Crimean Tatars after February 2022: ZMINA co-organises a conference at the European Parliament

Human Rights Centre ZMINA with support of Mission of Ukraine to the EU and Office of Member of the European Parliament Anna Fotyga (European Conservatives and Reformists) will hold a conference “Crimean Tatars after February 2022” at the European Parliament in Brussels (Spinelli 1H1) on 23 May at 15:00.

The event will will be dedicated to a tragic date – 18 May which marks the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People and the Day of Struggle for the rights of the Crimean Tatars. On this day in 1944, the Soviet authorities started deporting Crimean Tatars from their native land. In only two days over 183,000 Crimean Tatars were deported from Crimea what led to thousands of deaths caused by famine and disease.

Nowadays, the aggressor state Russia, having occupied Crimea back in 2014, continues to violate the rights of the Crimean Tatars on the peninsula. With the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, new challenges arose. They will be discussed during the conference.

It will be opened by with a moderation by Member of the European Parliament Anna Fotyga. Welcome words and short presentations are expected by:

• Emine Dzhaparova, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (online)
• Refat Chubarov, Chairman of Medjlis of the Crimean Tatar people (online)
• Tamila Tasheva, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (online)
• Vsevolod Chentsov, Ambassador of Ukraine to the European Union
• Eamon Gilmore, EU Special Representative for Human Rights

It will be followed by the panel session about history of suppression of the Crimean Tatars by Russian authorities, consequences of 2014 occupation and further “developments” since 2022 for the Crimean Tatars, destinies of political prisoners, as well as recommendations to the Ukrainian and international authorities for preserving and development of the Crimea Tatar people and their culture.

Moderator: Tetiana Pechonchyk, Head of Human Rights Centre ZMINA

• Gul’nara Abdulaieva, Crimean Tatar, historian and journalist
• Aziz Umerov, Crimean Tatar, brother of the political prisoner Leniie Umerova
• Prof Andrew Wilson, University College London, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations
• Eskender Bariev, Member of the Medjlis of the Crimean Tatar people and Head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center
• Bekir Mamut, Editor-in-chief of Newspaper “Qirim”
• Iryna Siedova, Expert of Crimean Human Rights Group

Links to the live stream can be found here: English and Ukrainian