On Tuesday, October 13, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center met with the Ambassador of Malaysia to Ukraine Dato’ Raja Reza. The diplomat was presented with the album “Hostages of the Occupation”, which tells about 20 life stories of Crimean Tatars families who became hostages of the occupation of Crimea: 10 – internally displaced, 10 – families who remained on the peninsula. The parties also discussed areas of further cooperation.
The meeting was attended by the Ambassador of Malaysia to Ukraine Dato' Raja Reza, the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, a member of the Presidium of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev, managers of the CTRC Zarema Bariieva and Liudmyla Korotkykh.
Ambassador Dato' Raja Reza pledged support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and informed that in 2014, on behalf of Malaysia, he voted for the UN General Assembly Resolution A / RES / 68/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. He also noted that he is actively monitoring the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, and is ready to further support the Crimean Tatars.
The ambassador assured that Malaysia will contribute to granting observer status to Ukraine in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
The parties discussed a number of initiatives for further cooperation:
– the possibility of opening an exhibition "Hostages of the Occupation" in Malaysia;
– visit of a delegation of members of Mejlis to Malaysia, a meeting with Malaysian MPs, the Speaker of Parliament and representatives of the public sector;
– Provision for the Crimean Tatars of a quota in the amount of three places to study at the International Islamic University. Thus, starting next year, Crimean Tatars will be able to enroll in Malaysia;
– support for families and children of political prisoners in Crimea;
– the possibility of translating books about Crimea and the Crimean Tatar people into Malay to inform the inhabitants of Malaysia.
The parties also discussed a number of ideas and initiatives related to the preservation of the Crimean Tatar language.
In addition, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center handed over a package of documents recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide, which includes:
– an appeal by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to all the parliaments of the UN member states, an appeal of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center to the Speaker of the Parliament of Malaysia, a copy of the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the recognition of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people”, resolutions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the UN, the European Parliament, PACE, OSCE PA, NATO PA, PA BSEC, governments and parliaments of the countries of the world on respecting the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people and condemnation of violations by the Russian Federation as an aggressor state of rights and freedoms of the Crimean Tatar people”, statement of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia “In memory of the 75th anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people and support for the policy of not recognizing the illegal annexation of Crimea”, statement of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania “On recognizing the destruction of the Crimean Tatar people by the Soviet Union as an act of genocide”, the legal qualification of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an international crime against the indigenous people.
The album was developed in the frame of the project "Hostages of the Occupation" with the support of the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy in Ukraine.