On Thursday, October 15, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center met with the Ambassador of Romania to Ukraine Cristian-Leon Ţurcanu and the Third Secretary Claudiu-Ion Chelcea. The interlocutors discussed the situation in the occupied Crimea, presented to the diplomats the main directions of the CTRC activities, and also proposed a number of initiatives for further cooperation.
The meeting was attended by the Ambassador of Romania to Ukraine Cristian-Leon Ţurcanu, Third Secretary Claudiu-Ion Chelcea, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of the Presidium of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev, manager of the CTRC Zarema Barieva, communications manager of the CTRC Elvir Sahirman.
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center informed the Romanian diplomats about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, about political prisoners, the missing and killed during the occupation of the peninsula. They were presented with clickable charts “Victims of the occupation of Crimea” developed by the CTRC, which are permanently available on the organization's website in 4 languages and reflect the current number of political prisoners, theabducted and killde people during the occupation of Crimea. The diplomats stressed that they regularly use the data of the CTRC.
The diplomats were told about the difficult situation of the Crimean Tatar language on the peninsula. The Romanian Ambassador stressed the importance of this issue and added that their country is the foremost in the world in supporting national minorities and their languages.
The interlocutors paid special attention to the situation in the Black Sea region. Mr. Cristian-Leon Ţurcanu said that the Black Sea region remains in the focus of attention of Romania and the entire international community, as security must always come first.
The ambassador was presented with the album "Hostages of the Occupation", which tells about the history of 20 Crimean Tatars families who became hostages of the occupation of Crimea: 10 internally displaced, 10 families residing on the peninsula. It was proposed to organize this exhibition in Romania in order to attract more attention of the international community to the problems of the Crimean Tatar people and the occupation of Crimea.
Romanian diplomats noted the importance of this idea, assured of their assistance in organizing this exhibition, and also stressed that it would be more expedient to hold the event after December 6 – after the elections in the country.
“It will be possible to combine several events: organize a meeting of representatives of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and the Crimean Tatar Resource Center with newly elected MPs of the Romanian national parliament, inform them about the situation in Crimea and, accordingly, provide more complete information about political prisoners and hold an exhibition “Hostages of the Occupation.” As part of the meeting, we are ready to involve the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and also directly victims of the occupation (relatives of political prisoners, abducted, and those who died during the occupation)”,- said Bariiev.
The Ambassador was handed over the booklets prepared by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center about the political prisoners of Crimea, missing and killed during the occupation of Crimea, the booklet “My dad is a hero!”, The translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Crimean Tatar language.
CTRC representatives also voiced a number of proposals for further joint cooperation:
– implementation of the “Atalık” initiative (adoptive father), which provides for political patronage over the political prisoners of Crimea and their families;
– The adoption in Romania of an analogous law to Magnitsky Act, which provides for the imposition of personal sanctions against persons responsible for violations of human rights in the occupied Crimea.
– assistance in the recognition by the Parliament of Romania of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide, given the similar situation that the Romanian people experienced.
“I think it is important to build communication with the MPs of various political forces, where we could explain why the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people should be recognized as genocide. After all, Romanians were also subjected to deportation by the Soviet Union, this is how the USSR acted criminally in relation to the peoples of Eastern Europe”,- Bariiev explained.
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 of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to all parliaments of the UN member states; an appeal of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center to the Parliament of Romania; 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”, statements 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”, statements 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 Romanian Ambassador, in turn, recalled his continued support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and stressed that Romania will never recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea. He also added that the country regularly raises the issue of Russian aggression in the territories of Ukraine at international platforms.
The album was developed in the frame of the "Hostages of the Occupation" project with the support of the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy in Ukraine.