On Wednesday, May 12, in the office of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, a meeting with a delegation of the American Foreign Policy Council was held. Representatives of the Mejlis informed the diplomats about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, about the repressions against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and about the demographic and ethnic composition of the population of the peninsula.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the American Foreign Policy Council delegation consisting of Ambassador James Gilmore, Alexander Gray, Nikolai Gritskovyan, Stephen S. Kahn, John Lerner and Herman Pirchner Jr., MP of Ukraine Mustafa Dzhemilev, Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov, Head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Head of the Department of Legal and Foreign Affairs of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Eskender Bariiev and members of the Mejlis Riza Shevkiiev, Ilmi Umerov and Hayana Yuksel.
Representatives of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people informed the diplomats about the situation with human rights violations in the occupied Crimea, about repressions against the indigenous people of Crimea and ethnic Ukrainians, about systemic persecutions on ethnic and religious grounds. In addition, the members of the delegation were also told about the problem of replacing of the population of the peninsula, about the demographic situation, about the state of cultural heritage monuments.
In particular, the Head of the Board of the CTRC Eskender Bariiev described in detail the demographic processes of the Crimean Tatar people, starting from the 1990s to the present day.
“Only now, until 2014, the Crimean Tatars settled in Crimea, and the occupation began. Many young people are forced to leave the peninsula due to constant repression, possible conscription into the army, etc. This situation has a very negative impact on the demographic process of the Crimean Tatar people”,- he stressed.
In addition, Bariiev presented the members of the delegation with a study prepared by the experts of the CTRC Analysis of the situation in the occupied Crimea as of 2020, as well as an album Hostages of the Occupation, which tells about the history of 20 Crimean Tatars' families, and a booklet "Time to free political prisoners of Crimea".