EU and OSCE must prevent a second exile for Mustafa Dschemilew. Travel ban on leader of the Crimean Tatars must be revoked!

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the collective deportation of the Crimean Tatars under Josef Stalin on May 18, 1944, the Society for Threatened Peoples has sent an appeal to the EU embassies and the OSCE Mission to Ukraine to put pressure on the Russian authorities to allow Mustafa Dzhemilev – the leading representative of the minority group – to travel to the Crimea. A few weeks ago, The Russian-dominated authorities had placed a travel ban on Dzhemilev, who had practiced peaceful resistance in the Soviet Union for decades and thus paved the way for the return of the Crimean Tatars. Before, he had publicly warned about an increasing discrimination against the Crimean Tatars under the Russian rule. "This ban amounts to a second exile. The international community cannot simply accept this," wrote the STP. 

For the Crimean Tatars – who had repeatedly sent appeals to European governments and EU institutions since the Ukraine became independent – it is especially devastating that the EU has apparently already written off the Crimea, criticized the STP's expert on questions concerning the CIS states, Sarah Reinke in Berlin. "The Crimea is not Russian territory. Russia's annexation of the peninsula is and remains illegal under international law – and it has disastrous consequences especially for the Crimean Tatars, who had already become victims of deportation and massive discrimination in the Soviet Union." 

According to Reinke, President Vladimir Putin had recently ‘rehabilitated’ the Crimean Tatars and recognized the injustice done to them – so he should now stick by his word and find an agreement with the local authorities to allow Dzhemilev, who is a member of the Ukrainian parliament, to travel. The threats and acts of harassment against members of the Crimean Tatar community must come to an end. "The lesson to be learned from the terrible crimes of Stalinism is that minority groups and human rights must be protected, without any limitations." 

Originally, the community of Crimean Tatars on the peninsula had planned to organize an international congress to commemorate their deportation by the Red Army and the consequences. However, the plans now have to be changed due to the secession of the Crimea. Now, there will be a chain of beacons on the eve of the anniversary (May 17) in Simferopol. 

On May 18, 1944, Stalin had all Crimean Tatars loaded on cattle cars to deport them to Central Asia. Up to 44 percent of the deportees died. Together with the other deportations within the Soviet Union during that time, this genocide is one of the worst crimes in recent European history. Considerable efforts were made to obliterate all traces of the Crimean Tatars. Their houses were torn down, their gardens were left to grow wild, their cemeteries were dug up and the remains of their ancestors removed. It was not until the late 1980s that the Crimean Tatars could start to return to their traditional homeland. 

Sarah Reinke - head of the Berlin office and STP's expert on Eastern Europe - is available for further questions: Tel. 030 428 048 91 or berlin@gfbv.de.