On Thursday, October 22, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center met with the atache of the Slovenian Embassy in Ukraine Denis Kuranovic. The diplomat was told about the human rights violations in Crimea and the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people, and also presented the album Hostages of Occupation about 20 life stories of Crimean Tatars’ families who became hostages of the occupation of the peninsula. The interlocutors discussed a number of initiatives and ideas for further cooperation.
The meeting was attended by atache of the Slovenian Embassy in Ukraine Denis Kuranovic, Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of the Presidium of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev and manager of the CTRC Zarema Bariieva.
Representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center informed the diplomat from Slovenia about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, about political prisoners who disappeared and died during the occupation of the peninsula and handed over the relevant booklets. The clickable charts “Victims of the occupation of Crimea’ developed by the CTRC were presented, which are permanently available via the organization's website in 4 languages and reflect the current number of political prisoners, missing and dead people during the occupation of Crimea.
Mr. Denis Kuranovic stressed that Slovenia is a supporter of human rights and constantly raises the issue of human rights violations in Crimea, in particular, against the Crimean Tatar people.
The interlocutors discussed a number of initiatives for further cooperation. Key aspects include:
– the possibility of opening the exhibition "Hostages of the Occupation" in Slovenia;
– visit of a delegation of members of the Mejlis to Slovenia, holding meetings with parliamentarians and representatives of the public sector;
– Slovenia pays special attention to the protection of the rights of older people. In this regard, the parties discussed the prospects for the implementation of possible joint programs aimed at protecting the rights of older people in Crimea, who suffered from the occupation of the peninsula;
– Possibility for Slovenian politicians to join the Atalık ( "The Godfather") initiative, which provides for political patronage over the political prisoners of Crimea and their families;
– assistance in communication with deputies of the Slovenian parliament for the adoption of a law analogous to the Magnitsky Act, which provides for the introduction of personal sanctions against persons responsible for human rights violations in the occupied Crimea;
– assistance in communication with the deputies of the Slovenian parliament for the recognition by the Parliament of Slovenia of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide.
In connection with the latter, Mr. Denis Kuranovic was given a package of documents recognizing the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an act of genocide, which includes:
– appeal of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people to all parliaments of the UN member states;
– appeal of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center to the Speaker of the Parliament of Slovenia;
– copies of the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the recognition of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people”;
– Resolution 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, OSECO PA, 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 the 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 non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea”;
– Statement of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania “On the recognition of the destruction of the Crimean Tatar people by the Soviet Union as an act of genocide”;
– legal qualification of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as an international crime against the indigenous people.
Album "Hostages of the Occupation" was developed with the support of the Democracy Grants program of the US Embassy to Ukraine.
