Nine years ago, on May 3, 2014, about 5 thousand Crimean Tatars from all over the peninsula went to Armyansk to the administrative border to meet their leader, Mustafa Dzhemilev. Earlier, allegedly by decision of the Russian authorities, he was banned from entering his homeland until 2019, but he did not sign any documents.
A convoy of Crimean Tatars was blocked by Russian OMON fighters with armored vehicles near the Turkish Wall in Armiansk. But the activists broke through the human shield of the Russian special forces and went to the checkpoint on foot to see Mustafa Dzhemilev. There they met with the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, who was never allowed into Crimea. In addition, at that time in the occupied Crimea, they began to block the streets in protest.
Subsequently, hundreds of criminal cases were opened, suspended sentences were handed down, dozens of searches were carried out in the homes of Crimean Tatars, and fines were imposed on the participants in this meeting. In addition to all this, the Crimean Tatars were detained, summoned for interrogation by the FSB, and explanations were taken.
One of the first searches was carried out in the house of the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariiev. Moreover, he was handed a warning, and also summoned for questioning him and all his relatives.
In order for people to return to Crimea, the occupiers set their own conditions, one of which was the requirement that Mustafa Dzhemilev not enter Crimea. For the sake of this, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people returned back to Kyiv.
Despite the expiration of the five-year ban on entry into Crimea, Mustafa Dzhemilev still cannot get to his homeland, since the occupiers opened several criminal cases against him, and also put him on the international wanted list.
We emphasize that the events of May 3, 2014 showed a clear civic position of the entire Crimean Tatar people and their unwillingness to put up with injustice.