On 23 October at 11:00 a.m., the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia (Riga) will host a side-event: ‘Deportation of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944: from the recognition of genocide to the restoration of the rights of Crimean Tatars within the Ukrainian state ’.
The event will focus on ensuring that the world recognizes the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people in 1944 as an act of genocide and discuss ways to restore the rights of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people within an independent Ukraine.
The event will focus on the international recognition of the deportation as genocide, including the involvement of the participating countries of the International Crimea Platform in this process. The scope and consequences of the losses suffered by Crimean Tatars as a result of the deportation will be discussed, as well as the role and place of international organisations in ensuring the rights of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, including the right to self-determination within a sovereign Ukrainian State.
Special attention will be paid to the importance of international mechanisms for the reintegration of the temporarily occupied Crimea into Ukraine.
Topics for discussion:
• International recognition of the 1944 deportation of the Crimean Tatar people as genocide: ways, results and significance.
• Temporary Russian occupation of Crimea and persecution of the Crimean Tatar people as a continuation of the genocide policy implemented by the Soviet regime in 1944.
• Restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and ensuring the rights of the Crimean Tatar people: the status of Crimea within the Ukrainian state.
Speakers:
• – Ruslan Stefanchuk – Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine;
– Vadym Halaichuk – People’s Deputy of Ukraine, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Integration of Ukraine into the European Union, Co-Chairman of the inter-factional association ‘Crimea Platform’;
– Refat Chubarov – Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People;
– Nariman Dzhelyal – First Deputy Chairman of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, a prisoner of the Kremlin from September 2021 to June 2024;
– Eskender Bariiev – member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Chairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center;
– Andris Teikmanis – Latvian lawyer, politician and diplomat, Head of the Office of the President of Latvia E. Levits;
– Ineta Ziemele – Latvian lawyer, judge. President of the Constitutional Court of Latvia (2017-2020) – pre-recorded video;
Moderator: Romualds Ražuks – Latvian Saeima deputy of the 12th Latvian Saeima (2014-2018), second chairman of the Latvian Popular Front.
Organizers of the event: Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Crimean Tatar Resource Center with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in Latvia.