Mustafa Jemilev met Mr. Knut Vollebaek

14 October 2011

On October 13, 2011 in conclusion of his working visit to Crimea the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Knut Vollebaek had a business dinner with the Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, MP of Ukraine Mustafa Jemilev.

The OSCE High Commissioner Mr. Knut Vollebaek shared his impressions about the results of his meetings in Crimea – in the Council of Ministers of the Autonomy and Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, as well as the results of his visits to “protest camps” located in Simferopol. He was accompanied by the members of Mejlis Zevdzhet Kurtumerov, Zair Smedlyaev, Ali Khamzin, Minister of Regional Development and Construction of ARC Sergey Brayko and representatives of Reskomzem and Reskomnats of ARK.

During the discussion of the problems, related to the allocation of land to Crimean Tatars and other repatriates, both who have returned to Crimea and those who wish to return, the parties expressed their fears that there could be new obstacles in these field in case the land market will be introduced in Ukraine.

The Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Jemilev thanked the OSCE High Commissioner Knut Vollebaek for his attention to the problems of Crimea and Crimean Tatar people and summoned up the outcomes of his working visit to Prague where he took part at the 15th International Conference “Forum 2000” where he was invited by its founder Vaclav Havel. At this, Mustafa Jemilev informed his partner about the results of his meetings with the participants of the conference, representing a large world’s geography and representatives of Czech politics, during which they discussed the carrying out of the International Forum on the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people to their homeland, its security and guarantees of development in Ukraine.

In his turn the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Knut Vollebaek and accompanying him advisors expressed their readiness to joint work with all the parties concerned on preparation of the concept, as well as specification of the goals and tasks of the coming International Forum.
“In the nearest future I am ready to invite to my office in Hague the representatives of Mejlis, – Mr. Knut Vollebaek said, addressing Mustafa Jemilev. I hope that the constructive dialogue with them will let us carrying out this event in Ukraine already at the end of 2012”. In addition, Mr. Knut Vollebaek highly appreciated the results of the meeting of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people with the heads of the diplomatic representations and international organizations, accredited in Ukraine, held on October 5, 2011 in Kyiv. “My colleagues in Ukraine were positive and appreciated the talks, stressing that almost all its participants supported the carrying out of the Forum under the aegis of the OSCE,”- Mr. Knut Vollebaek added.

At the same time, Mr. Knut Vollebaek and Mustafa Jemilev noted the importance of the support of the Ukrainian authorities of the initiative of the carrying out of the International Forum on the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people to their homeland, its security and guarantees of development in Ukraine.

Moreover, during the detailed talk Mustafa Jemielv and Knut Vollebaek discussed the consideration of the draft law of Ukraine “On the restoration of the rights of persons, deported on ethnic grounds”. At this, the OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities Knut Vollebaek confirmed again the recently stated recommendation about the necessity of adoption of this graft law and his readiness to keep on convincing his partners in Ukraine in this.

The mentioned above meeting was also attended by the assistants of the Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Aleksey Skorik and Liliya Muslimova.