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International Conference of Soviet Human Rights Advocates to be Held in Crimea
16 May 2012
This year the events, timed to the 68th anniversary of the criminal deportation from Crimea and the memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people, are also marked with very important event, promoting the development of the democracy in the post-Soviet territory – the meeting of the dissidents and the Soviet human rights advocates. The meeting to be held on May 19, 2012 in Aqmescit (Simferopol).
This is the meeting of the Soviet political prisoners who went through the incredible and hard ordeals in their combat against the Communist regime in the USSR – the regime that had no analog in the history for its cruelty and the scale of human losses, and that fell without a single shot as a result of the non-violent actions of the Soviet human rights advocates and dissidents of the former “Socialist countries” of Eastern Europe.
In the most tragic years of the ordeals of our people in 40-70-es of the 20th century, when the Soviet Empire subjected Crimean Tatars to the repressions for their simple desire to preserve themselves as a people and return to their Homeland, the solidarity of many dissidents with the combat of our people and support of the very human rights advocacy movement played a big role in their opposition against this system of severe suppression.
Today our thankful people, and its representative body – Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and Crimean Tatar community, and our young generation that joins the national movement with confidence greets the guests – Soviet human rights advocates and dissidents with honor and sincere gratitude in Crimea – the native land of their ancestors.
Among them such world famous dissidents as Vladimir BUKOVSKY (England), Lyudmila ALEKSEEVA, Sergey KOVALEV, Alexander LAVUT, Alexander PODRABINEK, Aleksey SMIRNOV (Russia), Tatyana YANKELEVICH, Andrei GRIGORENKO (USA), Natalia GORBANEVSKA (France), Eugene SVERSTNUK, Miroslav GRIGORENKO, Vasil OVSIENKO, Oles SHEVCHENKO, Iosif ZISELS (Ukraine), Peter KHLEBOVICH (Poland) and many others.
Today on the day of the national mourning and grieve one more our dear guest and advocate of Crimean Tatars’ rights – Professor of Political Sciences of George Washington University, Peter Reddaway came from the United States to Crimea. As is known, in far 1979 due to his persistence his book, titled “Tashkent Trial”, published in Amsterdam told the world about the tragic destiny of the Crimean Tatar people, about the repressions against the participants of Crimean Tatar national movement.
The young scientists and human rights advocates, studying the experience of the combat of Crimean Tatar national movement for their rights, came from Poland.
The program of the visit of the high guests is very rich with events. After some meetings and talks on May 19 they are going to solve the main issue – carrying out of the International Conference of the Soviet Human Rights Advocates this autumn in Crimea or as it was called Crimean Forum of Human Rights Advocates.
Today, when the situation in the post-Soviet territory resembles the attempts to restore the Soviet Empire, when the European democratic values are declared to be alien like in the Soviet period, when the possibility of carrying out of the open and fair elections is suppressed by gross falsification, the modern democratic and human rights advocacy forces must comprehend this danger again in a new way and get united under the slogan of the Prague spring “For Your and Our Freedom!”
The famous Ukrainian dissident Leonid Plusch, living in France supported Mustafa Jemilev’s initiative and addressed the participants of the mourning events in Crimea with the letter as well as other human rights advocates who won’t be able to be with us today for reasons beyond their control.
Department of Foreign Relations of
Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people
