memory event was held at the former Parliament Building in Tbilisi, Georgia, the “Crimea.Realities” reports. It was facilitated by the youth organisations, Azerbaijani community of Georgia and Tajic community. According to professor Oleh Panfilov, one of the participants, there’s a high level of support for Crimean Tatars in Georgian society.
Mr. Artis Pabriks, MP and former Latvia’s Minister of Defence, “tweeted” that most of the Latvians are solid with the Crimean Tatars on this day. “We still remember our struggle for freedom from the USSR,” - he wrote, the Gorod.lv reports.
Activists of Tatar community of the US and Crimea, permanent representatives of Ukraine and Poland in the UN Headquarters, artists and public figures took part in a ceremony dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of Deportation held at the UN Headquarters. Narrator Ms. Ayla Baqqalli (representative of Crimean tatar Mejlis and member of the Crimean Tatars’ World Congress), said “We, the Tatars, feel marginalized even today. My father, however, who was also deported, always used to say that the main human’s strength is their spirit.”
As the “Zn.UA” reports, Mr. Yuri Sergeev, Ukrainian Permanent Representative at the UN Headquarters, held a speech as well, where he reminded everyone that the deportation became the symbol of totalitarianism both for Ukraine and the rest of the world.
