Crimean Tatars: A Search For Peace And Justice

08 June 2011

Brussels, 6 June 2011 – Twenty years after the end of the USSR, the consequences of Stalinist crimes persist in the Crimea region of Ukraine. More than 200,000 Crimean Tatars were exiled from Ukraine to Central Asia on the orders of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin almost 70 years ago. Today, the Crimean Tatars are still far from regaining the full scope of their rights back in the ancestral lands. The lack of social justice, though, does not prevent the Ukrainian President from the calling the Crimea ‘a model and a leader in local government reform’.

The current unstable political situation in Ukraine aggravates the Crimean Tatar situation, depriving them of their democratic rights. Today as controversial media reports reveal new means of ethnic discrimination, it is of utmost importance to address the question of the Crimean Tatars rights abuses.

Further to that, Leonidas Donskis MEP will host a roundtable discussion, ‘Crimean Tatars: A Search For Peace And Justice’ at the European Parliament in Brussels from 09.00–11.30 on 28 June 2011 in collaboration with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO).

The roundtable discussion will launch a constructive multilateral dialogue on Crimean Tatar issues involving European authorities, international organisations, academics, civil society, NGOs and media. Moreover, it will create a background for the upcoming International Forum on Crimean Tatars issues, calling for action to break the continuity of Stalinist crimes in the modern world.

Expert contributions will detail the Crimean Tatar situation, the nature of the Soviet deportations and the difficulties former deportees face today in their search for recognition. Discussion will then focus on ways to redress the impact of past injustices and to determine avenues for action. Special attention will be paid to current EU involvement in the region and its responsibility in respect of human rights.

More information on the event is available from   http://www.unpo.org/article/12728