On Thursday, September 24, an exhibition “Hostages of the Occupation” was opened in Dnipro. The exhibition describes the fate and story of 20 Crimean Tatar families who became hostages of the occupation of Crimea: 10 – internally displaced, 10 – families who remained on the peninsula. Thus, the organizers of the event want to draw the attention of the public and the international community to the topic of the occupation of Crimea, the problems of the Crimean Tatars on the mainland of Ukraine and in Crimea occupied by Russia, to contribute to the sociocultural adaptation and integration of IDPs into local Ukrainian communities. The exhibition will last until October 4 and can be viewed at the ATO Museum in Dnipro (Dmytro Yavornytsky Avenue, 16).
The organizers of the exhibition were the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the museum “Civil feat of the Dnipropetrovsk region in the ATO events” with the support of the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy to Ukraine.
At the beginning of the event, the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, a member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev made a welcoming speech. He spoke about the occupation of Crimea and the goals of the “Hostages of the Occupation” project.
“Within the framework of this initiative, the team of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center sets itself the following tasks:
– to draw the attention of the media, the Ukrainian and international community to the problems of the Crimean Tatars on the mainland of Ukraine and in Crimea occupied by Russia;
– to promote socio-cultural adaptation and integration of IDPs – Crimean Tatars – into local Ukrainian communities;
– to acquaint the inhabitants of Ukraine with the culture, traditions and problems of the Crimean Tatar people”,- said Eskender Bariiev.
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The guests of the event were greeted by Iuliia Pischanska, Director of the Yavornytsky Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum.
“Those who left Crimea demonstrated their disagreement and the will to resist the occupation of Crimea. Those who remained – they continue to be insecure, as this is a threat to their families, life and freedom. Such a difficult fate befell the Crimean Tatars, but we hope that they will be able to return home together with Crimea. Crimea is Ukraine”,- noted Iuliia Pischanska.
Vadym Yakushenko, head of the “Civil feat of the Dnipropetrovsk region in ATO events ” Museum, spoke about the history of the museum and noted that such exhibitions, such living stories are very important and necessary.
“This topic and this pain is not only of the Crimean Tatar people, but of the whole Ukraine”,- Vadym Yakushenko stressed, expressing support for the Crimean Tatar people.
Svitlana Kayuk, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of History of Ukraine of the Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, who studies the history of the Crimean Tatars also had a word for the attendants.
“Since 2014, Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars are again together in the fight against a common enemy, and I have no doubt that we will win”,- Svitlana Kayuk emphasized.
Also, Kemal Mustafayev, Chairman of the Crimean Tatars' community in Dnipro, made a welcoming speech.
We remind that on February 26, 2020, a presentation of the album and exhibition “Hostages of the Occupation” took place in Kyiv, which tells about the fate of 20 Crimean Tatar families after the annexation of the peninsula. On March 10, the exhibition opened in Vinnytsia. Also the presentation of the project is planned in Odesa.
The project was implemented by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center with the support of the the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy to Ukraine.