Visit of Delegation of Mejlis to Ministry of Internal Affairs of Germany

30 June 2011

On June 28, 2011 in the framework of the working visit to Germany of the delegation of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people headed by the Chairman of Mejlis, MP of Ukraine Mustafa Jemilev met with the Deputy Minister of the Internal Affairs of Germany on the issues of the internal policy and authorised person on the national minorities Christoph Berger and his coleagues – Dortor Detlev Rayn who is in charge of the issues of the national minorities and national minorities and linguistic policy and Edwin Varkentin – referent on the issues of immigrants and national minorities.

The meeting, held in the premises of MIA of Germany was attended by the President of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, First Deputy Chairman of Mejlis Refat Chubarov, Head of the department of Foreign Affairs of Mejlis Ali Khamzin, professor, researcher of modern ethnopolitical processes on the post-Soviet territory Svetlana Chervonaya and assistant of the Chairman of Mejlis Lilya Muslimova.

The delegation of Mejlis was accompanied by the member of the Coordinating council of WCCT, representative of Mejlis in Germany Akhmet Ozay, member of the City council of Cologne Erkhat Kara, representative of the Society for Promotion to the Eastern Europe and Secretary General of Association for Protection of Repressed Peoples Tilman Tsulkh.

In his greeting word Christoph Berger stressed that the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Germany pays significant attention to the processes related to return of the formerly repressed peoples to their native lands. In this respect Mr. Christoph Berger noted, the tragedy of the Crimean Tatar people is similar to the tragedy of Russian Germans who also suffered from Stalin’s cruel policy.

“The visit of Mejlis’ delegation has great significance. It is an important sign, particularly in the context of our policy and given the historical problem” – the Deputy Minister of the Internal Affairs of Germany Mr. Berger underscored.

The Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Jemilev in his review of the modern situation of the Crimean Tatar people in Crimea drew attention of the representatives of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Germany to the most sensitive unsolved problems related to the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people. “In the result of the crimes against the Crimean Tatar people, Crimean Tatars – indigenous people of the peninsular –became the minority on their Homeland today. That is why adoption of the laws that guaranty preserving and development of our people is very important for us,” – Mustafa Jemilev noted.

Continuing the dialogue Mustafa Jemilev informed Mr. Christoph Berger and his colleagues about the fact that today about 130 – 150 thousands of Crimean Tatars still live outside Crimea and can’t return on their own to their homeland due to numerous obstacles, including economic ones. “They need assistance. They seek for justice towards themselves and their families. We count on assistance of the International community in this,”- Mustafa Jemilev added.

Answering the questions of his interlocutors about the legal regulation of the process of repatriation of Crimean Tatars and people of other nationalities deported on ethnic origin in Ukraine Refat Chubarov noted that all attempts to adopt the corresponding laws failed. That is why Refat Chubarov continued we came with an initiative to prepare and carry out the International Forum on restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people in their Homeland, its security and guarantees of development in Ukraine.

Discussing the carrying out of the International Forum the Chairman of Mejlis Mustafa Jemilev noted that the realias of the modern Ukraine are such that without the international participation it would be hard to count on cardinal changes in approaches of Ukrainian politicians to the issues related to the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people and gave particular facts of an open demonstration of xenophobic views against Crimean Tatars shown by some high officials, including some Ministers of Ukraine.

In his turn the representatives of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Germany stressed that today it is very important to understand that the problem of restoration and return of countries and peoples of the Eastern Europe from the communist dictatorship to democracy lies straight in the field of securing of the rights of the national communities in multinational states, including Ukraine.

In this respect Doctor Detlev Rayn noted, we see the positive aspirations in Ukraine as well, in particular, ratification of the European Charter of regional languages or minority languages that opens new possibilities to further cooperation in solution of other issues related to the human rights and rights of peoples in all-European scale, including conduction of the International Forum.

Among the other questions discussed during the meeting by the members of the delegation of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people the proposal was made to the German party to consider the possibility of participation in resettlement of Crimean Tatars returning to their Homeland. “It happened so that in the 20th century Crimean Tatars found themselves between two millstones of the totalitarian regimes – Soviet and Nazi. In Crimea it also had the form of destruction by the German army tens of Crimean Tatar villages. Of course, such was the nature of war, however, the justice require elimination of all consequences of those times,” – Refat Chubarov underscored.

In conclusion the parties noted the importance of holding of the meetings and consultations on the issues related to the human rights and peoples’ rights. At this, the representatives of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Germany, addressing Mustafa Jemilev, expressed their confidence that the fact of nomination of the Chairman of Mejlis to the Nobel Peace Prize 2011 is an important message for understanding of the Crimean Tatars problem by the international community and the necessity of its fair solution.