The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people is 33 years old!

30 June 2024

On June 30, 1991, during the second Kurultay, the Crimean Tatar people created their executive representative body – Mejlis. Mustafa Dzhemilev became the chairman of the Mejlis, and Refat Chubarov became his deputy.

“It was a colossal, historic event! And after that, every four years, then we changed the position, after five years, we already elected a new composition of the Kurultai”, Chubarov noted.

Before the Russian occupation of Crimea, local Mejlises were formed in almost 300 settlements, including 15 district and 7 city ones. After the occupation, the Russians called the representative body of the Crimean Tatars an “extremist organization.” Refat Chubarov and Mustafa Dzhemilev were banned from entering the peninsula by Moscow-controlled authorities. Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chiygoz were put on trial. Subsequently, they were exchanged through the mediation of Turkey. The first deputy head of the Mejlis, Nariman Dzhelalov, spent almost three years behind bars, the occupation court sentenced him to 17 years in prison on a fabricated case. On June 28, 2024, Dzhelyalov was released as part of the exchange.

Before the occupation of Crimea, according to Refat Chubarov, Mejlis was engaged in overcoming the consequences of the deportation – genocide committed by the Soviet Union against the indigenous people of Crimea.

After 2014, when the Mejlis was forced to move to the mainland of Ukraine, new tasks appeared.

“We are carrying out a colossal amount of work to ensure the translation of the Crimean Tatar script into Latin. This is if we take education as an example. But, it is clear that the main attention and all work is aimed at the de-occupation of Crimea. “Practically everything we do in Kyiv is aimed at how Crimea should be liberated and how we will develop after liberation”, the head of the Mejlis emphasized.

In 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law “On Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine”. According to him, the Mejlis should acquire the official status of the representative body of the Crimean Tatar people. But the Cabinet of Ministers has not yet approved this decision.
Based on the materials of Suspilne Crimea.