More Than 30 Thousand People Took Part in All-Crimean Meeting

19 May 2012

More than 30 thousand people took part in all-Crimean mourning meeting, timed to the 68^th anniversary of deportation of Crimean Tatars from their historical Homeland – Crimea

On May 18, 2012 in all Crimean settlements as well as Kherson and Zaporozhe regions where Crimean Tatars live the local mourning meetings were held in the morning and prayers were made for those who died during the deportation and decades of forcible keeping in the places of exile. The prayers for the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people were also made in Turkey, Rumania and Ukraine.

In the morning the flowers were laid to the memorials and prayers were made and meetings were held. The participants of the meeting marched through the streets of Simferopol to the central square from the railroad station, Salgir Park, auto station “Zapadnaya”, Pobeda Street and M. Zhukov district.

At noon local time the International action “Minute of Grieve and Unity” was held. Its participants, irrespective of their location, stood still for a couple of minutes, leaning their heads and prayed for those who didn’t return and prized the God for the possibility to live all together in their Homeland.

The Deputy Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, President of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, Refat Chubarov opened the all-Crimean mourning meeting, commemorating the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people May 18, 1944 and the decades of forcible keeping in the places of exile.

After the state anthem of Ukraine and Crimean Tatar national anthem Mufti of Muslims of Crimea, hajji Emirali Ablaev made prayer for the memory of those who died in the period of deportation and the decades of forcible keeping in the places of exile.

After that the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the AR Crimea Viktor Plakida spoke before the participants of the all-Crimean mourning meeting. He read the official “Address of the President of Ukraine, timed to the 68^th anniversary of the deportation of Crimean Tatars and persons of other nationalities from Crimea”. Then the Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Nikolay Tomenko and Head of the faction “Nasha Ukraina – Narodnaya Samooborona”, Nikolay Martynenko spoke.

The well-known human rights advocates of the former USSR that interacted closely with the activists of the Crimean Tatar national movement in the 60 – 80-es of the 20^th century expressed their words of grieve and support at this Day of mourn. Among them the political prisoner of the Soviet regime, the President of Ukrainian Pen Club, Eugene Sverstnuk, a writer, political and public figure, one of the founders of the dissident movement in the USSR, political prisoner of the Soviet regime, Vladimir Bukovsky, human rights advocate, political prisoner of the Soviet regime, Aleksey Smirnov, Professor of the Political Sciences of George Washington University Pitter Reddaway, due to his persistence back in 1976 the world community first knew about the tragic destiny of the Crimean Tatar people, about the repressions against the participants of the national movement of Crimean Tatars from the book, titled: “Tashkent Trial”, published in Amsterdam. The Chairwoman of Moscow Helsinki Group, born in Yevpatoriya, first typist of the first in the USSR human rights advocacy bulletin, titled “Chronicles of Current Events”, human rights advocate Ludmila Alekseeva, Poland public figure, human rights advocate Peter Khlebovich, the son of the outstanding fighter for the human rights, Gen.l Petro Grigorenko, human rights advocate Andrei Grigorenko.

Among the other speakers also were the General Chairman of the Associations of Culture and Mutual assistance of Crimean Tatars of Turkey Tundzher Kalkay, Chairman of the Democratic Union of Muslims of Turk-Tatars of Rumania, member of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, Amet Varol, the famous Turkish historian of Crimean Tatar origin, Professor of the University of Bilkent, PhD in History, Hakan Qirimli and Chairman of the “Union of the Repressed Peoples of the Russian Federation” Arcady Goryaev.

The all-Crimean mourning meeting was also attended by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of ARC, Aziz Abdullaev, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of ARC Grigory Ioffe, MP of Ukraine Oles Doniy, regional representative of the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in the Republic of Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Oldrih Andrysek, numerous Crimean Tatar diaspora from Rumania, Turkey, USA and Russia, as well as the representatives of various political and public forces of Ukraine.

The Leader of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Mustafa Jemilev addressed the participants of the mourning meeting with his annual speech at the all-Crimean mourning meeting, commemorating the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people – Deportation of May 18, 1944 and the decades of forcible keeping in places of exile. He summoned up the outcomes of the passed 2011 and told about the coming most significant events, related to the future of the Crimean Tatar people.

Among the positive events M.Jemilev mentioned the hearings in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Ethnic Policy of Ukraine, held on January 11, 2012 that adopted the corresponding recommendations. “It is important that these recommendations mention, in particular, the necessity to adopt the concept of the ethnic policy in Ukraine and holding of the International forum on Crimean Tatar problem,”- Mejlis’ Leader underscored.

The Chairman of Mejlis underscored that the question of the restoration of the rights of the deported persons is not just the problem of the deportees themselves, but also the problem of the stability in the countries where they live, the problem of the establishment of the principles of justice and democracy in these countries. “That is why in our combat we have the right to count on the support of all the democratic forces in our country and worldwide. And I am sure that we will obtain this support,”- M.Jemilev continued. At this, he noted that it is very important that there won’t be any serious conflicts within the people itself, that there will be the constant spirit of mutual assistance and brotherhood.

The participants of the meeting supported a range of the official documents, in particular the Resolution of the all-Crimean mourning meeting, commemorating the victims of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, resolution of the all-Crimean mourning meeting, commemorating the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people – Deportation of May 18, 1944 and the decades of forcible keeping in places of exile “On elimination of the obstacles in return and resettlement of Crimean Tatars in the Ukrainian legislation”, as well as the address “On the treat of the return of Stalinism in Ukraine and protection of the basis of the democracy in Ukraine and worldwide”.

In conclusion of the all-Crimean mourning meeting its participants marched to the monument of the great person, Professor, human rights advocate and the biggest friend of the Crimean Tatar people General Petro Grigorenko. His monument stands on the square in Simferopol that was also called in his honor.

The Soviet human rights advocates and dissidents, attending the memorial events, including the son of Petro Grigorenko – Andrei Grigorenko, members of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar community, numerous participants of the meeting laid flowers to the monument of the great humanist of the 20^th century.