International movement #LIBERATECRIMEA – road to Crimea’s freedom

This article provides an overview of the historical background, objectives and activities to date of
#LIBERATECRIMEA – international civil society movement for de-occupation of Crimea and solidarity
with the Crimean Tatar people.

In February 2014, Russian Federation occupied a part of the Ukrainian state – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea – in grave violation of international law. The illegal annexation of Crimea that was rejected by the majority of Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians and people of other ethnicities enabled systemic violations of human rights on the Crimean peninsula. Searches and  detentions, interrogations and arrests, forced disappearances and murders, violations of basic human rights became a regular practice on the occupied territory.

Activists from the whole world who were not indifferent to the fate of the Crimean peninsula and the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, and realizing that the root cause of all human rights violations in Crimea is the occupation, initiated establishment of #LIBERATECRIMEA – an international civic movement for the de-occupation of Crimea and solidarity with Crimean Tatar people. This movement is aimed at strengthening the voice of civil society calling for ending the illegal occupation of Crimea.

#LIBERATECRIMEA movement was initiated in early 2018. On the eve of the 4th anniversary of Crimea’s occupation by Russia, direct actions and demonstrations were held in several European capitals and in Canada with calls to liberate Crimea. Activists went in front of embassies of the Russian Federation with slogans such as “Crimea Shall Be Free”, “Putin: Get Out of Crimea!”, “Freedom and Justice for Crimean Tatars!” etc. By doing so they expressed solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people, Ukrainians and people of other nationalities in Crimea who have preserved their honour and dignity and are awaiting the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

In summer 2018, activists and participants of the International Liberal Summer Camp “Liberty Camp”, organized by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center in co-operation with the Estonian Institute of Human Rights, with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation For Freedom in Ukraine, initiated design of a series of posters for the international movement #LIBERATECRIMEA. As a result, original and creative ideas for posters were generated that were later implemented by the well-known Ukrainian artist Andriy Yermolenko. Activists also developed a calendar of events and ideas for flash mobs and performance art projects.

 
On October 12, 2018, representatives of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and the Estonian Institute of Human Rights held a press conference on the topic of “Initiation of an international movement for advocacy and solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people”. This event included a presentation of the #LIBERATECRIMEA movement for de-occupation of Crimea and in support of human rights of Crimean Tatar people.

According to Mr. Eskender Bariiev, member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, objectives of this international movement include raising awareness of Ukrainians and the international community about the actual situation on the occupied peninsula, expressions of solidarity with those who are resisting the occupation and putting their own lives in peril, and of course fighting against the root cause of systematic human rights violations on the peninsula – the illegal occupation of Crimea.

During the press conference a new action – “United by the flag – #LIBERATECRIMEA” was announced. This is a joint initiative by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and the international network “United by the flag”. As part of this action, the Crimean Tatar flag travels across the world during 9 months and on June 26, on the day of the Crimean Tatar flag, will return back to Kyiv.

According to Mykola Krutsyk, Head of the Association of Ukrainians in Ireland, this action is aimed at informing the world about Crimea’s occupation, violations of human rights and also at strengthening efforts for the acceleration of peninsula’s de-occupation.

Also in October, at the initiative of Crimean Tatar Resource Center and the Estonian Institute of Human Rights, a training seminar for volunteers of #LIBERATECRIMEA movement was held in Kyiv. During this event participants discussed the movement’s strategy and developed a plan of action for further development of the movement.

On October 17 at the “Borispol” airport in Kyiv as part of the action “United by the flag -#LIBERATECRIMEA” the Crimean Tatar flag was dispatched to Australia. As of March 2019 the flag has been in 12 countries: Australia, USA, Canada, Ireland, UK, Portugal, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic. Flash mobs held in association with the action are particularly important in the context of strengthening efforts for the de-occupation of Crimea, expressing solidarity with people in Crimea, informing the international community about human rights violations in the peninsula and also uniting Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar diasporas and citizens of Western countries around the objective of liberating Ukraine’s territories occupied by the Russian Federation.

In parallel with this action a series of events aimed at strengthening the voice of civil society in support of Crimea’s de-occupation have been held across the world. For example, on December 10, 2018, #LIBERATECRIMEA activists from Ireland, UK, France, Poland, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Luxembourg, Belgium and Ukraine held a protest rally in front of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn, Estonia. Participants formed a human chain and demanded the liberation of Crimea and freeing of the Crimean lawyer Emil Kurbedinov, Ukrainian political prisoners and Ukrainian prisoners of war.

On the next day an analogous action was held in Riga. Tens of activists attended a peaceful rally with posters “#StopRussianAggression”, “#FreePoliticalPrisoners”, “#LiberateCrimea”, “Freedom and Justice for Crimean Tatars”, “Ukraine and Latvia Stand Together” and “#FreeUkrainianPOWs”.

Subsequently, the number of cities where peaceful protest rallies were held, began increasing. On the eve of the 5th anniversary of Crimea’s occupation by Russia, #LIBERATECRIMEA movement issues a call to action in order to unite efforts of solidarity with Ukraine, the Crimean Tatar people and the entire civilized world by marking the 5th anniversary of the resistance to Crimea’s occupation through public direct actions worldwide, calling for the de-occupation of Crimea, restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, protection of collective rights of Crimean Tatars on their homeland. According to #LIBERATECRIMEA activists, this would send a strong message for political leaders of many countries, Ukraine and also to the aggressor state – Russian Federation.

This call was headed. In several cities of Ukraine and across the world rallies dedicated to the 5th anniversary of Crimea’s occupation were held. As a result, #LIBERATECRIMEA messages were heard in Riga, Tallinn, Porto, Luxembourg, Helsinki, Brussels, Prague, Vienna, Chemnitz, Berlin, Ankara, Istanbul, Kyiv, Lviv, Melitopol, Genichesk, Vinnitsa, Poltava and more.

Even Crimea itself played a role in this. Crimea-based activists of #LIBERATECRIMEA placed leaflets on the day of Crimea’s resistance to the occupation of Crimea with the message “Occupation of Crimea – A Road to Nowhere!” This action was already third such held on the peninsula. Earlier, activists had placed leaflets with messages “Solution of the water problem on the peninsula is de-occupation” and “International community will never recognize Crimea as Russia”.

Oliver Loode, one of the activists of #LIBERATECRIMEA considers that direct actions to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Crimea’s occupation demonstrated that #LIBERATECRIMEA has reached a new level of development and sophistication.

“#LIBERATECRIMEA is no more an initiative of a few dedicated individuals but rather a true civil society movement with a global reach. I am especially glad that this year #LIBERATECRIMEA was able to engage more ethnic Ukrainians, both inside and outside Ukraine, to the cause of Crimea's de-occupation. This is a good foundation to take the movement even further – across ethnic and national boundaries, to people of all nationalities who care about international law and human rights. This, in my view, will be the main goal for #LIBERATECRIMEA in the coming year – to make Crimea's occupation from a Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian issue into a universal one.”

In addition, #LIBERATECRIMEA activists jointly with the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine launched in Kyiv an outdoor city lights banner campaign addressing the 5th anniversary of Russian aggression against Ukraine, with slogans such as “ Russia – World’s Serial Occupier”, “5 Years of Occupation”, “5 Years of Resistance”, etc. In the streets of Warsaw, posters with #LIBERATECRIMEA logo and the message “Russia began occupying Ukrainian Crimea on February 20, 2014. Which country will Putin attack next?” emerged in time for the 5th anniversary of Crimea’s occupation.

 

#LIBERATECRIMEA movement is also becoming more active in the cultural direction, by supporting various initiatives associated with Crimea. For example, on February 15, 2019 a concert “Crimea’s Echo in Lviv” was held in the Organ Hall of Lviv with the support of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center. At this event, students of the Lviv Music Academy performed works of Crimean composers and also composers who have been inspired by the peninsula’s culture. The concert was attended by over hundred people who thus expressed their solidarity with Crimea. Dmitriy Burlakin, one of the organizaers of the event, says:

“Crimean Tatars have given to the world many talented people, including brilliant musicians. The language of art is often more convincing than the loudest of words. Through the efforts of Ukrainian music students we reminded the people of Lviv that the situation in Crimea is not improving and requires our attention. We remember that Crimea will remain a part of Ukraine and act in the name of restoration of justice. “

 

On February 28, the Liberal-Democratic League of Ukraine and Crimean Tatar Resource Center with the support of #LIBERATECRIMEA movement held a charity music festival “Songs for Freedom” dedicated to the 5th anniversary of Crimea’s occupation in the Kyiv music club “Teplyi Lampovyi”. At this event Ukrainian youth expressed its solidarity with Crimean political prisoners and with the Crimean Tatar people. As a result over 10 000 hryvna were collected for the children of Crimean political prisoners. Artur Kharitonov, President of the Liberal-Democratic League of Ukraine, said that the festival “Songs for Freedom: 2019” was dedicated to human rights and to all of Ukraine. He added that artists who performed at the event presented to the audience not only good music but also an enormous inspiration to continue the freedom fight.

On December 27, 2018, on the eve of Ukraine’s presidential election campaign, #LIBERATECRIMEA activists launched a campaign “Candidate, Who Does Crimea Belong To?”. This campaign is aimed at monitoring candidates’ election programmes on the topic of Crimea’s de-occupation, planned activities for protecting human rights in the occupied Crimea and also implementation of collective rights of the Crimean Tatar people in Ukraine.

According to Mr. Eskender Bariiev, objectives of this campaign include 1) actualization of the topic of Crimea’s de-occupation, protection of human rights in the occupied Crimea and implementation of collective rights of the Crimean Tatar people in Ukraine during this very important political process, i.e., presidential elections, 2) demonstration of competencies of Ukraine’s presidential candidates, and 3) raising awareness and responsibility of Ukraine’s voters with respect to Crimea during elections.

On February 12, 2019, activists announced at a press conference results of the 1st stage of monitoring that election programmes of the majority of candidates did not include a clear plan for de-occupying Crimea and that mentions of returning the peninsula were worded vaguely. Some candidate did not mention Crimea at all. On March 4, activists presented results of the 2nd stage of monitoring and announced that the issue of Crimea’s de-occupation is only partly present in the rhetoric of the majority of candidates. This is not among the top 5 topics that candidates are discussing. As a result of the monitoring, activists formed a “grey list” that included 14 candidates whose programmes did not mention Crimea. Subsequently, some candidates reacted to the movement’s call and articulated their positions about Crimea. Based on these results a “black list” was formed that included 9 presidential candidates. Activists intend to hand over to them “black mark” and continue to monitor the election campaign in Ukraine and inform voters about these issues.

According to Sergiy Parhomenko, #LIBERATECRIMEA activist and director of the Centre of International Affairs, the campaign “Candidate, Who Does Crimea Belong To?” is important because it returns the topic of occupied Crimea to the information space.

“We are forcing people on whom the de-occupation of Crimea will directly depend – i.e., presidential candidates – to speak about Crimea. If not for us, majority of politicians would be silent on this issue and would restrict themselves to vague phrases. Our goal – to force politicians to be responsible. Our message to them is that if you are unable even speak about Crimea – better leave politics”.

#LIBERATECRIMEA activists have confirmed intentions to further conduct various events and actions, to regularly remind of human rights violations in Crimea and to struggle for the de-occupation of Crimea through non-violent and creative means. This includes an exhibition on the border crossing point “Chongar” on the administrative border with occupied Crimea, on March 16-31, consisting of 12 posters designed as part of the movement, to attract public attention to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Today, thousands of people across the world are joining the #LIBERATECRIMEA movement and are expressing their solidarity with Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar people.