Visit of the Delegation of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities

24 January 2011

Since January 22 till 27, 2012 the delegation of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe, consisting of the President of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities Mr. Rainer Hofmann, members of the Committee Gerjy Sinani and Alexandra Boyajieva, as well as the representative of the Secretariat of the Framework Convention Charlotte Altenkhenner-Dion, is making their visit to Ukraine.

The goal of their visit is to prepare the valuation report on Ukraine in lights of the discussion of the protection of the Human Rights in Ukraine and the rights of the national minorities.

On January 24, 2012 the delegation of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe visited Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people where they had a meeting with the Chairman of Mejlis, MP of Ukraine Mustafa Jemilev.

The meeting was also attended by the First Deputy Chairman of Mejlis, Refat Chubarov, Head of the Foreign Relations department of Mejlis, Ali Hamzin, Head of Secretariat of Mejlis, Zair Smedlyaev and member of Mejlis, political expert, Nariman Jelyalov.

In the beginning of the meeting the Chairman of Mejlis, Mustafa Jemilev informed the guests about the history of the Crimean Tatar people, the tragic consequences of the deportation of Crimean Tatars from their historical native land in May 1944 and selfless combat of the Crimean Tatar people for the restoration of their rights.

Then Mustafa Jemilev told them about the modern situation of the Crimean Tatar people, drawing their attention to the peculiarities of the system of Crimean Tatar national self-governance, underscoring the principle of election of the national bodies – Qurultay, Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and local mejlises.

In addition Mustafa Jemilev told in details about the peculiarities of the relations between the supreme representative body of the Crimean Tatar people and the state authorities.

Then the parties discussed the situation with the rights of the Crimean Tatar people in light of the provisions and requirements of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, paying special attention to preserving of language, cultural and religious distinctiveness of Crimean Tatars, the problems of organization and activity of printing and electronic Mass Media in Crimean Tatar language, restoration of the historical toponymy.

Drawing the attention of the high guests to the fact that there are still more than 100 thousand Crimean Tatars remaining in the places of exile on the territory of the former Soviet Union who striving to return to their homeland Mustafa Jemilev continued: “In such case we also speak about such painful phenomenon for Crimean Tatars as separated families and breaking family ties”.

The participants of the meeting also exchanged opinions on the course of preparation to the International Forum on therestoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people to their homeland, its security and guarantees of development in Ukraine. In this connection the delegation of the Advisory Committee was informed in details about the results of the meeting between the leaderships of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and the heads of the diplomatic representations and international missions, held in October 2011 in Kyiv, as well as the joint actions of Mejlis and the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Office, aimed at implementation of the idea of the International Forum.

The President of the Committee, Mr. Rainer Hofmannn appreciated highly the idea of the International Forum. “We believe that the creation of the “roadmap” with a list of all measures that should be taken by the parties concerned and first of all by Ukraine, aimed at the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people will be also a working mechanism, ensuring the fulfillment by Ukraine of the provisions of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities,”- Mr. Rainer Hofmannn said.

Returning to the problem of preserving of language and ethnic distinctiveness of Crimean Tatars, the President of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, Refat Chubarov and member of Mejlis, Chief editor of the newspaper “Qirim”, Bekir Mamutov drew attention of the guests to the range of requirements of the current legislation of Ukraine, preventing the development of Mass Media in the national minorities and indigenous peoples languages.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the peculiarities of the election system of Ukraine in light of the possibilities of representation of the Crimean Tatar people in the bodies of the local authorities and Ukrainian Parliament. “Because of the dispersed settlement of Crimean Tatars today’s election system limits significantly their chances to be elected to the elective bodies of the authority,”- Refat Chubarov noted.

In their speeches at the meeting Ali Hamzin, Nariman Jelyalov and Bekir Mamutov drew attention of the high guests to the interrelation between the fair solution of the Crimean Tatar problem and the possibilities of the democratic development of Ukraine. “I think that no one in Ukraine will question the pro-state position of Crimean Tatars. Thus, the further ignoring of the rights of our people is inadmissible,”- Bekir Mamutov concluded.

In conclusion of the meeting in Mejlis the President of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Mr. Rainer Hofmannn noted that the detailed information, received from the leaderships of Mejlis on the current situation with Crimean Tatars allowed the members of his delegation to get answers to many major questions concerned.

“We are deeply convinced that there is still many things to do for the returning Crimean Tatar people, but at the same time we understand that a large scope of work was made for the last 20 years exclusively by the people themselves,”- Mr. Hofmann concluded and continued “The system of the national self-governance, created by Crimean Tatars whose members are elected by the people, Mejlis’ activity as a representative body of the Crimean Tatar people, allowing to protect the rights of the Crimean Tatar community, represent an interesting example for European countries”.

The members of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities also expressed their opinion that almost all the scope of problems, stated at the meeting directly testifies to the necessity of adoption of special laws, aimed at the restoration of the rights of the Crimean Tatar people, including the reimbursement and allocation of land.

Addressing the leaderships of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, members of the delegation of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities underscored once again that such instructive dialogue allowed them determining clearly those areas where the assistance of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities is necessary.

At the same day the delegation of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, accompanied by the members of Mejlis and the Head of the Land Commission of Mejlis, Zevdzhet Qurtumerov visited Crimean Tatar settlements in Simferopol. They were especially impressed by the meeting with the residents of Vasiet district (Stroganovka) that took place directly in the settlement with its broken roads. Vasiet’s residents told their guests about the multiple problems, giving particular examples, testifying to the callousness of the authorities towards the residents of the settlement, first of all in the area of social and engineering facilities – schools, kindergarten, medical post, roads and electricity.

The members of the delegation also visited the protest camps Lugovoe and Qurban-koy.

The delegation of the Advisory Committee for the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities visited Zyndzhyrly – Madrasah complex in Bakhchisaray. The Head of Bakhchisaray Historical-Cultural Reserve Valery Naumenko and the Head of “Lariches” museum, Guliver Altin met the guests and told them about the history of this unique monument of history and culture of the Crimean Tatar people and made a guiding tour for them.

In conclusion of their visits the members of the Advisory Committee and members of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people summoned up the results of their joint working day and outlined the ways of their further cooperation.