Crimean Tatars picket Russian embassy over repression on Ukrainian peninsula
Tatar leaders Dzhemilev and Chubarov are prevented from returning to their homeland
Crimean Tatars have picketed the Russian embassy in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, protesting against a growing repression of Tatars living on the occupied Ukrainian peninsula.
Activists gathered near the embassy holding Crimean Tatar flags and hiding their faces with white papers which, according to rally participants, symbolise fear which Crimean Tatars feel on the peninsula against voicing any dissent against the Russian authorities.
“Mass searches are being conducted in the houses of journalists, all archive materials are being confiscated, they [Russian security forces] threaten, create conditions which force Crimean Tatars to leave their territory. We have been fighting to return to our motherland for ages. And now these invaders have come and are creating conditions which force Crimean Tatars to leave their land and are bringing masses of people from the internal regions of Russia [to replace them],” Dzhemilev said.
Tatar solidarity groups on the Ukrainian mainland say many of their kin in Crimea face discrimination and hardship as they come under pressure to align themselves with the Russia-backed authorities.
“With this flashmob which is called Peninsula of Fear, we would like to show that ordinary Crimeans are afraid to express openly and publicly their views and political positions, which are that Crimea is Ukraine and that Crimea is not Russia. Because it carries a risk for them; first, to be banned from entering Crimea’s territory or, secondly, of their parents, relatives or family being politically persecuted,” advisor to Ukraine’s Information Policy Minister, Emina Dzhapar, said.
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A year since Russia’s seizure of Crimea the Tatar parliament has been shut down, and leaders like Dzhemilev and Chubarov are prevented from entering Crimea. In recent months several Tatars, were reportedly killed, beaten, or went missing.
“We demand the immediate release of political prisoners who are hostages in reality – Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians, and Russians who are being kept behind the walls of FSB [Federal Security Service of Russia] in Crimea,” Chubarov said.
Deported to central Asia by Soviet dictator Stalin, Tatars began returning in the 1980s and in large numbers after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But around 15,000 have fled since Russia’s annexation.
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